Austin Thomas, AKA spookyghostboy, is concluding 2019 by bringing his lo-fi alternative sound to venues across the UK. Currently touring with Cavetown before a one-off headline show in London, we caught up to hear his top tips and stories from the road.
Favourite thing about touring:
My favourite thing about touring is definitely getting to see places I’ve never been to before. I did a tour across Europe this summer, and tried to make a point to go outside the venue and have a conversation with a random person in each city. I had a lot of memorable experiences doing that.
Least favourite thing about touring:
My least favourite part of touring is that I tend to get pretty sick every time I go out. I had a six week tour in the fall and ended up with a lung infection that made performing every night pretty challenging.
Five essentials for the road:
Oh I’ve been refining my tour essentials list so this is an exciting question. My first essential is noise cancelling headphones. Planes, buses, vans and venues are loud and I always reach for those when I need to take a moment to myself. Second, and in a similar vein of thought, I have earplugs on me all the time because nothing’s worse than loading out your suitcase through a club night without earplugs. Third, I always keep a pen and notepad on me. When you lose your internet connection it’s nice to have something to do and writing your thoughts can help with the tour boredom. Fourth is hand sanitiser. I keep that on the side of my backpack and use it all the time. Last thing I have is a fanny pack to carry around all the little items that I have (earplugs, glasses, venue pass). It’s nice to have everything handy at a moment’s notice.
Your favourite way to pass the time:
It changes every tour, but the one I’m on right now has been spent working on some digital art pieces!
“The Most”
Memorable moment:
The most memorable moments for me have been small things. The water in the canals at Amsterdam & the infomercials on German television come to mind.
Hilarious moment:
In Prague this summer, someone held up an iPad and waved it around for an entire song. It was so unexpected that I laughed through the whole song.
Embarrassing moment:
Hmm my most embarrassing moment was probably trying to order food in German & completely butchering the language. I didn’t realise that basically everybody understood English and looked a bit like an idiot.
Outrageous moment:
Hmm. We had a van on the tour get broken into recently which was pretty outrageous!
Drunken moment:
I don’t really drink on tour because I tend to get so sick!
Rewarding moment:
The most rewarding moment is always seeing people singing the words of my songs along with me. That never gets any less fulfilling.
See spookyghostboy on tour with Cavetown at one of the remaining dates:
December
Tue 10th – BRISTOL – The Fleece
Thu 12th – LONDON – Electric Ballroom
Fri 13th – LONDON – Camden Assembly (headline show)
