Travel Tips from Rock Stars

Veteran travelers will know some of the more pracitcal of these tips, like Dave Navarro’s suggestion to underpack, but it’s still fun to hear it from the mouths of musicians.

“Rock ‘n’ roll road tips” by Simona Rabinovitch from the Globe and Mail

“British DJ Ben Watt, also one-half of pop duo Everything But the Girl, suggests feigning back injury at check-in. “It can sometimes get you an upgrade into a larger seat.”

According to Darren Beckett, drummer of Brooklyn indie rockers Ambulance LTD, the secret to snagging nice hotel rooms on the cheap is a name-your-own price website called priceline.com. “It works for us,” he says. “We stay at really nice places for less than people spend to stay in [crappy hotels].””

Hey, you can take the rock star off the road, but you can’t….well, you know. This says it all:

“”If you’re flying to Japan or Australia, make sure you have enough drugs to knock you out for at least 10 hours, otherwise you’re screwed,” advises bassist Oliver Crowe of Montreal art rockers the Stills, a band selected by Rolling Stone as one of 2003’s 10 Artists to Watch. “Xanax and booze usually does the trick.””

Wait. it gets better, it really does. I like this one on making friends.

“”You have to be able to talk to the locals,” says Josh Garza, drummer of Dallas-based alternative rockers the Secret Machines. “If you’re looking for a good bar or restaurant, ask the right questions to know if they’re sending you to the ‘go to’ place or the ‘good’ place.”

Crowe of the Stills turns to street kids for advice. “The scummier they look, the more they know.””

Rabinovitch pulls these travel tips from years of working as a pop culture and entertainment journalist. Musicians in the article hail from bands including the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Hope of the States, Buck 65, Secret Machines, Death From Above 1979, Ambulance LTD, Everything But the Girl, and others.