There's no place like home

This weekend we played a gig at a lovely lakeside resort in North Texas. It was about a three-hour drive from Austin if you're not in a hurry, which we try not to be, and the distance brought up an interesting point for a band that travels outside of their home city.

First, let me say that we really enjoyed the gig. Our stage was a deck overlooking the lake, which is a pretty sweet office, and the weather was great (a little too windy, but I'll tackle wind and its annoying properties another time). We had a nice, appreciative crowd, and the staff was very friendly and took good care of us. 

The interesting point that came up was the question of when you stay overnight at an out-of-town gig and when you drive back home immediately afterward.


A lady during one of our breaks asked me if we were staying the night, and she seemed distressed when I told her we were driving back to Austin after the gig. I told her we usually do that, and she genuinely seemed to think this was madness. I suppose I might feel the same way if my regular job expected me to drive home in the middle of the night after an out-of-town business trip (the words "Awwww, hey-ull no!" come to mind), but the band operates on a tighter cash flow than my corporate employer does, so that affects things.

The "stay or not to stay" question is most often answered by economics. How much are you getting paid? And how much would a hotel room be? If the cost of a room would cut too much into your profit, then you should probably just drive home. 

Add to your calculations that you're also paying for gas both ways and probably some road snacks at some point. And in our band, I throw things off by coming to the table with lady parts. I don't even know where your mind might be going with that statement, but the relevance is that I generally don't love sharing a hotel room with three guys, only one of which is my husband, so most times, if we do get a hotel room, we end up getting two, so that doubles the expense. See how things start adding up?

Economics are only one piece of the puzzle, though. There's also time invested. Sure, we could play until midnight, be crashed in a hotel bed by 1 a.m., sleep until 9 a.m. (fact: Johnny isn't getting up earlier than that), and be home by noon. 

OR we could play until midnight, be on the road by 1 a.m., be home by 4 a.m., and sleep until noon. Either way, you're home and up by Noon, right? 

Well, in scenario #1, you didn't sleep in your own bed, so the sleep might not have been as good AND because you had to get back on the road the next day, it feels like the gig didn't really end until noon the next day, when you finally arrived home. 

In scenario #2, it felt like the gig ended at 4 a.m., and it ended with you sleeping in your own bed. You even have the option of staying in bed if you feel like it, because there aren't three other people waiting on you to get up so they can get on the road and get back home. Or worse, you're not having to harass three other people to get up so YOU can get the hell home.

With all that in mind, for us, the "just go home" scenario comes up the winner in most cases. One caveat: It's only right to note that this scenario is largely made possible for us by the fact that Johnny is a road warrior and not only doesn't mind driving but pretty much insists on it, AND he doesn't drink, so he's always in driving condition at the end of a show. If he's tired, a little Mountain Dew usually solves the problem. For bands who drink during or after shows, driving is probably not a good idea. 

Of course, all of this would be moot if someone would just donate an awesome tour bus to The Staylyns. One of these would do: 

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