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The BuSkings: "Busking For Breakfast" Tour '03

Rocketship Records chats with The BuSkings and Discusses their first DIY Music Tour

By Rocketship RecordsPublished 2 years ago 7 min read
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The BuSkings '03 Tour Poster "Busking for Breakfast" Excursion Tour

The BuSkings

“Busking for Breakfast”

[The BuSkings Serenade the Atlantic Coast 2003] (14 shows in 16 nights)

Written by: Allen Mojo

*We begin with the “Celebration Night with 'The BuSkings'” at the 48th&4th Campus.

Everyone was outside of the 48th & 4th offices, awaiting to begin the evening once the band arrived. Rocketship Records Chief of Influence, “Dee-Dee”, was exiting the van where the band would be traveling. (Side Note, the “van” is the termed coined from everyone in attendance within the van to describe the actual automotive term used to describe their home on wheels affectionately known as a recreation vehicle (RV))

Throughout the evening, this celebration of friends, fans, managers, personnel of Rocketship, and journalists such as myself made the event of the moment feel like it was an actual Record label party. The artists from the label in attendance, music and celebration for the (re)release of the album, “Busking for Breakfast” is, after later revelation, the exact moment our band made when first going on the road as an “unknown act” along the East Coast.

That was seventeen years ago.

The re-visiting city schedule has been modified to fit the venues and times slots of locations that are still in operation, but mainly, hosting the spots where their fanbase have increased and proved worthwhile along the 14 day circuit.

So, who are, ‘The BuSkings’?

Meet, (Will, Tedd, and Darius), Talented and gifted in various ways through their given instruments, this unique unit can shift playing positions throughout their set, each performing the drum and guitar within their sets.

A combined twenty three years of mastering sounds, performance tactics, styles of playing, inspirations behind their crafts and the legends that have come before them, The BuSkings have built up a strong connection during their performances, making the time invested in their shows worth the visit. Striving in all measures to delight the senses in every way imaginable, whatever it takes.

Taking it Back to the First Days of The BuSkings

It was 2003. The BuSkings had completed their rehearsal for the second time of the day over the extended weekend that they had from their jobs at the local packaging factory. Routine garage rehearsal sessions were the only times when the band truly could be themselves and create. That was their life. Wake up. Shower. A sandwich of some sort, and the trio makes their way down McDonnell Boulevard in the dusty old station wagon named, “Sally” on afternoons when their work shift was complete.

4:30pm Everyday. It was like after school football or tennis practice all over again. You were there. And you were there to get better. Master the instruments, study songs, write, record, play, and repeat. Until midnight, then go home, paper rock scissors for the first shower, eat, sleep, wake up and do it all again.

Rent was expensive - for the studio. The only worthwhile money pit that returned our investment funding into the skills that landed us here today. Rent? Food? Utilities? Well, sometimes you went without, for a short while, until a show picked us up for the weekend backyard restaurant jam session on the lawn underneath SUPER bright 48 bulb strips. The Internet was a modified hook-up, paying the elderly couple next door $25 bucks per month plus removing old items from their garage for them for the WIFI passcode. A sweet deal.

The only issue that we WISHED would have worked out was our ability to sleep INSIDE of the studio. But that was not going to fly - the landlord “Dr. Flave”, lived only two floors above the studio space we were renting and being there 24/7 (sleeping, really) was not included inside the contract.

Fair Enough. The space was PRIME for this particular area of town, and SUPER clean, with a lot of the tools that we COULD use, but, we were so low budget and barebones hustlers, we just needed power and a plug-in.

The story begins:

The band was seated around the studio one night, and the idea of touring has always come into question, to get “out there” and perform, travel, expand their sights and references for material, and to really live as an artist should.

This notion of “what if” always lingered, and pushed further each and every rehearsal. The idea of once the lease for our properties were up, we hit the road. Run the circuit, perform and impress, then settle in the music capital of the East Coast. (New York, at that time).

If it was going to happen, then the timer was exactly five months, eighteen days away until the lease and studio agreement expired. The plan was to strengthen our current setlist (totaling ten songs) and write an additional twenty-five to have memorized for the “Excursion Tour”, which we did. Every day became this systematic zombie-like approach to life. The only true sign of life from either of us were the moments of sporadic writings inside of notebooks and the occasional sighting at lunch. Other than that, we spent every waking moment - beyond work and home efforts - inside of that studio.

More Info:

“We had exactly $2,000 between us. So what did we do? We purchased an oil change for the wagon, fixed the A/C, the leaky radiator, purchased new tires, and a proper tailgate for the back. With the rest, we bought a discounted pack of drum sticks, duct tape, the bare bones essentials for repairing the guitars, along with cables, portable battery cell, and USB connection ports and mobile cords for charges. After all was said had been accomplished, we had JUST enough to fill up the wagon until the gasoline spewed from the fuel cap.”

The day had come. We sold all of our furniture, donated extra clothing to the corner shop to those who could benefit, gave both sets of keys for the apartment and studio back to the landlords, and had one last moment of silence standing inside of the living room, reflecting on the times we shared within this apartment.

The last tiny studio venue space of our early days. #WeMissYou

*This is also the final picture we took that made it on the front of the first demo tape we recorded*

After selling most of the furniture that could be purchased and removed, our new balance on the day of hitting the road was $645. The rules for the tour were simple. We each had one bag to pack, and we shared the large trunk that was complete with cooler climate materials to wear. The rest of the space was for all of our musical equipment. Packed to the window, everything fit neatly and strategically to ensure 1. Not blocking the view while driving, and 2. To hide away the items in question. The roof rack stored the camping gear for extreme emergencies, along with extra space towards the middle and rear of the roofs’ rack if ever needed.

So, we set off. Driving East at a constant speed of 55mph, conserving as much fuel as possible (because the Wagon was a thirsty vehicle) arriving six hours later in the land of Atlanta, Georgia. Our first stop of the Excursion Tour, to which we later flipped midway into the drive to “The Busking for Breakfast'' Tour. Since we’re performing in these places during early morning and midday hours, it sounded perfect for the adventure.

Finding parking in the early morning hours was perfect. We were able to find prime spaces just far enough to walk a fair distance away, yet remain in the vicinity of various locations where traffic flow was high and welcoming. There was going to be a lot of luck and scouting taking place throughout this tour, we soon realized.

Next Week: Atlanta, Georgia for breakfast.

Rocketship Records. 48th&4th. 2022

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