Blind Pilot

There are rock bands and then there are mega bands. Regardless of your musical taste, any band that can charge hundreds of thousands of people $50 (before the Ticketb@st&rd fees) for a ticket in a giant stadium are either mega, on their way or doing a reunion tour.


Last summer, U2 attracted a bit of unwanted attention thanks to David Byrne's scathing accusations on his blog. Mr. Byrne wrote of the huge tour's expenses as, "excessive." Each trip to concert venues included 100 large trucks rumbling through the area, transporting the elaborate stage design and all the gear necessary for four people to entertain 80,000 fans. Considering their huge public profile in combating world hunger, eradicating 3rd world debt, you would think they would tread a bit lighter.

This story hovered around in my mind when I heard about the bike adventures of an up and coming, non-mega Portland band, Blind Pilot. They toured the west coast by bike, slept in tents and crashed in some people's back yards. A clever documentary has come out sharing their adventures and challenges of pulling off such a tour. They have to get pretty creative when one of the band members plays a stand up base--custom bike trailers. Think about taking your drum kit on the road with you the next time you ride somewhere.