How does music and travel fit together?

Chase Manhattan of Night Argent: Having the right soundtrack for your trip makes all the difference. One of the biggest examples of it for me would be when I was in Hawaii. I had never really listened to Jack Johnson before. It just wasn’t my personal taste, but I saw his cd in the store, decided to check it out since I knew he was from Hawaii and threw it on in the car. Cruising around the island of Kauai, listening to Jack Johnson is a whole different experience than listening to it cruising around Pasco. The sound track can definitely make the trip. | Article

Tom Keifer: I’ve been asked a lot of times what my process for songwriting is. A recurring theme I always answer with is that traveling always seems to bring out inspiration. I think it’s because when you’re on a plane or bus staring out the window, or you’re driving you go into this trance. Your mind opens up and I think that’s been a great source of inspiration for me and always has been. | Article

Doug Robb of Hoobastank: They are kind of one in the same, really. From ’95 to 2000 pretty much all of our shows were in southern California, with the exception of a handful. But from 2000 to 2015, 99-percent of our shows became outside of the LA area. We’ve been able to travel so much and go to places that I’ve never dreamt of going at all, let alone playing shows there. | Article

Photo courtesy | Matt McGee

Eva Universe: Wherever you go in the world music is always so different. Every culture and country has their own style of music, or has a different genre trending in their country at the time. So it’s cool to experience that, and for me it’s important, because when I am traveling, I always have my music with me. If I go on a road trip with friends we’re always blasting old spice girl’s tunes. | Article

Casey Jago of Airsickness: It’s really cool how it works. It’s really fun to travel and listen to music, because when you’re on the road it’s a great way to pass the time. It also brings a different flavor wherever you go. When we are in Maryland we are going to jam to Maryland bands — same in Ohio. Bands are from everywhere and music is created everywhere, so it’s cool to play music from local bands. | Article

Tyler Welsh of Driver Friendly: Well, last year we played 100 shows. So we got to see a lot of the road! Spent a lot of time on the highways. We got to see some awesome cities, but it’s always the surprises that keep traveling exciting. You can go to a town where you don’t really expect much, and then you find the best sandwich you’ve ever had, or you end up at this cool memorial that you never would have visited. It’s because of music taking us to all these different places. | Article

Chevy Woods of Taylor Gang: The people. For me it’s connecting the people. People love to travel and at the same time people love music. So when people are taking it cross-country or wherever they’re playing something. They’re not just idle to nothing. In that fashion travel and music go together, because anytime I go anywhere I’ve got to have headphones. I have to listen to something, whether it’s putting me to sleep or a happy mode or writing to a beat. When people are in their cars [music is on], whether they’re patting on their steering wheel or quieting up their kids. All of those things. | Article

Photo courtesy| Mari Ma

Lou Miceli of Palisades: Honestly, they go hand-in-hand. Just to think that this is my job, this is my career. I get paid to travel the world and play music for people that want to hear it. It’s the most incredible thing.

I was talking to my dad when we were on the Take Action Tour. It was St. Patrick’s Day and we were in New Orleans and I was telling him I had crawfish for the first time and we went down Bourbon Street. I was like, “have you ever been?” He responded, “bud, you’ve been to more places than I’ve ever dreamed of going.” It’s just crazy. To think about it I’m only 25 and I’ve already been to 14 different countries so far and I’m going to experience a whole bunch more. Not to mention I get to experience music from all different parts of the world. That’s something that’s really cool too. | Article

Will Pugh of Cartel: For me the music is basically the currency that allowed us to travel. I wouldn’t have said that at the onset. It’s kind of like I want to play music, because I want to play music, but looking back on it, I think being able to travel and see the world, the way we have seen it, is probably the most priceless thing about what we’ve been lucky enough to do. | Article

Sir Michael Rocks: Music and travel are pretty much two of my biggest quests in life. I make music so I can go travel and I travel so I can get inspired to make music. Traveling around definitely inspires me to write different songs. It gives me new ideas and new outlooks on things man. Every time I travel somewhere I get more inspiration. It gives me more fuel to come back and record. It gives me more ideas to leave with. It just kind of refreshes me man.

It wakes you up when you’re traveling, because you’re in a new place and sometimes you just have to be on your toes and you gotta be focused. You gotta be on your toes and aware of everything around you. You’re looking for new things to enjoy while you’re out and about. Traveling and music pretty much go hand-in-hand for me. They both inspire each other man. Music inspires me to want to travel and sometimes I want to make music for a feeling that I had in a certain spot. I was here, I was doing this, and I had this feeling. I want to make songs that can kind of capture that feeling. | Article