When NME sat down with some of our fave emo/punk/hardcore/indie bands on this year’s 2000 Trees line-up, we were expecting tales of rock and roll debauchery and what really goes on inside those blacked-out tour buses.
The grand revelation? Actually, most of them are secretly nerds! While Cheltenham bash Trees may be a weekend of good-natured excess, after the last chord rings out, most of the rock stars apparently sneak off for Mario Kart showdowns and virtual adventures in their dimly-lit bunks.
Here’s the mighty Cassyette, Movements, Hot Mulligan, Crawlers, Boston Manor, Bears In Trees, Grove Street and more on how gaming keeps them sane on the road.
Swapping tour sweeties for The Sims
If there’s anyone you can count on to do things a little differently, it’s English alt-pop icon Cassyette. Fresh from supporting Bring Me The Horizon on a sold-out arena tour, she’s no stranger to rock and roll excesses, openly chatting about her struggles with addiction. Her new chosen way to let loose when she comes off stage? “Playing Sims and making all the crew into Sims characters – and dressing them up in sexy outfits!” she reveals. “I get so into making my dream house – a gothic cottage-core commune with a whimsical garden, [where] all my besties live with me.”
“Escapism is very important,” Cassyette continues, “and games are a lot healthier than drugs, and can be just as fun!”
Cassyette is far from the only rockstar who turns to games after the roar of the crowd dies down. “When I started really getting into music as a career, I pushed away my love of gaming, because I thought it was wasting potential hit-making time, or taking time away from learning and practicing,” shares Holly Minto, singer of beloved Liverpool band Crawlers, “but recently, I’ve learned that without having [a way] to escape on tour, or during your life, how can you feel the real thrill of being on stage? Whether it’s all of us playing Animal Crossing with headphones on or Mario Kart together as a team, [gaming] really gives a nice breather from the reality of touring.”
From ‘Kart to ‘Claw
For Spencer York of Californian emo heavyweights Movements, video games are a slightly less wholesome tour bus activity. “[Once], the guys were in a heated drunk Mario Kart race, and (lead guitarist) Ira chugged an entire White Claw which immediately and fully came out his nose,” he says. “Then he claims he died and was born again… and [somehow] he still won the race.”
Similarly, Croydon indie upstarts Bears In Trees reveal that classic simulator RollerCoaster Tycoon became an integral part of their life on the road. “On our most recent headline tour, we were killing time post soundcheck and came to the realisation that most of the touring party had grown up playing Tycoon.” says guitarist Nick Peters, “Naturally, we spent the rest of the evening passing around my laptop and slowly adding to a tour theme park. This was straight up to before we were meant to go on stage – there were [literally] vocal warm-ups [happening] on one side of the table, and a group of devout RollerCoaster Tycoon fans on the other…”
Getting far too into a game before a gig is an affliction that Blackpool rock titans Boston Manor definitely share: “Last tour we gaffer taped a Nintendo Switch to the headrest of the drivers seat and spent three hours laughing and screaming at each other trying to complete [co-op platformer] Pico Park! We may have all lost our voices before soundcheck…” vocalist Henry Cox confesses.
Escaping Walmart’s parking lot
As long nights in cramped vans begin to take their toll, video games also offer a welcome dose of escapism. “Gaming has always been important to me, “ says Movements’ Spencer York. “As a younger, smaller band, years ago when things were much harder, I looked forward to getting out of the cramped van to set up my little gaming station so I could try and forget that the venue didn’t have a shower. We aren’t sleeping in Walmart parking lots these days, so it’s a bit less triumphant when I break out the games, but there’s always something [to play] in my bag.”
“Doing really long drives across Europe last year was an amazing experience, but some of those drives were crazy-long,” agrees Craig Glynn, bassist for nu-metal revivalists Knife Bride. “I really got stuck into The Legend of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild and it made those drives fly by. ”
Gotta catch ‘em all on the road
Continuing to stir the “games are true hardcore” pot is Birmingham metalcore outfit, Cauldron. “My favourite gaming-related tour memory is one time where all of us ran across Newcastle full sprint to do a Kyogre raid in Pokémon Go. We got there out of breath and worn out, lost the raid and then had to walk slowly back to the venue, dejected and silent. We didn’t talk to each other the entire walk back.”
Ironically, colourful, family-friendly games seem to be a constant in the world of brutal breakdowns, as attested by Essex hardcore posse, Grove Street. “The boys’ snoring [is] pretty lethal late at night, so chucking some headphones on in my bunk and playing Super Mario Odyssey or Cuphead on the Switch to pass the time is a godsend!”
“My favourite gaming tour bus memory would probably be lugging my GameCube on our first ever bandwagon tour and kicking everyone’s ass at Mario Strikers” recalls Brandon Blakeley, guitarist of Michigan emo revivalists Hot Mulligan. “As a close second, there was the time when I lost my phone in Australia and spent the entire flight home playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. I felt like I was lucid dreaming as [protagonist] Tommy Vercetti.”
Getting away to Hyrule
“I think playing video games [on tour] provides an escape from the details,” says Nashville-based singer/songwriter, Nate Bergman, “All day long you’re on real-life quests, like in Zelda. Where to poop? Where to get great coffee? Where to find another place to poop after coffee? I think having that other world to escape into is beautiful. ”
“I think we all use games to escape in different ways,“ agrees Peters from Bears In Trees. “Touring is already a frantic way to live, so it’s nice to forget about it for an hour or so and do something that brings you home comfort.”
No matter how much bands relish being out on the road, after weeks on end, even the most extroverted rockstar craves a little alone time. “Being on tour is my favourite thing to do,“ Knife Bride’s Glynn explains. “I love playing shows and meeting new people, but after a while my social battery takes a bit of a dive. It’s good to have that thing where I can just get lost for a bit, either on my own or with my band mates. There’s only so many motorways and service stations that you can look at before you go a bit crazy!”