How to Green Your Band's Tour with The Steps

Chill Out, National Wildlife Federation's annual competition, is the nation's only campus competition to promote sustainability and honor student & faculty efforts to reduce our carbon footprint. On April 15, Chill Out celebrated the leadership of the eight winning colleges & universities in an online broadcast featuring environmental visionaries and advocates from higher learning and the entertainment industry. THE STEPS are: Will Thompson (vocals and guitar), Sam Thompson (lead guitar), Stephen Ross (bass), and Z Lynch (drums). Their original music was featured in Chill Out's online broadcast on April 15 and in public service announcements shown on Discovery's Planet Green.

Touring green is rock 'n roll. Ignoring climate change is for washed up musicians like rocker turned wingnut Ted Nugent. Now, forward thinking rock bands are too smart to forsake the environment—new acts like Cloud Cult are both making strides forging into new musical territory and blazing new trails on the green front.

Austin's the Steps are one such green leaning band—and they've kindly allowed themselves to be guinea pigs in what I like to call the great green rock tour experiment. By taking pointers from their most recent tour, we can get a pretty good idea of how a green tour is done.

1. Ditch the Tour Bus
   Instead of going the clichéd tour bus route, cram your band mates and your gear into a minivan. Chances are, being a struggling art rock band, a hybrid's out of the question. Carpooling is the next best thing.


2. Drink Local, Organic
   As an aspiring rock star, you will most certainly be doing some drinking?otherwise, you're just doing it wrong. When you hit the bars after the show, drink beer from the tap—locally brewed if possible. And tell your drummer to stop ordering Cosmos while you're at. In the morning, beat the hangover blues with local, organic coffee or tea.


3. Take Green Pit Stops
   Even rock stars need some "me" time. Make it green, and kill two birds with one stone. Stop and those signs marked "Scenic Vista" on the road and soak in the pretty, wander around the green areas of college campuses you play, and take some time to check hiking trails if you've got the time. Then write a folksy ballad about Mother Nature or lost love.


4. Reuse Materials for Rocking
   Don't waste your time on buying conventional equipment or instrument cleaning materials. That's lame. Ask restaurants you stop in on the road for olive oil to shine your guitar. Or just sneak some. Guitar picks cluttering up the place? Reuse them too. And (get your gear used) if you need to replace it en route.


5. Mooch Off Colleges, Greenly
   As a relatively unknown band on the road, you're probably going to be playing some colleges. The stadiums are for Jimmy Buffet and U2 anyways. So played. Poke around the colleges you drop by?some have intriguing green benefits for the road-stricken rock band. Warren Wilson College, for instance, provides vegetables from its greenhouse and boasts a vegetarian café.

More on eco-friendly music:

7 Tips For a Greener Tour

Green Your Music Performances by Playing Unplugged in the Street

Make Sure Your Next Guitar Is Green