Jason Reece from And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead talks about his top 10 essential for surviving touring...

"On tour, one encounters chaos, boredom, joy, frustration , beauty and the occasional epiphany. As the seasoned haggard ass Henry Rollins might have said "Life is Pain Want to Be Insane". Touring is not for everyone or anyone with a fragile constitution and state of mind. To get by and feel somewhat human, you will need a few things. I myself, have a few suggestions. Here's my sort of top 10 in no order at all..."

Headphones and whatever device suits your fancy

Escape to a wonderous world without war, pain, famine, disease, and Conservative asshats. You will need these to block out the utter shambles of humanity. Essential for travel ...van trips across West Texas, ramshackle Portuguese airports, and to block out the sounds of your band mates wanking off in their bus bunks.

Clean socks and underwear

Boxers, panties, whatever. This will keep you in a positive state. Top of the world. Feeling fresh.

Communicate as much as you can about it all

This is hard for us and we are still learning ...but this is definitely the best way to evolve and stay the course.

Learn to live and let live

It's all so trivial in the end. Whatever happens is for your enlightenment. Pass the Dutchie to the left hand side.

Obstacles are your friends

They will make you resilient. Adversity is a warm companion. Missed flights, police brutality , popped tires, lice ridden hotel rooms, bad truck stop coffee, Nasty NME reviews, broken relationships, heroin addiction, Bath salts, death, Pitchfork media shuns , poverty, shit jobs, hatred from the youngster bloggers and the truthful jab from a jaded ex-fan will only make you stronger ...tough as leather... Old Corinthian leather. Thrive on it and you will win.

Toothbrush

Preferably yours or a new clean one...With all the coffee, vegan tacos, red bull, booze, cigarettes, doner kebabs, and/or genitalia of your choice, believe me when I say you will want to scrub your filthy mouth clean every, at minimum every other day.

Pictures of your loved ones

Some say "absence makes the heart grow fonder" and others live by "out of sight, out of mind"...up to you to decide but as wanking is a popular sport, a photo of a nice ass, especially one belonging to your bandmate's boyfriend doesn't hurt.

A good novel

An inspirational book to make you feels like a vagabond ...to make you feel like a beat poet writer. To make you seem literary, academic, and a pretentious asshole. Get all Ira Glass on that shit Get your Bukowski on. Get your Patrick O'Brian on. Keep your imagination alive.

Our new album

This will make your band infinitely better...enough said.

Have a sense of humor

In life ...on tour... With this stupid ass list of suggestions... Just fuck it... Real good...

…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead release ‘IX’ on October 20th in Europe.

The band play the following UK shows this November:

14 Nov, Glasgow – The Art School
15 Nov, Coventry - Kasbah
16 Nov, Manchester - Ruby Lounge
17 Nov, London - Dingwalls