The two US tours Pipedown did last year were in a van, and both times the fucking thing broke down. During the first tour we broke down in Arizona and coasted into a gas station. The mechanic there said it was a battery problem and replaced the battery. We were off again until after driving for a half hour it broke down again 
in the middle of nowhere. We had the van towed to Shalon's mom's house in Phoenix and she took us to an auto parts place where the guy who worked there told us what we had was normally a alternator problem. We bought the part and fixed it ourselves, but at the expense of missing a show where Anti-Flag & Thrice said had the most people out of any show on the tour.
On the second tour the van broke down on the way out to do an East Coast tour with Anti-Flag again and Bouncing Souls. It happened in Wyoming and the whole engine had to be replaced. We had to rent two vehicles, one to put all our equipment, merch and luggage into since Enterprise didn't have anything with a trailer hitch and another to hold four other people because after the first one was packed it could only hold two. Anti-Flag helped us with saving money by letting us leave the second vehicle in Pittsburgh and half of us could ride in the RV with them. Still, it cost us a shitload to have both those cars for three weeks and the van repaired.
Why am I talking about this? Because I just spent the whole day with my bandmates working on the NEW tour vehicle. We took out a loan and bought this big black airport shuttlebus-looking thing from this golf club company rep who had used it for her mobile office. We tore out her desk and built bunk beds three high on both sides. It also came with a fridge, a satellite TV with a PS2 hooked up and a diesel engine checked out by a mechanic with no problems. I can't wait for summer....
in the middle of nowhere. We had the van towed to Shalon's mom's house in Phoenix and she took us to an auto parts place where the guy who worked there told us what we had was normally a alternator problem. We bought the part and fixed it ourselves, but at the expense of missing a show where Anti-Flag & Thrice said had the most people out of any show on the tour.
On the second tour the van broke down on the way out to do an East Coast tour with Anti-Flag again and Bouncing Souls. It happened in Wyoming and the whole engine had to be replaced. We had to rent two vehicles, one to put all our equipment, merch and luggage into since Enterprise didn't have anything with a trailer hitch and another to hold four other people because after the first one was packed it could only hold two. Anti-Flag helped us with saving money by letting us leave the second vehicle in Pittsburgh and half of us could ride in the RV with them. Still, it cost us a shitload to have both those cars for three weeks and the van repaired.
Why am I talking about this? Because I just spent the whole day with my bandmates working on the NEW tour vehicle. We took out a loan and bought this big black airport shuttlebus-looking thing from this golf club company rep who had used it for her mobile office. We tore out her desk and built bunk beds three high on both sides. It also came with a fridge, a satellite TV with a PS2 hooked up and a diesel engine checked out by a mechanic with no problems. I can't wait for summer....
xo ramona