Bands Go Sailing, Avoid Gas Prices

May 2, 2006 — -- People across the country have felt their budgets squeezed as gas prices soared to near record highs over the past month. It's been a particular problem for small businesses and consumers who drive extensively for their livelihoods.

The gas gouge has had ripple effects across a wide swath of industries, and has put pressure on a somewhat unlikely band of laborers: musicians.

High gas prices probably don't pressure the big boys like Coldplay or U2, whose multimillion-selling albums and rich record deals ensure luxury travel and accommodations all across the world. But for fledgling and developing midlevel musicians, the expense of traversing the country to play local venues for money and exposure has skyrocketed during the past several months.

Now some are getting creative with their travel plans.

One group of bands has planned a two-week August tour by sailboat, traveling along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, which runs along the East Coast between Cape Cod, Mass., and Miami. The plan was hatched by musicians Red Hunter, lead singer of the indie-rock band Peter and the Wolf, and indie musician Jana Hunter.

"It sort of started as a joke -- we were playing pool and drinking beer and talking about how cool it would be ... but then Jana e-mailed me and told me she thought she'd found a sailboat," said Red Hunter.

The two plan to play 12 to 14 shows on the two-week tour along with Ray Raposa, lead singer of a third band, the Castanets.

Red Hunter puts out music under his own label and drives himself when he tours in the luxury of his Toyota Corolla. He estimates that an average tour up the East Coast, traveling more than 1,000 miles over several weeks to play 10 to 15 venues, would cost him around $900 to $1,000 for gas alone. And that expense has become crushing during the last several months, when gas prices climbed to an average of $2.92 a gallon, about 31 percent higher than the price a year ago ($2.24).

"I did the math for the last several months of touring, and just with the recent gas price hikes it already cost me like $600 to $800 extra for gas," Hunter said. "For someone like me, who is super independent and doesn't have a label, that's a lot of money."