Grace Enger - BUS INVADERS Ep. 2038

Hi, I'm Grace Enger and this is my van. We're out here on the It's So Fun Tour promoting my new EP, The Alchemist, and today we're in Chicago. I sold out Shuba's just down the block and I'm so excited to show you around. So here is the driver's seat. I haven't been driving, but my tour manager, Justice, this is her loyal position. We have some fun stuffed animals that I won an arcade, one of those claw games at an arcade in Bellingham, Washington, which is super fun. We have the Hello Kitty and these like three little, oh actually a fan gave this to me. We've gotten some really cute fan gifts and letters on the tour. So there's a box of them, I think back here somewhere, but usually I'm either shotgun or Michael, the front of house, is shotgun. I like sitting up here because there's a little bit more room and I get to like cross my legs and do some work on my computer or watch shows on my computer, or Michael because he's the tallest. So that is the most, he makes the most logical sense, you know, I gotta give it to him. So yeah, those are his shoes and his sunglasses and his mug and like everything and probably his hat. I don't know what this is, but I think it's just an instruction manual for the van. During the drive, usually Justice puts her playlists on. It's been a really wide variety of music though. I feel like we do some pop stuff like Sabrina Chapel, but then also I've been listening to Madison Cunningham and last night after the show we were listening to some Michael Jackson, some Prince. We were in Minneapolis, so we were on a big Prince kick last night. But most of the time, usually it kind of goes in waves. Sometimes we're all listening to the same things. After the show we're all kind of like pumped up and hyped, so we're all listening together. But during the days when we're doing like 12 hour, or yeah, when we're doing like eight hour drives, sometimes we're zoning out. Definitely in the back and all listening to our own stuff, but yeah. Welcome. Okay, so back here, this is our box of snacks that we take every night from the green room. We've got some bread for sandwiches, cold brew, coffee is like the main thing on the rider. All of us can't survive without it, so if we don't have that, we have some unhappy campers for sure. This is the box of some, we got some fan gifts in here. This is probably the most notable. It's a book with a fan's cat named Chlamydia. So yeah, it's just her cat. And I just thought that the cover was really awesome, so we kept this one in here. And yeah, we have some sunglasses, some fan projects that I've kept a few of the little notes from, letters. I have this, my fans kind of, me and my fans are kind of obsessed with pickles, so I get lots of pickle merch and pickle stuffed animals on tour. I've received this shirt I think three times now, so by the end of the tour, I'm hoping that each of the crew members gets one. So we'll see. Crossing my fingers for that, but what else? More letters. So a rider is essentially all the food that the venue will give us once we arrive in the green room. So water, number one, that's on the rider. Water, coffee, and seltzer. I'm a beverage person, so I need like three different beverages at all times. In addition to that, we have sandwich stuff, that's why. Some bread, and usually with like turkey, salami, cheese. And then hummus, carrots. I try to keep it decently healthy just so when we get to the venue, at least we're not eating crap. But yeah, there's like fruit too, cut up fruit. But you know, it's also, we're on the road, sometimes you just got to eat some gushers and let it be. But yeah, also beef jerky. That's been a big, we're all fans of some beef jerky. And then also tea and honey. Pretty simple though. Yeah, pretty simple. So there's seven of us in the van. Usually, like I said, I'm either shotgun or I'm sitting right here. In the first row, it's usually one person because this is all filled with stuff. So usually it's me, Michael, or Jake, our opener. That's why you see my running shoes, my heels, my sweater, my water bottle. I'm a very messy person. My hat, it's a children's hat, but I got it somewhere at a gas station. I thought it was cute. And I have a small head, so it kind of fits. But yeah, this is my room. Yeah, this is my room, I would say, most of the time. All this stuff is mine. This is all of the VIP stuff. And also just the fan stuff. So we made these punch cards for people at merch so that the next time they come back to a show, they can get another punch, kind of like when you're at your favorite coffee shop. So everybody gets one of those with merch. And then we do a kind of fun VIP soundcheck experience before the show. And so we have some of the lanyards parts disassembled that we assembled before the show for all the people who come. And besides that, oh, this is just kind of random things. This is some photos with my manager in San Francisco. Yeah, this is the opening night in San Francisco. Apples, Michaels, Zim's. Oh, and another. I got this in Wyoming. This little postcard that I'm going to add to my journal. Well, this actually we bought at the last gas station, but it doesn't work. So that's a little bit unfortunate. There are outlets though, besides kind of all around the van that work. But unfortunately, this will probably be going in the trash. All right. In the second row, usually our photographer, Grace, also Grace, doesn't get too confusing, luckily. But Grace sits here. Then Jake, the opener, sits over there. His running shoes also on the ground with his dirty laundry. Grace is pretty clean though. Honestly, she's left it good. So usually Grace is editing after the shows. And so she's doing photos, videos, all stuff for the next day that we'll use to post on our social media. And Jake is usually either getting very existential in conversation with Michael, or he is plugged in with his headphones, kind of asleep in the corner. Yeah. Let's go to the back row. So this is usually where Sierra and Andrew will sit. Sierra plays the drums and Andrew is my guitarist. Andrew's reading a book on attachment style. This is the second time reading it. And he's teaching us all a lot about it. So it's really fun. I'm trying to make Sierra. Sierra is also usually just against this window asleep. She's more quiet, but is like the glue of the group for sure. So she's usually plugged in with her headphones. Yes. This is a reading light. We're all pretty big readers on this tour. I got gifted The Alchemist, the book. So I just started reading that yesterday. A fan gave that to me, which is super cool. I've been loving that. And yeah, it's a good vibe. We've all gotten really close, even though we were like strangers a month ago. So super fun. And everyone's really funny. And it's been really, you know, for how grueling it might sound to drive across the country twice in a month, they make it really fun. So it's been a really, really great time. Okay. This is the trunk. We've already unloaded most of the gear into the show because the show's in like four hours. But this is what's left. Banned suitcases. They'll probably just wear what they're wearing right now. So it's in there. And some extra merch. It feels, the entire thing is full by the end of the night. We have a like full band, full merch. We also brought charity on the road with us called I Support the Girls that helps distribute pads, tampons, bras to underserved women and non-binary people. So we have their, their poster board and like tripod there. So it really gets super full in the back. Andrew and Michael being the strong men that they are, they're the ones that are, that are loading it most every night. But yeah, everyone kind of helps bring it out here. And then they, they pack it up. Some, sometimes are better than others. Sometimes it's like the Leaning Tower of Pisa where you're like maybe one wrong turn and all of the gears can get broken. But, but sometimes it's like the Great Wall of China and it's like built really steadily, like very sturdy. So that's when I feel the most at ease when it's in a good place. But yeah. Thanks for checking out the van. My name's Grace Enger and you can find me on all social media at Grace Enger. And yeah, go listen to my new EP. The deluxe version just came out. It's called The Alchemist Oh, right here. This is Michael's. This is where he spits out all of his, his little pouches. It's really disgusting.