Bus Call (2019–…): Season 1, Episode 2 - Repeat After Me - full transcript

Good morning

Hey hey

We just loaded in,
in the fastest we've ever loaded in

and it's gonna be a good day man.

This is the kickoff of the
Egomaniac Tour headlining run

and somehow we pulled off this
headlining slot on a Friday night

the first day of the festival.

It's the small stage of
the festival but still

Great slot, great stage. Yeah

Yeah I'm nervous as fuck.

This is the first show that
we're trying out production



We ran the set once in
production rehearsal so..

We'll see if it goes off.
There are going to be issues no doubt

Go through Dylan's set up
in between Dylan and Joey

Don't go behind backline.

Geron, I just lost my ears.

Check 1, hey. Still don't have ears.

Crowd: "Come on just play!"

Crowd: "drum solo!", "Accordion solo!"

Jesse and I don't have ears.

Anyway, while they try
to figure this shit out.

I don't know if my mic is coming though.
Can you guys hear me?

We are KONGOS, we just released a
new album. It's called Egomaniac.

This situation is hurting our
egos pretty bad right now.

Crowd: "We still love
you", "we believe in you."



There we go I got it...

I don't have vocal though... Fuck me

That was a request.

Ok, we're going to play this song
even though we can't hear ourselves.

Let's make it work.

I'm so fucking sick of technical bullshit.

We spend our fucking lives
worrying about technical bullshit.

What a way to start the
fucking Egomaniac Tour.

In front of a fucking huge,
packed crowd that's actually into it.

Yeah.

Whatever we need to do
in Santa Cruz be set up

and actually I think run the
whole set beforehand or something.

Hey

What's up?

If you guys want to talk
about it let me know.

Yeah, come on in.

Geron, I can see your tail,
dude you can take it out. Don't worry.

It's down there somewhere.

During the show what happened was
I lost like half of my patching.

All of the vocals and all of the tracks and
like a couple other little, small things

disappeared from my patch list.

Let's see if we can recreate it.

On Santa Cruz I will be
testing the shit out of it.

So I don't know guys.

Can we blame Mo anyway?

I need to get back to
stage to get out of here

Love you guys.

See you Geron.

What a fucking wasted opportunity.

Shit happens...

Shit that who knows whose fault it is.

If it's anybody's fault.

After a disappointing first show the band is
scheduled to play a corporate event the next day.

They head to Catalina
Island on a helicopter.

Contrary to some notions in our society massage
therapy is a healing art, not a sexual service

I'm a little bit bummed about that.

It's an unusual gig, but the fee is significant
and will help fund a large portion of the

production and transport costs
for the remainder of the tour.

Money money money money....money

No Chandon no band on, mate.

No Moet, no show-y

With the festival and corporate shows done

the real routine of the bus tour begins.

I'm Tony Para and I'm the bus driver

This is at least my fifth
tour with the KONGOS

Probably started about three years
ago doing their first real bus tour

The twenty nine thousand pounds of gear
in this truck will be loaded in 30 times.

There will be 30 setups, 30 sound checks,

30 acoustic performances, meet-and-greets,

changeovers, shows, tear-downs, load-outs

and 30 bus calls on this 10,000 mile tour.

This is day one.

I like it. I mean I enjoy it.
I enjoy being out with the bands

and being around the creative people

seeing the country you know.

I've definitely seen a lot.

I've been to every state except for Alaska,

I've been to every province
except the Maritimes

Multiple multiple times

I've driven every highway,
every back road you know

Whether I wanted to or not you know

I get a desk!

That fucking thing
weighs a thousand pounds.

The stage is a little smaller than what we
were I guess spec'd out for for the light show

show so they're gonna cut lights down

so instead of three screens,
they're going to do two.

It's gonna be cramped up there today

especially for the support band, but it
looks like the guys are making it work.

How are you feeling?

I'm okay. I'll get panicked if
things don't come together in time

After load-in and setup, everyone digs in to try
to figure out what went wrong in Las Vegas.

Since they could not bring the
production truck to Catalina

This is the first opportunity they have
to address the issues with the equipment

Trying to get the last bit of video setup for
some of the songs Danny was still working on.

Just leave it going now till the verse

There are only a few hours
to troubleshoot soundcheck

and get the support act on
stage for their soundcheck

Before the band's pre-show acoustic
event for VIP ticket holders.

Mo: let's meet after the show

Jason to G

We are ready to fire. Fire at will.

Danny: I'm going to go now, I need time.

Despite the time constraints

the band and crew are able
to work out the technical

kinks and put on a seamless
performance much to everyone's relief.

Right now we travel on a 12 bunk bus.

It's a 52 foot I think..

Right Mic?

How long is the bus?

00:11:23,901 --> 00:11:25,299
45. Alright

Everyone exaggerates.
Every guy exaggerates a little bit.

So the driver's up here.

This is the driver's seat.

Next chamber is like a common area.

Invariably everybody after
the show ends up in here

because we'll have after show
food or a drink or whatever.

Front lounge where we've got lots of dudes.

Kitchenette area which
is never tidy on this bus

'Cause we got a lot of people with all
their fancy fucking coffee contraptions.

Refrigerator

toilet

No solids in the toilet

Even toilet paper.

Next chamber sliding door

is sleeping quarters so there's 12 bunks.

Three aside. Top, middle, bottom.

It's very dark.
They're like little pods almost

You kind of sit in your
weird, little, dark pod.

Each person gets a drawer

Junk bunk on the top.
That's where people throw their backpacks.

And then back lounge

Another TV

This is the more quiet
lounge where people chill.

What it really is is 12 dudes sleeping
in bunk beds... Sharing one toilet

With the tour in full swing

everyone settles into
the rhythm of tour life

each day follows a similar schedule.

The bus and production truck arrive
at the venue around 11:00 a.m.

The crew begins to unload the
truck with help from a local crew.

They load into the venue

set up gear and lights

Tyler, good load-in?

Oh yeah.

Everyday's a good load-in
with you here buddy

Mic and Tyler fine-tune their systems

for the specific venue and space.

KONGOS attends to ban business which
often includes calls with their team,

interviews, and radio visits.

Photographer: Fantastic, I don't know
if you want to do any peace signs?

Danny: No, I hate peace.

Photographer: Jumping?

Danny: No jumping, never any jumping.
We're the no jumping band

Everyone finds a moment
for lunch at some point

Mo, What you got?

Grape Crush, Philly cheese-steak with uh..

Fucking broccoli on top

Soundcheck is usually around 3 p.m.

Mo greets VIP guests at around 4pm or 5pm

KONGOS performs an acoustic
set for the VIP guests.

and does a meet and greet

They have a few hours of downtime

Come on. Push harder.
Push harder. Push harder

Do you want the muscles?
You want the muscles?

The support act goes on at around 7:30pm.

The crew changes over
the stage at about 8:30pm

The band goes on at 9:00pm

The show ends around 10:30pm

and there's another VIP meet and greet.

We're just gonna take pictures

That's it.

If you want something signed
Jason is actually coming up with

your totes with you know the special ticket

Holographic? Holographic..

Hologram ticket.

It's a cool ticket

While KONGOS finishes with the VIP guests

The crew tears down the stage
and loads back into the truck

They have an hour or two before bus call

Which is usually around 1am or 2am

The bus leaves and drives to the next venue

and they start all over again

We're about to go live

Where's the fucking whiskey at?

There's that whole bottle

I think we should put it in its own bunk

Whiskey's got it's own bunk?

That's fucking lucky

The whiskey bunk

There are no weekdays or weekends on tour

There are only show days and off days

and after five shows in a row

everyone gets a break.

Joey got this really
great idea to go on a hike

Yeah, it's like 12,000 feet straight up

What are we doing right now?

Oh we're quitting. Yeah, we're giving up.

Fuck you guys

We're giving up.

Depending on the routing of the tour

You could end up in a big city,

The countryside

or isolated in a small town

Hello Marlow

Hello

Oh cute

I thought it was just our
room that smells like farts.

This whole fucking town smell like farts

We're in Hays, Kansas.

Hey

I'm in heaven

Look at this girls

Look who's snuggling up with Dylan Kongos

Me

When do you ever sleep Tony?

I sleep in from hopefully from 4 p.m.
to about 12pm

Depending on if there's kids playing

in the pool outside the hotel room or a

hockey team or maids cleaning

I try to sleep in between

Here's the first actual signature

authorized signature

Here we go guys. This is the KONGOS LLC one

Dad: Does it concern you
at all that Craig called it

the "Execution Copy"

Oh wow, I just actually watched
Johnny's soul leave his body.

Final signature. Final signature

eh, I'm not really feeling it

10 years overnight success.

Okay cheers guys

Philadelphia marks the halfway
point of the Egomaniac Tour

Earlier that day

KONGOS learned some bad news

After the band had spent months
planning, promoting,

and making radio visits to
set up the second single

the song called the World Would Run Better

This is KONGOS, live on Radio 104.5

The record label changed their minds and
decided not to support the radio campaign

This is two months after
we picked a single and they

were supposed to be setting up the song

we get word that they're just not gonna

do a radio campaign

The band's manager flew in from Los
Angeles to discuss the situation

we can't take a six-month hum and haw

period on a song and then decide to pull

the plug in the middle of a tour when we've

already being fucking doing
acoustic shit all tour,

We've been going to the radio
stations we've had to go to

It makes us look inept in our campaign

I said you've been telling
me everything's going well

I report back to the band

every time you tell me something

and now you're telling
me we have a problem?

Why did it take you this
long to tell me this?

Does it not cross his mind that

it's gonna be harmful to the
band on the second single

where our first single

went to number 7 or 8 that we
just don't have a second single?

I think does.
I think it does raise that question.

I said the is the add-date pulled?
He goes "for now".

I said well what are we doing?

If the song is a flop,
who the fuck even knows?

Nobody knows

Only radio people

So then let's release the song!

If we don't do something
in the next week or two...

the album is completely dead

We have already been
suffocated by this label.

It's killed the process of

everything for us and
we've lost energy in it.

Judging by everyone's opinion,

We don't want to be on the label anymore.

The band is only three weeks into the

North American leg of the tour

By pulling the support
for the radio campaign,

the record label is effectively

ending all active promotion of this album.

Despite this, the band and crew will

continue with the remaining six months

of the touring commitments around the world

What's up with the freeways?

They fucking suck!

Montreal is killing me right now.

Every ramp we're supposed
to get off is closed

Like I think the on that..

Fuck!

I think this one is closed too!

We're trying to get over there.

It's what we're shooting for

Let's see where this takes us

Tour can feel like a hypnosis

locked in a cycle of
recurrence doing the same thing

over and over again in a
different theater everyday.

Over the weeks and months

the show gets tight.

You become prepared for
the sudden unforeseen

circumstances and inevitable setbacks

Each day you strive for the perfect show

whether it's for 10 or 10,000 people

During your brief time
in each little world,

you hope to make one less mistake

than the last time around

You don't mark your time in hours

You mark it in events, load-in, soundcheck,

doors, changeover, showtime,

load-out, bus call.

Next time on Bus Call

We have to make a big push now.

If not now, then we're going to disappear

into obscurity once the last person
forgets about Come With Me Now

What is going hard at radio mean?

What does it mean?

Because it sounds like a
bullshit statement to me.

That is fucking salt on a wound.

I've expressed my opinion

Put it to a fucking vote

Where are we right now, Jason?

In a fucking whole in the
ground in I don't know

Albuquerque?