Four Pittsburgh musicians just took a month-plus, 7,000-mile tour, playing in bars and cafes from Chicago to Seattle to Los Angeles to St. Louis, and here’s what they paid for lodging.
Nada. Zip. Squatola.
That’s no bull. That’s Ferdinand the Bull, a Pittsburgh folk group that just couch-surfed across our continent and back.
I’ve had friends who have made at least part of their living as touring musicians, so I’ve long understood the profit margins are generally as tight as the sleeping arrangements. Four sweaty guys in a well-worn vehicle — that much hasn’t changed. But couch surfing allowed these folk musicians to — dare I say it? — make money.
The term “couch-surfing” isn’t even as old as these musicians, none of whom have blown out more than 23 candles on a birthday cake, but it’s routine to thousands of travelers across the world. Couch-surfing essentially means bumming someone else’s couch, or maybe the floor or the backyard, rather than paying for a hotel.
There’s an app for it because there’s an app for everything. When I punched “Pittsburgh, Pa” into couchsurfing.com, it claimed more than 7,000 local hosts. If this band’s experience is any test, most are affable conversationalists who like to travel themselves.
I met Bryce Rabideau, 23, Ferdinand’s mandolin player, and Ross Antonich, 22, who plays a box drum known in Peru as a cajon, at a South Side coffee shop to talk about it. Both are products of Duquesne University’s music program. Nick Snyder, the guitar player and lead singer, and Evan Altieri, banjo player, both 22 and recent University of Pittsburgh grads, couldn’t make it but I called them later.
Mr. Snyder said he started planning this 18-city tour late last year, and he told his bandmates to be prepared to sleep every night in his 2007 Jeep Compass if they couldn’t make other arrangements. This provided one of the few known incentives to ask, “Anyone know anyone in Fargo, N.D.?” The road ahead looked bleak.
Then a friend told Mr. Snyder he could hop across the country in the homes of complete strangers. This guy had crossed Europe that way, but it sounded pretty risky to Mr. Snyder.
Their fears were allayed on their very first surf in Madison, Wis. They’d played Moe’s Tavern in Chicago the night before and stayed with a friend there, and when they walked into the home in Madison, they found a houseful of engineers watching ‘‘Game of Thrones.” Soon enough, the band was sampling these guys’ home brew.
“It doesn’t get any better than this,” as they use to say in old beer commercials, only this porter tasted way better than Old Milwaukee.
The trip went on and the Couchsurfing reviews were rave:
“The band from Pittsburgh called Ferdinand the Bull stayed with me! It was a blast. They started by cracking me up ... then played a fun show at a local brewery.” — Kelly of Spokane, Wash.
“I had to work in the morning so I left them sleeping. ...Was pleasantly surprised by a folded pile of blankets and a thank you note.” — Amie of Fargo.
They had a two-man tent that they broke out three times, the other two men sleeping in the Jeep. The entire trip, which took in the Grand Canyon and other national parks, ‘’was the most fun I’ve ever had,” Mr. Altieri said. Mr. Rabideau said it renewed his faith in humanity.
They did well with their music, too. Mr. Rabideau and Mr. Antonich said their gig in Corvallis, Ore., home of Oregon State University, inspired non-stop dancing.
“I definitely had like straight goosebumps for two hours,” Mr. Antonich said.
They came away with homemade music videos recorded in California’s Redwood National Park and North Dakota’s Badlands, and there was only one host who wanted to talk too long when they cherished sleep after driving through the night.
Ferdinand the Bull will play at WYEP’s Local 913 happy hour at 7 p.m. Thursday and will open for Josh Ritter & The Royal City Band at Hartwood Acres on July 24, with local engagements in between. In August, the band plans to travel New England and the South. “We drive a lot,” said Mr. Snyder.
They just don’t intend to pay to sleep anymore if they can help it. Surf’s up.
Brian O’Neill: boneill@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1947
First Published: June 15, 2016, 4:00 a.m.
