Chris Isaak Talks About His Life on the Road Road Trips

Chris Isaak' s Life Is a Road Trip

While touring the country and the world this is how the rocker rolls

Courtesy Chris Isaak "People say their bands are like a family," says singer Chris Isaak, "but we’ve been traveling for 30 years. How many families can do that?" No one travels more than my band and I. Once, I was talking to my drummer, Kenney Dale Johnson, and I said, “You’d have to be really wealthy to travel as much as we do. And if you’re really wealthy, you wouldn’t travel to all the places we go.” The rich and famous head to Paris or for a month; we go everyplace — Poughkeepsie, then Hackensack, then . Salesmen travel a lot, but they visit the same places over and over again. We go anywhere they’ll ask us. Paris is great, but I’m a big believer in the small places that can surprise you, and getting off the main highway to see them. When I started touring the world, I bought my luggage from a junk store. My suitcase was basically a big briefcase made out of the kind of yellow tweed on an old Fender Twin amp. I’d cram everything I needed in there for a month touring Europe: a pair of jeans, a few T-shirts, a leather jacket and one thin ’30s-looking Panama suit with a tie. That was all I ever packed or wore until my second time through Paris. I was doing a photo session, and this fancy photographer pleaded with me in broken English: “Please, Mr. Isaak, don’t you have anything else?” He showed me a photo of me wearing the same thing the last time he had to take my picture. These days lots of people want to stop and take a selfie with you, but that’s good because it gives me a reason to comb my hair in the morning. Of course, I am going out on the road again this summer, and I still look forward to it so much. I’ve got a great home that I’ve worked hard to pay for, but I love my life on the road. People think in my time off I’m somewhere in Florida relaxing in a hot tub, but I’m in the gym getting in shape for the road or I’m home practicing guitar. I am the worst musician in the band, so I have to work harder. People say their bands are like a family, but we’ve been traveling for 30 years. How many families can do that? When you travel with someone, you’re either going to learn to love them or to despise them. You see how they are under tension, when they’re tired, and can they make a plan and keep it? I still love my band. I’d take them into battle in the jungle, and I pretty much have. When Kenney got sick a few years back and missed a tour, it hit me very hard. I realize now I’d spent more time with him than anyone else on earth. And that just makes the whole journey that much more meaningful. Courtesy Chris Isaak On the road again: Isaak in front of the John T. Floore Country Store in Helotes, Texas.

Tour Stops

Hotels We’re usually in hotels for only a day or two, so I’d rather take a chance on someplace unique. I remember one hotel on the East Coast had the General Jacob L. Devers Suite, with books and articles about him all over the place. I loved it. Another place had a George “Goober” Lindsey Suite, named after the guy from The Andy Griffith Show. Come on, what kind of monster wouldn’t want to stay in the “Goober” Suite?
Restaurants
A lot of people like to eat in chains because it makes them feel safe. But if you really want to feel safe, stay home. Being in a band, we don’t really need a guidebook or social media. We just talk to our fans. I’ll say, “We’re new in town. Where’s a good place to catch a meal?” I don’t believe in going down to the front desk at a hotel and asking, “Where’s good to eat?” Because that’s like asking, “So who’s giving you a kickback?”
—As told to David Wild

More on Travel

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