When people think of musicians and drummers, they often think of chaos, partying, extreme lifestyles and excess. But when things get a little more professional and you’re going down a DIY path, it starts to change. You need to be a little smarter with your resources, more efficient and thoughtful. After my first few tours living the dream and travelling the world, I started to adopt a simpler way to live, and that’s where I started being more of a minimalist. 

Living Life in a Bag

It all started for me when I was touring for months at a time and taking frequent flights to different countries. At first, I would take a pretty excessive amount of shorts, shirts, pants, underwear, and other belongings that I deemed essential. Whether that be books, gadgets, camera accessories and other electronics. Until I realised that hauling all this stuff through airports, backstage areas, and hotels was a genuine pain when you’re doing this every day.

Now, after the first couple of tours, I quickly changed my outlook. Because the flights we took had to include our instruments and merchandise as luggage, our belongings were limited to our backpacks and whatever luggage we did carry had to be easily held by four band members. This was no easy task. It meant I had to refine my setup to the bare essentials and only take what I genuinely needed to survive. 

So what I decided to do was pack a small backpack with the absolute bare essentials, and after a few tours, it got quite refined. The last tour that I played on, I only took one pair of running shorts, a singlet, 2 shirts, a lightweight polyester tracksuit, a hoodie, running shoes and 3-4 pairs of socks and underwear. My accessories would include chargers, cables, my iPhone, MacBook and Kindle, as well as AirPods. Toiletries, I would have a small bag with a toothbrush, soap and shampoo. 

When it came to clothing strategy was to wear the same singlet and shorts every show and rinse or wash immediately after. This was easy because both would dry relatively quickly, and it would save me holding on to dirty washing for a long time. Remember that running shorts have a lining that acts the same as underwear, so I didn’t have to repeatedly wear underwear. Socks were probably the most troublesome as they took a little longer to dry. 

The Luxury of Less

Having fewer items is a lot more liberating than you might think, and this is truly highlighted when you’re travelling around the world. The same thing happened to me when I started solo backpacking around Asia, I noticed that it was pretty taxing having to take big bags full of stuff and consecutive trips. I started taking fewer and fewer items over to these countries.

What made the biggest difference was the strategy of cleaning my clothes every night, and only wearing the same clothes made it incredibly easy to keep light and be able to play shows every night without building up a bag of dirty clothing. Which was something my bandmates had to put up with constantly. I didn’t feel as stressed lugging around bags and heavy backpacks full of stuff, and overall, it made my touring experience way more enjoyable. 

Another advantage is that you don’t have to worry so much about losing items or having to sift through large bags full of stuff you don’t need. It’s not an exaggeration, but when you have less, you feel lighter physically but also mentally. Having a small number of items makes it easier to keep track of everything and organise your life day by day.

Consumerism and Minimalism

After realising that having fewer items made life that little bit easier and simpler, it made me reflect on consumerism and what kind of impact that has on us and society as a whole. We are constantly led to believe that we need more items, we need that next best thing to make us feel better about ourselves. But when touring, I realise how little is needed to enjoy my life and have a great experience. 

In death, we don’t take with us the items that we have, but what is left is the experiences that we have and the people we impact along the way. This is far more important than having that new pair of sneakers or the latest iPhone. It made me soon realise that minimalism wasn’t only about living with next to nothing, it was about realising what matters in your life. When you slowly strip away material possessions, you quickly find out that they’re not as necessary as you might think.

Going Full Circle

Now that I’ve learned these important lessons during my touring experience, I feel like I’ve started to keep this mindset alive in other parts of my life. When I returned home, I sold a lot of unnecessary items, as well as clothing I didn’t wear and drum gear that wasn’t used for a long time. But this doesn’t only stretch out to physical items, things like subscriptions and memberships for me were things that I started to think through more thoroughly. 

Eventually, I got to the point where almost all of my belongings can fit into a small room, just a few boxes, and that’s pretty much it. Because I am overseas so much, there is no longer a need for me to keep vehicles, so I’ve also solthemen and even realised that cars can be borrowed or rented for the most part. While now I have quite a small amount of items, I do think later on down the track I can own more, but right now I’m pretty content. 

Summary

I wouldn’t say I’m a complete minimalist, as the movement is quite large online and stretches into so many aspects when it comes to spending and living. But these ideas have been adopted into my life, and now I’ve seen some benefit. If you’re reading this and thinking of changing your habits, whether that be purchasing or travelling, I would say start slow and see how you feel. At the end of the day, I think this movement isn’t really about having less, it’s about stripping away our attachment to material objects, which in this consumerist society is difficult. So think about what is more important and direct your life towards that. All the best.