Rock band Taddy Porter offered The Lantern a chance to experience a day in the life of a touring musician on Friday, a la the movie “Almost Famous.”
 

Taddy Porter draws heavily from the classic rock music portrayed in that film. The band developed its southern-rock sound in Stillwater, Okla., where the band attended Oklahoma State University. After gaining popularity at home, the band began touring nationally, playing songs off of its first EP “Monocle.” The band will make its Columbus debut in May when Rock On The Range returns to Crew Stadium in May, by which time the band hopes its first full album will have been released. This is a day in the life of Taddy Porter.

 

4:20 p.m. I arrive in Lima, Ohio, after a harrowing three-and-a-half hour journey from Columbus. What Google Maps deemed a two-hour trip was extended by worsening weather conditions. I witnessed dozens of vehicles stuck hopelessly on the side of the road and I regretted that the band was at The Ohio Theater in Lima as opposed to Columbus’ Ohio Theatre that night.

Tour manager Scott Marsh meets me at the theater’s back door and introduces me to the band. I meet vocalist Andy Brewer and bassist Kevin Jones. Guitarist Joe Selby and Kevin’s brother, drummer Doug Jones, are tinkering with an amp which went out at the band’s show the night before, in Flint, Mich.
 

“It’s very complex stuff,” Scott says looking at the device.
 

Doug looks up from his work and smiles. “We just jiggle everything,” he replies.
 

The group stopped at a Guitar Center in Flint to pick up a replacement for the time being, with intentions to return it within the 30-day period when the former is fixed.
 

5 p.m. So far we have watched as the night’s headliner, Evans Blue, has sound-checked its equipment.

“[Venue owners] call us telling us ‘you’re late’ and what are we doing?” Scott said with a shrug. “Standing around.”
 

The guys start playing a game of pool. I ask Doug if free games are a perk of being a rock star.
 

“Not usually,” he says. “Usually we have to pay for them.”
 

6 p.m. Joe, Kevin and Scott have left to get the amp fixed at a local store and go to Wal-Mart. Andy says that the second errand is for new underwear.
 

“When you’re on the road, you misplace things like that so easily,” he said. “We’re always replacing socks and underwear.”
 

Doug and Andy decide to set up the band’s merchandising table at the front of the venue. The setup consists of a suitcase lined with Christmas lights. Andy displays a homemade sign featuring a Cousin It-looking creature with a monocle and a cigarette holder.
 

“His name is Taddington. He’s an Englishman. He’s sophisticated,” he says of the mascot. “But he smokes. He debaucherizes.”
 

The two find out that food is being served upstairs. A modest feast of ham sandwiches and potato chips has been laid out on the bar. I finally get the opportunity to use the phrase “I’m with the band” and I eat up. Doug and members of Evans Blue disparage the taste of Ballreich’s potato chips, the same brand featured at Ohio State dining services.
 

7 p.m. The rest of the members return and decide to head to the Chinese restaurant down the street. After walking in, the guys take a look at the menu, agree that someone should probably be watching the merchandise table and decide to settle for the cold cuts served at the show. The snow has not let up and they offer to let me share their room at the Motel 6 that night.
 

“We’re sponsored,” Joe said jokingly.
 

7:20 p.m. The doors to the venue have just opened and maybe 10 patrons have entered. Considering that a whopping seven bands are playing that night, things don’t look good. Andy fills me in on the band’s history while we wait.
 

It started pretty simply. Andy was at a party and heard Doug drumming and that was more-or-less it. After adding Joe and Kevin, they chose Taddy Porter as a band name from a beer on a bar’s menu.
 

7:50 p.m. The first band takes the stage and the crowd is still sparse. We find out that the show is the first rock concert in nearly 25 years at the venue. I’m not sure what else happens at the theater; it looks ready for a show. An immense light fixture hangs above the floor, featuring multiple disco balls, dozens of strands of flashing Christmas lights and a color-changing apparatus seemingly stolen from a carnival ride.

9:25 p.m. A case of beer emerges. Joe says that its part of the group’s “rider.” A rider is a list of requests from a band when they arrive at a venue.
 

“We usually ask for a case of beer, a case of water and lunchmeat,” he explains. “Normally we only get the beer and the water.”
 

Andy and Doug are mingling with a group of girls from Dayton who make up the band’s unofficial fan club. The girls presented the guys with a pair of black underwear which read “Shake Me” in rhinestones, a reference to the bands first single.

“They were at our show in Cincinnati and our show in Indianapolis,” Doug said. “We put them on the guest list for this show.”
 

I spoke with one of the girls about their interest in the band. Sarah Smith said she had once driven 20 hours during a week while following the band. They had first seen the band during the group’s tour with Saving Abel.
 

“This is the next big thing in rock,” she said and I asked rhetorically if she thought so. “I know so.”
 

11:20 p.m. The band finally took the stage and shined some truth on Sarah’s words. I had listened to the band’s recorded tracks with mild interest, but their live performance was a blast. Kevin and Andy bounded around the stage and Joe executed exciting solos during each song. Women danced and men threw up the “rock on” horns. After six songs, the band left the stage and was swarmed by new fans.
 

“I’m glad they liked it. I missed like 100 notes,” Kevin said.
 

Andy says, “Most people hear with their eyes.”

2 a.m. I help the band load their equipment into the van and Scott agrees to sign off on my request to count it as internship experience. It turned out Joe wasn’t joking — the band really is sponsored by Motel 6. The chain gave the band 90 vouchers for free rooms as part of the “Rock Yourself to Sleep” promotion. The motel has no vacancy when we arrive, however, and the band decides to spend the night at a girl’s house they met at the show.
 

Although having a sleepover with a rock band sounds completely awesome, I decide my girlfriend would be far less offended to read I slept at a Motel 6 with a band than at a random girl’s house. We exchange farewells and make plans for the weekend of Rock On The Range. As I drove home I considered Bob Seger’s lament on band touring: “Turn the Page.” I contrasted his depressing tale with that of my experiences with Taddy Porter.
 

I have to admit, much of the day’s events were banal. But hanging out with the guys gave me a new appreciation of touring musicians. Think what you will of Taddy Porter’s music, but they are by all means a great group of guys.