00:00So even if you break the window and pull this up, you can't open the door.
00:02There's a little noodle here, there's a little butt pillow here, there's a spine deck here.
00:34Hey, I'm Chris from the band Melt and we're currently on a tour for our album Pathways
00:39in America.
00:40I'm Jamie from Melt and we're going to take you on a tour of the van that we drive in.
00:45Come on in.
00:46So yeah, this is the front seat.
00:47We usually pretty much split the driving pretty well evenly among band and crew members.
00:52I think usually when we're driving, generally the co-pilot will be in charge of the DJ and
00:57music.
00:57Yeah, but it's kind of a decision between the co-pilot and the pilot on what they want
01:01to play.
01:02We have new crew members on this tour, so I think we've been kind of just getting to know
01:06each other's tastes and kind of the staples of our musical interests.
01:10So just kind of going almost like a blast of the past for me just to kind of share where
01:14we're coming from as a band with them and they're kind of showing us what they like.
01:18Yeah, some personal playlists, some radio mixture of maybe a bit of both, I'd say.
01:23Yeah, there's a radio station app that Abby, our sound person, has that's kind of cool
01:27to hear new stuff too.
01:28Yeah, we have a couple custom chargers built in here so that both passenger and driver
01:35can charge simultaneously with dual adapters for USB-C and the old charging type, which
01:40I forgot what it's called.
01:42Lightening.
01:42Lightening.
01:43Yeah, lightening.
01:43We've got a cooler here for snacks.
01:45We don't have much in here today.
01:47That's always ready to go.
01:48This is actually a custom made console in the middle because there's no real cup holders
01:51in this van.
01:52So this can also be extra storage and you can have all the drinks you need at the front.
01:58That's pretty much the front.
01:59Oh, there's this kind of just phone mount up here that I rug in, which is just like a
02:03Noga arm with a phone mount.
02:04So that's kind of a good way to go with that.
02:07Highly effective.
02:09We have these external lock, like additional locks we've got brought in from the UK.
02:14We did a tour in the UK and our rental van had these and we thought it was a really
02:16good
02:17idea.
02:17So it kind of has a little extra level of security, which is a nice touch.
02:20So you can actually just latch this and hold this hard into the door.
02:24So even if you break the window and pull this up, you can't open the door.
02:27And that goes with every door around the whole van, which is kind of a good idea.
02:29So here's the middle section, the passenger section, we've got two rows of three seats
02:35each, which usually means we have a middle seat free with the backpacks there or jackets
02:40or leave it open for extra room for sleeping.
02:43We got extra cup holders in the back there.
02:46We have custom mounted hooks for both jackets and extra baggage.
02:52Lying around, we have each have our own custom or I guess you should say chosen back support.
02:58So there's a little noodle here, there's a little butt pillow here, there's a spine deck
03:03here, individual pillows there, neck pillows.
03:07We have some additional stores for shoes and extra items back there, baggage and whatnot.
03:12We've got a central charging station for everyone in the back.
03:14They get their own USB with dual tips once again.
03:18They're very important.
03:19And we can power like two laptops so you can always be working and doing work while we're
03:23on the road, which is nice.
03:24And Ian has something to show back there on the head of rest.
03:27Yeah, yeah, we got some phone mounts over here too for when you want to just have your
03:31phone like, oh shit, like that.
03:35It's not perfectly in, but for watching TV, movies and you can doze off, we got neck pillows
03:42galore here.
03:43This is a good spot for really dozing off.
03:46That's actually, I haven't tried this yet, it's only a week into this tour, so I haven't
03:50fully tested the capabilities of sleeping, but I think that's the zone right there.
03:55Oh gosh, long drive.
03:57I'd say a funny thing, it would have been interesting if you had seen our old van.
04:02It was a 4250, it was when we were just the four of us, no crew.
04:06Two guys in the front, all of our gear in the middle, and then two guys in the back.
04:11So it's very isolating.
04:12So this time it's actually, we're all together and we actually just kind of chit chat for
04:16a while at the start of a drive day.
04:17And then kind of as the day goes on and we get tired, people put in the air, pause, people
04:22start sleeping.
04:24Yeah, I haven't used this yet, but a couple of guys really go full sensory deprivation
04:29with this.
04:30Earmuff.
04:31I haven't had the pleasure yet.
04:35And then just chill out until it's switching time, and then I might be driving, I might
04:41be in the passenger seat, I might go up there, I might stay.
04:45Yeah.
04:46I don't know, there's pillows, there's a blanket.
04:48I also haven't gone into that yet, I think that's Chris's here.
04:52Yeah.
04:52Chris will really get up on the side there.
04:55Like that.
04:55There's some stuff under here, mostly just like waters from the green room and we got,
05:02oh this is some safety stuff, like if we have to pull over in the night or something,
05:07we got a, what do you call it, the high-vis stuff, which is a nice safety feature.
05:13And this is James' cooler where he's been trying to save some money, oh this might be fun,
05:18let's see what's in here.
05:19It's kind of slimy on the outside, which, oh god, we got mail, we got, this is my first
05:26time looking in the lab, we got tomato, I think, oh we got lettuce, no that's cucumber,
05:32oh we got, there used to be some slimy lettuce, but it looks like he's figuring out that situation.
05:38I'm gonna, I'm gonna leave that, oh no, I'm gonna leave that be.
05:43So this is the back of the van, the storage area where we keep most of the merch.
05:48Um, if you look at it inside, you'll see there's some custom shelving built in, which looks
05:53like bunks.
05:54Um, we haven't used it for that, though I'm not sure if we ever will.
05:59They don't really look like bunks, but sometimes James uses a bunk, uh, I don't know where he
06:03is, I thought he was gonna be in this video.
06:05Yeah, where it was.
06:07Hi guys, welcome to the back of the van.
06:09This is where we keep all the merch and uh, all the gear, stacks right up in here real
06:14nice.
06:16Put things in here, guitars can go in here, lots of room for shirts down here, it's uh, it's
06:21a beautiful system and one we're very, very proud of.
06:24The most fun part of being in a van is loading gear into the van at the end of the
06:28night.
06:28Uh, it requires a lot of Tetris-ing.
06:31Uh, there's a very specific order of things that have to go in, suitcases, amps, merch.
06:38Uh, it's kinda ridiculous that we can fit it all in here, but there is a way and we do
06:42it every single night.
06:43Yeah, so my dad actually kinda custom built this rack.
06:46It's just two off the shelf racks, but we kinda bolted them together and he custom made
06:51it so that the side wood would actually fit the rack width because it was a little short.
06:56And he cut the middle two middle legs and had an extra piece of metal straddle across
07:00so it kinda goes over top of the wheel wells.
07:03So it kinda was like a custom fit to make this off the shelf rack sit in here.
07:07And it's been bolted in so many different places as well as the wall itself.
07:11So the whole wall and rack is kinda just one strong force within the build so it's just
07:16like super solid and doesn't slide around at all.
07:17So it makes it really safe to like keep everything stacked heavy and loaded up full.
07:22We're Melt.
07:23Check out our new album Pathways and come see us on tour.
07:25You can find us at Melt Music on Instagram.
07:27And I hope to see you out there soon.
07:47We'll see you next time.
07:50We'll see you next time.
