Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike Robinson, host and creator of the Food On Tour Podcast.
Mike, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ve been a touring drummer for over ten years now… I’ve played for bands like JOSEPH, The Chain Gang of 1974, morgxn, Empires, and more. During my time on the road, I have developed a list of my favorite places to eat in every city I’ve played and a lot of my touring friends would text me for recommendations. My only question for them was always “what venue are you playing?”.
In May 2019, I was about to start a tour and decided to create an Instagram page so I could start documenting what I was eating. The goal was for this to be sort of a handbook for the touring musician, so they could find great food walking distance from the venue they were playing. It also allowed me to connect with people I didn’t otherwise know. People started messaging me their favorite Thai food in Toronto, favorite ice cream in Indianapolis, favorite deli’s in San Francisco. It became an ongoing conversation of like-minded people who all work in the same industry and are trying to make the most of their days away from home.
To provide a stronger narrative to the Food On Tour followers, a podcast was born. The Food On Tour Podcast focuses on specific cities and the venues that touring musicians have come to find as a home away from home. Eating on the road is such an important and anticipated part of the day. It’s an escape, it’s your chance to get out of the green room or the bus and live a few hours of normalcy amongst locals who are making their way through just another day.
Food On Tour is providing a glimpse inside what can be the best part of any musician’s day, aside from their time on the stage. I don’t go back to Millenium Park every time I’m in Chicago. I don’t go to the Alamo every time I play San Antonio. I go find the best Vietnamese in Houston. I go eat Ethiopian food in DC. I look forward to being in Whataburger territory. I sit at a bar and enjoy 2 for 1 beers and brats in Milwaukee down the street from the venue with my bandmates.
So far, I have had guests on the podcast who are on tour with Maggie Rogers, Best Coast, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Train, X Ambassadors, AJR and so many more.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I, like every other musician, had my schedule completely cleared by the arrival of COVID-19. I’ll admit, I was stressed, frustrated, and mostly just bored. I began resorting to my existing Food On Tour Instagram page as a means to provide some sense of vicarious travel to my followers (mainly musicians, crew, and music fans) through photos of the best food near popular concert venues.
I think the struggle is really what made this whole thing come to life for me. Once the self-isolation period started, I decided to pretend the podcast was my full-time job and just see what happened. It made me more driven and motivated than I have been in a very long time.
I also began realizing the interviews I was doing for the podcast became a huge highlight of the week for me. I was skyping friends, telling stories from tour, hearing about their favorite doner kebab in Berlin, and meeting a ton of new people who wanted to be involved and talk about their favorite food and playing shows in some of their favorite cities.
Please tell us about Food on Tour.
Food On Tour is a podcast about where bands eat and drink on the road. It’s hosted by its creator, producer and editor, me, Mike Robinson… A food-obsessed, professional drummer with over a decade over touring experience. The podcast features exclusive interviews with the artist/band themselves, hired musicians, and touring crew members.
The main goal is to showcase great food within walking distance from venues. Sometimes there’s an occasional uber trip, but typically there is ALWAYS something worthwhile walking distance from a venue.
The podcast has developed into not only finding food near venues, but a platform for musicians to tell stories from playing shows and eating in some of their favorite cities. I feel that food and music, specifically touring, are so strongly connected and I don’t think that’s talked about enough.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
That’s tough… But here’s the first thing that came to mind:
My parents have been friends with these guys back in Akron, OH, where I’m from originally, that have a Beatles tribute band. I’d say they’ve been friends for 20+ years. Anyway, they would come over every now and then just to hang with my family and have dinner. Probably drink wine coolers. I had a really nice drum kit at home that my parents bought me and “The Beatles” were coming over to hang. It was summer so I’m pretty sure the plan was to grill all day, hang on the deck, etc… But the band asked my parents if they could bring their amps over, use my drums, and play some Beatles songs. I’m still not sure if my parents put them up to this or if they were nice enough to offer, but I was OBSESSED, still am, with The Beatles and they asked me, a 12-ish-year-old, to sit in on drums for a handful of songs. I remember thinking I played great, but I’m sure they couldn’t wait to get “Ringo” back behind the kit.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.foodontourpod.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: instagram.com/food.ontour
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/foodontourpod/
- Other: https://apple.co/2WgOp2L
Image Credit:
Mike Robinson, Kyle McCammon, CJ Moy, Dale-Ann Hitzeman, Dana LaMarca, Kristen Markette, Russell Flynn
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