Welcome to Florida: Nine Days in a Van

Photography by Leo Lobo @Lsquaredpics

Welcome to Florida, a two-act tour featuring indie artist Ian Frandsen and rapper TC Silk, was first announced on January 1st. I had heard whispers about it a few months prior when TC posted asking about venues he could play at, and I swiped up to get all the details. We both followed each other on socials, as we had interacted at a few local events in West Palm Beach, our hometown. It was really us being at the same place and time, him performing and me taking a few photos, but that was the extent of it. We had never really truly worked with each other. When it got announced, I knew I had to at least give it a shot. I sent over a cold DM asking if I could come along on the tour; I probably sounded a little pathetic, but it basically said I’ll run merch/doors, I’ll sleep on the floor, I’ll do anything you guys need, please let me come along. To my surprise, he said yes. Fast forward exactly a month from that DM, and here I am sitting down writing about the best and most inspiring week of my life. (This is a sign to send the message.)

The trip all around was 9 days and 7 shows, and like I mentioned, I had only talked to TC a few times, and the rest of the guys in the van I had never even heard of. Naturally, I was a little bit anxious about being in such close proximity with these random people for a week. I did interviews with everyone post-tour, and everyone let me know they were all feeling the same exact way. I have always heard the story that the people you're on the road with become your second family, and after scrapes to our van, traveling and playing shows across the state, sleeping on each other's couches, and generally goofing off for a week, I can confidently say that these dudes turned into my family.

Photography by Leo Lobo @Lsquared pics

TC Silk is from South Florida, and it shines through in his music. It’s a fusion of hip-hop, rap, and reggae, and his stage performance is big, freaky, and one of the most entertaining things I have ever seen. If there’s anything I’ve learned about him over the week, it’s that once he is in the room, everyone is moving. One of his signature songs, Rock the Boat, literally gets everyone's hips rocking so hard that I was scared to hear some popping throughout the week. TC has performed over 100 times in his life, and his confidence shows on stage. Whether we had a crowd of 5 or 50, he turned little dive bars into stadiums.

Ian Frandsen is a solo act coming out of Panama City. For the tour, he brought his close friends and very talented musicians along to make up the band, with the bassist coming up from South Florida to fill in. Even with the band coming together and performing the set all the way through for the first time on opening night, they are an insane act. I asked them about their practice process, and they said that while they have spent months practicing the set, nothing prepares you for the crowd. Logan, the guitarist for the band, said that it was less about learning the songs and more about getting the vibe and feeling it out, and once you're out with the crowd, the adrenaline carries you through like nothing else. I can verify that they ride that energy till the last beat.

Out of everyone in the gang, only two people had been on a tour before, so this was pretty new to everyone here. When I asked TC if his years of experience prepared him enough for a week straight of playing, he replied that while he felt good with his performance, there are only some things you can learn about yourself and how you want to perform by being on the road and seeing it happen. That was the attitude everyone really had about the week. There is no better way to go about it than to go out there and do it. There are things that could have been done differently, but one of my personal favorite sayings is that everything happens for a reason, and everything we learned on this tour will take everyone to bigger and better places.

Not only was it TC’s first tour, he was the one who did all of the booking. If you don’t know anything about the backend side of shows and gigging, usually a show gets put on through a promoter, someone with connections who takes care of booking talent, doors, selling tickets, and getting the word out about the show. With that, they take a cut of the profit. Wes, the drummer for Ian’s band, compared this tour with previous ones he's been on, and while it was the most DIY one he's experienced, it was the most fun and freedom he’s had on a tour. The fact that there was no promoter to worry about possibly being shady or having to worry too hard about timing added to the more stress-free energy. With no one to offload some of the tasks onto, it can be a lot. Don’t be fooled, there were stressful moments, like when we pulled up to Tallahassee and hit the top of the van into the overhang of a Motel 6 (sorry, but we collectively agreed the city lived up to the name Tallynasty). Chaotic moments like that brought us closer and taught everyone a bit of perseverance.

When preparing to go on the road, you can read all the articles and watch every video and TikTok, but you will never be as ready as you would like. To try to help anyone interested in life on the road, I asked everyone for one piece of advice they wished they had heard before they left. TC and Ian both said that making and keeping to an agenda is very under-talked about. There were moments we were goofing off or twiddling our thumbs when we should’ve been prioritizing other things but weren’t even thinking about them. Everyone also agreed how important it is to find little moments to look after your physical well-being. Taking five minutes to stretch before loading into the van between gas stations makes a world of difference. After sitting in the car all day, your brain and body get in a weird spot, and taking that time recenters you. Along with that, warming up on your instrument changes a lot, Wes let me know. Christian, a guitarist for the band, said that finding alone and decompression time, which can be difficult, is needed. When you're sharing a car, hotel, and sometimes bed with someone 24/7, you have to find your own time. Having a good pillow and blanket is a must, and not only should you bring a portable charger, we should’ve brought three of the big camping power banks. Speaking as someone on their laptop for most of the trip, it was a struggle for my electronics to make it through all of the drives and the times when an outlet was not available.

Personally speaking, this tour meant a lot to me. As someone who is FTM, I’ve never really felt comfortable around a group of guys, and they treated me with respect (the bar is low, I know). They made me feel like one of their brothers, which is something I didn’t know if I would ever have. I also grew so much over the week as a photographer and as a person. Shooting the same set for 7 nights is rewarding but challenging at the same time. It’s an honor to learn a set through and through, and it can also be hard to change up the shots night after night. It forced me to learn new techniques and crack down on skills I’ve been struggling with. I’ve memorized my settings like never before. There were moments I wasn’t prepared for and things I overprepared for that weren’t much of an issue. There were times I had to put down the camera and help with merch and doors. I learned about so much music equipment when helping everyone load in and out and from hanging with these music nerds for a week. Even with everything that happened, I wouldn’t have changed a single moment of it. Seeing a tour happen start to finish was a lesson in itself, and I know we are taking everything with us to our next projects.

At the end of the day, every one of us is forever grateful for this opportunity. It was said during my conversation with them that they all understood they were living people's dreams. A general piece of advice: embrace it and be open-minded for anything on the road. A lot can and will happen, so make sure to slow down in all of the craziness and enjoy it.