Top 5 tour bus pastimes

Gossip
 
Olympia, WA’s Gossip have travelled the world for over a decade, spreading their powerful dance-punk sound far and wide. Ahead of their Montreal gig this weekend (in support of their latest record, Joyful Noise), singer Beth Ditto provided Cult MTL with a list of ways she makes time fly between shows. —Lorraine Carpenter
 
TOP 5 TOUR BUS PASTIMES:

1. Inside jokes. Self explanatory, and easily the No. 1 best part of touring!

2. Group TV. On one of our earliest bus tours in Europe, it was the first season of Rock of Love. We got SO OBSESSED with it!! We would gather around a tiny laptop screen to watch episodes — the bus was kind of crappy and there wasn’t a really functional TV. We got so heavily into it that at one of the hotels we were staying at, we got them to let us use a conference room and a video projector to watch it! Nowadays it’s basically nonstop Family Guy.

3. Solitaire. On my phone. For hours.

4. Win, Lose or Draw. So much fun! We make up our own stuff for the other team to draw. We’ve played this on the walls of dressing room trailers, on napkins and once on someone’s T-shirt when we ran out of paper on the bus! Best moments: when someone guessed Rick Astley when the drawing was Rick Moranis (I’ll let you imagine what the confusing part of the drawing was with ASStley and MorANIS), and Nathan guessing my drawing of Methuselah after literally two marker strokes.

5. Chilling. Yeah, we’re not major ragers on the bus. It’s mainly for sleeping and relaxing. ■

Catch a well-rested Gossip, supported by Magic Mouth, at Olympia (1004 Ste-Catherine E.) on Sunday, Sept. 30, 8 p.m., $25/$28