Recently we said goodbye to our trusty ol’ tour bus, The Knight Train. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get a little blue as I cleaned it out before taking photos and posting it to Craigslist. As I was sorting through all the junk behind the seats; orphaned socks, a gameboy, and unopened packages of ramen noodles, I was overcome by a rush of memories from the last couple of years. I figured, I might as well write some of ’em down now. It feels like that bus played an intimate role in the short but dense history of this band. In many ways, it is a reflection of us as a collective unit… Unique, reliable, and a bit rough around the edges.
Sonny Knight And The Lakers began playing together in March of 2013. At that time I would haul an unchopped Hammond M3 organ from gig to gig in the back of my Honda pickup truck. It worked fine unless the weather was bad. Being that this is Minnesota… yeah… the weather got bad sometimes. It didn’t take long and Sam picked up a chopped A100 and I acquired a Volkswagen Eurovan to move it and other gear with. It worked great because we never left the Twin Cities. As long as I got the organ and my kit in the van, everyone else could get themselves and their gear to and from the gigs with ease.
Our debut album came out in April of 2014, and shortly after we started booking work on the road. At that point we cobbled together a couple thousand dollars from local gigs to purchase a bus. I quickly found a retired shuttle bus from the fleet of the Waseca Transportation project about 90 minutes south of us in Waseca, MN. It was a 2002 Ford E450 Goschen Coach bus that became ours for the price of $2,200. It was faded and dopey looking with the transport company’s name scrawled across the side. It had 17 seats plus an area in the back to strap in a wheel chair. The back door, which is located on the “passengers side” of the bus was complete with a massive wheelchair lift. We were thrilled to have a machine to help us load the organ and leslie speaker.
The first few months with the bus were a little rocky. There was no good way to organize gear. We didn’t really have enough room to hang out on the bus or use it as a green room when need be. A whole list of things went wrong with it including the AC (which was never properly fixed), fuel pump, alternator (which broke on our first out of town gig), ball joints, tires, wheel chair lift, and battery. But we acquired it for so cheap, that we were happy to address those issues.
I still remember the first road gig we took it to. It was at the Stonefly Brewery (RIP) in Milwaukee, WI. Within 24 hours the alternator went out, the organ tipped over and went through a window, and Lumpy, our old trumpet player, puked on the bus from motion sickness. That spring and summer we dealt with all sorts of weird bus issues. One time the wheelchair lift got stuck in the down position and we had to force it back into place right in front of Target Field during the MLB All-Star game. It took 4 or 5 us and some ratchet straps to do it. Thankfully, we all still have all of our fingers.
After we saved up a little more money, we got to work converting the bus. First, Sam and I brought the bus to his father who helped us remove the broken wheelchair lift (thanks, Steve!). Then I took it back to my place and got started by removing all of the seats. The bus had been taking in a lot of water through the floor, so the next thing I did was calk every seam on the floor. Then I sprayed some of that liquid rubber stuff over the wheel wells (inside the bus only) and calked around the wheel wells. After everything dried I installed Allure Traffic Master resilient flooring. Once the flooring was installed, I went around the bus and caulked where the new flooring met the walls. I’d say of all the things I wound up doing to that bus, I feel like the floor was the most important in making it a comfortable place to be. It looked and felt nice, cleaned up well, and with all of the caulk, it helped keep us dry.
After the floor was in, I brought it up to my parents house for a couple of days. There my dad would help me finalize my design and lend a hand (and lots of tools) in the construction process (thanks, dad!). We wound up mounting the original seats along the perimeter of the bus. Then we built a plywood wall near the back door, creating a storage space in back for all of gear and luggage. On the cab-side of the wall we built a sitting bench on storage shelf above it.
I installed the biggest deep cycle battery I could find and paired up with one of the biggest inverters on the market. Then I went to Axeman (if you like building stuff or just tinkering, and have never been to one, you need to go!) and picked up two 10 foot long power strips complete with 20 outlets per strip. I mounted them under the seats so we could plug in a crock pot, tea kettle, lap tops, etc.
That was about all I had time to finish before we left for our first tour of Europe. We were scheduled for our first long stateside tour just a day or two after our return from Europe. To make sure all of the work would be finished in time for that, I left the bus with my pal, and carpenter extraordinaire, Michael Milner (thanks, Mike!). He finished the bench and replaced the glass in the storage space with super thick black plastic. No one could see back there, and unless they brought a Sawzall, no one was getting in. Even if they busted into the cab, they could NEVER get back into the storage area where all the expensive stuff was stored.
I slept on the bus almost every night during that first tour. I rigged up a curtain system to keep out light and used a very comfy air mattress on the floor. Some nights we slept as many as 4 guys on the bus. There were a few times that I found the bus to be far more comfortable than the hotel.
Eventually we got pretty much everything dialed in (except the A/C). At one point last year Blair (guitar) donated a flat screen TV to the cause. He and I mounted it and an old stereo of his to the bus. It was nice, but honestly the bus was very loud and a we didn’t exactly have premium seating for movie viewing. Still, we dug it.
We’ve been incredibly blessed with the opportunity to share our music with people all over the country. That also comes with the added benefit of travel. Every step of the way, The Knight Train was there for us. The Train safely took us out to the east coast several times, all throughout the midwest, and on one very long trip from Minneapolis to LA, then all the way up to Seattle and back. It has seen the best of us and the worst of us.
I know what you are thinking…. “So, why get rid of it?” First, let me start by saying that it wasn’t an easy decision. A few major repairs were looming that cost much more than the bus was worth. Also, we started running into some pretty serious water intrusion issues. We figured if we sprung for the repairs, the best case scenario was that we’d be driving a well maintained leaky bus as the water issues were extremely difficult to fully cure.
As I write this I’m sitting at the kitchen table of our “new” motor home while we pass through the Foothill State Forrest in northern MN. Blair is driving and Riley (tmpt) is sitting shot gun and controlling the speakers (The Everly Brothers are currently on). There was no passenger’s seat upfront in the old bus, which was a bit of a drag for the driver, especially on long drives. Sonny is in back stretching out on the queen bed and everyone else is just hanging. When we arrive at the venue we’ll probably draw the curtains and fire up the roof mounted air conditioners so that we can have our own private green room (great for napping). It is hands down a more comfortable way to travel. All that said, there is a part of me that misses The Knight Train. It wasn’t much, but it was ours! We made it what it was and although it wasn’t the sexiest vehicle on the road, I was damn proud of it. It was good to us and in return we were were always good to it.