7eventh Time Down – Memorable Tour Moments

The four of us in 7eventh Time Down have been touring together for over a decade. We have spent almost as much time together in the past ten years as we have apart with our families, so as you could imagine, we’ve got some pretty crazy stories. Here’s just one of those ‘horror story’ moments.

The First Show We Ever Missed
A rusty, 15-passenger Ford van hauling a trailer full of music equipment is cruising up the interstate at 2:00 a.m. Austin (drums) is driving and the rest of 7eventh Time Down is “sleeping” on the stiff, stained van benches. Suddenly, sparks fly from the trailer and bits of rubber and metal go everywhere. Austin pulls over, and we all hop out to see the damage. We find that our trailer has a blown tire on one axle, and the other axle is missing a wheel completely.

With only one spare and no way to jack the trailer high enough to change the tire, we quickly realize that this is an un-fixable situation. With nothing open at 2:00 a.m., we are left with one solution, sleep in the van until the morning.

At around 6:00 a.m., dirty, sweaty, and a little smelly, we make arrangements with a repair place and a rental place. There’s just one final problem. We can’t leave our trailer on the side of the road with no one to watch it. So Eric (guitar) and myself (Cliff/bass) decide to wait with the trailer, while the other guys take the van and work things out. Its Kansas, summer, 40 MPH winds and a wheat field next to us. So to keep the dust out of our eyes and to shield us from the heat, Eric and I get down in the ditch next to the interstate and cover up in a single sleeping bag.

A few minutes later and we hear sirens.

“Great,” Eric says, “they’re gonna tell us its illegal to leave our trailer there.” We crawl out from under the sleeping bag and head cautiously toward the state trooper’s car only to hear him buzz his dispatch.

“They’re bodies alright, but they’re still alive.” The officer goes on to tell us that they received a call that someone had dumped a couple of dead bodies on the side of the road by a broke down trailer! We shared a laugh with the officer and waited for our band mates to come back.

Everything worked out, and God showed such incredible faithfulness throughout the entire situation, but sadly, we simply were unable to get back on the road in time to make it to the show later that day. That is the first and only show we have ever missed due to travel issues, and the first time any of us have ever been mistaken for zombies!

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