The Lost Trailers Go Green

The Lost Trailers are doing their part to help the earth and the economy. Members of the group were recently struck by a comment made by a local stage hand when they performed in Uncasville, Ct., and it caused them to re-think how they tour.

"We hired local people to help with sound and lights," lead singer Ryder Lee explains to The Boot. "One of the stagehands came up and thanked us for hiring a local crew to work the show. He then told us he hadn't had a paycheck in three weeks, and this was around Christmas. It really hit home with us that sometimes we just don't realize how much a paycheck can mean to someone."

The Lost Trailers have now decided to help boost the local economy in all towns where they perform. In fact, they've even renamed their tour the 'Lean, Clean and Local Tour.'

"It sank in to us that maybe we could leave a little bit in every community we roll through this way," Lee tells us. "We decided to keep it lean by cutting the buses and trailer and hiring local stagehands for our shows. That way we are putting money back into the community and we are also back on CO2 emissions by taking commercial flights. It's amazing how much fuel we've saved since we started touring this way. These are lean times and we feel we should reflect that in our tour."

Since last September, the band has cut out 132 tons of CO2 emissions simply by not taking their buses. Additionally, they've teamed with Keep America Beautiful to promote recycling at their shows.

"I know our fans like to drink a little beer!" Lee says with a laugh. "We thought we should do our part to help put those beer bottles and cans into a recycling program rather than into a landfill. It doesn't have to be political or green. We grew up in the rural south as fishermen, hunters and outdoorsmen. So for us it's preserving the earth for our children and having a good looking country that we can be proud of."