Reminiscent of my time on the road with Flogging Molly but, at the same time, entirely different, I have spent the last month on tour with Disney’s new all-girl band KSM. They are 5 girls aged 15-17 who play their own instruments and they have been opening up for Demi Lavato and David Archuleta. I have been doing the one-man-band thing, shooting content and shipping it back to LA where it is being cut for a web series. I have also been shooting :30 spots with the girls for the sponsor, who I am not at liberty to reveal.

It’s a packed bus with 5 girls and all their stuff so I’ve been crashing in the front lounge. I usual spend my evenings hanging out with the girls, doing some light shooting as they tend to their facebook pages, downloading cards and charging batteries before lying down to let the ringing of 20,000 shrieking fans fade from my ears.

Tonight, we are in Kansas City, MO. It is the last night of their tour and, coincidentally, my birthday. The girls are sad to be leaving the tour but they were sweet enough to get a cake earlier and circle around me to sing Happy Birthday, a capella, with harmonies. By the way, don’t ask them what KSM stands for- they don’t know. According to them, it started as an amalgamation of the initials of their first names (all K’s and S’s) with the word “music.” I haven’t had the heart to point out to them that, outside of JBW (Jonas Brothers World), “KSM” is widely recognized and used by journalists as shorthand for the name of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the “principal architect of the 9/11 attacks.”