When punk rockers The Fold come home to Chicago this weekend, they’ll do so in an eBay-purchased, 1996 Ford Powerstroke shuttle bus that, frontman Daniel Castady said, resembles “one of those buses that drives old people back and forth.”
It’ll also be powered by the benevolence of restaurants. Before its current tour to support of its sophomore album, “Secrets Keep You Sick,” The Fold had the bus converted so it runs on the discarded cooking grease from restaurants and vegetable oil.
The green machine — the brainstorm of environmentalist drummer Mark Rhoades — is “definitely not for the lazy,” Castady said.
“We couldn’t do it without [Mark],” he said. “He pretty much spends as much time behind the vehicle as he does [behind] the drums.”
Making the vehicle eco-friendly cost the band $3,000, but Castady said the band has already made its money back and then some by not relying solely on the escalating prices of diesel fuel.
It’s still not clear if the band will use the Powerstroke during its three-week August run on the Vans Warped Tour. The band fears excessive travel on treacherous roads and a lack of agreeable eateries may do the bus in.
Regardless, Castady said, “if you get stranded, you just switch over to diesel. No big deal.”
The Fold is one of several bands opening for MXPX beginning at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday.
Listen to The Fold’s song “New Skeptic” from “Secrets Keep You Sick” at redeyechicago.com/chitunes.
