“Now, this is the first thing we discuss: How are we going to get to where we gotta go with the least amount of money being spent on gas?” he said, noting gas prices shot up 60 percent during the six-week tour. “It’s our main concern, period.”

Schilleci listed a few ways bands can cope, the first being to simply accept profits are not going to be as high as expected. Then comes cutting corners. For High on Fire, foregoing the tour bus for the van and trailer of yore may necessitate budgeting in hotel rooms, but that’s still significantly cheaper, he said, than filing up a 200-gallon tank with nearly $5 per gallon diesel.

Paychecks suffer in exchange for staying on the road. “People who made a certain salary 10 years ago as far as crew will have their salary cut in half because there has to be a means to pay for the gas,” he said. “So instead of having the normal crew you want, you’re going to have less people doing twice as much work.

“It’s hurting every band on every level,” Schilleci continued, arguing independent bands without sufficient (or any) tour support from a label will struggle the most, ultimately not just a career liability but a huge bummer for fans as well.

“We all know that the best bands around are the bands that haven’t gotten the recognition they deserve,” he said. “It’s going to make it a lot more difficult for these people to go on the road to make a name for themselves, or to go on the road to get a deal.”

Mark DeVito of local indie band Low Red Land understands this all too well. Last year, they played over 130 shows all over the country and, with their upcoming record release next month, want to return and build their fanbase.

Low Red Land is still planning a fall tour, but not without sacrifices. “We’re trying to do everything on our own even more now,” DeVito said, mentioning that a Chicago label offered to put out their new album and keep 50 percent of the sales, but the group had to refuse. “All this is going in to our gas tank,” he said.

Other acts are embracing big-picture alternatives. The standard club of eco-groovy rockers - among them Neil Young, Willie Nelson, and Bonnie Raiit - have all toured by biodiesel bus or, in the case of Hot Buttered Rum, 100 percent vegetable oil. The Vans Warped Tour uses B20 (20 percent biodiesel, 80 percent petroleum diesel) in their circus of 55 buses and 15 semi-trucks. Biodiesel, however, is typically more expensive than regular diesel.

Kudos go to the Ginger Ninjas, a jazz-infused, Latin funk-punk quartet that toured from Northern California to Southern Mexico - over 80 shows - completely by bicycle. Five thousand miles of pulling instruments and a complete power system, including a 1,000-watt PA charged by pedal power, all without stopping for fuel (except tacos) once.

Guitarist and vocalist Kipehoge Spencer said the unique tour was both an ecological decision and an “adventure” one. “A big part of it was to really show that if you can tour around on a bike carrying an amp and drums and a guitar, then you can certainly get groceries or ride your bike to work,” he said.

The Ginger Ninjas are currently planning a three-year world tour - exclusively two-wheeled save the ocean crossings - through Central and South America, Asia, and Europe. Though Spencer is more satisfied with bike touring than by any other vehicle, he does recognize its limits.

“The main conflict would be as we get more popular and want to go to far-flung places in the world,” he said. “We might get to Europe every three years. There are definitely some trade-offs.”

For the vast majority of bands though, this trade-off isn’t worth it, and gas remains an inescapable expense. Schilleci thinks the cost will be inevitably passed on to the consumer through higher ticket prices, something he lamented as unfair but said hopefully consumers will understand.

He said the guarantees given to bands by venues will also have to increase. Low Red Land’s DeVito, however, said he doesn’t see this happening any time soon. “From the booking standpoint, clubs are not budging at all,” he said.

If bands have to pay to play, fans will be left with fewer options for live exposure to non-local acts. As Brian Gorman, half of the San Francisco rock band Tartufi, said, “In the past, we could let some not-good shows slide, but now we’re much more vigilant about making sure we get good guarantees.”

Though everyone acknowledged all they can do is keep touring amid budget uncertainties, both Gorman and DeVito did note a silver lining: less competition. Both mentioned they hope the raise in gas prices will keep bad bands at home and off the road.

Schilleci said changes will only be made when arena-level promoters are unable to book artists because of discrepancies between gas prices and insufficient guarantees. “Once you can’t get Megadeth…,” he said, “then we’re going to see promoters start to figure it out.”