Keith Richards takes a break during the Rolling Stones' 1972 U.S. tour.
For a musician, the road is a demanding mistress. She’ll ask you to live out of a van, sleep on floors and eat nothing except Spaghetti-O’s for months at a time. Despite this drudgery, touring remains a fantastic way for a band to win over fans and enjoy mythic adventures.
This December, WSBF’s Cam Taylor worked as tour manager for Dirty Money, a Gainesville, Fla.-based punk band. Taylor met the band this summer while he was working in Gainesville.
“I wandered down to a nearby bar because I heard there was a punk show there,” Taylor said. “Dirty Money were the drunkest band there, so I knew they were good dudes.”
Taylor began hanging out with Dirty Money on a frequent basis. Soon he was manning their merch table, selling CDs and t-shirts. After Dirty Money booked their first tour, they immediate asked Taylor to join them on the road.
The 55-day trek would take the band to California, Ohio, Rhode Island and back to Florida — with many zigzags in between. Unable to make the first half of the tour, Taylor agreed to oversee the last three weeks of the jaunt.
As tour manager, Taylor kept track of financial matters — including door money and merch sales. He also acted as a liaison between the band and whoever was putting on that night’s show. When it was time to sell t-shirts and CDs, Taylor took care of that too. He was also in charge of scoring booze and other substances for Dirty Money.
“The least glamorous job was keeping track of a gang of drunks who all party pretty hard and tend to get kind of crazy,” Taylor said. Keeping people out of jail and together can be a bit of a challenge.”
The entourage traveled in a 1987 Dodge Ram 250 conversion van with 200,000 miles on it. After an LSD-fueled evening, Dirty Money dubbed the vehicle “Optimus Van” — a hallucinatory Transformer. By the time Optimus rolled back into Gainesville for Christmas, Taylor and Dirty Money had encountered a wild arc.
There were friendly strippers in Boise, Idaho: an angry redneck bar owner in Virginia Beach; and triumphant shows in New York, Richmond, Va. and Atlanta. Although Dirty Money returned home without enough cash to pay their utilities, they didn’t lose money and sold hundreds of CDs — satisfactory results from a first tour.
“They gained a lot of confidence playing bigger shows and playing for foreign audiences, and they definitely got their sound a lot tighter,” Taylor said. “Their bass player Ryan may also have gained some illegitimate children in a few towns.”
On tour, the band started most of its days around 10 a.m. nursing hangovers and guzzling Gatorade. Many modern groups have toned down their partying on the road — the cautionary tales of overdosed classic rockers no doubt an influence. However, Dirty Money kicked it old-school. Most gigs ended about 1 a.m., the post-show revelry lasting until 4 a.m.
Although the good times were copious, they weren’t luxurious. The band didn’t make enough cash for hotel rooms, so the band usually crashed at a local’s pad.
“A lot of bands strike out on their first tour and expect to make a lot of money, to be treated like royalty, and to live the rock and roll dream instantly,” Taylor said. “It’s important to keep in mind that most bands that we see playing shows at places like the 40 Watt in Athens or the Drunken Unicorn in Atlanta have probably been touring for a few years if not a decade, and have only now come to the size that they can get larger shows and start making money.”
Taylor offered the following tips for first-time touring bands:
• Invest in a good sleeping bag.
• Save money by cooking instead of eating out.
• If crashing at someone’s else, clean up after yourself and be a good guest. “Not only is this just a nice thing to do, it will almost guarantee that you have a place to crash again next time you come to town.”
• Take good care of your vehicle — change oil, check tires for wear and fix little repairs as they occur. “No good can come from a police officer running into a bunch of crazy musicians on the road.”
• Come to a pre-tour band agreement on priorities/financial goals for the trek. “Make sure everyone is on the same page so your drummer doesn’t freak out mid-tour when he hasn’t been able to afford anything to eat for a week besides peanut-butter sandwich.”
• Play several weekend out-of-town gigs before undertaking a full-on tour. “For many people, touring can be very disorienting – no real home to go to, sleeping in strange places, having no source of dependable income, and hanging out with your bandmates constantly.”
• Book a string of dates with other bands to make industry and social connections.
With their first tour in the books, Taylor believes Dirty Money has a bright future ahead of them. That doesn’t mean going platinum or gracing MTV. But getting signing to a strong indie label is a realistic possibility, according to Taylor.
“I definitely think they could make a living off playing music, which is pretty much all any musician could ever ask for.”
Comments
Keith Warther
/ kwarther submitted this comment on January 9, 2008 at 4:04 p.m.
