Just did a little week long jaunt down to the South Island, now I’m back getting through a mountain of work.
The South Island crowds here in New Zealand weren’t as generous in Summer as I’ve been used to on my winter runs but timing is everything - it could well have been The Big Day Out in Auckland and the big downturny thing I keep hearing about providing a bit of a shift of partygoers away from the traditional South Island hot spots.
There’s always plenty of observations to be made about the music business when you’re on tour.
A big theme this time round was basically - not if someone on tour would meltdown but when. It has become a theme that fascinates me because I see the tour as just a crazy holiday travelling and playing music but inevitably some musicians become very emotionally stretched.
You need to be prepared. Y’know I feel really positive about my experience that I am able to drive and play and drink and not sleep that much at all on successive days because if you cant handle this you’ll find yourself out of your depth on a tour.
If you’re going to be the one whose on a hair trigger by the third gig then you need to be eating properly, getting enough sleep and watching how wasted you’re getting so as not to be enduring momentous disasters like losing equipment or messing up your performance and killing the vibe to the point it becomes a mission to get your money from the venue.
You are going to play to near empty rooms. You’re either going to get over it, or you’re not cut out. You’re not cut out for music if you cant overcome a personal and emotional reaction to having to play to 8 people.
I get a massive high when there’s 100, 200+ people in a club I’m rocking, but if there’s no one there I can deal with it. That’s the business, and that’s having maturity in it.
Also, considering the importance of branding, of narratives, of characters, touring always represents great opportunities to shoot footage.
Unfortunately, this amazing opportunity usually goes straight out the window as soon as energy levels drop and stress levels rise.
The way I see touring now, there are days when you’re driving/travelling, days when you’re playing, a lot of those days you’re doing both, but there has to be days where shooting is also a priority, Even to the point that I began to say . . .
Look, when we play this pokey town on a wednesday night, we KNOW there’ll be 12 people there tops. There’s nothing you can do about that. Except stop calling it a “gig” and accept that the best that can be gained from this gig is some really great footage in the can, and that’s no bad thing.
Because every band or eprformer needs great video footage now.
Also we refused to do door gigs and it’s almost the only sensible way. An unknown act has no control over what numbers can be expected out of town. If you can’t cover your budget, financial problems will compound the emotional ones and you’ll be on the nightmare tour.
You gotta have respect for the people you’re working with - the venue - but they also have to respect the fact you have expenses to cover and if the bare expenses are not covered then you’re likely to end up killing each other, that’s not the result you want so if you’re going to do door gigs treat them as a punt that you’ll be supplementing your tour income with - a tour income principally based on one or two well paid guaranteed fee gigs.
So in conclusion, I love touring more than ever now that I feel like a “real” musician - it takes more than a few insect bites, a flat tyre, and empty room, surly bar stuff, a colleague having a complete meltdown or whatever else comes along to stop me getting to the next gig and dropping a killer set like I’ve done so many dozens of times before.
I’m a sucker for punishment. This is the real life of a creative performer.
I’ll be travelling down the east coast of Australia in August. Yay!
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