This is why it take a special breed of human being to want to be in a touring band 2

[AeonicSlumber]

Friend of the band goes on tour with Abigail Williams on tour with Immolation and Vader. The BTBAM tour video with The Ocean is an example of a much bigger tour. This is what the smaller ones are like.

Warning: strong language, NSFW.

 

[AeonicSlumber]

bump.

 

[Kaosaur]

Yeah, it's a hard life man.

Anyone with a degree of sanity or financial good sense would probably run in the other direction.

The people who tour all the time (like Into Eternity) both scare me and have my respect.

 

[eppst1]

Wow - a whole 10 bucks a day. That is definitely a scary life. I give those guys a ton of props for being able to do that.

 

[AngraRULES]

A *LOT* of respect goes to these guys. If only people really knew the stuff musicians and crew have to subject themselves in order to bring their art to the masses.. especially in metal. I have endless respect for bands who sweat it like that. That should be much appreciated by the whole metal community. The fans are the first to bitch and moan when they don't have this or that band come to their town, release music they don't like, complain at the merch prices, etc... Guess what? Think twice before doing that next time.

 

[Justin G]

A *LOT* of respect goes to these guys. If only people really knew the stuff musicians and crew have to subject themselves in order to bring their art to the masses.. especially in metal. I have endless respect for bands who sweat it like that. That should be much appreciated by the whole metal community. The fans are the first to bitch and moan when they don't have this or that band come to their town, release music they don't like, complain at the merch prices, etc... Guess what? Think twice before doing that next time.

Wait, I was with you till the end there. Why shouldn't fans complain if a band releases music they don't like? With all due respect to bands who obviously work hard for little gain, if they put out a bad album their fans have a right to say so. Otherwise we'd all have to keep our mouths shut every time a new Queensryche album comes out.

 

[AngraRULES]

Wait, I was with you till the end there. Why shouldn't fans complain if a band releases music they don't like? With all due respect to bands who obviously work hard for little gain, if they put out a bad album their fans have a right to say so. Otherwise we'd all have to keep our mouths shut every time a new Queensryche album comes out.

I guess Queensryche is the exception.

 

[Stingray11214]

God Damn! $10 a day?!? I hope the promoter at least threw them a sandwich at the venue.

 

[TribunalRecords]

God Damn! $10 a day?!? I hope the promoter at least threw them a sandwich at the venue.

We tour on $7 a day. You can do it easily. You just have to hit any place with a dollar menu.

 

[Metal_Camden]

We tour on $7 a day. You can do it easily. You just have to hit any place with a dollar menu.

haha and hope for the headliner's rider table scraps that's free and usually good!

 

[AeonicSlumber]

God Damn! $10 a day?!? I hope the promoter at least threw them a sandwich at the venue.

This is basically what every "small" band does on the road, in the USA anyways. In europe the promoter usually has catering for the bands, but that's rare in the US unless it's a major promoter like House Of Blues.

 

[AeonicSlumber]

A *LOT* of respect goes to these guys. If only people really knew the stuff musicians and crew have to subject themselves in order to bring their art to the masses.. especially in metal. I have endless respect for bands who sweat it like that. That should be much appreciated by the whole metal community. The fans are the first to bitch and moan when they don't have this or that band come to their town, release music they don't like, complain at the merch prices, etc... Guess what? Think twice before doing that next time.

To be fair, it is the fans that go to the shows and buy the records. They are the ones responsible for allowing for a band that makes 300 a night to eventually make 3,000 or (if they really blow up) 30,000 a night. Nobody else is responsible for the elevation of a band, but the fans. So if they complain about a record en masse, it's the band's responsibility to address that if the band wants to do it full time. What pisses me off though, is when people bitch about bands touring too much.

 

[Kaosaur]

God Damn! $10 a day?!? I hope the promoter at least threw them a sandwich at the venue.

Some of the smarter headlining bands get some food catered so they don't have to worry about it day of show. If they're really nice they'll let the support acts eat too.

It's not quite that bad all the time. Most of the time though...

If I were ever promoting shows, I would make sure to take care of any touring band's food and give em a clean place to shower (provided they're on time...).

 

[Rockbox1590]

Wait, I was with you till the end there. Why shouldn't fans complain if a band releases music they don't like? With all due respect to bands who obviously work hard for little gain, if they put out a bad album their fans have a right to say so. Otherwise we'd all have to keep our mouths shut every time a new Queensryche album comes out.

I have to bitch about the other part of that statement. A lot of the bands I'm into never come to this damn city (Columbus, Ohio), and I don't have the ability to go to a show outside of town. I realize we are not the best city to hit during a tour, but when you get ignored time and time again it gets old. I would love to support these bands by doing more than buying the album, but if they never come here that isn't possible.

(I've even have a promise by one group that they will hit Columbus if they ever tour the US. I think Hell will freeze over first.)

 

[AngraRULES]

I have to bitch about the other part of that statement. A lot of the bands I'm into never come to this damn city (Columbus, Ohio), and I don't have the ability to go to a show outside of town. I realize we are not the best city to hit during a tour, but when you get ignored time and time again it gets old. I would love to support these bands by doing more than buying the album, but if they never come here that isn't possible.

(I've even have a promise by one group that they will hit Columbus if they ever tour the US. I think Hell will freeze over first.)

What, are you serious?

Believe me... there's a good reason why there's not that many shows in Columbus. Turn out is never the greatest, that's the bottom line. A lot of time, promoters and bands ended up losing money trying to put a show there. Want an example? I am in the middle of booking two awesome progressive-power metal package tours for the next few months. Ohio will have a stop for both tours. I checked in Columbus to see if anyone was interested, but the response was the same.. "for some reason, fans don't show up to a lot of the metal shows around here."

Usually "when you're ignored over and over again", you're NOT REALLY BEING IGNORED. This is a business, and as such, it has to make sense for the parties who are putting their money on the line. Now, if you want to try to put together a show in Columbus, let me know. Maybe you can be the game changer in your town.

Plus, why is it that you don't have the ability to go to a show in, say, Cleveland, which is only about 2 hours away?

 

[AeonicSlumber]

I have to bitch about the other part of that statement. A lot of the bands I'm into never come to this damn city (Columbus, Ohio), and I don't have the ability to go to a show outside of town. I realize we are not the best city to hit during a tour, but when you get ignored time and time again it gets old. I would love to support these bands by doing more than buying the album, but if they never come here that isn't possible.

(I've even have a promise by one group that they will hit Columbus if they ever tour the US. I think Hell will freeze over first.)

It's not up to the band to decide the exact cities they play.

 

[Metal_Camden]

So I finally got to watch that AW video. Firstly, they have it 350% better than bands just starting to tour. Do you know what a financial help their $350 guarantee is??? Lots of bands go around on either no guarantees or door deals, thus paying for everything themselves. They seem like they are at the point where things are starting to become a wash with expenses with their guarantees and merch $$$. That's what bands really should look forward to. And don't get me started with touring members being vegan.

You would be supprised how far $10 a day goes.

 

[TribunalRecords]

And don't get me started with touring members being vegan.

amen, brother. i was shocked to see that the band didn't really seem to care if he could eat at white castle or not. i had to cater to my guys all the time and it sucked.

i know when we would get out west i would tell the veggies in the band to f*ck off as i was stopping at In N Out Burger EVERYDAY we were in cali. eventually they found out that they had a grilled cheese on the secret menu. so they were happy, it just took them several years to even want to come in there. hahaha. it's good to be the boss sometimes.

 

[AngraRULES]

So I finally got to watch that AW video. Firstly, they have it 350% better than bands just starting to tour.

True, but to be fair, they're not a band who's just starting to tour.

And don't get me started with touring members being vegan.

This. 1000x this.

 

[Metal_Camden]

True, but to be fair, they're not a band who's just starting to tour.

Ya, very true. I guess my point with this was to show that there are still bands all over, in much worse positions then they are in.

And if I had a dollar for every time that fill in bassist of holy grail popped some sort of 'vegan' vitamin instead of eating (because it was only salad offered for vega catering) I could have had a nice 12 oz outback special at every date.