But when a band like Swashbuckle plays every tour.....it is a huge detourance.
I am sure Nuclear Blast is wanting these guys to get out there as much as possible to make a quick buck off of them since they are a complete gimmick band (this I agree on Jason). But when a band tours so much it almost becomes annoying. Nothing is worse than a great band headlining with a terrible opening line up. I understand not every show can be amazing but I see this trend growing and growing.
IMO, (everyone please understand IMO so I dont get flamed
) Swashbuckle won that contest SOLEY because they had such a gimmick with the pirate cosutmes and decent music. There are several bands out there that are just as good if not way better, but for some reason the pirate cover got the attention of Nuclear Blast, but hey, more power to them. I fear that Swashbuckle will not have longevity in their success because eventually the pirate gimmick will be played out, along with the inflatable palmtrees and the "I'm on a Boat" intro to their set.
Now why is bands like Swashbuckle and Blackguard on so many tours? HMMM from what I can see and can verify with a decent ammount of certainty is:
A) They have connections because of Nuclear Blast to booking agents and managements that run these tours. Because that new "folk" style metal and the pirate shit is catching on in the US, naturally NB thinks they could make some money selling cds and shirts from the bands on these tours. so KA-CHING for the label.
B) I would bet a prog power ticket that these bands had to buy on to these tours, OR at very least pay a pretty heafty percentage to the headliner out of their guarantee just to get a slot on the tour. So once again it becomes a matter of who wants to pay the bill for good exposure. Miles saw Swashbuckle even be the STAGE HANDS FOR THE SHOW in Tampa at the Korpiklaani tour AND I saw BLACKGUARD on the Ensiferum tour do the same.... Do what it takes to play infront of hundreds of new faces.
Buy-ins aren't automatic, and the label might cover that. It depends what deals the band has with the label. Did the band or label purchase the merch? Are the bands selling it for each other, or are they paying some merch dude?
I think what we saw with Swashbuckle will become more popular, that is, an 'opening act' doing tech.
But say you sell 20 t-shirts, and 10 CDs (which you bought from the label). You just made $500. And that's reasonable if you put on a great set. Sure you aren't going to get rick on the 20 stop tour, but after expenses you might come away with a couple grand. For that time, if you are lucky, you weren't paying any expenses back home such as rent, other than storage space. You aren't going to get rich, but you can live on it for a while.
If these bands dont end up losing money on their first tours in a new market then they are VERY lucky. As I stated in the previous, dont be supprised if they had to dish out that cash to get on. Any new band that comes back from a new-market-tour with money in had is a success in my opinion, even if its a buck. Alot of these tours also only hit certain markets in the US, some of them being a repeat city. The bands have to weigh the pros and cons of the dates as well, Even if they over play one city maybe the other tour goes to the west coast of the US and not just the East, so then it would be worth it.
It also has a lot to do with booking agent preference. I know for a fact that Finberg really likes Warbringer, so he tries to put them on a lot of tours to get them more and more exposure.
This is true, Depends on who knows who and who like the band. If Finburg likes them then by all means they will get the slot. I know Finberg is a tough cookie to even speak to so if you make it into his circle of bands he talks to then your doing something right.