2bsticks
Platinum Member
Caught this clip on Youtube. Not a bad watch, especially all you newbies that want to peruse a career playing music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNzQB5bnUx4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNzQB5bnUx4
* Eating right and staying in shape is a challenge no matter what..
I'd say the guy in the video had it easy.
I mean, his own hotel room to hang out in? For many touring musicians, that's a luxury for only high-end bands/artists.
Usually, from what I've been told, it's just bus, venue, bus, venue.
Or the whole band shares a hotel room for a few hours so everyone can shower one at a time.
Assuming the band even gets a bus. Sometimes it's just a van.
Never act like a ‘star’, even if you happen to be one! Search online for ‘Henry Rollins Milkman’ to read his notorious, dead-on quote about this.
I'm curious about how health insurance/care works for you guys when you go out on the road.
A legit tour will provide all the necessary insurances for its members & their gear while on the road. When I say legit, I mean NOT four guys driving around in a van booking clubs as they go.
That doesn't mean the bass player can get his teeth cleaned and bill it to the tour. But if a tooth gets knocked out on stage, it will be fixed as a tour expense. I had a little thing on this last tour, the doctor was paid by the tour, and I picked up the x-ray and medication cost. It was in Canada, without healthcare, yet was pretty inexpensive even in Canadian dollars. Everyone apologized to me for the expense because I didn't have a health card, but I was thrilled to get pills for $20 and x-rays for $52 (that was full price in US$)
BTW, the doctor made a house-call to my hotel at midnight, and it was only about US$160. Who even makes house-calls anymore??
Bermuda
Thanks for sharing. Your response here would also be enlightening in the Hired Guns thread in regards to what hired musicians earn vs. income from ticket sales.
But provided insurance doesn't count as income, nor is it an excuse to save money by not having coverage when off the road. It's not really money the player can pocket.
Bermuda
Anyone who has glamorous ideas of touring absolutely 100% must read Henry Rollins' book "Get In The Van" which documents his experiences touring with hardcore punk band Black Flag in the 1980s. A bit of an extreme example but definitely interesting reading that shows the other side of the touring coin as opposed to the tour bus life.
Ironically, reading and re-reading this book in highschool made me really, really want to go on the road...
It was in Canada, without healthcare, yet was pretty inexpensive even in Canadian dollars. Everyone apologized to me for the expense because I didn't have a health card, but I was thrilled to get pills for $20 and x-rays for $52 (that was full price in US$)
Im trying to figure out the economics of this "tour." A couple of weekend shows in small casino halls 1,000 miles away. Backing musician, full bus, individual hotel rooms, perdiem, road crew, plus who knows what else; that little weekend set of shows had to cost 10 grand and there is no way they made that up in ticket sales in those rooms.