by John D. Bess
Daily Lobo
LONDON - Talk about going out with a bang, the last night of the tour is a sold out show in the largest venue thus far.
A throng of press is expected and we've already received word from our label that booking agents will be in attendance to watch and meet with us tonight.
Many friendships have been formed on this tour, but we have learned the sad truth about life on the road. Beyond any fantasy of ethics, solidarity or integrity between folks on tour, the reality is that it really is all about the money.
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It is, after all, the music business.
For bands on this tour, even the bigger bands, the road is where we make our money. Securing a life playing music is not done through record sales as many would think. Instead, it is made with venue guarantees and merchandise sales. We estimated that one of the headliners was making $60k for one month on the road.
Being a relatively new band, we'll be lucky just to break even and cover our expenses for the tour. But for us, touring provides a chance to bring our music to new people, an opportunity to convert at least one person each night. At many of the shows, we meet people who have never even heard of us and those are the folks we want to reach.
Last night we played in Manchester, England, and it was the best and worst that a tour could be for a young band. We arrived to find that not only would we not be getting paid for the gig, but we would not be getting any food from the club either. This prompted a mad dash for whatever the headlining bands left on the catering table.
There really is no glory in 11 grown men vying for dried bread and bruised fruit, but that truly is what a rock and roll tour is about for young bands - being hungry and doing whatever it takes to bring the rock to one more crowd.
Our status as a lowly support band was further impressed upon us when members of co-headliners Spiritual Beggars drank all of our beer while we were on stage. To add salt to the wound, we learned that we were being snookered by our itinerant tour manager, who was talking people out of buying our merchandise to sell more for his own band, Dozer.
Regardless of backstage logistics gone awry or the actions of a few less than conscionable Swedes, the crowd repaid us in spades. While onstage fans were yelling "brilliant" between songs and reaching up to shake our hands. Offstage they badgered us for any memento they could get their hands on.
We managed to offset not getting paid for the gig by selling a lot of merchandise. The only thing better than that was having folks see us in the halls and yell "Spiritu," then come up and give us a big drunken hug. These things make it all worthwhile and make us think that we're doing the right thing here.
It really is a drag though that it has to be such a competition between bands, but there is no way around it. We came into this tour a bit naive and have paid the price monetarily. But, we've kept our integrity and we've been honest throughout - striving to let the music do the talking and trusting to karma to even things out.
