… a blog post from Chairman’s Corner.

Hey hey hey everybody. Just got back from hitting the road to play some rocknroll shows with the ‘ole band, so I figured I’d talk a bit about being on tour this week!

There’s not necessarily any right or wrong way to go about hitting the road – but there are certainly tons of logistics to think about before getting out there (even AFTER the gigs have all been booked). Are the shows being properly promoted? Who will you be performing with at each stop? How’s the money going to work out with each venue? Is the van operating okay? Or do you have to rent one? Might the rental have issues? How long will the drives be? Does the route make any sense? When will you need to load in your gear at each spot? Why do the local bands in almost every city want to use the touring band’s drum set? Do you have enough merch to sell? Any time for social media updates? Where will you crash each night? Will you get any sleep?!?

These are just some of the questions that my band Nasalrod (pictured above) attempted to answer on a daily basis while being out on the road. On top of all of these questions and details to think about, we had just dropped a video for our song ‘The Maker’ before leaving town – so of course we wanted to promote our new vid while simultaneously focusing on everything else!

When planning a tour, you’ll likely find that some towns (or venues, for that matter) are better than others when it comes to promoting a show. Some venues (or local bands that you’ll be playing with) will take it upon themselves to create flyers and spread them around town, which is always great! However, this might not be the case in every city. People are busy, and they might not make the time to go all out on show promotion. They just may need a little push – in order to help you with getting the word out. For a few cities, I made flyers before leaving town – then sent them out to the local bands in those towns to spread around. It worked! These shows were well attended. While some of the bands that we played with had very little social media presence, they were still able to bring lots of attention to the shows by simply doing some old school street promotion.

You’ll want to double check each event, just to make sure that all of the details are properly solidified for each show. Even with a booking agent involved, essential details can fall by the wayside! Communication is key. You’ll likely want to reach out to all of the venues and bands way ahead of time – just to make sure that you’re on the same page. A band could drop from the bill without even talking to anyone about it! You’ll want to double check these kinds of details, so that you can find a replacement act if needed (and ideally well ahead of showtime).

Ideally, your bandmates are each helping out with the various logistics and questions and tasks at hand. Everyone has their own strengths, and a band that can split up various responsibilities will always have a huge advantage – as it will obviously be way too overwhelming to take on everything yourself! Planning out and executing a tour is already so much to manage – anything that can be done to streamline the process is most certainly welcome. Certain band members will likely be more trustworthy with the money & merch than others! Some bandmates may be better than others with handling long drives, while others may be better at providing social media updates, arranging the gear so that it all fits in the vehicle, or even just figuring out where to crash!

Occasionally, a last minute promotional opportunity might pop up. Feel free to take advantage of these occasions if at all possible! Sometimes, you may have to seek them out (talking to local radio folks is a good way to find these types of options). We received a last minute offer to perform at the Punk Rock Museum in Las Vegas (a daytime thing that we did before our nighttime show in LV). It was well worth it! As a well known establishment with many followers, playing just a couple of songs at this museum resulted in a social media post that allowed us to gain the attention of a whole new audience.

Things will often not go smoothly (or as expected) on the road – and that’s okay. It’s important to (at least try to!) remain calm when there are setbacks. There will very likely be problems and mishaps that arise here and there – but that’s no reason to throw in the towel. Chaos quite naturally comes with touring! At the end of the day, you’ll want to remember to simply just have fun with it all. Once the audience sees that you’re having fun up on that stage, they’ll have fun watching you play as well.

Cheers,

Jeffrey “Chairman” Couch

Music lover, creator & collector

chairman@spinneymedia.com

Chairman currently enjoys freaking out & creating panic with his spastic rock band Nasalrod, which is based in Portland, Oregon. He created this blog to share his serious love of music, the arts, and physical media.