Dead Boy Productions

 

Smart Touring

Tony Slash of The Rocketz

So are you ready to go on the road? You just might be, but before I get into a smart way of touring let’s get the check list out. You should have at the very least a 4/5 song demo that is mixed, mastered and ready to sell. The Mastering is important as you could get some air play while you're touring. The big city markets are no indication of how the music industry operates in the smaller regions. You should have at least one T-shirt design and maybe some stickers that you will sell not give away. Believe me you will need the gas money and if you rock the kids will be happy to shell out a buck for the cause. You should have at least a 12 song set with a back up song or two, if they love you, they’ll want more! You should also rehearse your set until it bores the hell out of the whole band, then rehearse it again. Most tours, especially your first couple of times out are built on first impressions, you don’t want to suck. Really...

So now when touring you should really think about what its going to cost you and prepare for that. Sure you could be punk rock about it and say “fuck it, let’s just go”, but you will limit yourself on how far you get. What The Rocketz like to do is negotiate a price with the club and bring a good band with us. So far this has been the easiest and most fun way to tour. You find a band that kicks ass, and has no egos, if you bring a band with you that is not ready to tour or needs some rehearsal time, then it makes you look bad. Bring that bad ass band that steps up and might even steal the show, there is plenty of room at the top so no hating! Just look at who we’ve taken on tour with us! Gamblers Mark, Mad Marge and the Stonecutters, The Moonlight Cruisers, The Henchmen and The Misguided are all great bands that bring it, 110%. The beauty of this is you split the costs down the middle, each band only pays for half the gas and half the van rental if you need to rent a van. Don’t ever rent a trailer, unless you have the hook up, cuz its outrageously expensive! We always share a drum kit and a bass rig, to save space, and it also benefits with extra drivers and one band can watch the merch while the other band rocks. You'll also consider merch deals, if you sell your shirts for $12, offer one shirt from each band for $20. It could mean the difference between $10 and a big 0!

Hitting the road is great, you get to play your set over and over again without burning out your crowd. Each city offers a new opportunity to rock out and get into trouble. You can also take this opportunity to network and meet new bands. Another cool idea is to find a band that is good that needs to help getting their foot in the door in your area. If you hook them up, they can return the favor in Utah, or Colorado, or whereever it is that they play. Don’t expect to make much more than gas money the first time out. If you can get $200 a show, that’s not too bad for the> first couple of tours and should cover your gas and Jack in the Box. Make sure you bring a towel and a pillow, trust me on this. Bigger acts can have all that stuff in their writer, or will most likely have hotel rooms, but for now its all about that first few tours, it can be a blast but it can also be a disaster! Gas is going for about $3.75 a gallon in California and then drops a bout 20 cents in Arizona, and Nevada. Regardless, it is not cheap and most of your money will go to your gas tank. It sucks, but that’s life on the road. If you all work day jobs, then just save the money you make at home for the pending tour. Also, record all of your gears serial numbers and store them. A good place would be a folder in your email that’s accessible online from anywhere. If anything gets stolen you will be glad you did this. Also ipods are a God send, you can record your entire music collection and have it with you for the road, even some movies. That’s all I have for now until next time…

It’s not Psychobilly without Rockabilly, Without Rockabilly, it’s only Psycho!