27
by etch_Archive
We toured around a lot in the early to late nineties as well. We would play out Wednesday through Saturday and come home on Sunday. We all lived together and at the time had a really cool guy who helped us get shows by sending out tapes and press kits, (he ended up leaving our management company and we were left with some people who didn't get our style as all the other groups on their roster were old school rock bands, many of them in the metal scene.)
It was a LOT of work but incredibly fun. A few times we were support acts for major label asshole bands on their tours. We opened for a band called the Nixons for awhile, they were total idiots. We also toured with the metal band Jackyl. These shows were truly unbelievable, almost surreal, as their crowd absolutely hated us. The crowd would throw bottles and cups full of beer. They would chant Jackyl's name so loudly that it would drown us out and we are a LOUD band. A couple of times we got into fights on stage and we were nearly killed by big burly redneck biker types several times, blood flowed... We did learn a lot from Jackyl, they had a fierce work ethic and would just as soon stomp your face in as look at you, they were SERIOUS road dogs. We were little babies crying for our Mommies compared to them.
At first we had a Ford Econoline van; it broke down a lot. Later we moved up to the van/trailer combo which was annoying: ever try to back a trailer into a car-sized space while drunk? We played every shit hole on the east coast and through the southeast. Did a lot of drugs and drink, met a lot of wild women. Had a blast.
Not sure what has changed about the scene, as now we play locally and do one-off's in far-flung cities if there is a reason to go somewhere or for fun. We travel in rentals as we don't have a van anymore.
There is definitely more of a careerist vibe in the air nowadays with all these reality shows and what not, but it was like that in the nineties too. Once the Nirvana thing hit, it fucked everybody's heads up big time, as now everyone expected a major label deal, even really shitty bands (like us), they/we thought that they/we 'deserved' it. We bought in to it for awhile as these A&R tools were everywhere and they offered us a lot of money at different points and then they and our manager fucked us over big-time and we got dumped like a hot rock. I think we deserved it a bit and I had become a bit of an asshole briefly due to the attention, so I'm not bitter.
Listening to Steve's take on all that label stuff really turned my head around and I can't imagine thinking that way ever again. I really believe now that bands should NEVER sign deals with managers, labels, booking agents or any of those people, DIY is the only way to go.
If you can get a little circuit together of clubs that you can play at and manage to not spend too much money, you will have a blast. Sometimes (or always) you will go in the red but it's still worth it. It's invaluable really, to your skills and craft as well as the life experience.
Once you go around once or twice, club owners will get to know you and you will meet other like-minded acts to get shows with. The gigs will start to come to you if you treat people well.
Try to show up on time as much as possible. Don't duck out on gigs once you find out they are going to suck, play them anyway, it's a live practice. If the other bands are assholes, ignore them and move on. Never heckle, you can have a laugh, but don't fuck with other people. Your credibility with the club owners is on the line so try to behave. Don't fuck up their equipment or play longer during your slot. Try to avoid hotels, stay at friends or other bands houses. We got to the point that we would drive rather than stay if home was less than two hundred miles.
Have fun!
