Premier Rock Forum

Famous bands obviously hang out in their mansions and count their money when they're not touring or recording.

But bands like, say, Paul Newman. I adore that band and cant help but wonder what they do for the years between albums. They dont seem to tour much, and I cant imagine a band that good having to work day jobs. If they do it's criminal.

I remember reading that Sonic Youth didnt stop working dayjobs until their 3rd album. I'd hate that, to know I had an album out there and yet I had to work 9 to 5 still.

If they dont work, what on earth do they spend all their time doing?

Rotten Tanx wrote:I remember reading that Sonic Youth didnt stop working dayjobs until their 3rd album. I'd hate that, to know I had an album out there and yet I had to work 9 to 5 still.

Trust me, you get used to it.

I find that just bucking up and dealing with "the band" as an integral part of my nightlife is the least depressing.

Once yer resigned to having a jobbyjob, and you're committed to keeping the band together, all those other sacrifices seem pretty minimal. You have to get creative with scheduling. Our drummer recently went freelance in design so we could tour more. I teach and get ample time off and our keyboarder works @ a museum, so they give her a liberal amount of PTO to compensate for the shitty pay that comes from the museum world.

If it weren't for my band, I'd be a gibbering mess. Thinking you can live off it is unrealistic, but it's a great goal as long as you don't get too OCD about it.

Faiz

Rotten Tanx wrote:But bands like, say, Paul Newman. I adore that band and cant help but wonder what they do for the years between albums. They dont seem to tour much, and I cant imagine a band that good having to work day jobs. If they do it's criminal.

Welcome to the wonderful world of independent music!

Most bands of this caliber don't tour as much as they should/could because touring is, indeed, work and they probably do enough of that Monday through Friday. It's pretty hard for anybody these days to break even, let alone make a profit off their music. It has nothing to do with how good or not good they are - the economics of the biz keep the playing field pretty slanted.

I like having my band to blow off steam from the job, I would hate for it to become my job

I have an exciting career in the fast-growing field of architectural drafting. I have been doing this day job since 1987 and have done lots of touring all over the world with my various bands during that time.

It's a hobby. I'm a music hobbyist. I used to be a music buff, but not anymore.

sakes wrote:
It's a hobby. I'm a music hobbyist. I used to be a music buff, but not anymore.

Oh Nick, I think you are still as buff as you always were!

Rotten Tanx wrote:But bands like, say, Paul Newman. I adore that band and cant help but wonder what they do for the years between albums. They dont seem to tour much, and I cant imagine a band that good having to work day jobs. If they do it's criminal.

Having seen the rediculous and demeaning lengths a few of my friends have gone through/are going through trying to make a career out of music, I think it's pretty criminal they don't just get day jobs. One of them quit his 75k/year programming job so he could tour full time opening for other slightly more succesful bands. They are already in debt, been dropped by their major label wannabe/subsidiary, have gone through legal hassles with that as well as being forced to change their name, and will probably get dropped by the other wannabe major who just signed them.. all so they don't have to get 'grueling day jobs'.

as the saying goes, "some of your friends...."

Paul Newman? I'm sure they have day jobs. Or they're out looking for a job to replace the last job that they quit so they could go on tour.

Ok, but look at Mogwai. They were on a pretty small label and right from the start they were off touring the world.

The way you all talk (not just in this thread) paints a really depressing picture of being in a band. Like Steves article on signing to a major label. Some people must make a decent living being in underground/independant bands, and actually enjoy themselves.


I've met a lot of people in local bands and none have ever said "Yeah, we're signed and everything but we still stay here working most of the time". I dunno, maybe it's different in England or something. Though I'd have thought America was where the money was.