Volume 4, Issue 14
July 11 - July 24, 2002
By Judy B.
Photos by Sean Hartgrove
I love touring. It's me life.... Keith Moon (The Who)
The musicians in this town, generally speaking, have some serious challenges facing large-scale success: the city's location (in relation to larger markets), the mountains in bad weather months, the heavy sports market, the lack of serious commitment from mainstream radio and the preconceptions from the nation at-large that we are all just a bunch of cowboys. Denver hasn't had a break-out musical artist in awhile, someone who leaps onto the national charts and never stops jumping. Instead of causing dismay, however, our lack of national attention in the past few years may be motivating bands to work harder, to get their sound "Out There," and to break the industry cycle that has, traditionally, kept the little guy "little." "It's not keeping us down. We're hitting the road."
Of the hundreds of Denver bands who plan tours outside of Colorado each year, Go-Go found five that represent unique and individualistic approaches to getting into the heads (and ears) of the masses. Our plan involved asking each band the same twenty questions and relying on their honesty and ultimate love of music to write the story. It worked. Here is what Matthew Moon, Wendy Woo, Judge Roughneck, Three Degrees of Freedom, and King Rat say about touring. Their willingness to share stories, secrets and strategies, and the wit and enthusiasm in their responses should make us all glean a bit of the rockstar tingle and better understand the edgy professionalism that pervades their dedication. As the saying goes: "the rules are: there ain't no rules."
When you're sleeping with the singer's socks two inches from your nose,
I'd call
that a 'highway to hell....' Angus Young (AC/DC)
The road can look ugly from a vehicle that groans and sputters with the weight of gear, tired bodies, and frustrated celebrity on board. That's why a good ol' road monster needs to be found. "We drive our own van 'Mongo,'" said Luke Schmaltz, guitarist and lead singer of rock/punk band King Rat. "It's cheaper than renting one and we're free to modify it to meet our specific needs. We have a loft in the back end and the gear goes underneath. Two guys can sleep up top. We have interior 'pimp lights' so when we're driving through Vegas, LA or New York we look cool. I personally modified the front end to look like something out of Road Warrior."
Three Degrees of Freedom, a popular local band bridging the gap between pop and improv styles, relies on "The Mothership." "It's our primary mode of transportation," said lead singer Paul Cox. "We ride in a Chevy Suburban sponsored by Go Fast Sports because it goes 90 MPH while pulling a fully-loaded trailer--We've been the cause of several near-accidents due to 'rubberneckers.' 'The Mothership' looks like a large NASCAR rig with the TDOF logos and Go Fast Sports logos all over it."
Matthew Moon calls a 1998 Suburban SLT home and tows a six-and-a-half foot trailer for gear. Judge Roughneck has used everything from a 15-passenger van to their own personal vehicles to a plush RV to get around. "We crashed the RV one time, and that was really really bad," said Rolf Reitzig, Roughneck's trumpet player. "Different tours demand different vehicles, but the RV was definitely the nicest and easiest way to travel. But as with everything, certain rules have to be established when you travel with seven guys for ten days."
"The road was our school. It gave us a sense of survival,
it taught us all we know...." Robbie Robertson
(The Band)
You leave your family at home and become part of another as soon as the tires leave the curb. Unspoken rights of friendship are understood, but some bands take specific measures to ensure a certain level of comfort for all. "There was no pooping in the RV," Reitzig said. "That was the big thing. A real big thing." King Rat tunes into their 'Road Karma,' basically a modern and musical version of the barter system. "We hook up bands that tour in Denver all the time with gigs, food from our jobs (Schmaltz and drummer Zeth Padula work at Pasquini's Uptown), a place to crash, publicity and promotion. When we hit the road," Schmaltz said, "we are all constantly aware of our Road Karma and how we treat people. It really pays off. When we're in the town of a band that we took care of, they almost always return the favor."
Wendy Woo has found that on the road, her rules work differently. "I always try to stay in a nice, decent hotel. As a single woman I don't choose to sleep on some stranger's floor. I tour very comfortably and try to treat it as a vacation or a dream come true, an experience to travel and see the world." As singer/songwriters who hire a band, Woo and Matthew Moon are in similar situations. One big difference is Moon's bandmates' availability to tour as extensively as he wants versus Woo's situation. "All of my band members have families, so it would be hard to tour right now," she said.
Among the myriad personalities and egos on the road, two common traits and attitudes help create a bearable and even enjoyable jaunt across the country: humor and flexibility. "I always try to hire a band with a good sense of humor," Woo said. "Anyone who can make you laugh across the countryside is worth their weight in gold." For Three Degrees of Freedom, their goal next year is to tour full time. Each member's personality already has a distinct purpose on the road. "Greg Pace, our bassist, might be the funniest man alive," said the band's manager Gayor Geller, "Whether he's pronouncing Wichita, Kansas as 'Wheechiiitttaa,' or telling us all what a SUPER TIME HE IS HAVING. He always has something funny to say. We really don't know our guitarist Matt McClain's point of view because he sleeps the whole way. Andy Clapp, our drummer, just drums on things like the back of the driver's chair. It helps keep the driver awake. Andy loves drumming. Paul [Cox] plays Game Boy and I just drive. When we have our friend Glenn with us, he reads 'adult stories' out loud in fantastic voices. It's quite amusing."
Judge Roughneck chronicled some of the necessary 'flexibility' on the band's second CD. As an enhanced CD-R, Skankin' Naked has a video clip of lead singer Byron Shaw accidentally sitting on bassist Kyle Jones's acoustic guitar. As Jones drives the RV off camera, he asks, "Did you just sit on my guitar?" Shaw looks around like the kid at the cookie jar. "Yep," he says. "Is it broken?" yells Jones. Pause. "Yep." And the van keeps rolling down the road.
"I found myself $10,000 in debt after my third national tour," Wendy Woo said. Woo sought out sponsors like Wendy's Restaurants to help cover cost, but since she hires sidemen from a business angle not as a group effort which splits up the financial responsibility, she has a different nut to cover. "I am hiring the band at a weekly rate and paying for all travel expenses," Woo explained, "and I stay at hotels which probably explains a lot of the debt. I was sometimes making less than $ 100 a night--not enough to cover travel and band salary. I couldn't afford to go again. At that point in my career, I feared my touring was over."
Woo's story may sound extreme, but to finance a bunch of people with day-to-day living and professional costs requires simple cold, hard cashola. Judge Roughneck's guitarist Chris Reidy explained, "We save a certain amount of money from every show at home to cover touring expenses." The implication is that touring lurks constantly in the background even during hometown gigs. Most bands agree that the financial side of planning a tour works in tandem with the booking and performance aspects. All band members need money for food each day (the dreaded per diem ) , which can range from $15 to $25. Do the math.
"Normally you have a 'bread and butter' gig at home that helps finance things," Matt Moon said. "None of us [in my band] have jobs other than music. This is our focus." Judge Roughneck and 3DOF both work in markets that jibe with King Rat's 'Road Karma' approach by staying with friends and dedicated fans to offset costs. 3DOF has also had success with sponsorships. Some bands rely on money from the road to support being on the road. "If we're not making money, everyone chips in," Schmaltz said of King Rat's strategy. "After all, we're out doing what we love so it's like a vacation."
There isn't a town in the world I haven't run amok in....
Joe Strummer (The Clash)
Where to go is just as important as how, when, and if you even leave the driveway. "At a gig in Los Angeles some years back, we were told that we sounded great, but essentially, if we wanted to learn how to surf, we would have to go to where the ocean is," said Reitzig of Judge Roughneck's early touring. "We took that to mean that if we want to get attention from music business, we have to go to where they are." In Roughneck's case, Reitzig's day job transferred him to Santa Monica last year. "I became the LA connection, and we decided to try and work it."
Strategically, that meant Roughneck would drive to LA for short bursts of shows at the same clubs to build a bigger audience, one that would then catch the ear of an industry A&R representative. "We have been going every six weeks or so for the past six months," Reitzig said. "Our goal became raising our visibility in the national industry." 3DOF, as well, clearly defines their strategy. "We hit markets that we know we can go back to and hit them as many times as possible in a six-month period to develop a strong fan base," Geller explained. "We do anything and everything to build strong relationships with our fans and the venues where we perform."
Woo, who at one point thought she'd never tour again, found that playing mountain gigs during tourist season expanded her market without her knowing it. "I started getting small private party offers [to play solo] in places like San Francisco, Oklahoma City and Washington D. C." Woo explained. "I was hired by people who had seen me perform in Colorado and wanted to bring me to their home towns. Generally, I could get them to pay for airfare, PA rental, food, lodging and a small payment. This would get me to the city and would allow me to book smaller dates in the area. I have been able to do solo acoustic tours and build my following in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Oklahoma City, Washington D. C., New York City, and Brooklyn."
King Rat alternates East Coast and West Coast tours hoping to penetrate the punk market in each city. "The genre we play is very, very competitive," Schmaltz said, "and the bigger cities are really rough and often not that much fun. We do better in smaller cities that don't get a lot of punk bands. Sometimes it's even more exhilarating, to get a fresh audience, a bunch of kids who rarely get a band like us in their town--sometimes they go wild."
Being on tour sends me crazy. I drink too much
and out comes the John McEnroe in me...
Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders)
The road offers uncharted success, freedom, and wild and woolly adventures. With every great show comes glitches and horrors that can quickly alter Karma of any kind. Most are humorous in the aftermath but awful at the time. King Rat has a road horror from just two weeks ago.
"We played a crappy show in LA, . Schmaltz began. "I got in a car accident on the 405 [freeway] the next day. The band was crashed at a friend's house and right as I was telling them what happened, my cell phone died and I lost them. I waited four hours for a tow truck. Two days later we lost a fan belt 100 miles west of Salt Lake City so we rode into town on the tow truck and played the show anyway. We took the van to a mechanic but he said he couldn't get it ready until the following day so we missed our show in Durango. We got drunk instead and limped back to Denver the next day."
Different tour experience among band members can show up unexpectedly in the wrong places and at the wrong times. Four years ago, Judge Roughneck hired drummer Zach Pietlock who had never been on a band tour before. Guitarist Chris Reidy explains their baptism by fire. "Zach got so drunk before a show in Las Vegas that he could barely stand up. I ended up kicking him off of the drum set during the first song and I finished the show on drums. After I kicked him off of the drums, he fell off of the stage and just about took the whole lighting truss down." Pietlock admits that a tour can be daunting if a player isn't used to every single element involved in being on the road. "I'll never forget my first tour," he said. "The difference between playing to a new crowd or a cold crowd compared to playing at home where you feel good and you know what/s up all the time--that's huge."
As our survey closes, nothing can be said that the bands don't say for themselves. How do we measure success? Walk through the door of any live show around here and watch the band. "I want to have a good time," Matthew Moon said. "If you are with people you enjoy, all the little things are easy." Schmaltz and King Rat agree. "We always remember that at the end of the day, we are doing this for ourselves more so than anyone else." The dedication of our local musi- cians to Denver and to getting their music heard is rock solid. "Every day is more beautiful than the day before," Three Degrees of Freedom said. "We all stink a little more,and when delirium sets in,you just have to sit back and enjoy it.”
All Rights Reserved © 2002 Go Go Media, LLC, Denver, Colorado