Department of Touring

This was a phrase my former boss and one of New Zealand’s great rock n roll promoters Chris Cole used to bark at me – and although it sounds super cynical – it’s really not.

It works on a couple of levels. As a manager I think it’s wise not to pass on every piece of good or bad news to the band – you get so many great offers, or suggestions or opportunities – I think it’s best to wait until the deal is completely done – or permission from the band is required before bringing it up. It can be really depressing for the band when these things don’t happen – but in reality – a lot of things don’t happen all the time! So no need to tell the band that a certain reviewer or label or important person will be at their show – no point in telling them Arcade Fire have just offered them the support of their world tour, yadda yadda… basically wait until it happens.

As a band – the same applies I don’t think you should mention that you are off overseas on tour – basically wait until you have checked your guitar on and are walking towards passport control… in this business anything can happen – and you look really dumb if this stuff doesn’t eventuate.

Certainly, in New Zealand we live in such a small music community that for the most part everyone is getting the same deals at venues, the same ad rate for radio advertising etc- but every now and again you do learn things that not everyone knows – perhaps a certain bar thinks they can make money out of bands so offer some good guarantees for a while – or maybe you figure out that you should actually book you Labour day gig in February –I think it’s good to keep as much of this info to yourself. The only real advantage you end up having over all of your mates who are in bands – is tacit knowledge… and if you learned it for whatever reason – then it has a value…. And that value gives you a value. Obviously there is a whole lot of info that is good to share as well – like cheap van hire companies, good sound engineers, helpful radio people etc – but sharing international contacts to just any old one isn’t going to help you, also sharing successful funding grant application templates around is just going to have you competing against your own grant application one day with another band’s name on it.

I also don’t think a band ever has to issue a press release to explain why certain stuff has happened – I read recently about a band getting turned back from London because they didn’t have visas and their record label had offered up same lame excuse in a press release – in other words trumpeting bad organisation and making the band look silly. If bad / embarrassing stuff goes on – and if the media show an interest – you are under no obligation to talk about anything – just keep it to yourself so that you don’t keep feeding the fire or showing that dumb stuff is going on – be it internal fighting, sacking a band member, or what ever feels like big earth shattering news in your world.

Finally – I have personally benefited from a lot of great advice and shared contacts over my time, in particular Tom Dalton really helped me out when the Datsuns were doing well in the UK and the Brunettes were just about to go over. So when I say don’t tell anyone anything – I guess I am also saying – pick wisely the people who you are going to share information with. At the end of the day whether you like it or not – all bands are competing with each other whether its for show dates, deals with labels, poster space, good ads slots on the radio – so you have to keep mum about a few things if you are going to get ahead.

This article appeared within a column in the Oct/Nov 2008 issue of New Zealand Musician Magazine