UPDATE* I updated the part about haujobb, I remembered it incorrect. I think i remember it correctly now.
How to tour.
If we get in a van, hit the road, and take 7 to 8 people, expenses will be high. A tour van rental is expensive, gas is expensive, motels are expensive, paying everyone is expensive. The problem is this. When you tour, you will be on the road for weeks, feeding everyone adds up, and you will play shows on weekdays. This means if your lucky maybe a couple hundred people will show up. They wont buy enough merch to make it profitable, and the venue may not be able to pay you if the show tanks. On these smaller markets like chicago, detroit, philly, denver, new orleans, new mexico, st lois, etc etc its not worth even stopping by to take a loss. Because at most you will be lucky to get 200 people. This scene is so small now. I fear booking a huge tour and having my heart broken like the last time I toured the usa. When I toured the usa in 2000, on paper, we would draw 500+ per show, and projected profits for me were 20 grand. I get on tour, that is not what happens, we got lucky and got about 2 to 300 people at each show even on week days, this was in 2000. Well, on the big events on the weekends in the bigger cities, we drew a lot more. In la it was about 400, in san fran it was about 600, in ny it was about 2000, in florida it was about 400. Those shows were successes, but denver, chicago, detroit etc etc, we lose money on. So in 2000 i walked home with 800, yes, i made about 3000, but seriously after all the money i spent on the road not going crazy, it was down to 800 when i came home. The 2000 tour broke my heart, it even made me quit vac for a while, after that fiasco i came home and thought touring was a joke, no money can be made.
Let me break it down.
In 2000, We had two bands, and a tour bus. I think the tour bus was like 50 + grand for the bus, gas, and the driver, this was in 2000. I only paid each person in my band about 800 bucks, i paid my sound guy 5000, the merchandise guy took a big cut, The cost of day rooms was expensive, food was expensive. My basic understanding of the 2000 tour was that all in all the shows took in over 200 grand. but the expenses were way up there and the cost of merch had to be recouped, and after that, there was not a lot of money to throw around. I remember haujob’s drummer *EDIT* was pissed because he did not make as much as he was promised, he left, super angry and left the tour early. I think haujobb paid him everything, and the rest of the band got nothing and he still left. I’m not trying to bad mouth haujobb or anyone, just pointing out how fucked things get because of the lack of funds! This is why coupled with breaking up with my fiance at the time, I literally lost it. And lost my faith in the music industry, the scene, and why it takes me forever to put out an lp every year, because i feel so betrayed by the music industry in so many ways. And now with all the piracy it’s even worse. I became so disillusioned with music. I put my whole life on hold, didn’t go to school, and try to get a real job, because I spent all my time rebuilding my studios after every record trying to figure out how to be a better musician thinking i could make money doing vac or doing video game sound, well getting a job in the industries for audio tanked on me, and no one will give me the time of day. So i sacrificed my life for VAC. And so far, it is super depressing. *UPDATE* And yes, I talked to dave the other day about the 2000 tour, DAVE (OWNER OF METROPOLIS RECORDS) told me that he lost a lot of money on the VAC/Haujobb tour. That he paid us out of pocket and the kindness of his heart because the tour did not even break even, despite all the money that was made.. Now, metropolis does not do the tour thing at all, because he always takes a loss. So it is all on my shoulders now, and I am not in a financial position to lose money on a tour.
Back to the touring tho, seriously, the costs for a big tour is really high, and the profits, really low. Today, I am not convinced I can draw better than I did then, because I will go out alone, with no one else as well. I could try and hop on a big tour(bigger opening act) and pay to play and lose money to promote to an audience that may not like me. That is a gamble I don’t want to take. Or I could just do 1 offs on the weekends and hit the big major cities where my records really sell. But then I have to bring my band, + merch person, and sound lights guy. So for example to fly to chicago for a 1 off, I am looking at close to 3000 in air fare. That is just air fare. Most venues will only guarantee about 3000 or less for an act like me. So the door would barely cover travel expenses, now i would have to rent lights, sound stuff, and flying means i cannot take a lot of gear, so i would have to have that gear on the tech rider, amps, guitars, keyboards, and trust the venues to deliver this gear for me. because you cannot bring that shit on a plane these days, not to mention they lose baggage all the time, its a joke.
This is a lot to think about. When I released lust for blood 3 years ago, I went over all this again, sales for that lp were not great, and i was really put off by how daunting this touring stuff is. So I can tour and make no money and have it all on my shoulders, if i print up a lot of merch with my money and it doesn’t sell i could go bankrupt. So it is all on my shoulders, my label wont help, if they do, they take it out of my future royalties and i eat and live off my royalties. so if it goes south, I starve and end up on the streets. No joke. The cost of touring is really high. I’m not convinced that touring in a van would be profitable at all. I’m not convinced 1 offs on weekends and shipping the merch and fly all over is either.
This is a daunting thing to figure out. I am still disillusioned. It’s why I have not toured in 9 years. This industry is a nightmare. If you think there is this golden rainbow waiting for a band who reaches VACs status in the scene, think again. It broke my heart, everything about my life has let me down over these years. I sold my soul for an empty dream. This is at the very core on top of everything else in my life that has made me so dark, low, and depressed over all these years. Shit…..
Bryan
PS: It looks like we will play one offs more or less. Weekends in the big cities. IF it goes well, I will put together a big tour later.
August 24th, 2009 by Hexfix93
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