by Christopher Scum

Created on: March 03, 2007   Last Updated: April 02, 2007

Hello musicians and music lovers, I am going to attempt to give advice on touring in a band. It certainly seems like the life, huh? Rock out every night, stay up all night partying with the groupies you met. Playing packed houses every night and signing autographs until your hand is sore. Maybe if you join a band that is already famous. Or you could try the supposed Robert Johnson method and sell your soul at the crossroads. Since neither of these options are probable or even possible, get ready to work hard for little money. Bands just don't get discovered very often anymore and become overnight sensations. Don't fool yourself into thinking you're going to be the exception. Even if you're extremely talented, remember this everyone is. Any band attempting to make a life out of music is going to have talent, if you don't someone will let you know early on. This is not a nice, kind or soft business. Until you get a buzz going on about yourself, no one cares.

So once you have your sound perfected and have won the hearts of your hometown.
If you don't have a reputation and aren't packing houses in your town, where all your friends and family live, you need to reevaluate what your doing. Is it your sound, stage presence, do you really want this. The crowd will know if a band is into their music or going through the motions. If you're not winning the hearts of locals don't even attempt a tour.
While getting ready for your tour (as you should start booking 4-6 months in advance) you need to be working your asses off! If you live in a large city that has concerts regularly consider getting a job as a stagehand or roadie. This will give you an insight to what goes on in the big world of music. It's also a great place to pass out your CD's or demos. If you haven't recorded a CD why are you considering a tour?
While you're all working regular jobs and practicing every given moment save every penny you can. You are going to lose money on your first tour. If you have no back up plan you won't last a week out there. One way to go about ensuring you have travel money is take all the money you plan to spend and put it into a bank account under the bands name. Thus you can get a credit or debit card under the same name. You don't want to go off across the country with a access of cash on you, you could be robbed, lose it, any number of things could happen, then your tours over and you're broke. Another way is travelers checks.
One of the most important, if not the most important

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