Booking

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Booking

You'll need contacts, and you'll need a press kit. Contacts can be gotten from a variety of sources. Maximum Rock and Roll magazine is great, but only if you are a punk band or are some type of music that can play with punk bands. The book called Book Your Own Fucking Life is good too. (Their Web site, byofl.org, is lame. Get the book.)

This Web site rocks also: www.herosseverum.com/resources.htm.

I find that the best thing is to just befriend another band that tours and try to get them to share their phone list or database. They will usually be reserved about doing this unless they trust you. Too many idiots having it (and many musicians are idiots) makes it harder for everyone. Only give your info out to people who aren't going to make you wish you hadn't.

Once you start booking, if you have trouble finding a contact in a particular city, you can always call the college radio station. Someone there will know where you should play. You might have to call back though, because the way college radio stations fill their day, you might get the book review show or the Sunday prayer show when you call. Just ask them when the DJ who plays your type of music is back. Also, if the phone is ringing off the hook, call back in 10 minutes. It probably means that the DJ is talking on the air at that moment.

If you do get a sympathetic DJ, find out her name and address to send her promo material. She might be quite helpful in getting people to come to your show once you book it.

If you have the name of the club you want to play but don't have the number, just look it up on the Internet. That will save you 50 cents or more a pop for calling information. I find that Google.com is the best engine for most searches.

Figure 16.1. Google.com rocks.

I just type the name of the club in quotes, type a space, and then type the name of the city in quotes. That usually yields pretty refined results. You can also search on phonebook.com.

NOTE

A lot of what we covered about booking local gigs in Chapter 10, "Finding, Playing, and Putting On Gigs," will apply here also, especially with record keeping and thanking people.

Tell the booker your name, the name of your band, what city you're in, and when you're going on tour. Ask how to get a show. Don't be surprised if they haven't heard of you, even if you're big in your hometown.

You'll probably still have to send out a CD and photo and press kit. As with local shows, you should include a cover letter. The cover letter should briefly state who you are, why they should care, and when you want to come through their town.

So you've sent your press kit and CD to them, and they didn't call back. Call after two weeks and gently remind them that you're booking a tour and ask when you should call back. Make a note of it in your Excel spreadsheet and call them back when you said you would.

When they finally have heard the CD, they are hopefully ready to give you a show. They might not be willing to give you the night you want, and sometimes you'll have to choose between backtracking and not having a show. I remember this was Bomb's MO. We would play anywhere , any time. We went on tour in the Pacific Northwest in the dead of winter. We booked shows on consecutive nights with 22- hour drives between them. We booked a matinee show in Toledo and an evening show in Detroit for the same night. It's your call whether or not you wanna be this insane with booking. It's certainly fun when you're young.

After securing a gig, you should also ask them for contacts for press and radio in their town, and you should follow that up with kits and a cover letter, even if the club says they'll do it for you. You can't rely on busy people to do everything they say, and it can't hurt to have it done twice. Better that than not at all.

Make another column in your Excel spreadsheet and add the local press info for that town. If you go back on tour, this stuff will help you later.

Be sure to find out if the venue provides food for the band, drinks, and a place to stay. Mark this on your Excel spreadsheet, and then ask if you should fax or mail a contract.

Some places will not do a contract, but most will. Sometimes they'll let you use yours; sometimes they insist on using their own contract. The former is usually preferable, but on your first few tours, you probably don't have a choice.

They will probably offer you a percentage of the door. I suggest you take it. Unless it's some kind of pay-to-play ticket sales thing. That stuff is insane in your own city, but beyond dumb if you have to do it from another city. A reasonable offer for an out of town band would be 1/3 or _ of the evening's take if there are a few other bands. Usually the club will take some off the top to make sure they break even and then some. Bars are in the business of making money, not of supporting the arts. They do make a lot of money off liquor, but wanna make sure they make enough money to pay the soundman, extra door people, security, and so forth that's required to put on a show.

Figure 16.2. An Albatross guitar. (Photo by Michael Dean. As we said in the first chapter, unless otherwise indicated, all photos in this book are by Michael Dean.)

Figure 16.3. An Albatross keyboard.

Ideally, you want to make $300 or $400 a night, but this is rare the first time out. But all is not a washI find that a band with modest needs, if they budget their money and have a low per diem (amount each person is allotted each day for expenses) of $10 or $15, can effectively tour grossing as low as $100 a day.

NOTE

Try to book as many shows as you can (especially since a few tentative dates probably won't come through at the last minute, and a few confirmed dates might cancel during the tour). Days off are expensive. It's like Mike Watt says, "If ya ain't playin', you're payin'!"

While an occasional day of rest is good, too many shows is better than too few. Too many shows is what I call a "quality problem."

I try to book 30 gigs in 30 days and end up booking 27. Probably two of those will cancel. This leaves 25 shows in 30 days, which is perfect.

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