Lance King – TOUR TIPS

This set of Tour Tips was written by the progressive rock/metal artist, Lance King. You can check out his awesome tips on how to tour, after the break.

1. A tour manager can make life much less stressful for a band, a good tour manager can play “A-HOLE’ when needed and be a buffer between other a-holes that are a vexation on a bands spirit. Please note a tour manager should only PLAY “a-hole” not really be one, this is an act that mixes, bravado, arrogance and low tolerance for venue managers or promoters laziness in not providing things that have been promised via the contract and rider. When things aren’t right, they don’t smile, they’re verbally aggressive, and they get things done, and the band paid so they can get to the next gig, many times without this, you end up with less than worthy situations for your performance that put the bands mind in a bad place during their performance.

2. Roadies are worth they’re weight in gold. Many times roadies are fans of a genre with tech skills, and or are players themselves that are friends of one of the band members. They typically are underpaid, they’re there when you need them and work hard, so you should appreciate them. Treat them right and you will have that tuned guitar, busted mic cord or drum beater / head fixed when you need it most. Treat them with respect and they will also show you this on stage, when the audience sees this respect, it puts you in a higher light.

3. Give the crowd the best show you can in sound and visuals!  Sound and lighting people are what set your show apart, if you always are using the house tech at each venue, you will have absolutely hit and miss performance with no consistency in your sound and performances. These guys are worth even more than the roadies, they’re worth platinum, good ones are hard to find, so dig and find the best you can for your performances, you’ll set the bar. This is especially important when you are touring or playing a venue for the first time, first impressions are always the ones that matter and have lasting effects!

4. First Impressions….cont’d…. have your show well rehearsed, and be ready for anything that may happen during a show as a malfunction so you can ride it out smoothly like a pro, don’t have down time if a drum beater breaks, your lead guy should be able to monologue and keep the crowd entertained during this time, if its his stuff broken, one of the other players should be able to do this in the wake while the tech’s work their magic!

5. Posters are a lost art form it seems, I can’t tell you how many times I go into a club in the metal scene and see crappy promo. FRONT YOUR GIG’S with a batch of the highest quality posters you can afford to send each venue on the tour or to your agent.  “Bigger, badder and bolder” than any other band doing it today. Make it look like an event that hasn’t happened in some time, people will be more likely to be there and pay for and event they haven’t seen in some time.

BONUS TIPS:
6. From a vocalist to other vocalists, sleep is your friend, get it whenever you can, don’t stress about your voice, it’ll only make it worse, drink lot’s of room temp water, you’ll pee a lot, but your kidneys and sinuses and throat will thank you.  Air conditioning is NOT your friend, turn it off in the summer anywhere near the stage. Nothing will clamp your vocal range more than muscles that are tightening up in your sweaty throat as it’s exposed to cold. Talking should be kept lower during the days and after the show, ware your earplugs so you’re not yelling too much at the show after your set. Beer is NOT your friend, it dries the throat, unless you’re getting a specific screemo or death vox from this, avoid it on the entire tour. When your voice is getting sore, throat coat tea is at any drug store, and sippery elm old fashioned cough drops, are pretty good, stock up… during a performance water is all you need. If you are going to throw in the towel on this, then Tuaca (Italian Brandy) and or Jager are the way to go “in moderation”, but you’d be better off not going there.  If you smoke… I’m going to tell you right now, you’ve just cut your vocal and performance endurance to about 1/3rd of what it could be so just quit and kill it!

7. Get in shape before running a marathon, which is what a tour is, start getting acclimated to the time schedules, and eating you plan on seeing during a tour, you’ll be getting a cardio workout every show, so, prep accordingly to be able to deliver it easily without loosing energy through your show, or through the tour, each performance getting stronger as opposed to weaker.

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