As costs soar and belts tighten, artists are finding different ways to economize on the road and tour on a budget.
has exactly two members, and the indie-rock band can afford exactly one hotel room while headlining clubs and theaters through the end of July. “Any increase in that — if we decide we want an additional musician or a sound engineer or someone to help us sell our merch — that pushes us into two rooms,” saysdrummer. “There isn’t that revenue source — records — to fall back on to get the show funded the way you would like it to be. It’s a combination of the economy and the streaming economy.
One thing that’s different than previous years is no one has a van you can borrow. There aren’t the same networks of bands with vans. Everyone outsources it now. There are expensive van-rental companies for Sprinters. That’s been a drag. The things we’re having to cut back on are guitar techs and lighting engineers and drum techs. It’d create a smoother show for the audience, and it’d be quite normal at this point in our career to have that. But that’s extra hotels, extra flights, extra food. It’s been an agreement with all of us that as soon as we can have a regular guitar technician, at the very least, that’s something that we want to have. It’s been explicitly talked about.
All of us wear multiple hats. My guitarist, who also plays keys, does all of our playback, and she’s a genius with tech. My tour manager is basically a production manager. My manager is helping advance all the shows from afar. My sound engineer does almost all of the driving. We change our own tires. I’m very skilled with engines! We have a rotating hotel room. If somebody was having a rough day or needed some time alone, they would get that hotel room to themselves.
If it got so bad that we weren’t actually breaking even on the tour, I would just tour less and save up and pay for it. It’s something I want to do. The nut we’re rolling with right now is what it costs to do it with care and responsibility.We have five people in our touring party. Four people in the band our merch person. We all just manage our tour stuff ourselves. We all share one hotel room — just a bunch of dudes in one hotel room sharing beds and a pullout couch.
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