Over the course of the next year, I'm going to be journalling about my experience as a rookie guitar tech/roadie for a major label band (both the band and label's names will been changed). So, to give you a little background:
I'm 20 years old, and originally from Nebraska. About a year ago, I dropped out of music school in Lincoln and moved to Chicago, where I've been living for the last 9 months. In the mornings I work for an investor company at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange as a runner on the trading floors. On nights and weekends, I work at a record shop/venue in the far south loop (Reggie's). About a month ago, a buddy of mine from Nebraska got a job as a roadie/electronics/sound guy for the aforementioned band. They mentioned to him that they were going to need another guitar tech, so he got them in touch with me. I applied, my background check cleared, and here I am.
Last night we had a gig and video shoot at the Goose Island brewpub in Wrigleyville. I don't know why they wanted to shoot their video there. They might as well shoot at Applebee's. The room sucks. We had to move a bunch of tables out of the way, the sound wasn't great, their soundboard was cheap and they didn't have enough mic stands for us to mic the guitars. Oh well. Not my band.
It was the first time I got to meet everyone that I'll be working with for the next year. We all met around 6:00 for dinner and a meet-and-greet. Everyone seems fairly solid to me. It's still pretty early to tell, though. This is my first time on the road. I've been playing guitar since I was 6, but this is the first real full-time music job that I've ever gotten (other than the record shop, I guess). A lot of the other crew members are first-timers, too, which makes me feel a little better. Here's a run-down of our crew. (I can't remember some of their real names, unfortunately).
Erica Welch-Johnson (band manager 1): She seems like a really sweet lady. Her husband will be going on tour with us too, but I'm not sure what his official title is yet. Don't know how I feel about that guy. On one of our smoke breaks, he told me that she's been diagnosed with terminal spinal cancer and that this tour is her last big hurrah before she dies. He told me this right after lamenting that the cute bartender had given him her number and he couldn't do anything because Karen was there, so he'd just save the number for now. Nice, huh?
Maria Maslanka (band manager 2): Also seems very nice, if not a little uptight. She's the one who interviewed me.
Joe (crew manager): I'm looking forward to working with this guy. He's been doing big tours for almost 30 years (thank God), and I think I am really going to learn a ton from him over the next year. He likes to talk. I like to listen.
"Josh-Hartnet-lookin'-motherfucker" a.k.a- Bryan (sound guy 1): To get an idea of what this dude looks like, picture Josh Harnet with a pony tail nearly to his ass and a Dimebag Darrell-style goatee. He seems like he knows what he's doing, but he also seems like he's got something to prove. He likes to throw in opposing opinions where they're not necessary. Might be a bit of a drama queen, we'll see.
Emilio (sound guy 2): I can't remember exactly he said he was from (Sevilla, I think?), but so far I like the dude. He seems like a friendly, unassuming guy with quite a bit of experience and knowledge. He said his father was a playwright, and that he'd been doing production for theater and bands for about 23 years.
Jake Lampe (sound guy 3): This is my buddy from Nebraska who got me the job. He's going to be the one who the other sound guys boss around, and he's going to be learning to run the lights, too.
Firewater Jonny (guitar tech 1): That's me. I'm a joke.
J.D. King (guitar tech 2): Really cool guy. 33 years old, works in a music shop in a smaller town in middle Illinois teaching drums. Like me, he's never been on a tour, but has been playing for quite awhile and giving lessons.
Mark (bass tech): Didn't really talk to this guy that much, but he seems pretty cool. He has a pony tail nearly to his ass, and he likes Pearl Jam. But he was really nice and laid-back, so I guess I can't hold that against him.
Terry (Drum Tech): This guy is a middle aged black dude, and he moves kinda slow. It took him forever to set up the drums, and I think he got a talking-to after the show. I hope he can pick up the pace, everyone else had their stuff ready to go and sound checked at least 10 minutes before he did. He got the job because he's friends with the drummer, and he seems like a nice guy, but if he can't keep up with everyone else we're definitely going to run into problems on the road.
There is another couple who are just there to help whoever needs help, I think. I didn't talk to them very much. The band all seem like very level-headed, kind guys. They were definitely the best band that played last night. A guy who posts on one of the online forums I post on said they sound a little like In Living Colour, which is an alright description of their sound, I think. I personally wouldn't listen to their music just rolling around in my car, but they're all pretty good musicians and I don't think I'll have any problem working with them.
The other bands that played were pretty hard for me to listen to. The first band wasn't THAT bad, but their drummer did the same fill over and over and over, which is an unforgivable sin in my book. The second "band" was just a guy doing an acoustic set because his band bailed on him. And while I have to give him a little credit for getting up on stage by himself with little preparation, it was pretty brutal to listen to. He sang in this really weird nasally, deep voice, and his guitar was WAY out of tune. When I mentioned to him that he was out of tune, he just said "Oh, no, man, that's just how I tune." So I just let him have it his way and went back to smoke a cigarette and get the rest of the guitar equipment ready. The last band was even worse. They were truly god-awful. Their lead singer sang in that "Eddie Vedder/Scott Stapp wannabe" voice, but really deep. I wanted to stab him.
Shitbag was in fine form. Since everything we eat or drink is going to be covered by the label (or so we've been told), he got really loaded and talked everyone's ear off. He was so excited he was practically giddy. He tried to get me to drink with him many times during the night.
"What are you, straight edge now?!" He kept asking.
I didn't drink, though, and I'm really glad I didn't. Other than being underage and new at this job, I drove Mary and the guitar player whose equipment I'll be taking care of home after the show.
Overall, I'm cautiously optimistic about the next year. Admittedly, I'm very green and EASILY the youngest person in the crew, but I think that once we gel as a group and everyone figures out exactly what their role is it'll go fairly smoothly. I guess I'll see what happens once we get on the road. We leave for New York May 24th, so stay tuned.
