Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
At The Back => Time Out => Topic started by: Dmoney on February 23, 2009, 03:04:35 PM
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SO!
im sure a lot of people here tour or whatever from time to time.
being the only person in my band who actually does anything means i often have to find vans, drivers, book ferry tickets or whatever...
most van hire companies are really expensive, especially for DIY bands on DIY labels. the first two times we toured mainland europe we hired a van of people we knew, but as time has gone by thats no longer possible.
so... does anyone have an secret van's they own, and would be willing to hire our, or do you know any companies that rent vans out for cheap.
this is the most annoying thing i have to do within the band, and it takes up so much time, every time we have a mainland show or we want to tour... just wondered if anyone had any thoughts.
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I'm only posting to say "I feel your pain..." but I have no answers for you...
I haven't played live for years, but that was always the biggest problem we had (aside from the obvious "hey, where do you get your audiences from? we never seem to have one... :roll:")
And I was probably one of the people that caused someone else to have the "being the only person in my band who actually does anything " headache... (but I was the front-man, main songwriter, general "all-round-artistic-tw@t", and so on.... so... I couldn't really be expected to be practical and have good organisational skills as well, could I? :lol:)
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thats fair enough.
our new bassist is good, but he is the only person who does stuff in his other band.
i design or deal with designers who do our merch, deal with the printers, look after the online store, pack and post stuff to people, deal with booking, running the myspace, booking anything like recording time, looking after money, and writing all our stuff minus lyrics. as well as working a full time job. oh yeah and the transport thing.
bogus!
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:lol:
And I bet things still haven't changed much:
The wimin after the gigs - do they value the organisation/marketing skills when looking for someone to "get close to" in the band? Hell no... it's the singer, the lyricist, or the biggest prima donna (usually the same person :lol:) ... er, actually, that worked out well for me, so I'm not complaining 8)
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haha. dude, post gig im taking down merch and loading the van while most other people swan around doing that stuff.
things is, i dont trust that lot to do it anyway. oh well! guess im stuck. anyway, when that does go on i like to ruin it... by yelling things like "she's no stranger to a dinner!"
i win!
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What about buying instead? You could sell after the tour. If you pay like 50 bucks a day for renting, you could as well just buy an old van, paint it funny and don't care when you burn cigarette holes in the fake leather seats :O)
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Sack the least able member of the band - replace with musician who also owns such a van as you require for your band activities - job done !
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When I was touring Europe (admittedly in the 70's), we bought an old van ourselves because it was the cheapest option in the end. I don't know how much gear you have though, back then we had a half stack for the bass player, and AC30's for 2 guitars. The PA was 4 2x15 columns with Fane Crescendo's and we had an Orange 8 channel mixer and 2 power amps for it. Add a 5 drum kit, 4 guitars, one bass and 6 people and that was it. We got it all in an old Commer camper van (we stripped out everything but the top storage shelves). 3 of us in the front, the rest on a couple of air mattresses and sleeping bags in the back!
For you youngsters that have no idea what that would look like here is a picture of one (ours was yellow and white!):
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When I was touring Europe (admittedly in the 70's), we bought an old van ourselves because it was the cheapest option in the end. I don't know how much gear you have though, back then we had a half stack for the bass player, and AC30's for 2 guitars. The PA was 4 2x15 columns with Fane Crescendo's and we had an Orange 8 channel mixer and 2 power amps for it. Add a 5 drum kit, 4 guitars, one bass and 6 people and that was it. We got it all in an old Commer camper van (we stripped out everything but the top storage shelves). 3 of us in the front, the rest on a couple of air mattresses and sleeping bags in the back!
For you youngsters that have no idea what that would look like here is a picture of one (ours was yellow and white!):
Outstanding !! :D
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When I was touring Europe (admittedly in the 70's), we bought an old van ourselves because it was the cheapest option in the end. I don't know how much gear you have though, back then we had a half stack for the bass player, and AC30's for 2 guitars. The PA was 4 2x15 columns with Fane Crescendo's and we had an Orange 8 channel mixer and 2 power amps for it. Add a 5 drum kit, 4 guitars, one bass and 6 people and that was it. We got it all in an old Commer camper van (we stripped out everything but the top storage shelves). 3 of us in the front, the rest on a couple of air mattresses and sleeping bags in the back!
For you youngsters that have no idea what that would look like here is a picture of one (ours was yellow and white!):
Outstanding !! :D
+1
(and also... "hippy! :lol:")
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My mate Vulche does tours for bands. Got his own 7 seater transit van with two dvd screens, microwave loads of storage room etc. He drives, you pay him and provide petrol. If you want his number, PM me or add me on facebook (Patrick Von DySlag) and then search my friends list for Dan Howes.
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thats the problem. paying people to drive is to expensive. if we bought a van it would basically be me buying since everybody is broke, then its just something else id have to deal with. plus i dont have a drivers license so i wouldnt even be able to move it.
we've paid £70 a day for van, which is round about the cheapest ive ever found thats owned by a company that deals with vans and bands. thats an 8 seater with a little loading space. no dvd players or xbox's. you add that stuff, then add a driver and its easily out the price range of most budding musicians i think. unless they have rich parents. when we do one off shows we take amps, guitars, drum breakables. if we did a tour we'd have to pay closer to £90 a day for the extra room to fit in two 4x12's, a full drum kit, an 8x10 bass cab, plus luggage and merch and everything else. just not a PA.
if you're supporting bands that are on guarantees of £300+ even if you're main support, you may only cover your petrol cost.
the economics just seem to fit semi-pro or smaller full time bands much better.
i think you're right though, best idea is try and buy a van that isnt a dud, use it, then sell it. or keep it and rent it out to other band on the cheap! which is all well and good till someone trashes it.
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When I was touring Europe (admittedly in the 70's), we bought an old van ourselves because it was the cheapest option in the end. I don't know how much gear you have though, back then we had a half stack for the bass player, and AC30's for 2 guitars. The PA was 4 2x15 columns with Fane Crescendo's and we had an Orange 8 channel mixer and 2 power amps for it. Add a 5 drum kit, 4 guitars, one bass and 6 people and that was it.
We used to use a Ford Thames 15cwt like this one:
(http://www.mayswoodgarage.co.uk/ford_thames_van_1.jpg)
Must have been grossly loaded over 15cwt!! One full Marshall stack, two 50w Marshall half stacks, 100w Marshall PA with two 4x12 columns, full Ludwig drumkit, 2 guitars,bass and 6 people. Only 3 speed gearbox - like permanently riding a roller coaster as it used to take for ever going up hills (in 1st or 2nd gear) but used to go like a rocket downhill with all that weight
:ctf2:
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sweet jesus!
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I used to have an old Bedford CF long wheel base van years back. It had a 2.3 engine in it that was the same as a Vauxhall Firenza which was a boy racers motor ahem years back. It was great the clock only went up to 90 but you could thrash the tits off it and nearly get it around to 0 again! :lol: I used to use it for carrying gear to studios, carpet fitting, light removals and carting myself and my enduro bikes to punishing off road races and motocross tracks with 2 pals of mine. Versatile things vans and they can earn you money.
If you want something really big, powerful and reliable then get a Mercedes Sprinter. They're bomb proof and really shift too. My mates in a Zepp tribute use one and they go up and down the country every week.
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I was in a band once where we had a huge BMC truck. We were supposed to takes turns driving it but I never did.It was so big it could take all our gear and a sofa in the back for the passengers not able to sit in the cab to use. The Health & Safety police would go bananas these days. We slept in it( the coldest I have ever been!) and I reckon one or two may have pee'd in it-certainly some romantic 2 minute episodes occurred in it.
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^ Ah... the happy memories these tales are all bringing back to me :lol:
I was in a three-piece for years and we tended to travel in our private vehicles - a variety of estates and small vans. This was mainly gigging round South London.
When we did a long trip (eg down to the West Country for a few gigs) we would sometimes hire a van and squeeze "crew members" in-between the cabs and drum kit in the back.
"Crew members" meant people who were meant to be helping but actually regarded it as 4-5 day, 24 hour, p1ss-up cum free holiday - so don't feel too much sympathy for the b@stards (we had to rescue some from the police, we had to repair our own kit from "roadie damage", etc).
But I do fondly remember our band "road song" - usually sung by the three of us in the front, when sat in traffic jams, lost on the way to a gig, etc:
"Bollox
Bollox
Bollox
Bollox
... (etc)"
Sung to the tune of "Amazing Grace" - anyone else remember that one? We can't be the only band/team that have thought that one up! :lol:
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^ / ^^ Some great tales there! :lol:
I've gone on the road with "Whole Lotta Led" a few times, but in a photographers capacity. Its a great laugh thinking up things to talk about on the motorways.
One was thinking of the most disgusting song titles ever. I can't repeat them though as they are way ott! We were going to pen some lyrics to them, hey it may even happen. :lol:
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Must have been grossly loaded over 15cwt!! One full Marshall stack, two 50w Marshall half stacks, 100w Marshall PA with two 4x12 columns, full Ludwig drumkit, 2 guitars,bass and 6 people. Only 3 speed gearbox - like permanently riding a roller coaster as it used to take for ever going up hills (in 1st or 2nd gear) but used to go like a rocket downhill with all that weight
Forgot to add to the list a very crude 'home made' lighting system which consisted of 2 boards covered in Par 38 coloured lights which were manually operated by the roadie. The Par 38s didn't seem to last too long but we found a temporary solution after a gig in Torquay where we noticed that most of the seafront was illuminated by Par 38s :D. After an hour of cramming as many lights as we could in the very limited space left in the van it looked like one of those kids ball pits :lol:
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^ / ^^ Some great tales there! :lol:
I've gone on the road with "Whole Lotta Led" a few times, but in a photographers capacity. Its a great laugh thinking up things to talk about on the motorways.
One was thinking of the most disgusting song titles ever. I can't repeat them though as they are way ott! We were going to pen some lyrics to them, hey it may even happen. :lol:
you used to talk on motorways? i remember driving round on tour out of london, getting somewhere by Vicenza in Italy and everyone being nude. food getting thrown at other road users, bottles of wee being thrown out of windows. Roman Candles being set off at other bands in vans and bottle rockets being fired from the passenger window. rocks being thrown into the car parks of car show rooms while you drive past in the dead of night!! riding on top of the van and jumping off into snow banks.
also whenever you stop to get diesel or whatever, every service station becomes a victim of petty crime.
best one was when we almost used a rental van to ram a car park barrier that had trapped us in Holland...!
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^ / ^^ Some great tales there! :lol:
I've gone on the road with "Whole Lotta Led" a few times, but in a photographers capacity. Its a great laugh thinking up things to talk about on the motorways.
One was thinking of the most disgusting song titles ever. I can't repeat them though as they are way ott! We were going to pen some lyrics to them, hey it may even happen. :lol:
you used to talk on motorways? i remember driving round on tour out of london, getting somewhere by Vicenza in Italy and everyone being nude. food getting thrown at other road users, bottles of wee being thrown out of windows. Roman Candles being set off at other bands in vans and bottle rockets being fired from the passenger window. rocks being thrown into the car parks of car show rooms while you drive past in the dead of night!! riding on top of the van and jumping off into snow banks.
also whenever you stop to get diesel or whatever, every service station becomes a victim of petty crime.
best one was when we almost used a rental van to ram a car park barrier that had trapped us in Holland...!
We have ourselves a hellraiser! :lol: I'm a bit long in the tooth for all that monkey business and mischief now but I used to get up to all sorts of mayhem in my 20's! :lol: Keep it up and don't get caught in countrys like Spain as they're likely to batter you senseless with nightsticks ect, but that adds to the buzz of not getting caught! :lol:
I like this guy! :D
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We loved it in Germany because when you would fill up with petrol you could get crates of beer too. Since it all went on the same receipt, we got reimbursed for the beer as well!!
I remember coming back through customs one time with the sign from a Sex Shop on the side of the van (we nicked it in Germany and had got so used to seeing it that we forgot. Customs had all of us out of the van and put the dogs in. I think it smelt so bad after having been on the road 2 months that the dogs just wanted out and didn't smell anything. The guys in the car that was being taken apart didn't look happy when we were let go with no other aggro!
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hahah hellraiser.
last time we went away we went to the USA. i got some metal putty and a screwdriver free with a 5 fingered discount so i could fix the straplock buttons on my guitar. i also got some reading glasses and a beany hat for 'free' from a pound store as well as various snacks. I stole a machete from a venue we played at and a small plastic skeleton of what was meant to be a 7 year old. that got attached to our van, then placed under the wheels of somebody elses car. apart from petty theft, people were opening fridges in gas stations and stabbing bottles of pop with pocket knives so the contents would spray out all inside the fridge. oh yeah, and bending every chocolate bar, squeezing every doughnut. it was STUPID.
we got corned by 6 cops in colorado after doing all of the above, plus destroying the toilets in this place. the check out guy said we had stolen hats and he'd seen one of our friends walk out with the hat on. he hadnt actually stolen the hat that night, it was stolen from a gas station 2 nights earlier! hahaha. but what he didnt know was that other people had stolen the SAME hat from that store that night! the cops where gonna search the van, find 2 stolen hats, plus 4 english dudes and an Austrian with no work permits (illegal tour! haha). After we kept on arguing, the cops decided viewing the CCTV footage would be a good idea and the guy they were questioning who was with us agreed... but yeah, he still didnt know people had actually stolen stuff, plus there was probably footage of people stabbing fizzy pop bottles and stealing snacks. so we all pooped ourselves! at THAT point, another american who was with us, got a photo out with himself, the check out guy, AND the dude in the hat that he took when they FIRST went in the shop! the cops questioned the check out dude about it and he said our boy didnt have the hat in the photo, but agreed they took the picture when they first entered. only he messed up, cos our man DID have the hat in the photo! the cops decided he was mistaken, he was confused, they let us go!!!
CLOSE SHAVE!
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^ Hmmm, :lol: things tend to get out of control when your in a group of mentalists with the testosterone and adrenalin coursing through your veins! Then it all goes too far, you were very lucky! You could have been butt raped in a jail full of sex starved physcopaths! : :P
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its all a bit silly.
to be honest, we usually just sleep.
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I've got friends who used to be in Raging Speedhorn. Some of their stories are ridiculous.