Touring

I’m sitting here in the control room listening to the rough mixes of the Saturday night performance at the Leamington Spa convention last year while contemplating the May touring figures in the UK. Many of you were interested and surprised at the last blog regarding the state of the music industry with regards to distribution and my survival ideas. I touched on the touring situation and the difficulties therein and after talking to Yatta I have decided to take it a step further and open up with some details that may surprise you.

What I am about to disclose is a picture of a typical tour costs assessment using an unnamed venue from the May tour with explanations where needed as to the figures and what they mean.

Firstly I am showing the costs from the promoters perspective and where the money goes. As I said this is a “typical” venue but sometimes there are variations which I’ll point out and explain-

“Venue”

capacity 700 ( on the tour we are playing venues from 400 cap ( x3) to 1200 (1) the rest average around 650-700)

Ticket price (all prices in pounds sterling) 22.50 net after VAT 18.75 net after PRS (publishing on songs played during performance, takes over a year to come back minus percentages to society) 18.19

Total receipts at Box office on capacity sell out 12 731.25

Expenditure

Support 50 (standard fee)

Catering 300 for 10 people (sandwiches, teas coffees,soft drinks, water -lunch, main meal at night (normally a 10 “buyout” = fend for yourselves), 6 bottles of wine + soft drinks, water and snacks for dressing room

Venue Hire 1100 normally this is inclusive of PA and lights as most venues have their own installations, it also includes security, local crew (“humpers”), towels etc.Cheapest venue hire is 250 but PA and security add on 950. Most expensive is 2250 ( and that is a 400 capacity) Average is around 1500

PA/Lights/Security/Crew/Barriers/Towels as I said are inclusive at this level of gigging. Next one up they become extras or venue hire rates go up accordingly.

Rep 120 this what we pay per show for the promoters representative who liaises with the venue and ourselves and takes care of the fees due on the night of show.

Local/National press budget 700 this is based on the total budget split between the 12 shows The Gig Cartel are promoting for me.This covers ads and the cost of a press officer who deals with the tour in advance setting up interviews and notifying local and national press.

Insurance 75 this is the insurance the promoter takes out for cancellation/public liability etc etc again split across 12 shows. It does not cover me.

Ticketing as with most venues nowadays the ticketing is outsourced to agencies who charge what I consider exorbitant fees and earn a tidy profit for very little in my opinion. A 4.50 charge in some cases to process a ticket plus postage which again appears more than enough to cover delivery. Just more middlemen eating the ever decreasing pie.

total expenses for this example are 2245

The Gig Cartel have dealt with my last couple of tours and they are easy guys to get on with and total pros, well versed at dealing with bands at this level. There are no hidden office expenses or extras that seep away at the expenditure.They guarantee a fee to Yatta and myself, cover their rep and like me hope that we “break percentage” on the show. That means we earn more money as we pass the “break even” figure where all venue costs and expenditure is met.The guarantee is based on the number of tickets they expect to sell. It is in no ones interests for promoters to go out on a limb with unrealistic figures as that means busted promoters and busted promoters can mean busted and potentially derailed tours and other bands getting hit in the aftermath if they are going through the same promoter ( as happened to me in 91 when I took a kicking on the Exile tour through a bankrupted company called Bandstand who’d booked me ,sold my tickets and lost the money before they went down through other busted tours just as I hit the road with my tour!. I took a 75k hit to the head with no comeback available)

Yatta haggles over the guarantee as our costs have to be met within that but after all I have said above a realism has to exist on all sides.The percentage splits after the break work accordingly, usually 70-30 in favour of the artist with the Gig Cartel not making any money themselves until after the break even is hit.

My guarantee on every gig on this tour is 2250

The break even on this show requires 273 tickets

And now we move onto my costs! (all minus VAT)

Band wages 750 5 musicians, I am not included in calculations for wages

Crew wages 400 4.Sound tech, backline tech,video/light tech and Yatta. As with the musicians these are not top notch wages but what I can afford and I am lucky I have great band and crew guys that have remained loyal and give and make time for me.

Agency 113 This is Yatta’s fee of 5% of the gig guarantee for setting up and booking the tour with the Gig Cartel, booking hotels, sorting out transport, organising and printing itineraries, phone bills, laminates and all the other work that goes into organising a tour before we go out. It can take months sometimes when dealing with European bus tours across a 6-7 week itinerary. The agency percentage also covers my side of earnings after we pass the “break even” point. A mainline “London” booking agent can take between 10-20% of a show fee and they generally don’t do anything apart from book the gig and only liaise with the band’s production manager with regards to all the other details. Mainline agents (especially the good ones) are more in demand and more difficult to get than record deals these days as the live scene takes over as the artist’s main income supplier from selling recorded product. As I said in the previous blog the album sells the tour and not the other way around as it used to be years ago when I started in the business. I couldn’t afford to deal with a mainline agent as it would mean it would be unlikely to get the numbers of gigs I do get as promoters either couldn’t afford the fees (re read the busted promoters section above) or I couldn’t fit the agents percentage in my budget at the level I work on. (add a managers 20% on top and you understand why I don’t have management!). Yatta and I have been around the block enough times to know a good selection of European promoters, the ones we trust, the ones we want and like to work with and who Yatta can pick up the phone and put together a tour with. By not having “London” representation we might lose out on some festivals and other gigs but we have our “meat and potatoes” and the lower costs mean we can work more often. With no major record company behind me and at 55 years old with the numbers I normally do it would be highly unlikely that either a mainline agent or decent manager would look at me anyway. I don’t take it personally. I am just realistic which is why we operate as we do.Anyway back to the costs!

Hotel (4 twin and 2 single) 400 ranges again go from 280 up to 550. This UK tour is not on a sleeper bus. The journeys are only a matter of a couple of hours which would mean sleeping parked up outside venues. On European tours the distances are greater and we couldn’t travel those hours on a gig day. On bus tours we get a hotel every 4 days unless there’s horrendous traveling involved ( as we have on a long section of the September tour with only a ferry cabin in 8 days). Bus tours can mean a day room on gig day where everyone showers etc unless there’s facilities in the venue.Bus costs are around 450 a day for something not luxurious! This UK tour there has to be doubles which means sharing for the band and crew. Yatta and I have singles .. It’s the only thing I “pull rank” on as I need my sleep to recover the voice and need the peace and quiet to chill and steady myself. Yatta deals with after show figures, advancing gigs etc and also needs his own space.Not ideal but necessity as you’ll see further down the page.

Insurance 42 this is another of those figures split over 12 shows. This is my cover for public liability and canceled shows in the main. It only covers the guarantees not any potential percentage break no matter how many tickets are sold in advance. It doesn’t cover merch loss or anything else. Only the costs I have incurred and lost through a “no show”.. Luckily my history has been relatively clean in recent years so although I don’t have a “no claims” bonus the premiums are not horrendous.

Splitter Van Hire 110 the new all singing and dancing “Clown Carrrier” driven by Shaun the “FTC” who also, as most of you well know, is our sound tech. A 9 seater Merc van that also carries all our backline equipment and my merchandise. On a “big bus ” tour it goes in a trailer behind the bus which is an additional cost, about the same as a splitter van hire!

Fuel Van 47 an average as you’d expect

Fuel Car 25 Yes you did the figures right! There’s 10 in the party and a 9 seater Splitter van. This means yours truly will be following the Clown Carrier again driving to gigs with whatever passenger decides to join me.We haven’t even registered a “hire” cost here!

Strings/Skins etc 42 Not drug paraphernalia but the “throwaways” the musos go through again averaged out over the 12 days. Drum skins, drum sticks ,guitar strings, bass strings break, wear out and have to be replaced. It’s a tour cost not an individuals. Normal procedure.

Catering – Breakfast 25 The only meal we pay for on gig days and days off. Sometimes inclusive in the hotel charge and sometimes not. Some of us do and some of us – mainly me – don’t. Again an average.

Video Hire 75 This is for the equipment we use to provide the backscreen projections. I don’t have the budgets to go for a “Porcupine Tree” visual extravaganza but we do what we can in the constraints to put something up to make more of the show. I use “in house” lighting techs on the night who are briefed on what we need from what we get provided with in the venue. There are some fine guys out there on the circuit and quite a few I would like to have kidnapped! Again at this level I can’t afford a Lighting designer (LD) with another wage and another hotel room etc. I use “apps” in the form of the video operated by “Secret” on this tour. (he did 13th Star and is a talent!) Again this figure is averaged out over the 12 shows.

Merch facility fee 50 The fee we pay to venues to allow me to sell my merchandise. We get a space we need to set up a stall provided by the house and lighting.I can deal with that! I can’t deal and refuse to deal with percentages of the revenue.My average take at a venue is 3 a head which means on average I sell 3 pounds for every ticket holder. In a 400 crowd I therefore would take 1200 which includes VAT. Take off the VAT and it’s 1000. T shirts have roughly a 35% profit margin so that’s 350 but as there’s DVD’s and albums with slightly bigger margins and I don’t only sell T’s say the take after VAT is 500.If the venue takes their 25% then it’s off the 1200 figure. That’s 300! Then they charge VAT at 20%. That’s 360.Ok I can claim the VAT back my end but it means the venue makes more than me from my merch. Rough figures but you get the idea! If only I could get a percentage of the beer they sell to the audience i bring in? .2 pints on average each, 600 pints, 25% =150 pints @ 3 each? If I had a separate merchandiser he’d be on 100 a show plus a hotel room/ breakfast so another 150 a night comes out the nett to give me 300 after the facility charge of 50. Once again I have to take the “guerilla” approach and Yatta will be handling the merch stall on this UK tour with the rest of us helping set ups.

Rehearsals 416 The average taken from 12 shows for just under 2 weeks full band rehearsals on half wages with a hotel room (I have 2 rooms here and potentially 3 are “out of towners” with Shaun up for the last few days) catering for the band and fuel to and from the farm. It comes in around 5k.

And that ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls is only the rough costing without any allowance for miscellaneous! It doesn’t take into account the days off of which there are 3 that have no income but still have crew wages (the guys get paid by the week, the band by show), the hotels, the splitter van hire ( it’s out with us for the duration) the fuel, breakfasts coming in at around 1100. These all go into the overall tour budget! But I am getting slightly ahead of myself. Meanwhile back at the “venue” it’s gig day so let’s add up the Fishy costs!

In total the rough costs on my end are approximately 2496.

This gives me a loss of 246 on the guarantee but 254 ahead if i bring the merchandise into the equation!

It’s not all doom and gloom though. Remember these figures are on the guarantee that requires 273 people to buy tickets out of a potential 700.For every extra 100 tickets I’d sell here I’d make another 1200 with a potential of 4800 if I sold it out! And there’s extra heads buying merch? But realistically in both my eyes and those of the promoters that is unlikely to happen.500 maybe with a fair wind and a walk up. Maybe, maybe , maybe! I’ve been hit before and ran a tour with only about 5 breaks in 20 shows. I never gamble. I nearly lost a house before being way way too optimistic.And it’s a recession and there are a lot of bands all chasing the same pie!

On the figures I have across the 12 dates with Gig cartel based on guarantees and without any merchandise sales in the equation and adding those empty 3 days off I am looking at a loss of 6.5k.

The lottery win of a complete sell out tour would be around 45k profit. Those numbers aren’t coming up! Half that and I would be a happy man but that’s doubtful . If it did hit say 25k there’s still the bogey man of HMRC and corporation tax at 24% taking 6k and leaving 19k. It’s still a lot of money which I would be lucky to be able to make in this day and age and which I’d be exceedingly grateful for.

But to throw that figure in perspective in the big picture it’s the only UK tour I could safely command for at least another 18 months without another new album and apart from the Fishheads Club tour that closed in 2011 my first full electric band touring since 2008 with only around 10 or so shows in 2012.

The European tour in the Autumn is a completely different ball game.Slightly bigger fees but way more expense with the added kick off witholding taxes by relative countries.And again it will be the last one for at least another 18 months.It’s a harvest of sorts after years preparing the ground and you have to make sure you gather what you can as it has to last a while. Unlike the band and crew I only get one hit at this while they can move onto other bands and tours.

No matter how you look at it It’s all a gamble which in previous scenarios I have lost my shirt and underpants by taking. If it comes off then everyone is happy. I just wanted to share this with you to give you a better idea of how it works and what lies behind the scenes of touring at the level I am working on.It’s not a cry for sympathy or anything else of that nature. It’s how it is and as i said before I have to deal with it the best I can and hope the sun shines on me occasionally and makes it a good night for walk ups on the doors!.

I am eternally grateful to have made it this far down the road and to still be able to even pull a crowd after over 30 years as a professional singer. There are a lot of burnt out wrecks in the ditch and even more musicians that never even got a ride that were left standing holding dreams a long way back. I got lucky but there’s gonna come a time when I have to pull over and park up and cut down on the driving as I don’t want to end up a casualty. I’d like to slow down and take in the view for a change as there’s still a lot of things i want to see and do. I am very aware of the changes that are occurring and not all of them I like or want to be part of. It’s always been a rough ride being an artist but there’s only so long I can keep this off roading up for. This year will be a challenging year for us all and it’s going to be interesting to see where I end up when the dust clears!

Steve Tudberry

Great info, thanks for sharing Fish. See you on tour !
Jemster68

Fantastic detail Fish, really interesting to see how much disappears, especially to the Ticketing Agency parasites. Now can you add on a couple of ferry costs and bring the electric show to Ireland? Charge an extra fiver on the ticket price and you’re covered. The last Fishheads club gig in Belfast was superb!
- Fish
  
  someone just posted on the Fish FB pages saying that the Who tickets have a £8.75 “service fee” plus one pound “venue fee” ? What the feck is that? Agreed the Belfast Fishheads gig was fantastic but how many were there? 250? Paid for that 3 piece tour but an electric set up would be a gamble too much. You said it yourself, ferry costs That’s one reason we are writing the album as we are so it can be played in a “reduced format”. That tour will make Ireland
  - Jemster68
    
    Were there really only 250? Felt more like 400 but I guess you got the receipts! I’m sure you’ve looked into it, and I guess you can’t hire equipment here at a realistic price to be able to put the instruments in a transit and turn up. Looks like the ferry would only be about 600 for that.
    
    I don’t know about others, but I would have been happy paying another tenner on the price of that last gig, it wouldn’t have stopped me going. Ticket prices have gone up so much recently that yours was under-priced for such a great night (IMHO). Wonder what the Ulster Hall hire would cost for the evening… I could bring a couple of mates
Tom Cramb

Stunning disection of the financial costs of a small hall tour…..I will plan to spend some extra cash in Gateshead!! And will pass this on to my FB friends….
Ville

So when will we get more info on the Autumn tour? Possible gigs in Scandinavia?
- Fish
  
  tour dates coming soon and yes there are a bunch of Scandinavian shows
rmblog

That’s a massive eye opener thanks for being so open
http://www.facebook.com/andrewmartinprince Andrew Prince

Most interesting dissertation on modern touring at the medium sized theatre level. Methinks one should look at bringing things more “in house” and cutting out those pesky financial drains on the whole tour.
- Fish
  
  Andrew, What exactly do you suggest I should bring “in house”? My daughter refuses to do backline and my parents are too old now
  !
http://www.facebook.com/andyperfect Andy Perfect

This was a superb read, thanks Fish.
SCCS

I don’t know anything about British expenses, but ultimately, tour
budgets are just like any other budget — it’s not about what you want,
it’s about what you can afford. To better tour within his means, he
should scrap the second vehicle and either one crew guy or even a band
member. That way, it’s a party of 9 that can fit in the van.

Other things that jump out:

–Endorsement deals (even at artist pricing) should lower the strings/skins charges
–Make cheaper merch. Any non-punk band that’s only making a 35% profit nowadays is ordering from the wrong place.
–3 days off on a 3- or 4-week tour is OK. 3 days off on a 12-date tour
seems weak. Unless he’s physically incapable of doing more than three
gigs in a row, fill the holes! Otherwise, add two more shows at the end
so you end after the third show in a row.
–Kill breakfast. These guys are getting 100-150/day in salary; they can afford to buy something themselves if they’re hungry in the morning.
–Having a steady guarantee seems absurd when playing different-sized rooms. Here in the
U.S., major markets frequently pay better than secondaries, and often,
you get more money on weekends than on weeknights.

A good insider read but plenty of other room to trim.
- Fish
  
  dear SCCS with all due respect you’re advice is ridiculous!
  
  Endorsement deals? You don’t just get those by default. Everyone wants endorsements and companies that supply strings etc have to make a living too. They don’t endorse willy nilly and those that do more often than not are manufacturers that we don’t use. We get deals at outlets.Rush get deals, Genesis get deals, The Killers get deals. Lower echelon mf’s don’t! We get discounts sometimes.
  
  Cheaper merch? We trim it as much as we can within reason. You want a decent shirt with complex album cover then there’s more screens/ more printwork more costs.My fans don’t want black and white T’s with print on official tour shirts they want something that relates to album artwork.I am not selling 10′s of thousands of shirts so origination costs are on short runs.And the small/mediums etc left over after tour that also go into the cost bracket and soak up profit?Not as simple as you make out.
  
  Days off? Get real!!! I am a 55 year old singer and most singers younger than me do 3 in a row unless you want to stiff a tour after 6 shows.Voices need rest.Show me a band that’s on the road that does more than 4 on a row over a tour that are not kids or miming!People need to be treated like people not slaves. You want a tired performance and an unimpressed audience send the team out on a 6-8 in a row run.
  
  Guarantees are built over a tour. One show stiffs, promoter loses but can recover over next shows if breaks. US tours are more often than not with different promoters in local venues spread out over many hundreds of miles. In Europe we get different rates in different countries/venues.This is a UK tour. The UK is a very small island!National promoter, venues roughly the same size at the level I am dealing with. 12 shows with overall fee split meaning less chance of anyone getting hurt. Make on some more than others as percentage break easier to reach in certain areas.It still comes down to not ripping of a promoter and being fair in the deals so both parties are happy.
  
  Venues only want to book weekends these days. Impossible to accomodate. You can’t send guys home during the week on an international tout or even a national one. Travel costs and hire costs go through the roof.Tell the bus to hang around as we don’t have gigs?
  
  Ditch breakfasts? More often than not in room rates . Why figure is low for 10 people. Cheap hotels add breakfasts. The corporate model. Cheap rooms plus everything else extras!
  
  Don’t talk to me about the US market and fees etc. It’s more complicated, more expensive, more unionised, more bureaucratically dominated than any other market I’ve played in with more middlemen at every level and venues that take percentages on merch even at small club level. They even take percentages of live albums recorded there in some cases! It’s a logistical nightmare and don’t even bring up the visas and insurances!
  
  As a suggestion. Never but never consider a job as a tour /production manager as one night you will wake up in a bad hallucination,naked in a truck stop with no ID and no money while the band and crew disappear over the horizon.
  
  Thanks for your input
  
  Fish
  - Not SCCS
    
    I’m not SCCS, but I supplied his/her material.
    
    I again admit I know very little about UK touring, but ultimately, I imagine the goal is the same — to try to create memorable fan experiences without losing your shirt. That said, to rebut your rebuttals…
    
    A. Tour party. Again, it’s not about what you want; it’s about what you can afford. Your calculations above showed a loss. This is simply the easiest way to get into the black. Of course, it’s up to you to decide whether this or any other suggestion is feasible, but from an outside perspective, it’s as if you’re trying to fit 10 square pegs through 9 round holes.
    
    B. Endorsement deals. I’m not advising to use cheaper brands or suggesting that handouts are plentiful, but someone with your reputation and discography should at least merit consideration for discounted artist pricing.
    
    C. Cheaper merch. Perhaps “cheaper” was a poor word choice, for I meant it in terms of affordability, not quality. My point was simply that you shouldn’t be making only 35% profit. Explore alternate vendors or reconsider your pricing. Heritage acts with evergreen fanbases can get away with charging a bit more for something than a young band no one’s ever heard of. That’s not an advocation of price gouging, but I’d guess that most non-punk bands nowadays make at least 200% profit on their shirts (which are indeed complex/multi-screen/colorful).
    
    D. Schedule. I would absolutely love to work no more than three days in a row. Unfortunately, I cannot afford to do so. If it’s physically impossible for you, though, so be it. Again, outside perspective is simply that days off = no income yet many of the same expenses. I’d at least try to add another gig or two after London so you can end on a three-show arc instead of a day off before the finale. (Exactly how feasible that is, I again plead ignorance.)
    
    E. Guarantees. I apologize if I read through your original statement too quickly. If a single promoter is booking all of your shows at a set rate, it makes more sense that you’re not earning more at larger venues or on weekends, etc. I applaud your concern about promoters’ well-being. More acts should follow suit.
    
    F. Breakfasts. Again, outside perspective is that this seemed to be a de facto per diem for people who are already getting salaries. 25 x 13 days = enough to make your loss of 246 become a gain of 79.
    
    Obviously, it’s up to you to determine the feasibility of these or any other suggestions. If for some reason you can’t trim your expenses further, the question then becomes how you can earn more, but that’s another topic entirely. Regardless, I hope your tour is a success, both artistically and financially. Safe travels.
    
    P.S. Since you asked, what I do for a living is probably best described as “helping bands’ music get heard.” One aspect of that is occasionally helping them figure out how to avoid going broke while on the road. In doing so, it’s important to budget with your mind, not your heart. Save your emotion for the stage, where it matters.
    - Fish
      
      thanks for that My comments are born from 30 years on the road and one thing I learned was always look after the team and they look after you. That breakfast goes a lot further than midday.;-) My costs can’t get much tighter without it having a negative effect. What it needs is the proactive view which is sell the tour in as hard as you can and break the percentages.No need to apologise, no offense was taken. I’m Scottish and love a good barney Hope I meet up with you someday over a beer and we can chew the fat and get the story box out , take care Fish x
      - Fish
        
        ps what’s/ who is SCCS? btw
      - Fish
        
        pps I have never paid Per Diems for an epoch. Old name for “drug money” ))
      - Not SCCS
        
        No idea, sorry!
- Fish
  
  Yes get rid of personnel, great idea.There is 1 backline guy, one sound engineer, one production manager who sells merch and one guy who does backline set up and deals with liason with lights and does the back projection that makes a SHOW! You know the one people pay to see? Pretty much stripped down.
  
  And lose a band member? You choose.
  
  It’s a UK tour I can drive around, no hassle. European tour we have a 12 berth bus.
  
  I am genuinely interested to know what you do for a living.
http://www.facebook.com/peter.scallan.7 Peter Scallan

Excellent narrative and details! I commend your honesty and frankness and only wish more musicians would do likewise. It makes you wonder why anyone would want to be in the music business at all. Thanks for this. I attach a quote from a poster I noticed in a recording studio which I think is possibly quite apt!
- Fish
  
  I had that as an e mail tag for years !
Paul

As a small venue promoter in leafy Cheshire, we have a cap of 100.. We simply cannot attract artists of your ilk to my club, even though I’d happily pay £1k for an acoustic solo set plus hotels drinks food etc.. Are artist interested in playing smaller intimate venues in town ensuring a ‘quick no nonsense win’ or am I forever going to get the 80′s post pop people? Love the info fish, proper warts and all.. Maybe I’m too honest!
Ralph Winter

Dear Fish,

first I want to thank you for your work as an artist! Following you a whole bunch of years (or decades?) I can’t emphasize enough the inspirational joy you gave me. That is that.:-)

I followed these topics about touring and costs on your hp, and of course I’m no specialist in these matters, I’m just a fan.

What came to my mind is the problem of variable income, the difficulty of having projectable figures and probably the being dependant on players, that want a piece of the cake and are not you/your crew or your fans.

Maybe this is naive, but what about “social fan-based sponsorship”?

What if everybody who wants to sponsor you would pay, let’s say 15-20 € per year? The deal would be: you create your art, perform, write and let us participate in the way you do already. We would pay for a bit more financial freedom of the artist. That’s also a cultural question, by the way.

I don’t know, but this could be done in a way of subscription for your hp/blog with a quarterly cancellation period, maybe everybody choses the amount of money they want you to sponsor with.

I mean, even NGOs do fundraising this way, why not artists?

The topic is really complex and has cultural, social and economic implications; but in general, in days like these, especially in days like these, art and the artists have to be protected – by their supporters.

And, last point, this is not about begging or loan! This is a fair deal.
David Jackson

Well there you have it !!, how straight and honest do you want it, I for one am now gonna make sure i travel the 120 miles to Gateshead, 50 to Holmefirth, 40 to Warrington and the the 100 miles to Wolverhampton, I just love the big fella and am more determined to see him anywhere within striking distance of my town, Bolton. This man is the most underated musician and lyrisist (hope that is spelt correctly!) ever and i think in many years from now, when we are but a distant memory, his music and lyrics will be re discovered and he will be rightly given the rock/poet/god admiration he so richly deserves by a much much wider audience than us! Anyone reading this has got to make the effort to support him and treat themselves and friends to go and see him live, no matter how small the venue, the big mans aura fills the place! See youi there !!
Mischa

It’s an interessting thing to see how complicated and “unsafe” a tour can be.
thank you for sharing it with your fans. I have now a better idea of what it means to do a tour!
Nevertheless i hope you will visit your fans here in Germany again
http://www.facebook.com/moonbucket Graham Ferguson

A very honest and interesting break-down. I hope all the hoops and money pitfalls you go through fade into the background when you hit the stage, and the band and audience are in full flow.
http://www.facebook.com/moonbucket Graham Ferguson

A very honest and interesting break-down. I hope all the hoops and money pitfalls you go through fade into the background when you hit the stage, and the band and audience are in full flow.
Dave Arcari

Hey Fish

A great read for one who’s been making a living from writing/touring for the last seven or eight year at a grass roots level and aspires, one day, to achieve even a fraction of what you have managed. This is a good reality check for anyone that thinks the grass is greener…

Cheers

Dave

PS: You’ve been an inspiration since I visited Funny Farm 20-odd years ago to interview you for Home & Studio Recording magazine

Visit the Fish Shop

Fishheads Club Live

Touring