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Plank's Blog

A blog for guitar stuff, tech stuff, woodwork, electronics and other random stuff!!   I will try to answer any questions but touring and recording keeps me very busy; plank3000@gmail.com.

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"How do I get into the music business and go on tour?" - is a question I have been asked many times and have only recently tried to write down some kind of answer...........
If touring is to be your chosen path, I would start by saying that enrolling at your local college and doing one of the many 'new' courses available is not going to be much use when you are in the dark, fumbling around in the smoke and strobe lighting, trying to retrieve assorted pedals and leads that have been booted across the stage by your guitar smashing new best friend!! ....
You can learn something from everything but there is no better way than practical hands on experience.
I guess working out what you are interested in and can be good at is the first step - if you are into guitars and fixing things then instrument tech may be the job for you, if you have organisational skills and are good with people, then maybe tour managing could be your thing - there are many jobs - sound engineer, electrician, programmers, instrument technicians, caterers, set builders, lighting designers, riggers, accountants and more.......
OK, you need to start somewhere.........If being a roadie / instrument tech is your choice then one way would be to find a small band in your area ( which may or may not have one of your mates in it !) and offer to help in some way - even if it means just carrying stuff from the car or van - musicians will always be glad of some help!
Teach yourself as much as you can, buy yourself a guitar tuner , take your guitar to bits and rebuild it! - whatever it takes......the ability to get on with people is just as important as any technical skills you may have.
If you are good at lifting things and remember to turn up on time, then getting a job on the stage crew at your local venue is a good way in - try and actually speak to the stage manager themselves if you can, then you can make a face to face impression with them which may be more productive than leaving a scrap of paper with your phone number at the stage door!........
being on the stage crew may not be the glamorous situation you might have been expecting and will involve much sweating, humping and moving of band gear but will give you a useful ground level view and can put you in direct contact with musicians who can benefit from your services ( which may have to be free for a while).
This direct way in can also be useful if you are interested in doing the sound or lights and you may learn something if you find a friendly house engineer.........Contacting your local PA company and seeing if they need somebody to help load equipment, make tea, setting up mic stands, cabling up or driving. Although it may seem tedious or a long way from where you aim to be, it is all useful stuff - the wider view you have of the whole picture, the more useful you can be - and the more likely you are to find work!

Once you find the environment familiar and know a few people, you can start to focus on your chosen field, opportunities can arise that you may have not even thought of .
Production managers may have started out doing backline or come from some other area of showbusiness, Tour managers may well have previous experience in the travel business, Stage managers will often have been technicians of some kind.
There is a surprisingly tight network of touring personnel across the country and you can bump into the same people fairly often.......which is nice!.........Building up contacts and getting to know people all takes time, don't expect it all to happen in five minutes! - being able to drive and possibly having a van may also help with getting work.
Before deciding that a life on the road is for you, a fair amount of consideration is needed, as although it can be a great life, It is a tough business which can play havoc with your personal life and there are no guarantees, if you are a sensitive soul looking for a reliable job with security then it's not for you............ but if you are a strong minded individual who likes to work in weird places under intense pressure, at the wrong time of day and with a bunch of other diverse interesting people, then maybe it's for you! .......
As with most things , Working hard, being in the right place at the right time and good luck can get you there............ however far you get, you will meet people coming the other way, so always be nice!!
I have no formal qualifications and started off doing all of the above at one time or another, my present qualification comes from 27 years of practical experience doing many kinds of jobs and all kinds of gigs from small pubs to stadiums, an interest in everything and an ability to repair most things, which again has only been learnt over a long time.
I hope this is of some use - I am sure to have left loads of things out that I will remember after posting this up!!.................follow your heart and be happy :-)

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fork handles...

Well.......it's been ages and there never seems to be enough time to sit down and do the blog...........Back in the studio in full on recording mode, with everything plugged into everything else once more....
amongst many other things, I've been spending the last few weeks stripping out and completely rebuilding the programming room which now has a nice new old API desk which sounds great....

South America was crazy but great with some of the wildest crowds anywhere, I think there were 55,000 at one of the shows, Chile was my favourite place, everyone seemed so chilled and relaxed - be good to go back there sometime and travel right down south......it all seems a bit distant already with almost all waking hours in the studio right now....I can hear a shout from the control room so must be orf.... :-)

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Wakey Wakey...

More shortly .... revving up for South America next week :-)

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Mods ?

Arrived in Chicago yesterday to start the 2nd US leg of the tour... awake at just before 4am with lovely jet leg, after much tossing and turning followed by aimless wandering around the room getting bored, I went out and found breakfast, much to my amusement all the components of a full cooked breakfast arrived on a pile of separate small plates! When I enquired why, I was informed that it would be rude if it was all on the same plate!..... I'm still trying to work that one out......
Very hot here today..... much of the afternoon spent on phone and computer, preparing for a 7am start tomorrow - I guess we will all be awake anyway!
While back in the UK, spent a couple of days in the workshop modifying pedals and boxes and popping into the studio to check all was well - bit weird being in there with it all tidy while we are out on tour - I guess it won't take too long to mess it up again.... :-)

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