James Lee Stanley

How do you put a tour together?    That’s a question that I hear over and over again.    It’s tricky because of all the variables.  

Let’s look at some dates I have coming up in September in North Carolina.    I have a wonderful house concert series date at Betty’s Place in Asheville, NC.  

I called a friend of mine who manages a concert gallery space about a hundred miles away.   And that reminds me, when you are booking gigs at venues, make certain that they are at least a hundred miles apart.  Venues are depending on clientele to survive and they have booked you into the room in the hopes that you will bring in clientele.  

If you are booked five miles away the night before, both venues are going to suffer attendance wise, unless you are so famous you can sell out both places, in which case, what are you doing here, reading this.   Go out to the pool, enjoy the view.

You want each date you do to be an event, with a lot of people in attendance, though you must remember to do the same great show, no matter how many or how few people show up.

And by not playing anywhere within a hundred miles, you are guaranteeing that anyone within that radius that wants to see you can only do it there.

But I digress.   Okay, I’ve got one date firmed up and I put another date next to it because of friendship.   Now how do I turn this into enough dates to be able to afford to go to North Carolina from California?

Here are the questions I ask myself:

What venues are also in that area?   Do I  know people who might be able to suggest, cajole, beg, threaten, or otherwise assist me in getting any more dates in that area?

One way to find out about gigs is to look at the touring schedule of other artists of your ilk.    And thanks to the internet, one can just go to their website, then to their calendar and see where they are playing and then contact those venues.

Have you released a CD?  Is it getting any airplay in the area you are going to?   If not, then go on line and find out what radio stations are in that area and SEND them  your CD.   Tell them you are coming to the area; that you’d love to play live in their studio, or at least come by and meet them.  Make contact.

There are also internet radio stations, but they are not area specific so may not be of any help in this particular instance, though they might have listeners who are in your area of interest.   It’s best to make certain that every station or program gets a copy of the CD.   Be prepared to give away a lot of music.

Finally, you contact everyone of the venues, house concerts, friends etc and see if you can get enough places together to warrant going out there.   If at the end of the day, you only have the one or two dates, then do what you must…postpone or cancel those dates.   That’s the hard part because once you get the gig, you really don’t want to lose it.

But you can’t afford to keep the hotels, restaurants, airlines and car rental agencies in the luxury they think they deserve if you are not making any money yourself.

You can, however, really pare down the luxury on your end.   Drive your own car, sleep in it, and at friends homes, eat in as few restaurants  as possible, buy fresh local fruit to keep in the car, and make certain the car gets fanstastic mileage, or get rid of it and get one that does.   You can go that route, as I have certainly done. 

It’s not bad, and it’s probably an experience that you should have.  Don’t forget, even Sting and the rest of the police band did their first tour of America in one van, just the three of them, sleeping in one hotel room when they could afford it.

Makes for a great story.   More on booking Friday