{"id":108,"date":"2005-02-22T03:04:57","date_gmt":"2005-02-22T03:04:57","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2006-04-08T12:38:54","modified_gmt":"2006-04-08T18:38:54","slug":"why-there-are-no-roadie-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/?p=108","title":{"rendered":"why there are no roadie awards&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb_share_1\" style=\"clear:left; float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-top:10px;;width: 55px;\" name=\"fb_share\"><div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#appId=125029517579627&amp;xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/?p=108\" send=\"false\" layout=\"box_count\" width=\"55\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>2\/20\/05<\/p>\n<p>I recently received an email from a friend who also<br \/>\nworks in the touring business that put an idea in my head. He was<br \/>\ninforming me about a job position that had been filled by someone who<br \/>\nhe admired and that he was a fan of his work. For a moment I had an<br \/>\nidea of a poll of backline techs about backline techs and who they<br \/>\nthought were the best guys or gals in their departments. I mean after<br \/>\nall, there are other people who we work with who are voted on and<br \/>\nreceive awards each year from various trade magazines and associations.<br \/>\nEven the buildings we work in get prizes (though few of them deserve<br \/>\nthem on merits we would bestow upon them).<\/p>\n<p>For those of you who do not know what a backline tech is, it&#8217;s someone<br \/>\nwho is responsible for the set up, maintenance and performance support<br \/>\nof musical instruments and equipment. This can be drums and cymbals,<br \/>\nguitars and amps, pianos, organs, keyboards and computers, horns,<br \/>\npercussion and all the other goodies you see the musicians play.<\/p>\n<p>Every day before the show these things are unloaded from the truck or<br \/>\nbus, set up and tested. There are strings and heads to change, things<br \/>\nto be polished and made pretty and items to repair and replace. During<br \/>\nthe show, the techs will tune guitars and deliver guitars, deliver<br \/>\ndrinks, towels and tempos, relay information to the sound people for<br \/>\nthe musicians and other personal details. Some may play parts from the<br \/>\nside of the stage. They will also try to repair or replace anything<br \/>\nthat fails during the show so that it can continue.<\/p>\n<p>It became clearer that such a poll would be nearly impossible, as a<br \/>\nconsensus could never really happen. There are more than a few reasons<br \/>\nwhy I think this.<\/p>\n<p>In starting this essay, I used an outliner to organize these reasons<br \/>\nand the list became huge. It starts off as a basic subjective\/objective<br \/>\nargument and becomes slightly self-obsessive in how important any one<br \/>\ntech can be in an organization.<br \/>\n<br style=\"font-style: italic\" \/><span style=\"font-style: italic\"><br \/>\n(OK, time for a disclaimer: though I&#8217;ve made my living with a number of<br \/>\njob titles in the music business, I have spent most of my time as a<br \/>\nbackline tech. I am talking about me and others like me, so I am<br \/>\nslightly biased. They say write about what you know, so&#8230; )<\/span><br style=\"font-style: italic\" \/><\/p>\n<p>To begin, I believe that any data collected would be skewed and<br \/>\ninaccurate. I know who I know;  my friends and co-workers know who they<br \/>\nknow. Though it is a small business, we would most likely never get a<br \/>\nclear sample of who&#8217;s working now, who was good then and who is going<br \/>\nto be great in the future.<\/p>\n<p>Also, because this is a live art form and we tend to not be anywhere<br \/>\nfor longer than 20 hours, it&#8217;s hard to judge overall performance unless<br \/>\nyou are on tour with the person you are rating. This might be fine for<br \/>\nguitar techs (who often roam in twos or threes), there is rarely more<br \/>\nthan one drum or key tech unless they are with a support act or double<br \/>\nbill.<\/p>\n<p>I have had the experience of being on a seven man and eight man<br \/>\nbackline crew. I have been one man responsible for a seven-piece band.<br \/>\nMore often it&#8217;s three or four people doing a couple of jobs. When I&#8217;ve<br \/>\nworked on larger tours I&#8217;ve been able to see other techs work up close<br \/>\nfor a longer period of time and get a fair assessment of their value. I<br \/>\nhave also gotten a sense of others when there is more than one band on<br \/>\nthe show. This is not always a guarantee as sometimes you are too busy<br \/>\nto watch someone else work. There is also the case of when they are<br \/>\nworking, it is the only time you have to chill out away from the noise<br \/>\nand hoopla.<\/p>\n<p>I spent my early years on the jazz circuit. I then<br \/>\nmoved into a series of singer\/songwriter type acts. I hardly knew<br \/>\nanyone in the hard rock\/ heavy metal or country circles (though I do now). There are<br \/>\npeople who I have heard of for twenty years and have never met. As<br \/>\nsmall as the business is, there are always good people who we don&#8217;t<br \/>\nknow. This would certainly lead to difficulty in pronouncing someone &#8220;best&#8221;anything.<\/p>\n<p>Having friends you have worked with over time or on<br \/>\na regular basis may be a plus or a minus. They may have a fair<br \/>\nassessment of you;  they may overlook some of your more glaring<br \/>\nshortcomings;  they may disrespect you because you took their bunk on<br \/>\nthe bus. I have also found that people in the same category place value<br \/>\non you for different reasons, not always positive. Perhaps you are the<br \/>\nperfect substitute because they know you&#8217;re not good enough to knock<br \/>\nthem out of that job if they ever want it back.<\/p>\n<p>As time passes (quickly it seems), our job skills<br \/>\nand requirements change. It is really important for us to stay educated<br \/>\nin the latest gear and its applications. Some &#8220;old school&#8221; skills are<br \/>\nstill needed but we don&#8217;t want to be left behind. With a dependence on<br \/>\ncomputers for composition and performance, key techs especially have to<br \/>\nread a lot. You might be asked if you can tune a grand piano, run Pro<br \/>\nTools sequencing software and re-string a djembe on a gig. Others just<br \/>\nknow everything about Hammond organs; they get to do organ gigs. With<br \/>\nsome younger acts it might be more important if you can drink a lot of<br \/>\nbeer, hack a PlayStation 2 game console and get a quote the singer<br \/>\nmade at last night&#8217;s show into the drummer&#8217;s Bluetooth phone after<br \/>\nsound check.<\/p>\n<p>This of course brings us to the musicians. They are a special breed and<br \/>\neach kind is a unique sub-category. This is why the job of a backline<br \/>\ntech is often not coveted by others on the road because you have to<br \/>\ndeal with &#8220;them&#8221;. Many backline techs are or were musicians at some<br \/>\npoint. This is not always the case but it is prevalent.<\/p>\n<p>First and foremost, most musicians HATE looking like idiots on stage<br \/>\nwhen their gear doesn&#8217;t work. They want to have someone they can trust<br \/>\nto have their back when things go wrong. Some musicians are very hands<br \/>\non and know what every knob and button does. Others couldn&#8217;t care less;<br \/>\nit&#8217;s the tech&#8217;s problem and if it goes wrong, guess who is to blame.<br \/>\nThe psychological element of being a backline tech is huge; gaining and<br \/>\nkeeping the confidence of a performer can often be a majority of the<br \/>\nskill a tech brings into his job. How much of that is BS and how much<br \/>\nisn&#8217;t usually gets figured out after the first major equipment failure.<\/p>\n<p>This is a point I hate to bring up but have to because it is a reality.<br \/>\nThere are those who use their techs as a focus for everything that goes<br \/>\nwrong, real or imagined. They may be to blame for errors that the<br \/>\nmusician made during the show himself. They may just ask for something<br \/>\nwrong so they can be mean.  A musician may just spin a perfectly<br \/>\ngood tech into a tizzy until he doesn&#8217;t know which end is up. These<br \/>\ntechs might just be punching bags or doormats. They may also be<br \/>\ncompensated for this as you can&#8217;t teach an old dog new tricks and<br \/>\nmanagement knows it. They are not fun jobs but they do get filled (and<br \/>\nfilled often).<\/p>\n<p>There are as many different kinds of guitar tech gigs as there are<br \/>\nguitarists. From those who are obsessed with every detail in set up,<br \/>\ntone, battery voltage and piece of equipment, they often require a tech<br \/>\nthat is solely focused on the one person and his every need. There are<br \/>\nalso times when a tech is responsible for multiple musicians and must<br \/>\nprioritize every change and move. Some techs find themselves with gigs<br \/>\nwhere the appearance of the instrument, the gum and the drinks are more<br \/>\nimportant than anything going on musically during the show. The trick<br \/>\nis finding the right guy (or gal) for each job.<\/p>\n<p>There is also the &#8220;buddy&#8221; factor. There are people who have come up<br \/>\nwith a band who are more friends than techs and have the job because<br \/>\nit&#8217;s more important for the musician to have a pal than proper backup.<br \/>\nOften management doesn&#8217;t mind because the musician is babysat and the<br \/>\nfriend can be paid with low fees and free beer. They can learn to be<br \/>\ngood techs; they can also end up being managers or people to avoid when<br \/>\ngetting off the bus in the morning.<\/p>\n<p>One thing to consider is a dislike of change by musicians. You might<br \/>\nthink that if someone has had a job for twenty-three years, they are<br \/>\nreally good at what they do. It might just be that the musician doesn&#8217;t<br \/>\nwant to go through training someone new to be his bitch.<\/p>\n<p>One huge factor is money; who can they afford or are they willing to<br \/>\npay for? Everyone wants that guy who made those great sounds on that<br \/>\nalbum in the 70&#8217;s but will they pay the price? Often the band loses<br \/>\ntheir budget as time goes by and has to settle for someone who costs<br \/>\nless. It works both ways; a tech might not to take a pay cut to work<br \/>\nwith someone unless he has to.<\/p>\n<p>Then there are  the extended tenure techs. Some techs have been<br \/>\nwith their artists so long they have more power than the tour or<br \/>\nproduction manager. Impossible you say? They have the ear of the artist<br \/>\nand can make things show up and go away with equal power. They can<br \/>\naffect schedules, travel arrangements, and staffing decisions. They<br \/>\nmake friends and make enemies. They are all set as long as the musician<br \/>\nkeep working. They can be really good at what they do but might not<br \/>\nmake the cut because of history and the single minded-ness they<br \/>\ndisplayed.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve heard other members of the road crew (sound, lights, production)<br \/>\nargue that backline isn&#8217;t part of the crew; they are just a<br \/>\nsub-division of the band. I think I&#8217;ve touched upon this in previous<br \/>\nessays, so I won&#8217;t delve into it here. For me it&#8217;s a tricky blend of<br \/>\nsingle focus on your job and an acceptance of the big picture of all<br \/>\nthe elements that it takes to put on a good show. How does the backline<br \/>\ntech fit into the crew? Is he a team player or a primadonna? Does he create<br \/>\nmore problems for production than solve them? Do his &#8220;special needs&#8221;<br \/>\ncreate more work for the production manager or other crewmembers?<\/p>\n<p>With some backline techs, their fees can put constraints on the budget<br \/>\nfor other crew people. You might not get hired if your price is too<br \/>\nhigh (that might not be a bad thing&#8230; )<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s so subtle sometimes&#8230; do you get the big picture without<br \/>\noverstepping your job description?  Do you keep focus on your own<br \/>\njob without spending energy on everyone else&#8217;s?<\/p>\n<p>Crew chemistry is a big deal because it is so rarely complete. You work<br \/>\nand live together, often without enough space to turn around or put<br \/>\nyour shoes on. Someone you love with all your heart can get on your<br \/>\nnerves in an environment like that. Is the crew having fun while they<br \/>\nare doing their job and after? Are you part of that fun or destroying<br \/>\nit?<\/p>\n<p>People change on the road over time as well. They can stay too long and<br \/>\njust be miserable. Someone who was a great, fun hard working friend can<br \/>\nbecome a soul sucking vampire who you dream of leaving at a truck stop.<\/p>\n<p>I was going to write a paragraph or two on relationships with<br \/>\nmanagement. These can be important but I don&#8217;t think this is the time<br \/>\nto discuss it. Besides, they were not going to vote anyway<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s taken me nearly 2000 words to get to the point of this little<br \/>\nexercise&#8230; this is not unusual in my writing world. Good people know<br \/>\nwhat they are capable of and do it. They either find a niche or<br \/>\ncontinue to adapt to meet their clients needs. As they get older, they<br \/>\nbecome less flexible (as do their bodies) and are better fitting their<br \/>\nknown qualities into the appropriate jobs. One man guys, multi-taskers,<br \/>\nfloaters, vibe guys, gear heads&#8230; they all have a place. For good<br \/>\nproduction and tour managers it is the art of putting their assessment<br \/>\nof the tech with the right musician. Sometimes it even works.<\/p>\n<p>There are a number of great techs that I have learned from and continue<br \/>\nto learn from. They seem more human and less untouchable each time I<br \/>\nsee them. They bring decades of experience with them each day into<br \/>\nevery building, the ability to create a consistent environment and the<br \/>\nskills to solve nearly every problem. They have made it possible for<br \/>\ngenerations of performers to play for millions of people and make it<br \/>\nlook flawless. I wish there was an award for these guys as I could give<br \/>\nmany of them away. But for now, just know that there is someone out of<br \/>\nsight who has made it his career to not be seen. That during a show is<br \/>\na sign of success. That and no one throwing anything at them or yelling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2\/20\/05 I recently received an email from a friend who also works in the touring business that put an idea in my head. He was informing me about a job position that had been filled by someone who he admired and that he was a fan of his work. For a moment I had an [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peNcU-1K","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bittermancircle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}