Band Management: Blog 34: Touring Bands…

I am managing “Band A” for the course of a year – and writing about it – as an exploration of the music industry. Playing live and touring is a big part of a band’s plan for sharing their sound, for seeing how an audience responds, for gaining fans. 
It used to be rare for an Asheville band to go out on tour (Kitty Tsunami, Tongues of Fire), and now more and more Asheville bands are sharing this underground sound (The Styrofoam Turtles, Sane Voids, Bombay Gasoline, Supervillain) with the outside world. 
I asked these bands how they put together tours – and the answer is pretty simple: get on a bill when a touring band comes through Asheville, play a good show, and be a nice person. Doesn’t mean that every touring band you play with will match up with your sound, but be a decent human and let them play first or second on the bill and share any funds from the show. 
Tucker Riggleman and the Cheap Dates came through a few months back and played with “Band A” at Fleetwood’s. They sounded like great underground/punk/indie/Americana/country – those stories of living in a small town and having big dreams, of having an old love that never fades. 
Tucker Riggleman started another tour and reached out to “Band A” – so we put together a show with them in Black Mountain. We grabbed our friends, hung some massive eyeballs around the stage, and played out in the parking lot of Seven Sisters Tap Room as the sun went down and day turned to night. The majority of “Band A” took advantage of the bar and tried to get into as much trouble as possible. But Tucker’s band was really great and we want them to play here again.
And now “Band A” can start their massive national tour in Tucker’s hometown – in Harrisonburg, VA…