Photo credit: Erica Silverman
Tell us about your tour vehicle.
Over the pandemic I sold everything. Not doing it anymore. No van, no trailer. I have a little 2011 Dodge Dakota for around town, and then fly out for shows.
A sizable portion of my 20’s was spent in a van, on the way to shows. It strikes me that the whole music business is sort of designed around being ‘on the way to somewhere.’ “Just do unpleasant thing X, and it will yield positive thing Y.” Then you have the van itself. This vehicle fully embodies the music business writ large. It’s ugly, it’s utilitarian, it’s constantly breaking, and it has little to no resale value.
My goal now is to fly somewhere day of show, fly home the following morning, pick up my kids from school… be a real person, and deal with whatever cost may be incurred.
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
Here’s a normal day:
Travel: all morning (depending on the day)
Load in/Set up: 2-3 PM
Sound Check: 4pm
Opener Check: 5pm
Set up merch, maybe do a meet and greet: 6pm
Doors: 7pm, show etc
Load out:12am
Hotel, rinse, repeat. This is pretty much the same whether you are in a van, or on a bus.
There’s just so little time. Most of your day is spent in transit, or at a venue. At the venue there’s usually a depressing tray of food called “hospitality”. This consists of some ashen raw vegetables, and a rapidly congealing dish of hummus. (which I do eat).
Ok, so back to your question. With such a busy schedule, I put a real premium on having a nice meal with an old friend, drinking a glass (or three) of wine, and catching up. I will often rush through, or completely forgo soundcheck if it means I get to go across town to someone’s favorite restaurant and live a little. I also think it makes the show better. As far as cheap/healthy…those aren’t super important factors to me.
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
Oh, I don’t know. Normal. Cost of doing business. I try to change them every couple shows. Here’s a couple real expenses nobody thinks about: Therapy, healthcare, dental. These are really difficult things for musicians to pay for/prioritize. I’d say this is true across the board, regardless of success level. There are some fantastic organizations that understand this need and help out (HAAM for instance), but most of the musicians I know just put it all off, often until it’s too late.
Where do you rehearse?
We have Nile’s City, our studio. It’s a nice place to rehearse. I’m a firm believer in home practice. When you have a good group of players who know their shit, it’s often more fun to just show up and make the music. There’s a lot more freedom, improvisation.
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
I couldn’t have been older than 9, and can’t really remember. Honestly, it was probably Christian music. I was fairly indoctrinated at that age.
Describe your first gig.
My middle school band got a gig at the LULAC Festival (The League of United Latin American Citizens) in our home town. I think my mother kept the video somewhere. It was outside, near the beach. We covered Stevie Ray Vaugh and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
I teach private music lessons, which I find very rewarding. I also produce records for other artists. I do some odd carpentry stuff (mostly just for fun). I had a string of hospitality jobs in my early 20’s. Grocery stores, restaurants. I was fired from a Chili’s for having an altercation with a customer.
How has your music-related income changed over the past 5-10 years? What do you expect it to look like 5-10 years from now?
The music business is rough. You have to have a lot of different hustles to make it work, or at least I do. If anything, the pandemic made me realize that putting all my eggs in the touring basket was probably not a smart move. It’s such a fragile ecosystem. Look, the goals are: Make music and support your family. You work backwards from there and figure out which sides you are willing to make concessions on. Sometimes one, or neither look exactly the way you imagined it would, but you make it work.
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
I’m sorry, I know I haven’t exactly made this Q&A fun or light hearted. It’s 5am here, my kids haven’t woken up yet. I’m getting through my first cup of coffee, or as I like to call it “installing Java”.
I’ll leave you with this: The world will do its best to keep you perpetually looking towards the future, living for a moment that doesn’t exist yet. You think “If I just get through this month I’ll be fine financially.” or “After this album comes out things will change for me”. “I’ll have money, I won’t be so anxious. I’ll make time to repair my relationship, or focus on writing songs again”. Or “I’ll go visit my mom once this tour is over.” In my experience, you don’t have as much time as you think. You wait too long. You don’t fix your marriage. You don’t write that song. Whatever important thing it is that is nagging at you right now, make time. Do it now. The music business, or for that matter, any business can wait a second. I’d give just about anything to be able to hug my mom one last time, sit on the porch and watch the sun rise over coffee. Just do it now.