Rules of the Road: The Babyface Band and Crew on Touring Etiquette (Episode 1)

You learned how to make music. Nobody taught you how to make a living making music.

Nobody hands you a rulebook when you join a tour. You learn the rules of the road by watching, by messing up, or by riding in the back of a van with people who have done it for years. In Episode 1 of The Career Musician, recorded in February 2015 when the show was still the Nomad's Place podcast, Nomad sat down with members of the Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds band and crew on the drive home from a gig in Primm, Nevada.

The guitar tech, drummer, keyboard player, lighting director and front of house engineer all chimed in. The result is a crash course in touring etiquette, and the thread running through it is simple: respect everybody's space and time, and claim your own in a diplomatic, natural way.

Lobby call means ready to roll

The conversation started where every tour day starts: lobby call. Nomad asked the van what it means. The answer from the front of house engineer was short. It means not making anybody else wait.

"I like to call it Vince Lombardi time. When you have an eight o'clock call, you show up 15 minutes early. Eight o'clock means you're ready to go, ready to start."

The KBE lighting director, 4:38

A lot of players think an 8 a.m. lobby call means waking up at 7:30. No. You still have to check out. A good tour manager pre-checks the band into the hotel on the tour company card, so your incidentals land on that card. Skip paying them at checkout and they add up, until somebody tells you it is coming out of your check.

Being early is how you show appreciation for everybody else's time. Reliability beats virtuosity, and on the road reliability starts in the hotel lobby.

Claim your space without being a jerk

Nomad admitted something a lot of players won't: he is a terrible traveler and prone to motion sickness. So he travels smart: he eats every few hours, stays hydrated and asks for the front seat. He also admitted he hasn't always asked nicely, and that you should ask everybody, politely, for what you need.

The band added the bus version. On day one, be the first one there when the bus pulls up so you can pick your bunk. One player in a story from the van showed up late, wanted a bunk somebody had already claimed, and took it to the tour manager. The answer: were you here first? First come, first served.

"You're kind of laying claim to your space and your things without being a jerk about it. You're being diplomatic about laying claim to what you need."

Nomad, 12:10

Good tour managers make this easier with a traveler profile sent ahead by email: seat preference, dietary needs, frequent flyer numbers. Fill it out. Living on the road is not a normal life, so anything that keeps your routine close to normal is worth asking for.

Be kind to everybody, especially the driver

Early in the ride Nomad made the point that frames the whole episode: whether it is the driver, the stagehand or the person taking ticket stubs, you have to be kind to everybody. Greet people with a smile even when you don't feel like it. He was honest that he can be the grumpiest grump in the world, and that he works to overcome it because it makes the whole environment better.

The band zeroed in on the bus driver. You are trusting this person with your life, at night, in bad weather. Hang with the driver at the start of a run, find out what they like to drink, bring them a sandwich. Not for self-serving reasons, but because it is a serious job.

Nomad also dropped a line worth remembering: don't ever talk to somebody as if they're not privy to the things you are. On that tour, a lot of the crew guys were composers, producers and musicians in their own right. You never know who is involved with what. Everything you do is an audition, including how you talk to the person loading your gear.

When the plan falls apart

The run behind this conversation is a good reminder that travel days can go sideways fast. The band flew from LA to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, drove to New York for a show at the Madison Square Garden theater, and was supposed to fly to Vegas. Then a blizzard hit the Northeast and the flights were canceled.

Nothing was leaving New York. The production manager knew a bus driver who showed up on the spot and drove everyone five and a half hours through the night and the snow to Dulles. Then a six hour flight to Vegas, then straight to the stage. Somebody knew somebody, and that saved the gig.

The crew has it twice as bad

No matter how tired, hungry or grumpy you are, the crew has it at least twice as bad. If you got four hours of sleep, they probably got one or two. If you got to eat a nice lunch when you landed, they went straight to the venue to load in.

Crew guys have usually been doing this longer than you, and they keep getting called because they know their job. Respect that.

The van also covered the money side of eating on the road. A buyout is cash the promoter gives each musician and crew member when they don't provide catering. Per diem is the daily amount for meals. Management wants it lower, the band and crew want it higher, and $35 does not stretch far overseas, where one hotel breakfast can eat it all. One rule of thumb from the ride: at least $50 domestic, and more for international dates. Know these terms before you sign on, because Make Music Your Business includes knowing what your day on the road actually costs.

The takeaway

Show up early. Pay your incidentals. Claim what you need, politely. Treat the driver, the stagehands and the crew like the professionals they are. None of it is written down, and all of it decides whether you get called back for the next run. If you are getting ready for your first big tour, start with the free Get the Gig guide.

Get the gig. Keep the gig. Build the career.

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