Hype springs eternal

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

Okay, in this third and final installment of the young person’s guide to bare-bones touring, we’ll start looking at the incredibly important angle of actually promoting your tour. Money will definitely help you out here, but is not essential if you are able to put a bit of elbow grease in at your keyboard.

Promoting your own band—that is, getting on the phone with bookers and press and essentially saying, “How do you like me now!?”—is unfortunately the music-biz equivalent of the post-coital “how was I?” Sadly, though, when your band is virtually unheard of, it’s a necessary evil (unlike the post-coital ego stroke—fer the love of God, man, shut the fuck up!). Before your tour is booked, it’s usually a good idea to try to get a review or some local coverage that you can e-mail to potential bookers so they know you’re able to get it together to at least try to promote your band. These reviews could make the difference between a guarantee and a door deal (see last week’s column), so get those packages out, damn it!

Another essential mail-out would be to college radio and streaming radio stations that will probably play your band due to Canadian-content regulations. Radio play will help your record “get some legs” before you hit the road, and if you chart at a station in the city you are trying to get a show in, this will help out immensely with a crowd and, hence, a guarantee. Listings of all radio stations, with the programmers’ names, can be found at www.earshot-online.ca. Canadian college radio stations get about 200 CDs a week, so you’ll have to do some “radio tracking,” which means hounding them like gnats on a camping trip.

Another good move is to do some research and find genre-specific shows your band would fit into, and talk to or e-mail club DJs directly to get your band played. If you are able to borrow money off of relatives and pool it together, it’s always a good idea to let promoters know you are planning to take out an ad announcing your final dates, or have something of a promotion plan.

Booking shows, of course, takes a while, so just let me backtrack for a second. With the current high traffic of touring bands, plan to book your tour at least three months before you saddle up for your first show. The more leeway time you have, the better.

When you are actually on tour, you will notice that the long drives between shows are going to eat up a lot of your gas budget, which will take a bite out of staying in hotels, so the best choice, and often the funnest lodging, will happen at the homes of kind souls who you’ll meet at the shows. If it is your first time out, you’ll play with a lot of local bands and, more often than not, these are the kind souls that will provide you with floor space.

Okay, rock stars, start your engines, and when you get out west, have a Bohemian ale for me.

NEXT WEEK: BACK TO OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAM.
Jonathan.cummins@gmail.com