[clawHAMMER]

Doug,

I drove for bands back in the early-mid 90's. I drove rigs and tour bus on various tours. As far as driving, I think being a driver on a tour or the racing circut is probably the best driving gig to have. You cannot be late under ANY circumstances for any set-up or performance. I was once told the only time your ever late for a show is if God stomps on the bus. I got the message.

You get into some very difficult venues with the equipment. It is good to be friends with the crew because they will need to spot you backing in very tight load-ins on many occasions. A venue in Montreal was an absolute nightmare getting in and out of and I remember having to go door-to-door and asking neighbors if they could move their cars off the street so I could swing wide enough to back in. Blindside. Meanwhile the crew is standing around waiting to set-up while I was knocking on doors and jockeying the rig into position (an alley).

On show days you eat with the band/crew. Depending on the tour itinerary you'll generally be sleeping during a show and hauling s afterwards to get to the next gig for 8am load-in. If your next show is only 150 miles away instead of 450 I'd usually watch the show from backstage. I've seen alot of good shows standing in the wings backstage.
Driving the tour bus is a totally different gig. No logbook for one and thats always a plus. It's a private bus so unless you have a search warrent your not getting on the bus to snoop around (VA cops were the worst when it came to that). You maintain the bus, keep it clean inside and out, you do the bands laundry once a week (yep), you stock up the bar and fridge at each gig with food and drinks from the rider backstage.
And you get to screen the babes that want on the bus to party with the band after the show. Essentially, you're a glorified maid driving the bus for a rock-n-roll band.

You're gone for months at a time. I was once home 33 days one year. If your single as I was when I was in the biz, it's a pretty nice way to make a living. If you're married, forget it, you won't be for long. Lots of temptation, perks, see-no-evil instances on a daily basis while on a tour. Like we always used to say: "ain't no business like show business!"

You'll get treated better as the bus driver than you will as the truck driver (surprise!) on tour. Driving the truck you'll still get treated better than you ever will hauling any type of freight, but driving the bus you can get to know the band members more personally and get paid more. Most of them were cool, alot of them are prima donnas & egotistical jackasses (especially the younger artists). Being responsible for the bus, you can't let them walk all over you or they will try. To them you're just their maid anyhow. You come to blows with a primma donna singer and you'll be the one walking, not him unfortunately.

Back then I was paid $145 per day to drive the bus. Thats every single day while on tour whether there was a show that day or not. Driving the truck they paid me $750 wk. I got free meals on show days and on days off I got $20 for food and hotel. They never paid for the truck drivers hotel room like they would the bus drivers so I'd have to take that $20 and apply it to a room if I wanted one and pay the balance out of my pocket. If it was a smaller tour and the band/crew was staying in $75 per night hotels that was ok. But if they were staying in $150 per night rooms then I'd have to cough up $130 of my own and I'd usually just stay in the truck that night and use the shower in one of the crews rooms.

If it's an easy tour, every other night off, it can be a riot. But if it's a hard balls-to-the-wall type of tour where you have shows for 10 straight nights in 10 different cities 400 miles apart before a day off, which if your the bus driver you'll spend doing the laundry and cleaning the bus, you better be getting your rest and ignoring those groupies who want to get backstage or on the bus or you'll be looking for another job. They don't want "posers" driving for them, they want professionals who they can trust will get them from Point A to Point B safely and on time.

I could probably write a book from my experiences while on the road touring. But then, couldn't we all?

[okie]

that drove tour buses and did the "transportation manager" duties on some large tours. He mostly drove buses but some of the larger tours he was responsible for the trucks and buses. He was never home but when home all they looked to ever be doing was washing and waxing the buses. He was apparently able to take his kids sometimes. He had said they quit going with him by the time they were 16, because they had already met everyone they ever wanted to meet and had the autographs and shirts to prove it. What I thought was wild was he would drive buses for the likes of The Osmond Brothers or The Oak Ridge Boys, then the next summer he would be driving for the likes of Tupac. The interesting thing about the Tupac tour was that they had a "bullet proof SUV" hitched to the bus. They would have to stop several miles from some of the cities and Tupac would ride into town in the SUV due to all the death threats and Gangsta crap.