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Originally Posted by Useless
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Originally Posted by Hat Rak
Good things for trucking for me?
I drive 2 days out of the week at the most. I get paid to watch & work concerts from the best seat in the house. I get to drive down roads and dock in lots that no truck should ever drive down and noone will stop me because the show won't go on without my cargo: the PA.
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Hat Rak;
My understanding was that the work of a driver working concert tours (rock concerts, C/W, etc.) was very demanding and rather grueling. I'm rather suprised to see that you only drive about two days out of the week.
How many miles do you average between shows?? Are you responsible for overseeing the loading/unloading of equipment?/ What kind of driving background (bedbugger, for example??) do production companies like drivers to have??
Could you discuss your work in more detail?? I know that there have been several others who have posted, wanting to know more about it.
Truth be told, this would probably make for an interesting thread topic all on it's own!!
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Well, I'd be more than happy to delve into my job description for ya
Right now, Carrie Underwood is up on stage, and I'm chilling out backstage behind the monitor mixing console stealing wi-fi. I've been out on the road for the past 4 weeks, and I'll be getting 2 weeks off to work in the shop before going back out. I worked Luis Palau in Omaha, 10 thousand lakes in detroit lakes MN, Creation West at the Gorge in central WA, and now I'm at WE Fest also at the same venue in MN.
I have a B.M. in Music Production & Engineering, with 6 mo OTR driving experience with Roehl before I signed up with Blackhawk Audio. The rig is a '96 Freightliner Classic with a Cat & 10-speed and a Xtra Lease 53'. The load for the summer is 21 Meyer Sound 700-HPs, 24 JBL Vertec 4889's, 20 Meyer MSL-4s, 2 Analog mixing desks by Soundcraft, 2 M7 digital desks by Yamaha, 12 Adamson Single 12" Monitor Wedges, lots of mic stands, amp racks, wireless units, signal processors, system processors, power distribution, camlock feeder & 5-wire power cables, ramlatch & sine snakes, TARPS!. So the rig is packed all the way to the doors, and the tandems are always very close to 34,000. We use a ton of shoring bars, plywood, and straps to keep everything secure and stacked double-high. Before arriving in Detroit Lakes this past week, I was stopped at the scale at the 5 MM on 94 and the inspector did a Level 2 with me, asked me to open up the barn doors and just said "HOLY @#$!"
On the audio aspect, I fly/land the loudspeakers up in the air with double point 1-ton motors, set up/tear down the stage audio cabling, assist guest engineers for various bands like Switchfoot, Relient K, Alan Jackson, Keith Urban, Toby Keith, the Newsboys, Third Day, John Anderson, Heartland, Leanne Rhymes, the list just goes on forever. Load-in and set-up is all of a 8-10 hour day, and the show days are anywhere from 10 to 18 hour days. Tear down for this particular festival will be very long, we're expecting about a 22-24 hour day on Saturday; that's from the first band loading in to the moment I shut the doors of the trailer with everything inside it, but we have plenty of chances to take naps during the day. Usually tear down takes between 2-3 hours
The other drivers I have come across do not help out with loading/unloading or any of the set-up. They just drive in, back up to the dock, and shut down until it's time to go to the next show. Since I'm with an audio company, they expect me to also be an audio tech, which is something I'm very comfortable doing. Typically I drive between 500 - 1000 miles from show to show. WA to Minn was about 1300 miles, and I get paid a day rate. If I go over 500 miles on that day, I get paid another day rate. So this past trip, I drove for 2 days but got paid for driving 3. I get paid a day rate for working the shows as well. The money is better than what it was driving for Roehl.
If you're looking to get into driving for a touring artist, lighting, stage, video or audio company, try looking to a motor carrier called Stage Call, they're out of Arizona and they drive big red Pete 379's and make something like $300 per diem when they sit during the show, and a cpm somewhere in the .40's.
Didn't mean to hijack the thread, but hope this perks your ears towards this kind of work.
Sure the days are long but the work is rewarding, the food & hotel is free, and the concerts are awesome. If you have any other questions for me, shoot me a PM. Ok, Alan Jackson is up.
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