Truckdrivers who drive for bands; how much do THEY get paid?
 

I've heard that some music bands have their own truckdriver (I guess to haul their music instruments and whatnot). Does anyone know what THEIR pay might be like? (I know the odds of getting to drive for a band are probably long, but I just always wondered).

I had a friend who drove for Alabama back in the mid 80s, and always made good money, he didn't see home much. I don't know if its still the same way now.

Douglas

I drove for a tour company that specialized in bands, concerts, broadway shows etc... I did that for a year made about 50 grand that year but it was a tough way to make money. The way we were paid was straight salary so regardless of the miles you got paid. The big downsize was never getting home. Once on the road with a tour you are stuck with it until the end, 3 months 9 months it does not matter. It depended what band or tour you were on. I was on a broadway show for a 3 month gig and , the best way to describe these people were major PRIMA DONNAS. It can drive you nuts.

As for the present I know of a few companies and have talked to several drivers that do this and they do not get paid that much. I know of one company that pays 28 cents a mile regardless of experience, but their selling point is that you get to drive one of those new really nice 379X Petes.

I would not do this again unless I get a real good offer.

I went to a WWE show earlier this year and happend to notice their trucks parked at the arena. I could not imagine trying to get to some of the arenas they have to get to. I would imagine it gets kind of tight.

Try residential neighborhoods day in and day out :)

The downside to concert touring is I hear the only time you sleep is when the show is goin on :cry:

You get to sleep during the day prior to the show and drive at night to reach the next city or arena.

As far as getting to some arenas or shows it gets real tight sometimes. I remember one small town in Indiana that we went to for a show, the theater was built in like 1880 so go figure where is the truck supposed to be?/

I think the worst place was downtown Seattle on 1st Ave in a little club that was an afterthought for the band.

You get real good at backing though

The only good side of working on a tour, you do not unload or load, the locals do it all for you. You just get into the trailer with them and direct them on what's next and how to handle it. You do get free meals at the show site but I have no idea about while your own the road to the next site. The schedule is usually very tight, if your slow loading, you will really have to hammerdown to make the next site in time to get unloaded and the stage setup. Everything has to work together like a well oiled machine. The roadies have to hustle to get everything put in the travel cases and the locals have to hustle to get you loaded and you have to hustle to the next venue. Once there, the new locals have to hustle to get you unloaded, roadies hustle to get everything pulled right back out and setup so the band can sound check, light check and then do the show. Some shows only have an hour to spare, others have nothing to spare. The best show to get on, a kid's touring show like Pokemon or Barney, they are at site's for like a week at a time and everyone on the crew gets to stay in hotel's. I used to be a local at Patriot Center in Fairfax, VA and dealt with everyshow that came thru there for 3 years. Every driver was cool, none were ever unhappy.

Do you have to have the band members ride with you? Or do you get to drive the truck by yourself?

Doug, the performers ride in a tour bus, a special tricked out tour bus. You will not have them riding with you unless you drive the bus. You may have another driver with you if the tour uses team drivers which some tours do utilize.

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?

had a neighbor...
 

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.