In my last column, we looked at alternative venues to ‘The Big Rock Club in Town’. Now let’s talk about an alternative to wide range touring. I have no idea at all why more bands don’t do it this way, but not many do. If this column seems silly to you, I agree. It should be common sense.

You hear a lot of talk about wanting to ‘tour’, mostly from bands that haven’t done it. Most musicians that have spent any significant time on the road know that extended ‘tours’ are a dicey proposition at best. For most, it consists of a lot of bologna sandwiches and coasting into town on ‘E’, praying you make it to the gig -- and that there’s a gas station nearby. Usually, you make just enough money to get back home (if that) and you find a mailbox full of bills you can’t pay upon your return. So much for the romance of THE BIG TOUR.

In order to build an audience in an area, you have to be able to get back to it regularly. That three week tour of California might be fun, but it’s really just a vacation, because you can’t afford to go back anytime soon. So many bands just play around town for awhile, then figure it’s time to go on ‘tour’, come home like whipped puppy dogs and break up. A few make it and thrive. Most do not. So here’s an alternative to ‘THE BIG TOUR’.

The absolute best thing about living where we do, is we’re smack dab in the middle of the country. Minneapolis, which is a good music town is just ten hours or so away. Chicago and Memphis are just about the same. Indianapolis, Denver, Boulder, Nashville are just a little further. Now, forget about that for a minute. Those are long range goals. Those are places you’re trying to get to, but there are short term goals in front of you first. Before you can do those markets effectively, you need to establish a range of influence first. The best way to do that is weekend ‘mini-tours’.

First you play in our immediate area, KC/Lawrence. Now, get out a map and look at all the college towns and smaller cities that are within about four hours of us. Keep it to about four hours or under for now. What you’re looking for are towns you could maybe split straight from work on Friday and make it to in time for a sound check, or in a decent drive on a Saturday. Find the clubs in those towns you’re interested in playing-the ‘Musician’s Guide to Touring and Promotion’ is a good but not completely thorough resource. Send your promotional packets out, and make your follow-up calls.

When you call the club, try to have a couple of dates in mind -- that makes it a little more immediate for the booking agent. It’s easy to dismiss a call if a band just wants a gig “sometime” by saying, “yeah, I’ll keep you in mind”. If you have specific dates, it forces him/her to actually LOOK at their calendar. And you appear more professional, as you actually have an itinerary. Pick two weekends that are two weeks apart. As in,” We’re looking for either the ninth or tenth -- or if that’s not open, we’ll be back in the area on the 23rd or 24th.” If they don’t have anything open, wait a few weeks and try again a little further out. If they’re interested in you at all, they’ll get you in. Plus you appear professional, persistent, and dependable -- which will quietly impress them.

Say your first gig offer is from a club in Des Moines, IA. That’s about three hours away. There’s not much on the way to Des Moines, but Omaha, NE is only a couple of hours west of Des Moines, and Lincoln is only 45 minutes west of Omaha. Lincoln’s a big-time college town, and is a little hipper to live music in general than Omaha. So the goal is to try and book the Des Moines show on Friday, and when you call the Lincoln or Omaha clubs, try to book the Saturday. In other words, the idea is to book Friday in Des Moines, Saturday in Omaha or Lincoln, and come home Sunday. As soon as you book these gigs, send packets to the regional alternative press -- they’re often receptive to ‘touring’ bands and you may get a nice write-up. Iowa and Nebraska in particular seem to be receptive. Now, upon returning home, call the next week and try and set up the exact same thing about eight weeks out if possible. Repeat in each direction. One weekend you go north, one weekend you go southeast, one weekend you go southwest, etc. Avoid hop-scotching around, it’s not worth the wear to drive to Fayetteville, Arkansas on Friday and play in Ames, Iowa on Saturday. Trust me. I’ve done it.

What narrowing the scope does with regional mini-tours is cut your costs. You still play a lot, get to travel, and go home so you can pay your bills, all while expanding your audience and name recognition. Once you’re actually drawing decent crowds in these Friday towns, you can get more money, which means you can afford to go further out on Saturdays. That’s the idea, anyway, isn’t it? To get your music out to more people?

Chris Meck
chrismeck@thezone.org

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