Alternative Touring:
A New Approach to Fuels, Venues, Merch and More

By Melina Moore and Will Morgan

As greater financial and promotional emphasis falls on live performance and as the remarkable influx in home recording brings with it a surge in unsigned bands, the basement show has grown from an underground alternative to a DIY staple. And it is no wonder, given that the vast scale of quality independent music worth showcasing is counteracted by both increased booking competition and smaller, more particular, and more vehement fanbases. For little-known bands, being able to eschew standard booking procedures and tap into established, localized scenes presents an opportunity that is cost-efficient, as well as more appropriately targeted at musical tastemakers. Such is the world of alternative touring, where not playing by the rules can often result in long-term benefits. But while the basement show has drawn attention in part due to its reliance on spontaneity and word-of-mouth, there exists a well-established set of unique “venues,” booking methods, touring techniques and online resources to help self-reliant independent and unsigned artists professionally organize a decidedly untraditional yet successful tour.

VENUES + RESOURCES

In the world of touring, “indie” doesn’t necessarily mean “less professional,” and “alternative” doesn’t necessarily mean “unprepared.” Bands can still easily draw on the appeal of these two buzz words without actually having to suffer the consequences of their more stereotypical connotations. An important prerequisite to an alternative tour is the mindset — you have to know how to think outside the box, and “you have to be clear as to the purpose of why you are going on tour,” says longtime touring musician and author of The Musician’s Handbook, Bobby Borg. “Is this [tour] the best use of your time? Be clear as to why you are going.” Yes, time is money, and the advantage of alternative touring is that it allows artists to extend their dollar much further while making the best use of their limited time on the road (more on this later). To determine where your efforts will be best received, however, requires some time of its own. “You want to have some way to conduct your research — the nights the venue might feature your type of music, the demographic of the audience, is there any time to hit up the local colleges?” offers Borg.

Browsing a dedicated venue directory or touring resource provides a very good groundwork for the launching of an alternative outing. One of the better-known sites that Borg references is HouseConcerts.com, which lists untraditional venues in each state, offers a 34-page guide to creating your own house concerts, and features a lengthy directory of singer/songwriters. ConcertsInYourHome.com provides a similar service to the quieter acoustic types, boasting “200 host venues in 48 states and provinces.” For those looking to expand upon their success at their local coffee shop, CofeeHouseTour.com has sprung up from its origins in Wilmington, North Carolina to deliver a guide intended to support “Java Jukers” with detailed coffee house listings nationwide. Synthesizing these genre- and atmosphere-oriented venues into one comprehensive directory is ListeningRoomTour.com, which is linked through CoffeeHouseTour.com as well. As with the other resources, it lists theaters, halls, house concerts and sofa lounges by state, and also asks users to input their own listening room venues into the database. Borg, a road-tested master of thinking outside the box, also suggests ThemeParkJobs.com, where bands can find theme parks in need of entertainers, as well as byofl.org (“Book Your Own Fuckin’ Life”), which lists such valuable resources as zines, available housing, record stores and radio stations. Users can search by state and sort results by location, name or category. The list of resources by type of performance go on — FestivalNet.com for festival listings; CIMSMusic.com for independent record stores; Quadphonic.com for college radio stations; NACA for college venues. And Borg has plenty of suggestions for other alternative venues: “wineries, churches, rotary clubs, chambers of commerce, sporting events, block parties, etc.” Borg’s own site, www.bobbyborg.com, also offers sagely advice on DIY tactics.

To find the more locally entrenched alternative venues, what better place to look than the local alternative weeklies? A veritable form of research unto themselves, alt weeklies can point artists unfamiliar with a certain area’s underground and DIY scenes towards significant singular venues, such as Big Sur, California’s Henry Miller Library or Atlanta’s I Can Fly House.

And given that booking procedures may vary from one alternative venue to another, Borg advises artists to “keep a very good record of all correspondences — what day did you call a certain person, did he ask you to call back in a month and a half? ... If you do research, get things in writing.” Again, just because a venue does not have the same look and feel of a standard club or lounge, does not mean that their shows are handled any less professionally, and bands should approach them as such.

All these venue options offer audiences of comparable sizes that are often more engaged and invested in your music than those at standard clubs, allowing you to maximize your time on the road.

RULES OF THE ROAD

Asked what are the greatest costs to watch on the road, Borg responds with a fairly self-evident list: “tolls, gas, van rental.” Fortunately, given enough intuition and investment, artists can successfully pare down the amount of money they pour into these inevitabilities of the road. “See if you can take a van without a trailer, a large cargo van,” advises Borg. And now, when renting a van for your tour, there are a number of options available. Bandago.com aims their services at traveling musicians, as their company name suggests. After filling out an online form with information about starting dates and cities, a representative will get back with information about pricing. The Bandago rep will even calculate the mileage of the proposed route, if you’re unsure of the numbers. There are also no geographic restrictions on their van rentals — it is possible to bring a Bandago van anywhere in the U.S. or Canada. Bandago has a number of locations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and a center in Lancaster, PA that serves Philadelphia, Baltimore and New York. But if you aren’t near one of their locations, Bandago can schedule a delivery with a rate of $1 per mile to the delivery site. Offering either a 15-passanger gasoline Ford Econoline with 14 MPG or a 9-passanger (plus cargo) diesel Dodge Sprinter with 25 MPG, Bandago Van Rentals prides itself on renting unique vehicles with custom features that are helpful for touring bands and musicians. These features include a trailer option ($10/day), GPS units ($5/day) and even wireless internet from the road ($5-$10/day).

Another option would be West Coast Van Rentals, which offers a number of vehicles, ranging from an 8-passenger 2007 Chevrolet Astro to a 15-passanger 2007 Ford XLT Super Clubwagon. Like Bandago, West Coast Van Rental offers to help customers save time by delivering and picking up each rental vehicle. Start by searching for a rental service in your area, and call to get an estimate. Always make sure you’re aware of any geographic restrictions on the vehicle you’re renting.
If you’re looking to avoid the hassle and expense of costly hotel rooms, you might want to consider renting an RV for your group. Companies like CruiseAmerica.com offer Standard RV (C25) rentals starting with a base rate of $3,696. The vehicle can sleep up to five and includes a refrigerator, gas stovetop burners, a 110-volt electric microwave, a 110-volt electric roof air conditioner, gas generator, shower and flush toilet. To get an estimate, visit their website and enter in your tour schedule to receive cost and availability information.

Another benefit to such self-sustaining vans that do not require a hitch or trailer is that you can more closely safeguard your equipment. A recent discussion thread on Yahoo! regarding stolen equipment in San Francisco emphasizes the need for all bands to guard their equipment around the clock, whether that means loading it into the hotel room at night or a band member sleeping in the van. When your vehicle doubles as both a storage unit and a hotel room, it eliminates the tour-ruining risk of stolen gear.

Powering diesel vehicles with vegetable oil through a conversion system also presents an alternative, money-saving way to fuel a vehicle on tour. The idea of engines running on vegetable oil isn’t a recent one — at the World’s Fair in 1900, Rudolf Diesel, the inventor of the first diesel engine, originally planned to power his engines using peanut oil, but he died before his vision was fully realized. Today, using Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO) in your diesel vehicle seems to offer a number of benefits; most importantly, most people who use a conversion system are able to obtain filtered waste vegetable oil for free by developing relationships with local restaurants. Since most restaurants must currently pay for oil waste disposal, it is likely that owners will be willing to cancel their contracts with their rendering company in order to dispose of waste in a container you supply. While on tour, it should be possible to make advance arrangements with various restaurants en route to ensure a steady supply of fuel, although it is also possible to buy filter units that are specifically designed for road trips. Though the kits can be costly, ranging from $1,200 to $2,400 depending on make and model, companies claim that most customers make their investments back in a year or two, simply from the amount of money saved from the free vegetable oil fuel supply. Using a conversion system also offers environmental benefits. SVO releases much cleaner emissions — test results indicate that running on vegetable oil produces 40 percent less soot than diesel and is 50-75 percent cleaner overall. Additionally, SVO is also a renewable resource. Touring with an engine that emits less harmful emissions is appealing to fan bases who are concerned about the environment, and traveling in this way may also provide press opportunities that gain exposure for your group. It is not necessary to be a mechanic to install most conversion kits, but having some general knowledge of your diesel fuel system is helpful, so if you don’t know the difference between your transmission and the ignition you may need to enlist the help of one of your more technically-informed friends, just to be safe. Running your engine on SVO does not affect the amount of power or the fuel economy of your vehicle; in fact, Golden Fuel Systems (www.goldenfuelsystems.com) claims that their products often lead to an increase in power. Unfortunately, the fuel conversion kits can only be used with diesel vehicles, which aren’t as common in the United States as gasoline vehicles. However, if you do own a diesel vehicle, Golden Fuel Systems offers a number of products to aid in fuel conversion, advertising not only vehicle-specific kits, but also fuel filter units designed for long road trips. Other companies offering conversion kits include Frybrid (www.frybrid.com), Greasecar (www.greasecar.com) and Plantdrive (www.plantdrive.com).

TRICKS OF THE TRADE

Borg, through general discourse, reveals just how multi-faceted an alternative tour can be from a financial standpoint. He focuses a goodly amount of his attention, rightly so, on unique merch techniques. “When you leave your merch in people’s hand, you’re trying to leave your name and a piece of you in that town,” says Borg. “Put your lyrics in lyrics books with pictures, which is a neat, personal thing for fans.” He also references lanyards with tour passes, as well as the idea of taking a digital camera on tour and making a photo album to sell as your tour progresses.

To supplement money coming in from merch and shows, Borg has also thought as far ahead as to arrange drum lessons in different cities. Some of the more unorthodox (but nevertheless money-saving) tips include swiping extra Taco Bell sauce packets to curb hunger pangs — although Borg does point out here that the restaurant chain has also offered sponsorships in the past, an association that could cut down on food costs considerably. Purchasing a bag of oranges and deli meats provides a more substantive alternative while keeping spending down. Also, always have a bottle of shampoo handy, says Borg, as unattended pools and lakes can make for excellent impromptu showers.

Ridiculous or not, knowing how to restrain your spending, as well as increase your revenue, on tour through methods not often considered can mean the difference between coming home having broken even and losing your shirt one week in. Touring requires the same level of preparation, tenacity and courage whether you are playing to a living room of teenagers or a sold-out theater.

From the Barracks to YOUR OWN BACKYARD

Don’t be afraid to think way outside of your natural comfort zone, either. As an example of unconventional thinking, consider a tour to Afghanistan. From a geographic and cost standpoint, it makes absolutely no sense, but as a part of Armed Forces Entertainment (www.armedforcesentertainment.com), you could be playing to a sizeable crowd eager for diversion while bringing in a guaranteed sum of money. Armed Forces Entertainment offers a well-structured, press-friendly touring option, and allows artists exposure to an audience they might otherwise never have had the resources (or even the notion) to reach. Performing for the troops in a foreign country is a decidedly alternative touring method; it is completely removed from the world of dive bars, lounges, and even basements on many different levels. It is a testament to how alternative touring can still provide bands with a sense of financial and logistical security (a facet that can be missing from many standard self-booked shows), as well as introduce them to audiences and environments outside the well-worn club market. And while it may not be the easiest trip to complete, it personifies the unique mindset with which musicians can approach their tours. But returning to Borg’s initial point, you have to be very clear as to why you are going on tour, regardless of whether you are looking to break into the alternative venue market or not. Notes Borg, “The truth is that its not any different than in your own backyard.” His point is a salient one — touring should be used to build upon an already solid foundation at home, where you have ideally run the basement circuit, made lasting connections, and received critical praise from the local weekly or zine. “Why are you going in the first place?” Borg posits. “One thing I ask is ‘How about out-of-the-ordinary staying-at-home techniques?’” Indeed, alternative methods do not by any stretch have to be employed on the road; they are certainly much easier to control while at home, and can draw attention (and money) just as easily.

Bobby Borg is an international recording and touring musician with over 25 years experience in the music business. A music business consultant to both artists and independent labels, he is also an instructor for the UCLA Music Business Extension and the author of the highly successful Billboard publication The Musician’s Handbook: A Practical Guide To Understanding the Music Business.