Comments on: GOD FORBID’S DALLAS COYLE ON HOW TOURING BANDS CAN DEAL WITH THE INSANE PRICE OF GAS

By: DALLAS WAS RIGHT: SUMMER TOURS ARE BEING CANCELED WILLY NILLY | MetalSucks

DALLAS WAS RIGHT: SUMMER TOURS ARE BEING CANCELED WILLY NILLY | MetalSucks — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:26:28 +0000

[...] Coyle a prophet? Maybe not — but his prediction that myriad summer tours would be canceled this year because of the prohibitively high price of gasoline has proven true. Day after day I see tour [...]

By: Fortunado

Fortunado — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:31:21 +0000

A little late to weigh in but I just thought I should add that everything adds up, it’s not just gas. Hotels cost money, food costs money, and most of all gas costs money. You can try to be frugal, but you can’t always crash, and sleeping in a van in July sucks and it’s hard to PB&J and trail mix for a week. The pay sucks — a lot of the time clubs and local bands work out a deal to give you a cut of the door money.

Someone mentioned stopping in smaller cities on the way to other dates. That’s not a bad idea, but it’s hard to find clubs/get paid , and everyday you’re out on tour you’re spending more money on food/shelter and in most cases losing money by not working your day job.

As to that fuckass that mentioned throwing in beer money for gas. The drinks are FREE asshole. Thank God because almost nothing else is.

Still, when you lose money you get to play out to a new audience, and travel the country and go to places and meet people that you wouldn’t have otherwise.

By: The Deciblog - The Truest Corner of the Blogosphere » Blog Archive » End of the Road?

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:54:53 +0000

[...] manage. If a veteran touring band like God Forbid — as Dallas Coyle suggested in this recent Metal Sucks column — is feeling the burn, how mega-fucked is some group of kids with no tour support going to [...]

By: Seth

Seth — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:55:14 +0000

Bands being forced to tour less means that serious fans have to drive farther to see the bands they love! That is MORE GAS MONEY! The burden falls to the fans…
(the fans that generally steal their favorite bands’ music). Ok ok…its even.

By: Grindkrusher

Grindkrusher — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 14:27:16 +0000

Maybe you could have online concerts streamed live and charge a small fee to view…probably already been done, but I haven’t heard much about it. The key would be sound/video quality and getting word out about it. Maybe even let people download a copy of the concert afterwords to keep.

Why not use your fans to help you get around the country…in the sense, that maybe having a network of fans that could give you a place to stay..maybe even feed you.. i know a lot of fans might not, because of their age and salary, but maybe there are some that could help out.

By: Way Too Loud! > God Forbid Guitarist Talks About Economic Touring

Way Too Loud! > God Forbid Guitarist Talks About Economic Touring — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 20:17:56 +0000

[...] God Forbid guitarist Dallas Coyle recent made a post in his article, “The Hard R” about how the rising price of gas will effect touring bands. He also suggested ways bands can cut costs, as well as suggesting actual numerical figures, so to all of you who thought most bands live like rock stars, well, you’ll need to take a look at this, over at Metal Sucks. [...]

By: Dallas

Dallas — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 13:34:48 +0000

We actually always have sponsors to help us out on tours for bus costs or crew costs. I’ll look into other sponsorships. Maybe an MSNBC Countdown sponsorship! Keith Olbermann!

hehe.

By: OConnor

OConnor — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 08:48:59 +0000

cody:

here’s an idea, step in front of a moving bus.

Dallas, great article as usual, I do agree that unfortunately the market is a little oversaturated. At the same time it also seems like lots of original music venues are closing and where i live (philly) cover bands are infesting us everywhere. Although it is not necessarily a rock/metal thing to do I think sponsorships are going to have to become a huge part of supporting bands and I don’t just mean in the traditional sense of guitars and amps I mean in the way of a band might have to have a denny’s logo or a mtx audio sticker on all its shit just to be able to afford gas. I think its better than not having music but its just crazy what things have come too.

By: Cody

Cody — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 01:42:27 +0000

Heres an idea, quit spending your money on alchohol and throw that in to pay for gas.

By: Will

Will — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 00:21:02 +0000

Great article, doc! I appreciate that you share your experience with us because experience is what will keep a band a float! You just gotta be smart about things and learn to adapt to an ever changing industry. For sure.

By: Sidric "straws pulled on day69!"

Sidric "straws pulled on day69!" — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 19:28:58 +0000

wise words mate wise words!

By: Alec

Alec — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:09:24 +0000

Another insightful piece….I spend at least 100.00 each week on gas just to go back and forth to work so I can only imagine what it’s like to have to spend that or more every day. I also agree with Dallas that we, as fans, only have a limited amount of money we can spend on merch and having multiple bands on the bill can make it difficult to decide where to spend it.
One thing that I have noticed this year is that alot more bands are doing “off-dates” in smaller venues that they might not normally play just to make gas money. As a fan it’s a plus but for the bands they don’t get the rest and wind down time they may need.

By: C.J. the D.J.

C.J. the D.J. — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:25:54 +0000

Maybe tour routing can be changed to where you play shows that aren’t as far apart each day. For example, I live in what is called the Quad Cities (Moline, IL – Davenport, IA) which is dead center between Chicago and Des Moines and we have so many tours that pass us by. WHY? Why not play Chicago, Des Moines and stop in the middle at Davenport for a gig? There are many other areas in the U.S. that have similar situations where it may not be a LARGE market, but large enough to support tours like this but we rarely get hit. You could tour the U.S. non-stop this way and be profitable. You gotta make these agents EARN that 10 percent!
I know it’s not the answer to the larger problem, but I think it’s worth considering as a potential idea. Fuck I know a band that booked a whole week in and around Chicago and the suburbs and had great shows every night!
Anyway, just throwing that out there.

By: Jay

Jay — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 04:02:26 +0000

Great article Dallas! Those are some seriously awesome ideals!

Good luck on the tour!

By: Master Chef

Master Chef — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 03:51:17 +0000

As part of a local band, gas prices can be discouraging in the sense that your dream may never come true. Touring means you get to travel the world, whether it’s glamorous or not.

By: rob

rob — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 03:23:11 +0000

Hey Dallas, thanks for spreading the word on the biodiesel vans. There are a lot of ways that going green in a band can save you some money…

By: jono

jono — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 03:18:56 +0000

It’s a damn shame. I’m just a kid and my family’s barely keeping out of debt because of the gas prices combined with our heavy work & school commute. But we’re probably going to get a hybrid soon, that gets more than double the mileage of the vehicles we own now. But anyways. It’s good that you provided some positive outlook on this touring problem. In this day and age of the internet it’s easier than ever for smaller bands to find creative ways of getting themselves out there without touring. Good luck.

By: Elpants

Elpants — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 01:19:24 +0000

Gas prices suck…tour mexico, gas is like $2.50 a gallon there haha.

By: adam

adam — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:53:01 +0000

you guys rock love the new dvd just strarting to really get into your music its some of the best metal i’ve heard
keep it up motherfuckers

By: deathmetalfan99

deathmetalfan99 — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:31:01 +0000

thats really cool. i am in a band and we have been worried about going on tour with gas prices or even going out of state for a show but now i have an understanding. thanks