Visit LA ,,, there are literally hundreds of guys still trying to "make it" walking along Santa Monica and Hollywood Blvd...in their fifties and sixties..usually collecting cans for dinner money.
Hi Brad I have heard all my life “ What comes up must come down “ that goes for being a rock journalist like me Once you come down it’s almost impossible to go back up again. Life loves to get in the way.
I buy all my music on cd as long as it’s possible. I’ve been collecting music on cd since 1991, so I’d love to have everything on that format. Unfortunately, these days many artists release download only or even just on mp3 or vinyl. I have 2 crates worth of vinyl mostly for novelty purposes. I have over 3,000 CDs. I think it is the best format for physical media. Long live the compact disc.😁👍🎶
Bad Brad you are a learned man and these are honest first person accounts i travelled with a girls vocal group just high school stuff so i could miss school in spring and still be in school, and even then on a microscopic level the close proximity all the time of people next to you made me glad i did my roadie sound board thing but y'all bands and crew work hard. So i did other things & stayed a lover of music even as I write.⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I saw Dr Hook and The Medicine Show in the 70s. Great guys. They let anyone that wanted to come hang out with them after the show. I got to step inside their bus and Ray gave me a beer. Really fun laidback guys
Another fantastic video Brad. I find these stories fascinating. As a musician all my life here in South Africa, it is so enlightening to hear what the musicians in the USA , who we all admire as aspire to , have to go through. Thank you for starting your amazing channel here on TH-cam
Words of wisdom and well-said, Brad! We toured Canada as a four-piece band in a station wagon (not even a van or a bus). We did cover music and were fortunate enough to stay at accommodations provided by the venues all of which had a house P.A. Some of the accommodations left a lot to be desired. It was lots of fun when I was about 30 years old. It left me with colorful and great memories. Every musician should do it at least once, and I suspect most have. But ever since I have had no (I said "no") interest in doing it again, even given the opportunity with a larger entourage or a bigger act.
Buses use diesel not gas. Back in the diesel was a lot cheaper than gas. Since Hurricane Katrina the trucking industry has allowed the oil companies to get away with charging a lot more money for diesel when it's less refined.
Growing up in Minneapolis in the 80's with rock radio stations was a fantastic time. Every concert back then coming into town was on the radio. This is pre internet obviously. Every show I went to I heard about from a radio station. I would have to go to some mall that had a Ticket Master booth to get tickets. The rock star bus sitting next to the venue was cool. I hung around a few of these early before shows. I met some of these guys. Don Dokken was one. He was a cool guy. I saw them at the Medina Ball room. I think they opened for Cinderella or the other way around. Cant remember. Don was on stage with a leg cast. He broke it on some jet ski accident I believe. But just looking at those busses was a cool thing to experience. I though some day I may be a dude on one of those, being a young guitar guy. Oh those were good years. It's really sad that radio is over. People connected through those air waves. Internet is not the same at all. There was a sense of unity with radio that does not exist with internet in regards to what I mentioned. Thanks for sharing Brad. Love your channel!
Similar history. Radio, the record shop or word of mouth is how we knew who was playing. I saw SRV at a shed before he was famous because another musician said a Texas blues guy is playing in town. A year later, SRV became famous. He wasn’t that good when I saw him. This was probably around ‘82-84.
This desire sets you up for a lot of heartbreak because the world is not your friend. The world will take advantage of your dreams, pimp you out on tour and not give you any of the money you earn. That is the music industry. The biggest stars sing about how miserable they are since they sold their soul to the devil to get fame and fortune. Figure out why you feel like you wont be happy until "the world" loves you and fix the ROOT of this problem to avoid heartbreak and disappointment. The music industry is vultures who want to prey on your hopes and dreams, turn you into a slave and not give you any of your earnings. There is no upside. Plus, fame is a curse.
Thx Brad. Dang, man, good information. I had no idea about this stuff. I can understand wanting to be in control of your own destiny. Just look what happened with the Cliff Burton of Metallica bus accident. Peace.
Check out the George Jones book, I Lived To Tell It All. They had 5 or 6 guys in a car with all their instruments driving 500 miles between shows. Then when they switched to a bus the driver drove off a mountain!
A couple years ago, Tank The Tech did a very detailed breakdown of tour bus rentals. The bottom line is- for every tour bus you see rollin down the road, just think "There goes 2 grand a day in tour costs." With Trans Siberian Orchestra, I think I counted between 10 and 14 busses. Two grand a pop per day for each of those. Damn!
Got some young guys in a band from my area that have been having a little success. They recently embarked on a cross country “bar tour” in a van puling a trailer they made it out to the West Coast getting to play the Whisky & Roxy. They finally made it back home and I ran into the guitarist and I got to hear 1st hand ALL the problems they incurred which was a Lot. Van broke down they got stranded they had to go to Facebook and ask for donations and got back home with not a dollar 💵 in their pockets! But Dude!! SO much fun and So many memories made as well as meeting lots of great people. Unfortunately I have financial responsibilities.
In 2004 I was working on a thirty plus dates in a row tour across US/Canada. We had one day off in Atlanta. I broke away from the band to go downtown to grab a meal on my own. I took cash with me (no cell phone/credit card) When I got downtown I found out the band YES were playing the main arena. I used my left over transport money to pay the concert ticket. After the YES concert , I had to walk 4 hours across the city of Atlanta to return to our tour bus......
Old bus story: I back lined Kings X one afternoon, The Nick in Birmingham. My friend, Danny, FOH sound, asked if I would help out. They had one Roadie on their rider, lol. Pay $40. I was an Operations Manager for Marriott. I did it for fun. They were down to a van with a big trailer. They had one old tech for guitar, drums and setup. He showed me the diagram and I set up three stacks for Ty and Dug Pinniks rig and brought in drum cases etc..Loys of dummy cabs. I got to hang with the band at 4 in the afternoon after I knocked out in about 30 minutes. Ty told the story, they had the old bus prior tour, they were in a gas station going to the bathroom when it started on fire and was completely engulfed when they back out. That was like 06 or 07. They lost everything on the old bus so now, they are fine with a reliable van and trailer. They were doing clubs etc
@badbrad when Ty told it, he still turned white saying the all could have been on that bus. He really thought God was in the mix getting them all off the van at that stop.
@creativenativeproductions I googled and it was 2005. There are some pictures. Ty Tabor still seemed to be rattled that they could have been on the bus.
@@bradhardisty1652 Amazing - Thanks - Great that you got to work with them. I saw them at Woodstock'94 and also I was walking home from a studio in NYC 2012 and randomly saw a billboard that they were playing with Kansas that night. That was my 2nd time seeing them.
Wow. Had no idea Jason Aldean 's tour was that big. I guess when "The Party Never Ends" you need a lot of support.😃 Think of those giant acts that even set-up their own custom stages. A long way from Moms station wagon.
It’s hard enough to live out of a van on extended road trips with a beautiful woman… the human behaviors all gelling well 24/7 with a bunch of dudes that happen jam well together… that’s a rare Jem. We allow need our space. Our control over the radio or silence. I love living out of a van or bus with me and my dogs… but no thanks sausage cannning a bunch of dudes in a small space for too long. The resentment would spill out into the music before long I’d think
I played in a punk band for a while when i was 17 years old ,(SikFux) lol yep the "van" old broken down econoline..the thing was a miracle vehiclle ,what wee put that poor vehicle through it eventually went down like the titanic after three months, and so did the band lol
The world used to be so much simpler. Nashville in the 1970s - If you could play, were easy to get along with, and fit the polyester leisure suite uniforms, you could get a decent gig. Sometimes vans, sometimes station wagons, and then the big busses with the Opry stars. I always got a pay check and never wanted anything more. Didn't want to be a star or center stage or any of that. I was in my 20s and didn't care how we travelled. I spent a year on LeRoy Van Dyke's bus and it sucked because he was an ignorant racist. I did a summer tour with Kitty Wells who had a very nice bus and full time driver. Great gig with nice people. I also did a winter Canada tour with Jon Corneal (Gram) with oil dripping on the manifold and the interior dark with oil smoke. All the windows open. So cold. Hired by a young band to do a tour with Jackie Ward opening for Crystal Gayle. No seats in the back so sitting with all the equipment and smoking a lot of pot with Jackie. I loved it all. Everything was changing towards the end of the decade. There's no way I would go through what players have to go through today to make a good living. Every time there is something that is truly cool, some big shot is going to want it. Then the other big shots want it and it all falls apart. It really was so much better then.
@@badbrad Players used to go out of their way to help each other. The music was exciting and diverse and inclusive. The people I got to play with. It was the absolute end of a flawed but still incredibly great time in "country" music.
Boy , i can relate ! But I did it all over Europe in a shitty little van , but I have so many stories , but I quit and became a contralto and made real money
in 1993 I was almost signed by the guy that signed Alice in chains, if I would of made it, I would be dead given the addictions I had then so im glad It didnt happen
I've come home broke on a bus and made good money from a van......Best thing an artist can do on the up swing of their arc is to pay off a sprinter and a trailer and have it ready cause they will need it....
There is no “magic” or “mystique” surrounding bands anymore - the industry has been vastly overhauled so that everyone has immediate access to public channels, for instance, TH-cam. That could seem like a plus, but it is also a minus. Self-marketing and guerrilla marketing puts the artist up front where they should not be - and the result is lack of “star” quality, self financed “tours” and a bunch of folks playing the game of being a touring musician but not really having the songs, management, distribution, promotion and booking - nor the money to do so. The labels were a good evil because they screwed artists but they had the money, connections and outreach to get an artist played, to produce good music, to market the fuck out of it and to create an aura and aspiration…..you were foaming at the mouth like a rabid hyena to see Led Zeppelin, to learn more, to see them in person….because there was limited access and they seemed otherworldly. Many more like that - Rush, Aerosmith, etc etc Van Halen…. That is not going to happen any longer. You need songs that have a unique and unheard quality, management, promotion, distribution, booking agency and the horsepower to create the aspiration…. I feel sorry for these kids that think they are chasing something that is there - it was there before immediate access to media - but artists today are drowned in a sea of wannabes that are trying to leverage digital media with homegrown marketing, etc…. Why suffer financially? If you love music, enjoy the craft, give it everything you have to be the best possible in the instrument. But you’re not gonna be the next Ray Davies, etc etc…the mechanism is not there (for the vast majority)
Chasing dreams is one thing. Knowing when to bail out is something completely different.
Man you know it
Sometimes it's fun just to ride the dream until it's melting into the sunset like an ice cube in The lounge in texas in july..lol
Visit LA ,,, there are literally hundreds of guys still trying to "make it" walking along Santa Monica and Hollywood Blvd...in their fifties and sixties..usually collecting cans for dinner money.
@@wavular I live in L.A. and yes it’s brutal out here now .
@@wavular dang
Vans and bands breakdown and breakdown often.
Oh ya!
Hi Brad I have heard all my life “ What comes up must come down “ that goes for being a rock journalist like me
Once you come down it’s almost impossible to go back up again. Life loves to get in the way.
It does indeed.
yikes
🙏 God bless you dude for keeping it real and keeping us all morivated . your love for music is infectious ☝️
I appreciate that
I wil be 70 years old next. I still go online and buy my music from Amazon. That way I 'm supporting the band more than using a streaming service
🫡
Judging by the number of thumbs up on this comment, it's gonna be a loooonnnggg road!! Lol
I buy all my music on cd as long as it’s possible. I’ve been collecting music on cd since 1991, so I’d love to have everything on that format. Unfortunately, these days many artists release download only or even just on mp3 or vinyl. I have 2 crates worth of vinyl mostly for novelty purposes. I have over 3,000 CDs. I think it is the best format for physical media. Long live the compact disc.😁👍🎶
Bad Brad you are a learned man and these are honest first person accounts i travelled with a girls vocal group just high school stuff so i could miss school in spring and still be in school, and even then on a microscopic level the close proximity all the time of people next to you made me glad i did my roadie sound board thing but y'all bands and crew work hard. So i did other things & stayed a lover of music even as I write.⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
ALL that to say thanks,you are filling a void in my conscience,it's just what the doctor ordered.this fascinates.
Thank you Charles!
I saw Dr Hook and The Medicine Show in the 70s. Great guys. They let anyone that wanted to come hang out with them after the show. I got to step inside their bus and Ray gave me a beer. Really fun laidback guys
That is awesome!
Another fantastic video Brad. I find these stories fascinating. As a musician all my life here in South Africa, it is so enlightening to hear what the musicians in the USA , who we all admire as aspire to , have to go through.
Thank you for starting your amazing channel here on TH-cam
Appreciate that, cheers from across the globe. Thank you!
Words of wisdom and well-said, Brad! We toured Canada as a four-piece band in a station wagon (not even a van or a bus). We did cover music and were fortunate enough to stay at accommodations provided by the venues all of which had a house P.A. Some of the accommodations left a lot to be desired. It was lots of fun when I was about 30 years old. It left me with colorful and great memories. Every musician should do it at least once, and I suspect most have. But ever since I have had no (I said "no") interest in doing it again, even given the opportunity with a larger entourage or a bigger act.
I hear you loud and clear.
Buses use diesel not gas. Back in the diesel was a lot cheaper than gas. Since Hurricane Katrina the trucking industry has allowed the oil companies to get away with charging a lot more money for diesel when it's less refined.
I misspoke...to me it's all gas but yeah Diesel use to be cheap.
Growing up in Minneapolis in the 80's with rock radio stations was a fantastic time. Every concert back then coming into town was on the radio. This is pre internet obviously. Every show I went to I heard about from a radio station. I would have to go to some mall that had a Ticket Master booth to get tickets. The rock star bus sitting next to the venue was cool. I hung around a few of these early before shows. I met some of these guys. Don Dokken was one. He was a cool guy. I saw them at the Medina Ball room. I think they opened for Cinderella or the other way around. Cant remember. Don was on stage with a leg cast. He broke it on some jet ski accident I believe. But just looking at those busses was a cool thing to experience. I though some day I may be a dude on one of those, being a young guitar guy. Oh those were good years. It's really sad that radio is over. People connected through those air waves. Internet is not the same at all. There was a sense of unity with radio that does not exist with internet in regards to what I mentioned. Thanks for sharing Brad. Love your channel!
Thank you for sharing! Much appreciated
Similar history. Radio, the record shop or word of mouth is how we knew who was playing. I saw SRV at a shed before he was famous because another musician said a Texas blues guy is playing in town.
A year later, SRV became famous. He wasn’t that good when I saw him. This was probably around ‘82-84.
@rayprevailer8454- great input! the radio, all of it. It's true
@ProbablyTooLoud - 👍
Gemini band was local favorites in the Twin Cities.
Cool video. Never heard anybody break this stuff down.
Thank you. Lot's of truth on this channel. Appreciate you watching.
I want to be the star in the star lounge with a band and a crew and a bunch of hit songs and fans that love my songs!
This desire sets you up for a lot of heartbreak because the world is not your friend. The world will take advantage of your dreams, pimp you out on tour and not give you any of the money you earn. That is the music industry. The biggest stars sing about how miserable they are since they sold their soul to the devil to get fame and fortune.
Figure out why you feel like you wont be happy until "the world" loves you and fix the ROOT of this problem to avoid heartbreak and disappointment.
The music industry is vultures who want to prey on your hopes and dreams, turn you into a slave and not give you any of your earnings. There is no upside. Plus, fame is a curse.
I toured for a few years, glad I did but mostly it's a case of being careful what you wish for.
Man you know!
Thx Brad. Dang, man, good information. I had no idea about this stuff. I can understand wanting to be in control of your own destiny. Just look what happened with the Cliff Burton of Metallica bus accident. Peace.
Man you know it!
Listen to the song The Load Out by Jackson Browne. An ode to the road crew as well as life on the bus.
I love that song!
One of the best songs ever
great lyrics - Thanks
Check out the George Jones book, I Lived To Tell It All. They had 5 or 6 guys in a car with all their instruments driving 500 miles between shows. Then when they switched to a bus the driver drove off a mountain!
😱
A couple years ago, Tank The Tech did a very detailed breakdown of tour bus rentals. The bottom line is- for every tour bus you see rollin down the road, just think "There goes 2 grand a day in tour costs." With Trans Siberian Orchestra, I think I counted between 10 and 14 busses. Two grand a pop per day for each of those. Damn!
Yeah man that's insane!
Got some young guys in a band from my area that have been having a little success. They recently embarked on a cross country “bar tour” in a van puling a trailer they made it out to the West Coast getting to play the Whisky & Roxy. They finally made it back home and I ran into the guitarist and I got to hear 1st hand ALL the problems they incurred which was a Lot. Van broke down they got stranded they had to go to Facebook and ask for donations and got back home with not a dollar 💵 in their pockets! But Dude!! SO much fun and So many memories made as well as meeting lots of great people. Unfortunately I have financial responsibilities.
It sounds like they had a real adventure! One for the books but yeah man....no good when you got bills to pay.
You have to pay to play the Whisky - or sell the tickets you bought…..along with 3 or 4 other bands plus the headliner.
@
Not sure what the deal was for those guys. They headlined.
In 2004 I was working on a thirty plus dates in a row tour across US/Canada.
We had one day off in Atlanta. I broke away from the band to go downtown to grab a meal on my own. I took cash with me (no cell phone/credit card)
When I got downtown I found out the band YES were playing the main arena. I used my left over transport money to pay the concert ticket.
After the YES concert , I had to walk 4 hours across the city of Atlanta to return to our tour bus......
Wow that is a haul!!!
Haha. Yes. Thanks
Old bus story: I back lined Kings X one afternoon, The Nick in Birmingham. My friend, Danny, FOH sound, asked if I would help out. They had one Roadie on their rider, lol. Pay $40. I was an Operations Manager for Marriott. I did it for fun. They were down to a van with a big trailer. They had one old tech for guitar, drums and setup. He showed me the diagram and I set up three stacks for Ty and Dug Pinniks rig and brought in drum cases etc..Loys of dummy cabs. I got to hang with the band at 4 in the afternoon after I knocked out in about 30 minutes. Ty told the story, they had the old bus prior tour, they were in a gas station going to the bathroom when it started on fire and was completely engulfed when they back out. That was like 06 or 07. They lost everything on the old bus so now, they are fine with a reliable van and trailer. They were doing clubs etc
That's a crazy story, I've heard of so many tour bus fires!
@badbrad when Ty told it, he still turned white saying the all could have been on that bus. He really thought God was in the mix getting them all off the van at that stop.
What a story....
King X are my favourite
@creativenativeproductions I googled and it was 2005. There are some pictures. Ty Tabor still seemed to be rattled that they could have been on the bus.
@@bradhardisty1652 Amazing - Thanks - Great that you got to work with them. I saw them at Woodstock'94 and also I was walking home from a studio in NYC 2012 and randomly saw a billboard that they were playing with Kansas that night. That was my 2nd time seeing them.
If your smart, when (if) you get a big hit, you still stick it out in the barn bus and pocket the cash instead of partying it away into oblivion.
Save it for a rainy day indeed.
a wise man you are sir
Wow. Had no idea Jason Aldean 's tour was that big. I guess when "The Party Never Ends" you need a lot of support.😃 Think of those giant acts that even set-up their own custom stages. A long way from Moms station wagon.
Those big acts are like small cities on the road.
@@badbrad That's one hell of a concept.
It’s hard enough to live out of a van on extended road trips with a beautiful woman… the human behaviors all gelling well 24/7 with a bunch of dudes that happen jam well together… that’s a rare Jem. We allow need our space. Our control over the radio or silence. I love living out of a van or bus with me and my dogs… but no thanks sausage cannning a bunch of dudes in a small space for too long. The resentment would spill out into the music before long I’d think
Very true!
Good point.
Touring is like a social experiment with the tour bus being the petri dish
I played in a punk band for a while when i was 17 years old ,(SikFux) lol yep the "van" old broken down econoline..the thing was a miracle vehiclle ,what wee put that poor vehicle through it eventually went down like the titanic after three months, and so did the band lol
That name sounds familiar.
Ha! We had a cookie truck in my first band in 1980! I knew Ira before he was Ira. Funny MF.
Right on! Yes he is.
Haha
The world used to be so much simpler. Nashville in the 1970s - If you could play, were easy to get along with, and fit the polyester leisure suite uniforms, you could get a decent gig. Sometimes vans, sometimes station wagons, and then the big busses with the Opry stars. I always got a pay check and never wanted anything more. Didn't want to be a star or center stage or any of that. I was in my 20s and didn't care how we travelled. I spent a year on LeRoy Van Dyke's bus and it sucked because he was an ignorant racist. I did a summer tour with Kitty Wells who had a very nice bus and full time driver. Great gig with nice people. I also did a winter Canada tour with Jon Corneal (Gram) with oil dripping on the manifold and the interior dark with oil smoke. All the windows open. So cold. Hired by a young band to do a tour with Jackie Ward opening for Crystal Gayle. No seats in the back so sitting with all the equipment and smoking a lot of pot with Jackie. I loved it all. Everything was changing towards the end of the decade. There's no way I would go through what players have to go through today to make a good living. Every time there is something that is truly cool, some big shot is going to want it. Then the other big shots want it and it all falls apart. It really was so much better then.
I hear you on the “it was better then.” Amazing story you have to tell!
@@badbrad Players used to go out of their way to help each other. The music was exciting and diverse and inclusive. The people I got to play with. It was the absolute end of a flawed but still incredibly great time in "country" music.
Boy , i can relate ! But I did it all over Europe in a shitty little van , but I have so many stories , but I quit and became a contralto and made real money
Right on
in 1993 I was almost signed by the guy that signed Alice in chains, if I would of made it, I would be dead given the addictions I had then so im glad It didnt happen
Man that is tough. Glad you are here.
I've come home broke on a bus and made good money from a van......Best thing an artist can do on the up swing of their arc is to pay off a sprinter and a trailer and have it ready cause they will need it....
Man you know it!
A wise man once told me if you haven't made it by 28, give it up and move on. Which I did.
I hear ya....but define "make it"?
There is no “magic” or “mystique” surrounding bands anymore - the industry has been vastly overhauled so that everyone has immediate access to public channels, for instance, TH-cam. That could seem like a plus, but it is also a minus. Self-marketing and guerrilla marketing puts the artist up front where they should not be - and the result is lack of “star” quality, self financed “tours” and a bunch of folks playing the game of being a touring musician but not really having the songs, management, distribution, promotion and booking - nor the money to do so. The labels were a good evil because they screwed artists but they had the money, connections and outreach to get an artist played, to produce good music, to market the fuck out of it and to create an aura and aspiration…..you were foaming at the mouth like a rabid hyena to see Led Zeppelin, to learn more, to see them in person….because there was limited access and they seemed otherworldly. Many more like that - Rush, Aerosmith, etc etc Van Halen….
That is not going to happen any longer. You need songs that have a unique and unheard quality, management, promotion, distribution, booking agency and the horsepower to create the aspiration….
I feel sorry for these kids that think they are chasing something that is there - it was there before immediate access to media - but artists today are drowned in a sea of wannabes that are trying to leverage digital media with homegrown marketing, etc….
Why suffer financially? If you love music, enjoy the craft, give it everything you have to be the best possible in the instrument. But you’re not gonna be the next Ray Davies, etc etc…the mechanism is not there (for the vast majority)
Very true!
I’ve always had my own van. If you gig and only have one car, make it a van.
I had a mini van for a while...got stuck hauling everybody else's stuff.
Aretha Franklin would not turn on the AC even in a new tour bus. AC affects the voice and sista ree was not having it. 😂
You know it!
@ thats a question you better ask before going on tour 🥵
All I can say is NEVER again, lol!!!
Man I hear you!