The Surprising TRUTH about Touring.

[matonanjin]

This has interest for us PRS people in two potential ways:
1) Some of us may have an interest in being a touring musician at some point. I never will. But for anyone on here that dreams of taking your playing to this level, you may find the comments inspiring....or discouraging. But in any case perhaps helpful. Maybe there are some on here that are touring musicians and can add to the discussion.
2) There is lots of PRS goodness in this video.

This is by Corey Congilio and Tim Pierce.

I have commented on here before about Corey. He is relatively new convert to PRS. I can say with fun I was perhaps one of the first to see his new PRS guitar! I take video lessons with Corey through TrueFire. He knows that I play PRS and on one of his lessons he sent me he said, "What do you think of my new guitar?", holding his new McCarty 594. I can call Corey a friend, I think. It's not like we hang out but I have met him in person and through the lessons have gotten to know him somewhat, to the extent one can through this medium. A good guy. He is currently the guitarist on David Lee Murphy's current tour.

Tim Pierce toured with Rick Springfield and then abruptly said no more touring. In the video he talks about the hit to his income this decision had. As I understand from the video he was the guitarist on a Phil Collins studio album.

In the video I'm not sure which hollowbody PRS guitar Corey is playing. That is not the new one he showed me. I don't know if he now has another PRS or if this is a loaner. Also I would be curious what PRS Tim is playing. He plays a couple but the one with the dragonfly? fret markers is curious. You can first see it at about 2 minutes and 45 seconds. And you can see it close-up at 6 minutes.

Anyway, sorry about the long intro. Here it is:

btw, the video lessons with Corey is the smartest thing I ever did in my trying to learn to play guitar.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

I toured a bunch from the mid-90s to my last one in March of 2012.... I’m so glad I’m not doing it anymore.

I’ve never heard of Corey or the guy he plays with, but I kinda laughed when he said he doesn’t drink, smoke, or do drugs and eats a plant based diet and he’s in a country band...

If it weren’t for cigarettes, weed, and booze I think I would’ve blown my brains out from boredom. And it has gotten much easier but, being a vegetarian on the road is still ridiculously difficult unless you’re on one of those tours with craft services and/or a chef.

 

[matonanjin]

Do you know what PRS that is that Tim is playing?

 

[dmatthews]

Do you know what PRS that is that Tim is playing?

Looks like a kind of private stock McCarty?

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Do you know what PRS that is that Tim is playing?

Collection McCarty, maybe?

Those are Celtic Knot inlays.

 

[dmatthews]

Collection McCarty, maybe?

Those are Celtic Knot inlays.

I didn't look hard enough, but that was my first thought too. I could only see them with trem.

 

[Kiwi]

I toured a bunch from the mid-90s to my last one in March of 2012.... I’m so glad I’m not doing it anymore.

I kinda laughed when he said he doesn’t drink, smoke, or do drugs …

If it weren’t for cigarettes, weed, and booze I think I would’ve blown my brains out from boredom.

Reminds me of a post from a long time ago, on another board, from a touring pro about why so many musicians get into drugs:

"Touring is 90% boredom, 5% awful, and 5% sheer ecstasy. Drugs made those first two feel like the last one."

=K

 

[markd21]

Touring was always fun for me. Usually it was just me and some friends in an RV road tripping to shows, crashing out at the KOA or the Wal-Mart Supercenter parking lot. When we started in late '91 we were too poor for drugs and too focused (plus barely 18 years old) to drink. It was the band van with cheese and mustard sandwiches, lol. After our first tour - we had shows in FL, AL, MS, LA, TX, AZ, NM, and SoCal - half the band had a mild case of scurvy!!! Living on bologna, cheese, mustard, soda, and chips did not give us our vitamin needs. We went off after graduating HS with our pooled graduation cash to be rock stars!! Instead, we found that the money didn't go far, and while we had guarantees built into most shows, what had been negotiated was very spartan....

Here was a typical "guarantee" on that first tour:

* A fill-up for the gas tank
* A sandwich wheel and some Cokes at the venue
* The door for the night

Well, most club owners managed to fold the first and last into the same thing. We were often hit with this line: "Well, here's an estimate for tonight's door. It's a Tuesday, so business will be slow. Twenty dollars will cover gas and the door." The sandwich wheels were often okay, at best. Most of the time the Coke was real, but sometimes we'd end up with store brand soda, lol.

If we'd have a day or two between shows we could often find another band that would let us crash for a day at their rehearsal spot. Real spartan, and often we could only stay long enough for a couple hour nap. Those were lean days!!! Travelling was tough. We had a 1978 Dodge Extended Van that had been a "shaggin' wagon" at an earlier point in it's life. When we got it still had the carpet and fish bowl windows, but the paint was rough. It ran solid as a rock. Thank God it was an extended van as we didn't have a trailer. The gear rode in the cabin with us!!!

As far as gear, naturally the biggest PIA was the drums. 1991 was still the days of big drum kits. Two bass drums, four toms, snare, hardware and cymbals!!! Ugh - no cases (of course)….the hardware and cymbals were constantly falling over and knocking things around. I had a 2x12 cab and the bassist a 1x15. A couple of heads each, milk crates with pedals and cables and ONE guitar each!!! HAHAHA, it was rough going, but a blast - especially for a bunch of 17-18 year olds!!

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Reminds me of a post from a long time ago, on another board, from a touring pro about why so many musicians get into drugs:

"Touring is 90% boredom, 5% awful, and 5% sheer ecstasy. Drugs made those first two feel like the last one."

=K

Yeah, there’s surprisingly little to do if you’re a sideman/hired gun like Tim and Corey are talking about, and before the internet it was even more boring and lonely.

In one band the three main guys still had to do promotion stuff, interviews, radio spots, etc. during the day while the rest of us were left to our own devices. You couldn’t really go anywhere either, it was either the hotel/motel or the couple of blocks surrounding the venue, or guarding the trailer.

So looking for a bag of weed and trying to find a vegetarian restaurant in say, Oklahoma in 1996, was actually the most adventure you could ask for.

 

[veinbuster]

Most of the places I played set us up with rooms and dinner while we were there 3-5 nights. I was too cheap to spend money on drugs, but got plenty of free drinks from the audience.

I have no idea what I did during the day. Canoed some in the summer. Tried not to freeze in the winter.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

I seem to remember an interview with Rob Harris (Jamiroquai), where he said that he was putting guitar parts down for a movie in his hotel room, whilst on tour!

Also, I’m sure some guys do Skype lessons on the road too.

 

[matonanjin]

Also, I’m sure some guys do Skype lessons on the road too.

I do know that is one thing Corey does to be productive in the off time.

 

[matonanjin]

Speaking of Corey, this is regarding his and Tim's PRS guitars.

Corey just sent me this and, as you can see, gave me permission to post it:

"Hey Ron,

Cool post. Thanks for drawing attention to the video!

I can’t tell you exactly what Tim is playing but he has at least 6 PRS guitars. The one I was playing was custom made for him with loads of inlay etc. It was a fun guitar for sure and, had plenty of sounds on tap…including the piezo bridge.

I just got my custom DGT and it is an absolutely incredible guitar. I’ve posted pics on my Instagram account for those who are interested.

Feel free to post this response in the forum. I hope all is well and I look forward to seeing you in another lesson. "

 

[Kiwi]

So looking for a bag of weed and trying to find a vegetarian restaurant in say, Oklahoma in 1996, was actually the most adventure you could ask for.

Yeah, either one of those could get you killed!

=K

 

[matonanjin]

Corey just posted a really cool photo on Facebook of him and his PRS on stage.

And for those of you that don't do Facebook the caption reads "PRS DGT where have you been all my life!"

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Corey just posted a really cool photo on Facebook of him and his PRS on stage.

And for those of you that don't do Facebook the caption reads "PRS DGT where have you been all my life!"

He has a stunning McSoapie gold top as well!