Live Right Now

Anonymous asked: How did you get involved with Klean Kanteen and Vans Warped Tour? What's touring like as a girl?

I’ve answered a couple questions about this before, including as part of WATK’s “How To Get On Warped Tour” series, so forgive me for not going in depth about the first question.

As for the second… and pardon the fact that this is so long, but thinking about this question made me really happy in reminiscing some moments:

Many times, at least in my experience, it depends on who you’re touring with. The easy, and obvious, answer is, you’re ultimately there to do a job, so, it shouldn’t really matter if you’re a girl or a guy, just get your job done, and carry on. In reality, that’s not always the case. Some guys are really cool with girls on the road. Some are really against it. I’ve missed out on tours before with the reasons that the guys didn’t want a girl on the road because they didn’t want to be “tempted”, or have their girlfriends suspect anything. (In fact, one musician spoke to me just once during an entire tour, because his girlfriend was the extremely jealous type and had spies. Seriously.). I’ve also been asked during phone interviews what I wear to sleep - they wanted to make sure I wasn’t “one of those girls” who wear thongs and bra tops to bed, or something.

I’ve been drunkenly, and sober-ly, propositioned by guys I’ve worked for (nothing has ever happened). I’ve been flashed genitals and asked if I was “interested”. I’ve been asked extremely personal questions about my love life, and had plenty of comments made that in a normal office would have resulted in an immediate sexual harassment case. There was one guy who took delight in randomly screaming at me out of nowhere. One time, on a sidewalk in front of a venue on the East Coast, he asked if I was requesting to use the loaders because I was “a weak, b-tching girl, PMSing, or just f—king lazy?” Found out a couple days later, aside from a history of being sexist and racist, he had been relapsing on drugs for most of the tour (so I’m sure you can imagine why I’m not saying anything identifying about him. You know, that whole pesky, people claiming “slander” thing, though it’s absolutely true and they know it). There was another time I was offered a tour manager position, then, right before flying out, they decided I was “just” going to sell merch. The manager felt a guy who had only worked security at a venue—and had zero tour or management experience—would be able to better handle the job than a girl with experience.

But, on a personal level, touring as a girl can also be amazing. I’ve worked with some guys who’ve made it a point to look out for me, sometimes without me even realizing it’s happening. On my first club tour, the band I had initially started working with was leaving early, and another band on the same tour had hired me to stay on with them. The next show was in Detroit, and before the guys left that night, I overheard one guy single out a couple of the guys in the new band and say, “Look out for her. She’s like our little sister. Don’t let her go anywhere alone in Detroit”. One of the guys looked him straight in the eye and said, “No worries man, we will.” And they did.

Then there are people like Nick. Who stand on stage, look to the other guys for quick validation, stare straight to the back of the venue where merch is set up, and basically says to the sold-out audience, “See Jasmine there? She’s going to kill me for this, but, she’s single, and just so amazing, and to all the guys here - she needs to get laid before the tour ends”. Coincidentally, I think that show was also in Detroit. Girls came up and apologized for him (thanks to Nikki for paraphrasing in a tweet way back when). I didn’t hurt him for the remarks, fyi, and you can hear what I’m sure is an incredible new album from The Spill Canvas, Gestalt, on May 22nd.

Anonymous asked: Honestly, all of the above I'd love to work with a band on tour or work in a venue the only problem is my name is not well known. It is at the 2 high schools I've attended but that doesn't get me anywhere in this music industry. I live in the Houston area and is a fact that if I were working at Warehouse Live, I would most definitely make a name for myself but I would have to get a job there first and to do that I just need someone there to give me an opportunity to prove myself. Is it possible-

“-you could put me in touch with someone that could get me this small opportunity to prove myself. Honestly, I love what I do so much to the point that I would work for free for a good while.” (the rest of the question, in a different message) - A follow-up to this question.

No, I won’t. This is why:

Have you gone to Warehouse Live and asked them? Asked if there were any internships, opportunities to shadow a current sound guy, etc.? Are there any other venues in town in which you could work? How about your high school teachers and classmates, do they have any connections? Have you considered attending college and studying sound? Is there a Guitar Center/Sam Ash in town you could work at and meet people through? Are you friends with local bands, and have you offered to do sound for them to build a resume?

I don’t know who you are. I don’t know if you’re good. I don’t know if you’re good to work with. If I were to recommend you to someone at Warehouse Live, I’m putting my name on the line for someone I don’t know. If you suck, it hurts my work relationship with that person.

You want an opportunity to prove yourself? Walk right into Warehouse Live, talk to the manager, and ask for a job. The worst he can say is no. Remember, it’s the whole ’networking’ thing. Get to know everyone at every show in every venue in every band until when you ask, you hear a yes. That’s part of how you make a name for yourself. A good, ambitious name - Always be polite and respectful. Never demand and be known as that guy/gal who’s a jerk. The other part of making a name for yourself? Not screwing up. Working hard.

Sidenote: It wasn’t Warehouse Live, but the Houston venue that asked a band on a previous tour—who sold barely enough merch for gas to the next show—for friggen $1.25 as their merch cut can go to hell. That band didn’t have a quarter on them. The venue person waited for them to find one. Absurd.

If you have any additional questions, Anonymous, I’m down to answer. Just include your email address so we can discuss privately.                     

Anonymous asked: Alright so I saw your blog about Warped Tour and I have been searching and searching but come up empty. I am an audio engineer(I run sound boards n stuff) and I absolutely love doing it I did it all my high school years and record too. I can't even begin to stress how much I would absolutely LOVE the opportunity to gain that kind of experience working any park of the sound crew on any stage at Warped but I have come up empty on how to get said job or who to contact?

Here’s the thing. Do you just want to work on Warped Tour, or do you want a touring sound position, regardless of act/tour?

Friends who are audio engineers started working at venues and for artists. When Warped came up for them, it was through the artists they had already been working with, or other crew members/artists they had worked with in the past who recommended them. Same goes for people who work as part of the stage crew.

It’s networking, all of it. Who knows you? Who’s willing to vouch for you? Meet people. Work with people. Prove yourself. Then, when someone hears about a position, hopefully they’ll think of you and reach out.

(Yeah, I bolded myself for emphasis. Which may be tacky and eyeroll-worthy, but if you’re going to skim this response, at least read that part.)

Anonymous asked: How did you get involved with touring?

I’ve done a couple different “types” of touring, and a few of the responses I’ve given to this question can be found here.