Load in / out... who does what?

[srsfallriver]

I'm an electrician so I try to show up first. I check out what the site has for power and start laying out extentions. I set up the power, then my personal equipment, then the lights. Whatever is left at that point, I help with.

Breakdown is similar. Lights, my stuff, power, left-over.

[THB]

I set up what's mine, and that includes PA, amp and pedalboard. It ain't over til the truck's loaded.

[whiteroom]

Originally posted by Cortfan Our July 3rd gig was a private party. We had to leave the trailer about 100 yards from a single elevator, and then go up to the 3rd floor and then about 150 feet. Temp was close to 99 degrees. No friends, roadies, nothing. Just the 4 band members including our female singer (drummers wife). Luckily, we only used the Bose sticks, but with the lights, keys, V-drums, mixer, wireless rack, guitars, basses and spares, we had about a 3 hr. load in/out. The worse part, they wanted 10 encores, so we played an extra hour. (They paid extra). But I got home about 3 a.m. totally exhausted. The good news is they really liked us and we will get another one of their parties in a few months. All 4 of us load in and out until we are finished. Sherri works just as hard as we do. I told the band I will play for free, as long as I get at least $150 for load in/out.

 

 

Hey Rick,

We played the july 4th at Buena Vista lake right down the street from you guys in hernando...except we played OUTSIDE. My amp boiled the fizz right out of my beer! Got back to Mempho just in time to unload in the downpour. Fun.

[riffdaddy]

Originally posted by Lee Flier We all pitch in and load/unload the van. We don't pay any attention to who's hauling whose gear, we just grab stuff and put it where it's supposed to go.

 

 

Same here. My singer may be a jackass talentless prima donna, but he does know how to lift a speaker.

[forceman]

My current situation, everybody pitches in (which is nice since I generally have two keyboards, amp, rack effects, and the other "stuff" keyboardists have to lug around..

Both synths in RoadReady cases....

Previous situation those clowns watched me lug my gear myself..

A am still pretty strong but almost 50.....

[Cortfan]

Hey whiteroom, whats the name of your band? We were also outside, on the 3rd level of Mud Island. That was the hottest gig I've done in a long time.

[whiteroom]

Originally posted by Cortfan Hey whiteroom, whats the name of your band? We were also outside, on the 3rd level of Mud Island. That was the hottest gig I've done in a long time.

 

 

Rick, You signed the guestbook on the website and you don't remember the name??? lol Yes it was hot! I emailed you a pic of us boiling beer on our amps.

 

8 Trackmind

http://8trackmind.homestead.com

[Derwood]

Originally posted by Lee Flier We all pitch in and load/unload the van. We don't pay any attention to who's hauling whose gear, we just grab stuff and put it where it's supposed to go.

 

 

Yep...We're all pretty knowledgable about each other's equipment, so we just set up what we happen to grab. We also are pretty familiar with how we like each other's stuff set up, which helps.

[M-1 Fan]

The four of us, including one female, do all the work. I get stuck hooking up the PA and my stuff.

[Singin' Dave]

Well, to make a small dent in the apparently woeful batting average for singers pitching in, I'm the front man for my band and pretty much own, transport and set up our PA, power distro, stands, cables etc. along with my guitar rig, 2-3 guitars etc. My SUV gets packed to the gills. Do all the set up and mixing for practice, record and burn copies for the band of all shows and practices, built and added all content to our website, do most of the promotion and booking, organize, manage and sell all merch, produce CD's and a number of other tasks. My guys pretty much handle being on time to help move gear a bit and set up their own gear.

[Next to Nothing]

Originally posted by Brian Krashpad +1. We don't have a "band vehicle" per se. But as different people arrive at the venue I try to help out unloading their vehicles too. Same for load-out, I worry about getting my gear secure and then help with whatever's left to do. BK

 

 

what they said

[MrKnobs]

Some of my bandmates have a strong work ethic and others don't. I will move anything and everything I see until it's out of the truck and onto the stage, and vice versa. I don't give a sh*t if anyone helps or not, as long as they stay out of my way.

My partner Pebblestar is a "princess" and her thing isn't moving stuff. She's usually working people and owners while I'm working gear, and I have to admit it pays off.

Besides, she usually has some sort of big bull dyke girlfriend and those women tend to know how to work. The last one could pick me up with one arm and frequently did.

Terry D.

P.S. Our keyboardist has a B3 also. We play a place that has like four flights of skinny metal stairs up the back. One of the people who works the club saw me helping the KB player get his crap up the stairs last time, and wrote me a hilarious if somewhat negative email about it. I wish I had it to quote exactly, but basically the dude said, "It's totally not worth it to hump the B3 up the stairs just so that dude can play 'wwwhhhheeeeeeeeeddlllleeeellleeeeedeeeeeee....' over all your guitar parts all night. Keyboard players are from Satan."

[KeysBear]

I haul a lot of gear just for myself which I'm responsible for. We pay a teenage kid relative of the drummer to move the PA, drums, and the big speaker cabs. He wears a band shirt and gets to act cool at the clubs that let him sit inside. At the ones that won't let him hang around he just sleeps in the van until it's time to haul it out.