Features Inside the Scene 12 Things to Know About TOUR MANAGING
12 Things to Know About TOUR MANAGING
- By Nick Rhodes
- Published on April 25, 2011
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| The Disco Biscuits in New York City, April 2011 - Photo Credit: Holly O'Connor |
Mike Polans estimates he’s seen over 400 Disco Biscuits shows.
But while you may be in the front of the stage dancing your ass off or unwinding from a tough week, Polans spends a lot of his time sitting backstage crunching numbers and responding to emails.
Since 2006, Polans has been The Disco Biscuits’ tour manager, booking hotels and flights and dealing with a cavalcade of setbacks that are inevitable with a nationally touring act.
[FIND news, downloads and tour dates on The Disco Biscuits' official website.]
As a tour manager, he may not book the actual venues, but his responsibilities are widespread, including having to work around guitarist Jon “The Barber” Gutwillig’s injured wrist last Spring and the epic East Coast blizzard and drummer Allen Aucoin’s illness this past New Year’s Run.
Here’s a list of 12 things to know about being a tour manager for one of the hottest acts in the scene. Hopefully, the next time you catch the band at a venue on time and in one piece, you'll have a greater appreciation for Polans and his work
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1. As a tour manager, you’re responsible for advance planning and scheduling
Polans is in charge of everything from making travel arrangements, including flights, buses, cars, trains, limos and taxis, to booking the hotels and making sure a crew is in place. And then he has to deal with the actual show planning.
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| The Disco Biscuits' Marc Brownstein - Photo Credit: Holly O'Connor |
2. Polans got involved with tour managing at a young age and got hooked up with The Disco Biscuits in October 2006
“I was a promoter for a little while and finally convinced a band to let me tour manage and I found my true calling,” he said. “My first six or seven years in the business, I knew I had found the perfect thing.”
3. The biggest challenges for tour managers are also the ones that can’t be anticipated
“That’s pretty much the test of a good tour manager,” Polans said. “Not how you handle all your advancing when everything goes right, but the decisions you have to make when things don’t go right.”
4. The first night of The Disco Biscuit’s 2010 New Year’s Eve run proved to be the toughest challenge of all
“On Saturday [Christmas], I got a call from Allen’s father who said that Allen was in the hospital,” he explained. “We formed a crisis team with the other three band members.”
Polans had to find replacements on extremely short notice eventually booking The New Deal’s Darren Shearer, Lotus’ Mike Greenfield, Break Science’s Adam Deitch and the band's former drummer Sam Altman.
But the hurdles kept coming.
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| The Disco Biscuits' Jon Gutwillig - Photo Credit: Holly O'Connor |
Polans had a truck picking up the lighting rig in upstate New York, which was in danger of not being able to make the scheduled delivery. On top of that, he needed to make an executive decision to send the band and crew early while trains were still running.
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Then, crewmembers were forced to pull out after their flights got canceled.
To top it off, the truck from Pittsburgh carrying the band’s lasers was forced to make an unplanned stop in Newark, NJ that turned dangerous.
“[The driver] got jacked by some thugs in Newark and had his phone stolen,” Polans said. “Luckily, he was smart enough to tell the guys that the trunk was empty so they didn't steal our equipment.”
Once they got to the venue, their load-in was delayed even further and promoters thought about canceling the event.
“Keep in mind, this is all for one show.”
5. Just like in professional sports, injuries can be devastating
When Barber hurt his wrist messing around backstage in March 2010, Polans was scrambling to figure out how to make the show go on.
“I was in the ambulance that took him to the hospital and stayed by his side for 48 hours,” Polans said. “They reset his wrist and when the painkillers wore off, I’ve never seen someone in more pain before in my life. He was turning white.”
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Barber decided it would be best to have the surgery and Polans booked the best hand surgeon in New York City.
“Of course I get nervous every time they go out snowboarding or whitewater rafting,” he said. “We try to get them to take their skiing vacations after the tour.”
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| The Disco Biscuits in New York City, April 2011 - Photo Credit: Holly O'Connor |
The show that night did go on as a free event with guest guitarists scheduled to appear, but was cut short by the Boston Fire Department at set break due to clogged exits and other alleged violations.
“It was devastating to not be there when the Fire Marshal came to shut down the show,” Polans said. “I don’t know if being there would have made a difference, but that show wound up blowing up in our faces and there was nothing I could do.”
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Though Polans is always looking ahead to avoid potential problems, things like this are sometimes unavoidable.
“The one thing you can’t account for is what happens when things don’t go right.”
7. The Disco Biscuits roll deep, even abroad
“Touring has become such a big part of their culture and who they are,” Polans said. “When we did the Europe tour a couple of years ago, we were a group of 20 people.”
Think booking you and your friends’ hostels for a two-week backpacking trip is tough? Try 20 people for a few months.
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| The Disco Biscuits' Jon Gutwillig - Photo Credit: Holly O'Connor |
“The biggest thing is patience and the ability to stay calm in stressful situations,” Polans said. “There’s a lot thrown at you on a day-to-day basis and a lot of people would react emotionally. You have to be the rock holding everything together.”
Polans also stressed being steadfast and strong when calling the shots.
“You need to be able to make firm decisions and stick with them,” he said. “There’s not really room to be second-guessing what you’re doing as a leader.
9. Tour managing is perfect for the consummate traveler
“I love being in different places and experiencing different cultures,” Polans said of the perks. “I love eating at different restaurants all over the world and seeing friends all over the country all the time.”
Polans also loves the feeling of satisfaction he gets watching a crowd of people go crazy at the show.
“You feel the energy in the room and know that you successful pulled off this great moment in music,” he said. “That’s why I’m there – I love bringing other people’s music to fans.”
10. While you’re raging at the show, Polans is usually sitting with a calculator or responding to emails
But it’s not all glamorous traveling, eating exotic food and catching up with old friends.
“When the band gets on stage is the first moment of the day when I can kind of breathe for a second,” he said. “This isn’t very exciting, but I do a lot of my accounting work when it’s quiet backstage because it requires a lot of intense focus and concentration.”
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| The Disco Biscuits in New York City, April 2011 - Photo Credit: Holly O'Connor |
Polans admits he tries to catch at least some of the show on a nightly basis to see how they played and how the crowd reacted, but to him, being at a Disco Biscuits concert is still work.
11. Inevitably, a tour manager becomes a jack-of-all-trades
“As my relationship with the band has grown, there’s a lot more things I’m involved in like running the merchandise organization,” Polans said.
His role in the decision making process has increased mightily, but there’s one misconception he wants to clear up about tour managers and that’s the fact that . . .
12. . . . the tour manager does NOT book the venues
Sure, Polans has a say, but it’s the agents and booking people who handle that aspect at the behest of the band.
“I get involved in the process as it relates to the logistics and production of pulling off a particular event,” he explained.
So next time the Disco Biscuits skip your favorite town, don’t take it out on him.
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Catch The Disco Biscuits May 26 and 27 at the Ogden Theatre in Denver before they hit Red Rocks Amphitheater on May 28 for Bisco Inferno with Big Boi, Rusko, BoomBox and Emancipator. Tickets are on sale now on the event's website.
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