BEHIND THE SCENES OF AFT

I've blogged a lot about LIFE 100.3. Now I'm blogging about my other passion and that is the band I manage -   Anthem For Today, from my perspective as the Band Manager. 

From my position, I probably know more about each AFT show than the guys who stand on the stage.

When it's "SHOWDAY", my world changes. Virtually every responsibility that is non-AFT goes on ice for the day while I focus on the upcoming performance.

I start by texting the band and crew.  "Hey guys, guess what day it is?  It's  S-H-O-W-D-A-Y!" I'm like a ten year old kid at Christmas!  I can't wait to see the guys and get the cars on the road. This is practically a weekly routine and every week I brim with excitement!

Prior to SHOWDAY, I've spoken with the promoter several times, I've researched the history of the venue or the promoter, or both, mapped it out, created a budget and hired the road crew.

The band is unaware of the work behind the scenes, which is fine - that's why they hired me.

I guess that's why my AFT memories are about everything except the music set.  (Well, ok - the music set is pretty important to me too!)

Ok, let's pick up the story at Overflow.

OVERFLOW

The Overflow Youth Conference in Waterloo was an event I had been trying to book for more than a year. In my pursuit I had self-hyped Overflow as the event that would establish our worth, both to ourselves and to the Christian conference market. When the invitation from the promoter came, it was the case of being a very squeaky wheel.

To avoid any mistake, we arrived at the show, very early.  I introduced myself to "Bob" the head sound guy for the conference only to be told that he would not be mixing for us - it would be someone else. What?!  This was our long-awaited performance!  We wanted the best guy!  And that was Bob!  (I even brought bribe money just in case.)  Unfortunately, Bob was booked at the main stage and another soundman had been assigned to the tent stage where we were performing.

Oh boy.  Panic set in! Oh crap!  It was the first surprise of the day.

Evan Duran, who tagged along with us an as extra helper, saw my dilemma and quickly offered to mix for our set. Evan had done FOH sound for us before and had done a great job.

"Evan," I said.  "I don’t want to put this pressure on you - at Overflow of all places!" But he insisted it was ok. He wanted to help. Evan was briefed on the board and took over. And he was great.

As Evan familiarized himself with the sound board, the rest of us were ready to load in our gear. To stay on schedule, we were given ten minutes to load-in our backline gear - the drums, amps, all of it.  Thankfully, the main P.A. was provided by the conference so all we need to bring was our backline. The show went as scheduled and the sound tech gave us an extra five minutes on stage.

The boys did a fabulous 6-song set to a small audience.

After our set, there was ten minutes to get our gear off and the next act to load-in. "Let's go!"  I’ve never seen AFT move so fast. All our gear was off-stage in four minutes! Amazing!

IN TIMMINS

I recall another great event. We were booked for the Awaken Youth Conference in Timmins. The promoter for the event was a pastor in Kapuskasing, who worked about 2 hours away. This wasn’t his church, but he had supervision of the entire event.

We pulled in right on time, to the minute. The promoter "Jason" was ready for us. When I say ready, I mean, he took the time to check our contract-rider on the day of the show. I know that because I saw the contract on a table in the lobby. It was obvious that he had been looking it over, making sure everything we needed was prepared.

We brought full production - lights and sound. A church crew was there to load us in. The dressing room was perfect. They fed us. The local tech guy was accommodating beyond belief. And fed us! Lots!

The musicians use batteries for their wireless guitars and in-ear monitor system and it's common for batteries to die, in the middle of a show. We always carry a dozen spares, but our supply was low.

"Jason, we need batteries badly. Where can I buy some?" Jason sent his runner to buy us a few dozen batteries - and he paid for them!

It is my view that when we come to do a show, we are the guests. Yes, we are the entertainers and have a show to do but I also believe it's considerate to submit to the authority of the host. It's their venue - we are the guests. That means we try to be flexible to last minute problems when they arise.

Jason, as the host of the Timmins event, had the same work ethic. He wanted to take care of his guests and he made every accommodation he could to make us feel comfortable and happy.

If only every promoter was like this.

Before joining AFT, my experience with small church promoters in the past was like this:  They try to do as little for the band as they can. Like, "What, I have to feed the band?  Who do they think they are - Van Halen?!"  So, they feed the band fast food after the band has driven five hours to the show. The band would often get paid crappy money, because the promoter says, "You’re getting exposure instead of money." (Ok, so that still happens most of the time.)  Promoters would toss bands in a closet as a dressing room, and interrupt the band during the meal, or prayer time or walk in when they’re changing their pants. (That still happens, too!)  In the past, most promoters were disrespectful of bands, and yet, they expected the bands to entertain as professionals. This is the routine of inexperienced small church promoters.

As the manager for AFT, I have pledged to avoid those kinds of promoters and do double-checks before arriving at the venue to avoid any miscommunication, or what we call, "getting jerked around."  We have not had bad experiences as those I described above, well, maybe twice.

Jason, our guy in Timmins, was the best promoter, pouring our hospitality, stuffing us with awesome food, assigning people to help us and genuinely working in the best interest of the conference.

All of us left Timmins the next morning feeling like rock stars. Happy smiles on everyone. Lovin' the life of SHOWDAY!