An Interview With Thursday
Andrew Everding, Steve Pedulla, Tim Payne, Tucker Rule, Tom Keeley and Geoff Rickly aka, THURSDAY, have successfully been playing & touring the world together since 1998 – a century in music industry years. Kindly Andrew Everding stood still long enough to answer a few questions about the economics of touring:
AP: Over the years you’ve been classified as Post-Hardcore, Indie Rock and Screamo – how would you describe your music and who is your audience?
AE: Melodic post-hardcore is probably a good description, although we’ve been told we are an emo band. Horribly, we’ve been called a “screamo” band, although in comparison to current “screamo” bands we sound nothing like it. Our audience has been growing with us since the inception, we get a lot of new kids coming to shows, but there tends to be a popularity of those who have been following us since our Full Collapse record.
AP: Your tours have taken you far from your Jersey roots – where have you been lately?
AE: Recently, most of our touring has been out of the country. We’ve played Australia, Belgium and the Philippines in the past three months. We’ve decided to not do any full time US touring until we’ve got a full-length record out.
AP: How long are you usually on the road for and where do you usually play?
AE: All over the US, Canada, UK, Australia, Japan, Philippines, Europe.
The maximum was around ten months and it’s been as little as six weeks out of the year. Depending on what we are supporting. On average outside of our home market though, I would say six weeks of touring.
AP: How do you get about?
AE: We’ve toured in everything. In the US and UK we use a tour bus with a trailer attached. Sometimes we have an equipment truck following us around. Plenty of flying has been involved lately; I’ve flown over 120 hours in the past four months.
AP: Have the high gas prices and poor economy impacted your schedules at all?
AE: We haven’t done a full US tour since the astronomical increase in gas prices, so we really haven’t had to account for it affecting our schedules, however we’ve already started to discuss the future of our touring and how those prices will impact the affordability of touring.
We are trying to age gracefully, but with it comes responsibility, some of us have families, wives, houses, rent. If we don’t make enough money to pay our bills on the road it’s obvious that we might not be able to. I’ve been speaking with our business manager about the fuel situation in our country; he has been budgeting $300-$400 a day in fuel for bands on tour this summer (tour buses). It’s overwhelming. Bus rental, driver pay and fuel will cost a band $1000.00 or more per day.
AP: Do promoters seem to be more cautious in this current climate?
AE: It’s a simple equation. You sell out their venue, they ask you back. You don’t sell it out, they lose money on the show, they hesitate or don’t ask you back at all.
AP: What are your greatest challenges?
AE: Keeping it fun, not letting the business destroy your art. Maintaining your integrity and keep your audience around.
AP: Currently, what’s the pulse of the live music industry – is it thriving or surviving?
AE: Probably somewhere between surviving and dying. I think it’s probably going to change alongside the recording industry, once someone figures out what to do. I’ve seen a lot of good shows lately, but it’s expensive. Inflating ticket prices could compensate for our cancerous economy but it’s just going to drive away those that can’t afford it. Just because you don’t have money doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have music.
It would be lovely if our government could divert some more money for an arts program. There are a fair amount of countries (outside the US) where governments help support the artists.
