MyScene:
Touring Green
Whether you are a musician just starting off; an experienced artist
with a flourishing career, or someone in the music community whose
life revolves around the production and marketing of music, I’m sure
the thought has crossed your mind, “What can I possibly do to lighten
my load on the environment, where can I even begin, and how can I
still put food on my table?”
The great news is that there are easy options for musicians of all
shapes and sizes to go green. The non-profit organization, Reverb,
works with artist both big and small who have found a balance
between sustaining their career as a musician and sustaining the
environment they love.
Reverb was founded in 2004 by environmentalist Lauren Sullivan and
her musician husband, Guster guitarist/vocalist Adam Gardner. What
started as a way to help bands coordinate with biodiesel suppliers
while on tour has turned into a multi-faceted approach to greening the
music industry, working with dozens of bands and reaching millions of
fans over the last few years.
I had the opportunity to interview Guster’s Adam Gardner and his
business partner and wife Lauren, co-founders of Reverb, recently
while they were on tour…
Dogwood Alliance (DA): So how did you even get this idea to start a
non-profit as a musician?
Adam: Reverb started because Lauren has been an environmentalist
for a long time, working for Rainforest Action Network, and I’m a
musician so we have a solid foot in both the Non-Profit world and the
music community. It naturally came together. The organization is a
figurative and literal marriage between Lauren and I.
DA: What was the first Reverb project?
Adam: We started in 2004 helping other bands go green by
coordinating with local biodiesel suppliers to come and fill them up at
venues, helping with their contract riders at every show to provide
eco-friendly products and coordinating green tours while reaching out
to fans.
From the very beginning we were able to help bridge a gap between
artists and the fan base and actually engage those fans to take
positive actions as well. Actually started out, not with Guster, but with
Barenaked Ladies and Alanis Morrisette.
DA: I’m sure there are a lot of artists interested in going green, or who
have at least thought about it. How do you make that leap from
thinking about it to actually doing something about it?
Adam: At first it was just a concept, originally. We heard about
Bonnie Raitt’s Green Highway (http://www.greenhighway.net/) and
thought, let’s pick their brains and see what info they have and how
they are making this work. Bonnie has been a musician/activist since
the 70’s. The Green Highway was a way for them to invite local non-
profits to spread their message at concerts. We got together with
them and thought, great let’s take it to the next level of an ECO
Village.
With help from Aria Foundation (www.ariafoundation.org) and mentoring
from Cathy Kane who helped start Bonnie Raitt’s Green Highway we’ve
come a long way. We’ve now helped with over 43 major tours.
DA: How do you balance the money making side of it—we know a lot
of musicians do care about these issues but how do you care about it
and also not go bankrupt?
Adam: I am one of those musicians, we do well enough to make a
living but can’t afford to spend money on a whole bunch of things.
There a lot of bands adding a quarter or $.50 or $1, whatever they
can, to their ticket prices which helps pay for it. It’s called an Eco-
fund and most fans don’t mind paying a bit extra because it goes
toward enhancing the concert experience.
There are also plenty of Eco-friendly sponsors like Ben and Jerry’s,
Stonyfield Farms, Clif Bars and more. There are other things too, like
Bonnie Raitt auctions off 10 seats in the 4th row and that goes toward
the Eco-fund.
DA: How do your fans respond to your environmental activism?
Adam: It’s been amazing! It’s a great side effect. Building awareness
and action tightens that bond, speaking from Gusters reaction, their
participation is great. Fans can neutralize their drive to and from the
show—they can buy little stickers at the show that pay for Carbon
offsets through companies like Native Energy.
(http://www.nativeenergy.com)
Dave Matthews Band fans are already over ½ million miles neutralized
in their drives to and from concerts.
DA: When bands are skeptical about “going green” what’s a good first
step?
Adam: Every band is different, so it’s tailored we really tailor the tour
and other options to their needs. We look at what they need and say,
“here are the possibilities.” If someone is doing a winter tour for 5
weeks, we say, “here are the options.”
DA: What’s a good way for an artist to start?
Adam: Give us a call, go to our website www.reverbrock.org.
DA: What is Guster doing now?
Adam: Right now we’re on the campus consciousness tour which
Reverb created. We’ve done two annual tours so far, hoping to do the
3rd. That’s where we started going green, last spring. We have an Eco
village on site, organic merchandise, lots of campus wide activities like
forums on campus with faculty, administrators, and students. We even
have a pimp my clean ride show.
DA: What keeps you motivated?
Adam: Philosophically this where we’re coming from, within the music
industry, within the environmental movement. Reverb has duel
meaning, it’s a knob on guitar amp that creates an echo effect and
that can be applied to the outreach which starts with artists, reverbs to
fan base, fans talk to friends and it goes on and on.
DA: All said and done, what is Reverb and Guster all about?
Adam: We are really coming from a work-with approach, we’re here to
help bands not to push them. We want to be a helpful force, an
enabling force, not being preachy at all. It’s all about positive
solutions and enhancing the concert experience, not being a buzz-kill
but making it more interesting. Not distracting from the main event
which is obviously the concert. It’s an opportunity for us to be able to
use our power in a positive way but not being on a soap-box by
inviting Non-profits in the area to come and talk themselves about
important issues.
We want to show that there are positive ways to talk to your fans
without being a buzzkill and knowing that you’re ultimately there to
rock out.
DA: What are you listening to?
Adam: Arcade Fire, The Shins, I love older stuff like The Kinks and The
Band.
Dogwood Alliance:
Working together with non-profits like Dogwood Alliance, Reverb and
other bands and labels to green the industry and reduce the overall
amount of packaging they use, we can transform the packaging
problem, ensure the protection of endangered forests and slow global
climate change. To sign on to help green the music industry, click
here: http://dia.dogwoodalliance.org/da/signUp.jsp?key=2197.
