photo by Shannon Claire
For working musicians, tour can be the realization of so many goals, the point at which so much hard work comes to a head.
Maybe it’s the manifestation of the American road trip dream: Pile into a vehicle with your friends, a loose plan, and little money. See the country.
As Stephen Malkmus of Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks and formerly of Pavement puts it: “On a simple level, to see America, to see what’s going on and what it’s like, that’s healthy.”
Of course, it’s never that simple. You promote the hell out of your shows in cities that have never heard your name and hope the band you’re playing with has a good draw. You spend a bunch of money you don’t have on merchandise you might not sell and do your best to break even. And at the end of every night, you collect your money and hope it’s enough to get you to the next show.
“For me, a successful tour is one that you complete,” said Denver Dalley, guitarist for Desaparecidos, who’s also toured extensively with his own projects, the Watson Twins, and as tour manager for Rilo Kiley. Dalley said in one year, he spent over 250 days out on the road.
Dalley’s situation is somewhat unique for start-up Nebraska bands. His first tour was with Desaparecidos and by the time that band began to tour, vocalist Conor Oberst had already found a healthy national market through his work with Bright Eyes. Moreover, the tour was with Cursive, who had gained similar renown.
photo by Chris Dinan
He remembers rolling up to venues on that first tour and seeing fans lined up outside the door.
Marty Amsler of Lincoln band The Millions had a more conventional beginning.
“Before we got signed, we worked the Midwest pretty hard with long weekend trips to St. Louis, Chicago, Lawrence, Kansas City, Wichita,” Amsler said. “If shows were during the week, we’d sometimes drive back all night to get to work in the morning.”
The Millions were active from 1989 to 1995. The band's first single on their album M is for Millions, "Sometimes," performed well on CMJ charts, alongside the likes of Nirvana, U2, and Matthew Sweet. Eventually, the band broke up after trouble with record labels. Still, they've maintained legendary status in Nebraska, selling out two reunion shows in 2012.
Both Dalley and Amsler remember travel conditions as largely the same: vans.
Amsler said with help from Jon Taylor, then of Mercy Rule, now of Domestica, they converted an Econoline van into a “touring assault vehicle,” with a platform built in the back under which they could store all their gear.
For his part, save for a few flights to specific shows, Dalley said most of his 13 years on the road have been in 15-passenger vans.
“I’ve just recently done a few tours by bus. Thirteen years later and I finally get to tour on a bus.”
Universe Contest has a bus. The Lincoln band strikes out on a monthlong tour at the beginning of April in support of their forthcoming LP We are the Rattlesnake. They don’t have money, they don’t have a label or a tour manager, they don’t even have their whole tour booked. But they have a bus. Why not?
Drummer Brenton Neville had a sailboat, the band’s van was effectively worthless, and some guy on Craigslist in Kansas City was willing to trade his old MCI for Neville’s boat. Maybe you’ve seen the hulking white plastic and silver metal monstrosity driving around Lincoln or Omaha. It looks straight out of Almost Famous.
Universe Contest will be on the road for 32 days and as many shows, a true marathon for a band that’s never played outside the Midwest. How will Lincoln’s future-punk darlings be received in saturated East Coast markets, or the south, where they say they’re having trouble booking shows?
The problem is that reception might have little to do with powers under the band’s control.
For Amsler, markets with a decent college radio station in the early ‘90s often made for a positive turnout.
“We were neck and neck with Nirvana and U2 in some of those markets,” he said. “The next night we’d play a town with no airplay and there would be more people on stage than in the audience.”
Dalley said they’ve always worked to promote their shows online and reach out to local press. Even that’s not always enough. He said it’s common that he’ll return from tour and someone will post on the page asking when they’ll play a certain city after just having played there.
“Even if the show is sold out, you have no idea how the crowd is going to react,” Dalley said. “Sometimes they are very quiet and respectful like they are afraid to speak between songs. Sometimes they are rowdy and lose their minds with you. Either way it’s a huge honor when someone gives you their time and money. A lot of artists lose track of that.”
photo by Bridget McQuillan
“Our first show in Europe was in Frankfurt,” Amsler recalls. “Nobody told us about the differences between American and European audiences. It turns out they are very reserved. They just kind of looked at us with their hands in their pockets. After the first few songs, we were looking at each other like we were dying. The set was brutal, but it turns out that’s just how they are and they wanted an encore.”
I’ll be on the road with Universe Contest this spring with photographer Shannon Claire to document the experience. Universe Contest can sell out Duffy’s any night of the week, but what’s it going to be like at the odd show with no audience? How does a band whose performance feeds heavily on crowd energy hold up against dismal circumstances?
With seven men in a bus together for a month, tensions will inevitably run high at some point. What’s the resolution when the band has no choice but to move forward together, onto the next show?
“Touring puts relationships in the band under a microscope,” Dalley said. “Whether you’re in a bus or a van, you’re basically in the same room as your bandmates around the clock. You grow really close, or apart in some bands, and then once the tour is over, you suddenly feel really isolated because that’s missing.”
Regardless, despite circumstantial conflicts, Amsler recalls it all fondly.
“I have a pretty cool job now, but there are certainly days when I longingly stare at the highway out my office window.”
Courtesy of Neville, here’s what Universe Contest is working with in the weeks leading up to the tour:
Weeks until tour: 8
Days of the tour: 32
Shows booked: 23
Shows needed: 9
Transportation: 40 foot bus and 16 foot trailer
Record mixed: yes
Record mastered: yes
Records in hand: 0
Money needed by tour: $4,400
Money in band fund: -$2,136
Jacob Zlomke is a Hear Nebraska contributor. Follow his work about Universe Contest in the weeks leading up to the tour. Reach him at jacobz@hearnebraska.org.