You might be a musician. Maybe you build instruments. You have a mind for electronics. And you like to travel. Add the lure of the road and the excitement of touring with a band (or working in a hot venue) and you have the makings of a career as a backline tech. A roadie. Because this branch of the music industry attracts so many myths, legends, lies and half-truths, we tracked down a group of real-life backline techs to separate fact from fiction. And more importantly, tell you what you need to know to get started. In the words of our guide for this odyssey, the mysterious BadDoggie, “If partying and hanging out with famous bands is why you want to be a roadie, your career has the life expectancy of a blind frog with two broken legs crawling across the LA Freeway during rush hour. If you don’t mind travel and a lot of hard work that everyone loves to hear about, this is the career for you.”

According to Experience Music Project (EMP) in Seattle: “By day, the backline tech sets up, tunes, and fixes the drums (drum tech), guitars (guitar tech), basses (bass tech) or keyboards (keyboard tech). During a show the tech will scramble out on stage to replace a pick or stick, or swap a guitar if a string has broken. On rare occasions (though it’s becoming more common), a guitar tech may operate an effect, such as a pedal, for the artist in real time.” And here’s how BadDoggie describes it: “Technically, anyone who is on the traveling crew for a stage production can be called a roadie, but it generally refers to stagehands and technicians for musical acts. “Roadie” isn’t a job; it refers to a person who does one or more of a collection of diverse jobs, from stage techs to the instrument techs to lighting and sound engineers and riggers.” Here are some typical gigs associated with touring musical acts that play large arenas: Steel Dogs These are the crews that erect the 100-foot scaffolding towers in large arenas or outdoor venues. Think of the steelworkers walking I-beams in high-rise building construction and you’ll have a general idea of what these “dogs” do. Job Requirements: Muscle and balance Riggers They’re responsible for hanging the chain motors that hold up lighting trusses and speaker stacks. It’s a specialized and dangerous job that usually requires wearing a climbing belt. Job Requirements: Understanding of mechanics, cabling, a good spatial sense and balance. This job is not recommended for anyone with a fear of heights. Stagehands This group fits the typical image of roadies – people who set up, break down and generally move things around. They’re the first to arrive and the last to leave. Job Requirements: Speed, stamina and the ability to take orders and follow directions. Instrument Techs These are the people, invariably in black t-shirts to blend into the background, who keep instruments tuned and can replace guitar strings or a drumhead without disrupting the performance. In the hierarchy of touring crews, they’re practically at the top of the heap. Job Requirements: High degree of instrument knowledge; many are musicians themselves. Light Crew As more spotlights are remotely controlled, there are fewer operators high above the crowd on the lighting truss. Still opportunities exist. Job Requirements: Those who graduate to Lighting Directors need a lot of experience and probably come from the theatrical world. Spotlight operators are just a little ahead of stagehands in the hierarchy here. According to BadDoggie, what’s required here is the ability “to follow directions exactly for two hours” Sound Engineers We’ve devoted an entire issue of Shure Notes to this career path. In fact, you can go there by clicking here. This is a specialized job that starts with an understanding of electronics and the signal chain, and demands patience, a spirit of cooperation, thick skin and a good ear. Experience: Suffice it to say that this job requires years of experience, the kind you get by working your way up to the board. That means you probably unloaded equipment and/or sat watching a pro at the controls in the early days. If you can recite chapter and verse of Yamaha’s “Sound Reinforcement Handbook” (often regarded as the industry’s Bible), you’re ready for prime time.

Start Here It’s the old bugaboo: you get a job by having experience. But how do you get the experience you need to get the job? Luckily, there are ways to get hands-on experience, literally. But be prepared to heed this advice: 1. Do the work you’ve been asked to do. 2. Volunteer to help others - most often, time is short and the pressure’s on. Don’t stand around. 3. As valuable as your services are, remember you’re not in the band. With the Band Most of the roadies we know are musicians who began their careers in high school by helping to move equipment or run sound in a garage band. Maybe their technical skills exceeded their musical talents. Or the band succeeded and the volunteer gig became a paying one. It’s still a good way to learn the ropes – but it’s not the only way. Here are a few others: Theater Groups Every community has theater groups that have needs in the areas of stagecraft, lighting and sound. It’s unlikely that you’ll be paid for your services, but you’ll be taught by people who are also volunteers and eager to share their knowledge. (This means they’ll be able to move on to other, maybe more interesting, challenges.) Churches Now that contemporary Christian churches have praise bands as part of their worship services, just about everything that you’d experience with a rock band, you’ll find here with performances (services) several times a week. It probably helps to be a member of the congregation, but it may not be mandatory, since church audio crews are always looking for volunteers. Small Venues According to BadDoggie, small venues allow you to “get in at the ground level, getting a job more or less as a laborer, hauling heavy cases and equipment racks from the truck to the stage and then back a few hours later.” The pay isn’t very good, and the work is hard (think about how much fun it is to help your friends move) but it’s one way to learn the fundamentals. Sound Companies You may start out setting up for bands at your local “Taste of …” event or unwrapping cable at a live event in the atrium of the local mall, but a trip to your local Yellow Pages will identify companies in your community that rent lighting, sound and stage equipment. People come and go regularly so the opportunities for employment really do exist. You may have to start at the bottom, but it’s a great way to learn the gear, the technology and how it all works together.

Even though this is a hands-on, learn-by-doing and networking process, there are online and offline references that can help to fill in the blanks. Books The one most often mentioned is Karl Kuenning’s “Roadie: A True Story” which chronicles the sound tech’s adventures back in the day, from 1975-1979. “Yamaha’s Sound Reinforcement Handbook” (which is now also available as an interactive DVD). Sites There are at least two websites dedicated to techs and roadies, including job postings, profiles, FAQs, gear and helpful information for working techs and new recruits: www.roadie.net www.roadiejobs.com For a terrific article about career opportunities, the requirements and rewards (along with dozens of comments from readers) check out BadDoggie’s “So You Want to Be a Roadie” at www.kuro5hin.org. Movies Hardly a four-star, two thumbs up film, 1980’s “Roadie” offers us Meat Loaf as Travis W. Redfish. Maybe the best thing about this movie is the ad copy used to promote it: “Bands make it rock, but roadies make it roll”.