# Touring bands - how do they take care of the mundane stuff? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 25, 2015, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-bands-how-do-they-take-care-of-the-mundane-stuff/728899 "2015-08-25T23:47:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-bands-how-do-they-take-care-of-the-mundane-stuff/728899/1 "2015-08-25T23:47:42Z")
Sort of inspired by [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=766071)about rock stars and partying. I’ve always wondered how bands take care of mundane stuff while they are on the road. Like laundry, for instance. I’m not talking about big acts that play arenas - I’m sure any large venue has a decent laundry facility. I’m talking about bands that play smaller nightclubs or bars, maybe in cities a few hundred miles away on consecutive nights. Do they send a roadie out to a laundromat when they get to town? What if they have something that needs to be dry-cleaned? Do they get a hotel room or just sleep in the van or bus while someone drives to the next city? What about eating? Is it fast food every day and night? How do they manage the everyday stuff? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-bands-how-do-they-take-care-of-the-mundane-stuff/728899/2 "2015-08-25T23:53:45Z")
They do without until it kills them. _To gain time to sleep and launder clothing after a show in Clear Lake, Iowa, and to avoid the long bus journey to Moorhead, Minnesota, Holly chartered a plane for himself, Ritchie Valens, Jennings and Allsup. Jennings gave up his seat to J. P. Richardson (the Big Bopper), who was suffering from influenza and complaining that the bus was uncomfortable for a man of his size.[44]_ ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-bands-how-do-they-take-care-of-the-mundane-stuff/728899/3 "2015-08-26T01:24:58Z")
Dammit, silenus! I had the perfect answer! You stole it! ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-bands-how-do-they-take-care-of-the-mundane-stuff/728899/4 "2015-08-26T02:31:28Z")
I got chatting with a woman at the laundromat, and it turned out she was doing the laundry for one of those lesser bands. She was [Tom Wopat](http://www.bignoisenow.com/tomwopat.html)’s wife, and he was playing small clubs and the state fair circuit with … hmm, looks like he’d put together [a swing band.](http://www.axs.com/news/dukes-of-hazzard-s-tom-wopat-swings-his-first-seattle-jazz-alley-show-21784) So while the guys were doing a sound check, she was doing socks. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-bands-how-do-they-take-care-of-the-mundane-stuff/728899/5 "2015-08-26T21:34:21Z")
On the fan webcast “Rundgren Radio” devoted to musician/producer Todd Rundgren, there is one regular caller who always asks that question of the guest. It’s no longer weekly, but the [archives are online](http://www.blogtalkradio.com/runt) and nearly 300 episodes have a lot of people answering that question. I do have a friend who hosts bands on a regular basis in her home, and she has an extra dryer to help turn around the clothes quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-bands-how-do-they-take-care-of-the-mundane-stuff/728899/6 "2015-08-26T22:58:28Z")
Lots of tour buses (basically real fancy RV’s) have washer/dryer combos, also. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-bands-how-do-they-take-care-of-the-mundane-stuff/728899/7 "2015-08-26T23:12:14Z")
If you have to ask, you’re not meant to be a rock star. ---
**Author:** ![Aangelica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Aangelica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aangelica)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-bands-how-do-they-take-care-of-the-mundane-stuff/728899/8 "2015-08-27T16:33:33Z")
Most hotels have laundry facilities available. You can often either make use of them yourself or arrange (for a small fee) for the hotel to launder your garments for you. Failing on-site laundry facilities, the front desk will be able to direct you (or the roadie of your choice) to a 24-hour laundry facility. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-bands-how-do-they-take-care-of-the-mundane-stuff/728899/9 "2015-08-27T16:40:10Z")
In '96 I was in Seattle for a Barenaked Ladies concert at The Moore theater and ran into drummed Tyler Stewart in the laundry room of a hotel grabbing his load out of a dryer. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-bands-how-do-they-take-care-of-the-mundane-stuff/728899/10 "2015-08-28T01:30:00Z")
My brother is a manager for a band that is small-venue sized. He does all of those sorts of things for the band. He does everything that doesn’t involve instruments or lights (but he makes sure those people are in place). One time I was in Columbus to see Ben Folds Five and my friend and I ran in to John of Fleming & John (the opening band) walking down the street looking to buy socks. I guess he didn’t have “a guy.” ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-bands-how-do-they-take-care-of-the-mundane-stuff/728899/11 "2015-08-28T02:35:16Z")
Maybe his guy made off with all the socks. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-bands-how-do-they-take-care-of-the-mundane-stuff/728899/12 "2015-08-28T03:35:24Z")
I know we’re not talking about huge bands, but it’s somewhat common\* for ‘huge bands’ to have a years worth of socks and underwear with them when they travel and throw them out as they use them. If you do that and have clothes just for the stage, then you can probably pack enough jeans/shirts for day to day use that you only need to do laundry once a month or so. 30-40 t-shirts and a handful of jeans and you’d be good for a month. For a small band that can walk around without being recognized by the general public, I don’t know why they wouldn’t just go out to eat and do their laundry on their own. Once they get big enough to have a roadie or two, that would probably be part of their job. The roadie could even just contact a dry cleaner to come pick it up and drop it back off at the hotel. The hotel concierge could probably even take care the minor details like finding a reputable place and making sure it was picked up and returned on time. \*Common in the sense that I’ve heard it a handful of times, I have no idea how many bands actually do it. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-bands-how-do-they-take-care-of-the-mundane-stuff/728899/13 "2015-08-28T04:01:27Z")
How about the mundane stuff back home? Paying the rent every month, paying the utilities, just every day errands. Most be tough when you’re on a bus gigging every night and only get back home for a few days every month or two. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-bands-how-do-they-take-care-of-the-mundane-stuff/728899/14 "2015-08-28T04:48:33Z")
George Thorogood on his 50 gigs in 50 states in 50 days tour, said anyone that could help them do laundry would be much appreciated at any of their stops ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-bands-how-do-they-take-care-of-the-mundane-stuff/728899/15 "2015-08-28T09:54:39Z")
Tim Cronin, a former performing member of [Monster Magnet](http://www.zodiaclung.com/) who still tours with them (I think he handles the light show and other tech stuff) has [a blog](https://feedtim.wordpress.com/) where he documents the tours. It’s fantastic reading precisely because it deals with all the mundane stuff the OP is asking about. For example, here’s part of an entry from 13 February 2014: > [@Tim Cronin](#): > > **LAUNDRY** > A frightening, no-win endeavor that bedevils any tour lasting more than two weeks. I wash t-shirts in the hotel room sink on days off and throw away socks and underwear. This seems to work but then there’s the problem with jeans and regular shirts, they can’t be washed in a hotel sink and they’re not going to be thrown out. So you wait and plan. There are two ways to go. You can search for a laundromat on a day off, or you can wait for a club that has a washer/dryer. Both of these options are bad. Searching for a laundromat on a day off is a long, soul crushing slog but it’s better than the alternative. Europe (especially Germany) has no clue about home washers and dryers, which are the kind that clubs use. Slow and terrible, it goes like this. Somebody, usually the tour manager will announce that an upcoming club has a washer and dryer. This sets off the kind of frenzy that one would associate with a gold rush. Alliances are made , “I don’t have a lot of stuff, can I throw it in with yours?”. The washer is overcrowded but workable and the waiting line for the washer is long, the problem is the dryer. > > The dryers here don’t dry, you put cold damp clothes in and two hours later you get warm damp clothes. Then panic sets in, there’s a bottleneck from the slow dryer so it’s hours until the last batch of laundry gets done. But the clothes NEVER dry, so more panic sets in and there’s a mad dash for any available radiator to lie the damp clothes on. There’s never enough radiators so there’s a radiator backlog. The end of the night ( this is always on a show day), after load out when we have to retreat to the bus, there’s always a couple of people leaving with not exactly dry laundry. The thing is we know the dryers are shit over here but like lemmings we always march over the cliff carrying bundles of warm damp clothes. When Monster Magnet isn’t touring, Tim blogs about his job at a record store. His posts recounting interactions with weird and clueless customers are hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-bands-how-do-they-take-care-of-the-mundane-stuff/728899/16 "2015-08-28T11:22:40Z")
I have a nephew who is a tour manager for some pretty big time acts. It’s his full time job, has his own company, and often has more work than he can manage, being much in demand and travelling all over the world routinely. He used to seek out work, now it comes to him! I too had a lot of questions about the mundane sort of things and how they get accomplished. It turns out, once you reach a certain strata of performer, the venue provides runners. Whose job it is to be at the disposal of the tour manager. He can send them to fetch things like bits and pieces or special food or anything else that might crop up. He tells me this includes laundry, but it’s not that difficult because he says most venues provide laundry facilities right on site! Who knew? Of course every venue is slightly different, vary in different countries, etc. Which is why there is a tour manager and runners. To deal with whatever comes up. I’ve had a lot of conversations with him about his work, it’s really interesting to get a peek into his industry. When he started he was sleeping in the back of vans, with the band. But now he’s helicoptering into Monaco with bands! He’s one of those ‘crushing it!’ twenty something’s, you never read about! ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-bands-how-do-they-take-care-of-the-mundane-stuff/728899/17 "2015-08-28T22:38:48Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > I too had a lot of questions about the mundane sort of things and how they get accomplished. It turns out, once you reach a certain strata of performer, the venue provides runners. Whose job it is to be at the disposal of the tour manager. He can send them to fetch things like bits and pieces or special food or anything else that might crop up. He tells me this includes laundry, but it’s not that difficult because he says most venues provide laundry facilities right on site! Who knew? The venue where I shoot video most often has a washer and two dryers back by the green room, partly to accommodate the bands, but also for the bar towels. If they were a big restaurant, they could have a linen service, but they don’t have enough to bother. But even if the band of the day shows up with all their clothes clean, they still have to be supplied with clean, fluffy towels on stage to mop up the sweat from their fevered brows. Or at least to get the sweat off of their guitar necks. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-bands-how-do-they-take-care-of-the-mundane-stuff/728899/18 "2015-08-28T22:59:54Z")
> [@GrandWino](#): > > In '96 I was in Seattle for a Barenaked Ladies concert at The Moore theater and ran into drummed Tyler Stewart in the laundry room of a hotel grabbing his load out of a dryer. Excuse me, do you know the way to the nearest wash and fold? I doon’t know, I’m not from around here. Well, for Christ’s sake! ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-bands-how-do-they-take-care-of-the-mundane-stuff/728899/19 "2015-08-28T23:01:51Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > How about the mundane stuff back home? Paying the rent every month, paying the utilities, just every day errands. Most be tough when you’re on a bus gigging every night and only get back home for a few days every month or two. You don’t need to pay your rent or utility bills in person in the 21st century. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-bands-how-do-they-take-care-of-the-mundane-stuff/728899/20 "2015-08-28T23:09:17Z")
When Guns N’Roses played in my town in 1992, I was in college, and two of my co-workers also worked at a laundromat that had a contract with the Enormodome venue, to do artists’ laundry if they wanted. They charged something like $8 a load for wash, dry, and fold, and one of them was assigned to this task. I was not the only person who asked if they disinfected the machines afterwards. 😛 We also worked at a hotel, but it was not the one the band stayed at, which may have been just as well. One of my classmates worked for the venue’s promotion department, and I remember him talking about the “grocery list” he was given. It included 40 loaves of bread for the backstage buffet, and as many copies as he could find of certain porno mags. I remember him talking about one called “Score”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/touring-bands-how-do-they-take-care-of-the-mundane-stuff/728899.md?page=2)