Gas Prices/ Indie Bands

CNN reported earlier this week that the average filling station is charging $3.94 a gallon, with 11 states and Washington, D.C., above $4. This means a much higher overhead for bands.

“If you’re playing smaller clubs, you’re making 100 bucks a night, if that, and you can’t get across the country,” says Rodriguez.

Sarah Cronin, singer of the Boston group Drug Rug, is currently on tour, and having a similar experience.

“More than half of what we make over the course of a tour goes right back into our gas tank,” she says.

Blake Hazard of the L.A.-based Submarines says her band is only playing big cities on their current tour, because they literally can’t afford to have a bad night.

“We drove through Omaha, Nebraska … It’s such a cool city, you know, but we didn’t play there,” she says. “It’s gotten harder to make ends meet in the traditional way through touring and selling records, but we’re doing what we can for now.”

Doing what they can for now seems to be a common mantra among bands. The Syracuse, N.Y., road warriors Ra Ra Riot bring additional nongas-guzzling transport on the road with them.

“We also have all of our bikes with us, which we can use to get around the cities, or to go on quick errands,” says guitarist Milo Bonacci. “The high gas prices definitely affect potential profit. It makes coming out in the positive that much more difficult. … Sometimes guarantees barely cover the price in getting us to the venue.”

The guarantee, what a club promises a band regardless of how many people pay to see them, is a part of the chain reaction of a struggling economy, according to Brandy Hartley, who does the booking at the Philadelphia club Johnny Brenda’s.

“I will say that when working with booking agents now and booking future shows, there seems to be more emphasis on higher guarantees because of the higher gas prices,” she says.
But the buck doesn’t stop there.

“Businesses like ours are also seeing higher costs for operation, so it is very difficult to balance the costs,” continues Hartley. “I am sure it’s the same for bands.”

Some promoters take a harder line.

“I don’t pay bands more money than they are worth; we’d be out of business if that were the case,” says Randi Millman, who books at the Cambridge club T.T. The Bear’s. “[But] I do sympathize with both bands and our customers, in regard to our sinking economy.”

Matthew Prescott Clark, drummer for NYC’s White Rabbits, who seem to always be on the road, says the price of gas hasn’t slowed the band down yet, but it is a concern.

“Due to the current state of the record industry, it has put a hamper on our ability to make a sustainable living off of what we do,” he says. “You have to have money to record, and if you are dropping thousands on gas, it can really put a wrench into your plans.”

Another band who seems to barely be at home, Philly’s Dr. Dog, says they are now playing shows they booked before the price of petrol got so high, but they are trying to keep costs down while keeping their spirits and their body temperatures up.

“The increase hasn’t changed our plans to drive a lot,” they say, “just our plans to use air
conditioner.”