by John D. Bess
Daily Lobo
When I first started playing bass, I knew this was what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.
Unfortunately, most artists learn that art doesn't pay. Still, we drive on, devoting our time outside of our so-called normal lives of jobs, school and families to creating.
It's a sickness, really. There is no cure for it. Much like alcoholism, the artistic bend requires those who have fallen under its spell to either create or go mad. Time spent in the normal world is filled with thoughts of new projects and hatching schemes to never have to work a real job ever again.
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On this tour, we are sharing equipment and crew with Dozer, a heavy stoner-rock band from Sweden. This is the band's fifth tour of Europe, so their road manager is very experienced, though a bit of a hard ass. Well, I guess he has to be to keep all of these musicians and crew in line, nine of who are your standard drunken derelicts after the show.
Being in the opening bands, we have a lot of concerns that the headliners don't have to worry about. While the headliners have a large bus to ride and sleep in, we have to drive ourselves across Europe and sleep in hostels. When arriving at the club, we set up our own merchandise and equipment, and then while the headliners sound check we scramble through some foreign city trying to exchange traveler's cheques for Euros and trying to find a place to eat and send a quick e-mail back home.
Opening for some of your favorite bands is exhilarating, but frightening. It was weird to actually be hanging around backstage with people I've only seen on album covers and on Web sites. Here are these musicians who I respect, who have influenced my playing and who are now standing off to the side of the stage watching me play. It can really trip you up if you think about it too much.
For those of you who have never seen Clutch live, it is an amazing live band. The band members have really set the bar high and we are using this opportunity to learn from them and trying to match their level of intensity.
The shining gem in their crown is their drummer, John Paul Gastier, a kind-hearted guy with a vicious, fluid, swinging funk style. The highlight of the tour for me so far was getting to play a fifteen-minute funk/jazz/R&B jam with him last night.
At the time that I'm writing this we are driving to Milano, Italy. Five nights into the tour and everyone is starting to get their feet under them. Everyday my mind is consumed by the thought that I need to find a way to do this, and only this, from now on. Everyone in the band feels the same way. This morning, I got to have a long talk with J.P. about the nature and future of the music industry and he gave me some very valuable insight into what we should do next for our careers. This experience is like a graduate program in how to make a living playing music.
Reality is suspended on the road, or at least the reality that is created is better than anything back in the 9-to-5 world. A world that we all know awaits us at the end of this tour.
But I still have two more weeks to ignore that thought.
