image by Joe Seggiola
A successful tour is not created overnight. For bands like Dropout Year, Van Atta High, and Ludo it comes from years of hard work and having dedicated out of town fans.
The success of these bands comes from maintaining fans, making contacts and never turning down a show that could help their careers.
“Network, network, network,” Steve Reter, singer for Dropout Year, said.
Playing 200 plus shows a year, the east coast’s Dropout Year has learned a thing or two about surviving without a booking agent.
Looking for unique ways to reach new fans, Dropout Year set up a tour of Hot Topics. The band collected the names and numbers of Hot Topic managers, then they set up a tour playing acoustic sets in stores.
One of the ways Dropout Year is able to continually play shows and go on 2-to-3 week tours is from networking with other bands. Dropout Year’s intense promoting in their local area allows them to pull hundreds of fans to a show. By letting out of town bands play these shows Dropout Year is able to trade for shows in other bands’ hometowns.
Dropout Year warns that some bands will not return favors, something you have to learn to live with. “Be realistic,” Reter said. “Some bands will not help you if you help them.”
“Play everything,” Tim Ferrell, guitar player for Ludo, said. “That is the only way to get people interested.”
The music festival SWSX never invited Ludo to play at the festival. Yet, Ludo made sure they played at SWSX four times.
Without support from the organizers, Ludo went directly to the fans and played house parties. The buzz created by these parties led to record labels getting themselves invited to the parties to see Ludo play. Now Ludo is on Island Records.
“The worst thing you can do is not salvage a relationship with anyone in the industry,” Clark Starace, bass player for Van Atta High, said. “Things will come back.”
Van Atta High has been able to tour the country and draw crowds of 100 kids or more to shows hundreds of miles away like Michigan.
The band works every day with social media sites like MySpace, but they don’t spend their time adding friends and putting ads on comments. Every week they profile a fan on their homepage, with fun questions and a personal message to their fan of the week. The also write personal messages to fans. Starace said they don’t like to use bots or other impersonal ways to promote the band.
Much of Van Atta High’s touring success has been a growing out of town fan base. The band has been able to sell out shows out-of-state including one in New York City. With their dedication to marketing the band has leverage in booking tours.
Van Atta High and Dropout Year both hope that by successfully booking tours the bands will get picked up by professional booking agencies. “It’s not that we can’t handle the work,” Starace said. Yet once a booking agent sees that a band can manage themselves on the road, the agent can get them bigger and better shows.
Tricks from the pros
* Create street teams everywhere- A street team it vital to keep a presence in other regions. By creating a street team in other cities it allows your band to keep in touch with fans, make new contacts in the area and give the most dedicated fans a way to be a part of the band’s success. Just remember people have lives, too, and if they are to stay active give them a reason. Bands like Van Atta High and Dropout Year talk with their street team and give them lots of perks for helping the band.
* Don’t be afraid to sleep on people’s floors- Hotels are nice, but expensive. Also, going to a hotel separates the band from the fans. Ludo has been able to create unique experiences with their fans by staying at their homes and hanging out with them.
Brett Lohmeyer is an editor for detone8.com, and in the day you can find him at