Road Trips: The Story Behind the Music

Being on the road with a band is an experience that I'll never forget. The most time I ever spent on the road was with a band made up of me and my three brothers, called simply "Caruso." We covered 21 states and Canada in a van and a truck, (later in a motor home and a truck), along with a lead guitarist and two "roadies." Our trips lasted anywhere from a single night out of town to a five-week tour.

Set List

Our audiences were primarily college students, both on and off campus. Our set list varied from town to town, based on whether we were hired for a dance or a concert. We played more cover tunes at the dances, but the concerts were primarily original material. That material came from our two EP albums, "Caruso EP," and "In the Face," our seven singles, and many other songs that were never recorded in the studio. Whether we played a dance or a concert, we had plenty of material to play an evening of originals or a mixture of originals and covers.

Access And Marketing Materials

Booking a road trip took a lot of marketing, planning and phone work. Luckily for me, my brothers Mike and Joe took on these responsibilities for the band, and they both excelled at them.

First, they enrolled us in an organization called the National Association of Campus Activities (NACA). This group holds regional and national conventions where representatives from all of the major colleges meet to see and book live entertainment for their schools. We played at several of these conventions, while school reps collected promotional material and selected the bands they liked best. Being four young brothers in the same band, we had that "extra something" that led to many "strong interest forms," the first stage in getting hired.

Next, we became sponsored by the Miller Rock Network. (See "The Miller Rock Network: Corporate Sponsorship and Merchandising.")

Merchandise Display

Finally, we built a folding merchandise display which we set up on a table near the stage at every show. It was a great way to get people involved with the band and to help defer the cost of recording by selling our records, tapes, tee shirts and posters. We also stocked the table with our quarterly tour schedule postcards.

Contracts

Mike Caruso : "It was during this stage of our musical career that we found a professional sound man and road
crew, dependable transportation, a solid public address (PA) system including lights and a contract rider.."

Caruso merchandise display.

Now that we had plenty of performance material, exposure to the college circuit and a corporate sponsorship, we needed an entertainment contract and rider. We obtained a contract from another band and made adjustments to suit the particulars of our band, with the help of our music industry lawyer. Most items in the contract dealt with payment terms, staging, lighting, extra stage hands to load and unload the truck, etc., but we also included a "deli tray," with meats, cheeses, bread, chips, milk, etc. Much of a tour is spent traveling, and to make good time, we didn't always eat well. The deli tray ensured that we'd stay away from fast food for at least one meal for each show we played.

Each small tour would center around a geographical area, say a state or a route through adjoining states. Through our NACA affiliation, we made calls to all of the schools who signed our strong interest forms (and some who did not) in the Kentucky area to encourage them to hire us during the same time period. This saved us drive time, gas, and money, so we could give them a break on pricing. To be sure we were always making money while we were on the road, we filled our "off nights" with club dates.

Once all of the contracts were signed and the booking arrangements were made, we sent advertising posters and table tents from Miller to all of the tour venues, and records and tapes to be played on the campus radio stations. This improved advance ticket sales, and our audience would already know our original music before we even arrived in their town.


Lodging We booked all of our lodging in advance of the trip, based on the performance locations. Lodging was often either provided on campus, or provided at the expense of the school or club who hired us for a particular day. Between those days, though, we had to cover our own hotel expenses. At one point in time, we bought a used motor home and drove it from town to town, and saved some money by sleeping in it. I remember staying in one hotel where an angry manager kept calling up to one of our rooms every 5 minutes, asking "Do you have girls up there?" (We did, of course...) Each time he called, he would accuse us of being "rock stars," as if he knew our type and as if we were a grave danger to his hotel, his neighborhood and society in general. We also stayed overnight at one college campus from which we later received an invoice for damaged lamps and furniture which we never broke.
On the Road For safety and comfort, we usually traveled in a caravan. We always had at least two vehicles, and the two we used for the longest period of time were a white cube truck and a red van. Often, one of the guys would drive their own car in the caravan, usually because they brought a guest along. As we became more successful, our road crew would sometimes drive ahead, check into the hotel for us, arrive at the show, handle setup and teardown, as well as their usual responsibilities of working lights, sound, and security. Driving for long periods of time is dangerous, especially in the snow and ice. On one winter road trip, we tried to round a sharp corner in the truck and buried the entire front of the truck in a high snow bank. Nobody was hurt, and we had to call the van back to us on the CB to help us dig the truck out of the snow.
I remember that on at least one occasion we finished a concert late at night, then jumped right into the van to drive straight through for a show the next afternoon in another state. Those of us who drove did so in shifts, with everyone else sleeping on the way. We were young and we pushed ourselves to the limit in hopes that the next show might not only pay the bills, but maybe even put us on the map. With all the miles that we put on the vehicles, we had our share of blowouts. Changing a blowout on the way to a gig while on a tight schedule can take all the glamour out of touring in a big hurry. It might mean that you have to skip showering before the show or you might have to drive straight to the load-in, instead of first checking into your hotel. If you've ever toured for any length of time, you probably already know that the travel is not so glamorous. You see a lot of things -- but mostly through the windows of your vehicle. We played every possible night when a school or bar sponsored entertainment, and it seemed like we drove whenever they didn't.

While you're on the road, you've got the daily tasks of traveling, arriving on time, setting up the gear, showering, dressing, playing the show, tearing down the gear, checking into the hotel, and getting rest for the next day. But that's not all. You've also got to keep several balls in the air:

We communicated by C.B. radio between vehicles on the road. We had no cell phones back then.

Mike Caruso: "This was all before the days of cell phones, pagers and global positioning systems. Getting lost and vehicle trouble on the road could mean an hour delay before help even arrived."

Stage Equipment

Caruso had a fairly elaborate stage setup for a five-man show (four brothers and a lead guitarist). The stage equipment was packed tightly (and in a certain order) in the truck. Before we could even unpack our musical instruments, the truck had to be unloaded, our lights had to be "flown" (raised on trusses above the stage), the drum risers had to be assembled, and the speakers and amps moved into place.

I remember we had a Yamaha CP70B suitcase electric baby grand piano. In those days, samplers weren't affordable, and there was no keyboard that could get a realistic piano sound. The CP70B was the choice "portable" piano for anyone who didn't mind lugging it around. It was a real piano with strings, hammers, and a weighted, full-size 88-key keyboard. It came apart into two sections, one being the section with the keys and the hammers, and the other being the "harp section," containing the iron frame which housed the strings. It had to be packed very carefully, tightly, and always standing on end. It was not only heavy, but awkward to carry, and I cringed every time the kids at the colleges grabbed it to unload it before I could get to it. I tuned it every time we moved it--which was virtually every road show.

CP70B suitcase electric baby grand piano

Mike Caruso: "Lights back then were made of heavy steel, instead of the portable alloys used today. We used a PA speaker referred to as a 40/50. I'm not sure why they were called that, but they were large and heavy."