Tour Bus Driver

a tour bus company ??

 

The DMV AND a tour bus company?
I give up, whats the punch line?

 

Uh they probably think its some lavish lifestyle but its not. You are a driver/maid/electrician/babysitter/plumber/Tv repair guy/satellite repair guy/ stock boy/carpet cleaner plus much more. You have to deal with people that always get what they want. Most but not all have a drug or drinking problem. They party while you drive. You drive to the venue scrub the bus from the night before from the toilet to the floors. Scrubbing on your hands and knees. You service the generator every 100 hours. You fix any wiring issues with the bus. You stock the fridge. You stop when they say stop. You unclog the pipes if someone decides to take a dump on the bus (with a coat hanger and the only way to get to it is from the bottom end so it comes rushing once you get it). You are driving while they are drinking and partying. You don't get to join in you get to make sure they don't get hurt or break anything. You drive in a totally different fashion as you will not have a job if you roll them out of the bunk. There is much more to it than I described but its not living the rock and roll dream some feel it is. I did it for a couple of years. The money is good but a lot is expected of you. You can't stop and take a nap if you get tired. You have to make load in time or sound check depending on which you are driving crew or star bus. You can be dealing with up to 12 people with 12 totally different personalities. It is work everyone else gets to play while you work and you are on call even on their days off. They want to go to wherever guess who's driving. They fly home for time off you drive to the next venue which usually takes you the same time to drive as their time off. When I did it I left the house in January and got home in October. I got through the house twice in that time. Both were because of shows here. During the winter you usually do something for the theater world. A traveling Christmas production or whatever.

 

WOW! Jan-Oct... I would've drove the bus over a cliff lol... just out of curosity who did you tour for? anybody famous?

 

#2.! do i win second prize?!

 

LOL... I was thinking he meant a bus that took tour groups... like a charter service.

I have some friends in the music business, from a child hood friend who is one of the top guitar plaers in the world..
Gives clinics all over the world, signature guitar, Several Solo Albums out and a member of UFO, another friend whao is the guitar tech for Steve Morse of Deep Purple, and an old Army buddy, who drove a truck there, who happens to manage a few old rock bands such as Big Brother and the holding company...

Not a one of them would recommend driving for a band.

 

I run entertainment, it is not what people think it is. Driving the rigs is much easier than driving the busses as Steve already stated. It has some perks but we are bottom of the food chain on a tour...The truck drivers that is...

 

Al I started out driving for stage call before I switched to buses. That's where I got my foot in I drove on Paul McCartneys Lexus tour (actually hauled around 6 Lexus SUVs that Lexus donated to him for the tour) then I drove for Dwight Yoakum. Then I did a Paul Stanley solo tour. In the winter I did production stuff. I did a traveling game show for the game show network (that was an easy gig same city for a week at a time not many overdrives on that one though) the production manager would request me after that even when I switched to buses. In the buses I drove again for Dwight and for sister hazel. I usually did the same production company in the winter. I also did a few family vacations a few bachalorette parties and Super Bowls too. Anything to earn a buck lol.

 

Talk to waste management! Yep. Start there