Road crew

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"Roadie" redirects here. For the 1980 movie, see Roadie (film). For expatriate Zimbabweans, see Rhodie. For the Indian TV show see MTV Roadies. For the 1983 band featuring Slash see Road Crew. For the professional wrestler, see Brian Gerard James.

The road crew (or roadies) are the technicians who travel with a band on tour, usually in sleeper buses, and handle every part of the concert productions except actually performing the music with the musicians. This catch-all term covers tour managers, production managers, stage managers, front of house and monitor engineers, guitar techs, bass techs, drum techs, keyboard techs, lighting techs, pyrotechnic techs, security/bodyguards, and caterers, among others.

[edit] Road crew appearances

The road crew are generally uncredited, though many bands take care to thank their crew in album sleeve notes, but there are exceptions.

• The Doobie Brothers' lighting roadie, Bobby LaKind, eventually became a full member of the band. After observing LaKind goofing around on the congas after a concert, the band took notice of his talent and asked him to join as a sideman for studio sessions in 1976. He became a full member in 1979 and performed as a vocalist, songwriter, percussionist and backup drummer for live shows.
• Pink Floyd showed theirs on the rear sleeve of Ummagumma and recorded them speaking on The Dark Side of the Moon. A roadie also delivered the spoken part of the studio version of the song "Sheep", on the Animals album.
• Pantera, Motörhead and Godsmack even go so far as to feature their crew in their tour videos, and Motörhead wrote the song "(We Are) The Road Crew" about their crew.
• When Gene Simmons of the band KISS attempted to blow fire for the first time on New Years Eve 1973, in New York City, he accidentally set his hair-sprayed hair into fierce flames, but was extinguished by a roadie with a wet towel.
• Exceptionally, in the former Manu Chao band Mano Negra, the roadies were included as a part of the band when they signed for Virgin.
• Todd Rundgren and Roger Powell invited roadie Jan Alejandro to play piano with them, Ringo Starr and Bill Wyman on a live broadcast of the Jerry Lewis Telethon in Las Vegas. It was viewed by 33 million people. Jan also worked the last Led Zeppelin concert in Knebworth 1979 and he was one of the roadies that Jackson Browne wrote about on the Running On Empty Tour.
• Jackson Browne on his 1977 tour, "Running On Empty", wrote his famous song "The Load-Out" (usually heard in a live version hybrid with a cover of the Maurice Williams tune "Stay") in order to honor his roadies.
• Perry Bamonte was a long-serving guitar tech for The Cure, before filling in on keyboards during the final leg of the Disintegration tour after Roger O'Donnell's departure in 1991. He went on to play guitar and keyboards on four Cure albums, including major hit Wish.
• Coldplay's Life in Technicolour ii video features roadie puppets four times: picking up the cymbal dropped by the drummer, operating the rope that widens the stage, moving a ramp onstage and operating the sound mixer. Some, or possibly all, of these puppets are modeled on the band's real-life crew.
• U2's "One Tree Hill" on the The Joshua Tree album is dedicated to Greg Carroll, who was a stage hand in New Zealand. He joined the The Unforgettable Fire tour, and after the tour he stayed in Ireland and became Bono's personal assistant.
• James Hetfield of Metallica has been—at least twice—temporarily replaced in his guitar duties by his roadie John Marshall during his various injuries (such as breaking his arm while skateboarding and after suffering severe burns after standing over a pyrotechnical device).

[edit] Other careers

A number of roadies have gone on to join bands and write music.

• David Gilmour was a roadie for Pink Floyd before Nick Mason asked him if he would be interested in joining the band as a guitarist.
• Kurt Cobain was a roadie for Seattle Grunge Band the Melvins until becoming inspired to start his own band, Nirvana.
• Kliph Scurlock of The Flaming Lips was originally a roadie for the band before being asked to join the band as a drummer on tours.
• Rick Biddulph was a roadie for Hatfield and the North and National Health and then went on to play in several bands with members of those bands
• Noel Gallagher was a roadie for Inspiral Carpets before he joined Oasis.
• A southern rock band named Grinderswitch were composed of Allman Brothers roadies. They would often open for them during the early Allman days and would usually borrow their instruments.
• Lemmy was a roadie for Jimi Hendrix before joining Hawkwind, and later forming Motörhead.
• Hoxton Tom McCourt was a roadie for Menace and the Cockney Rejects before starting his own band the 4-Skins.
• Bob Bryar, of the New Jersey rock band My Chemical Romance, was a sound tech before the band asked him to play drums for them, following the departure of their original drummer.
• Billy Howerdel worked as guitar tech and Pro Tools engineer for the band Tool before he started A Perfect Circle which featured Maynard James Keenan as band member.
• Jon Walker, of Panic! at the Disco, was a guitar tech for Chicago band The Academy Is... before Panic! at the Disco asked him to be their bass player.
• Tim Boardman was a roadie for several bands, and continues to do so even after joining Saving Aimee as their rhythm guitarist.
• Henry Rollins, of Black Flag and Rollins Band fame, was a roadie for The Teen Idles, the band that would eventually become Minor Threat before singing with both bands.
• Jello Biafra worked as a roadie for the The Ravers (later known as The Nails) before forming the Dead Kennedys with guitarist East Bay Ray
• Ben Shepherd was a roadie for Nirvana before joining the band Soundgarden.
• Kyo was a roadie for Kiyoharu before forming the band Dir en grey.
• Billy Powell was a roadie for Lynyrd Skynyrd until he joined the band as piano player.
• Nate Novarro, was a drum tech for the band Armor For Sleep, until he was asked to join Cobra Starship as their drummer.
• Ben Carr was a roadie for the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and became a part of the group when a venue refused his entry on account of being underage.
• Larry E. Williams was a roadie for Neil Diamond before writing Let Your Love Flow.
• Tupac Shakur was a roadie and backup dancer for the band Digital Underground before starting his solo rap career.