Road crew
The road crew (or roadies) are the support personnel 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 many people: tour managers, production managers, stage managers, front of house and monitor engineers, lighting directors, lighting designers, lighting techs, guitar techs, bass techs, drum techs, keyboard techs, pyrotechnicians, security/bodyguards, truck drivers, merchandise crew, and caterers, among others.
For the band, see Road Crew (band).On June 12, 1993, while performing "" in Reykjavik, Iceland, Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello and bassist Tim Commerford switched out with their guitar and bass technicians, respectively.
Bullet in the Head
' 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.
The Doobie Brothers
listed 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. They had also written a song called "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast" about a roadie, appearing on their 1970 album Atom Heart Mother.
Pink Floyd
was a professional roadie for the members of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, both as a group and individually. He died of a heroin overdose on June 4, 1973, and is immortalized in the lyrics of the title track of the album Tonight's the Night by Neil Young:
Bruce Berry
The road crew are generally uncredited, though many bands take care to thank their crew in album sleeve liner notes. In some cases, roadies have stepped in to help out with playing onstage. It is common for guitar, bass and drum technicians (who are responsible for setting up instruments and sound checking them) to be skilled musicians in their own right, and they are naturally familiar with the music being played, so there are many cases where they have stepped in when band members have been injured or otherwise could not perform.
was a roadie for The Cockroaches before band member Anthony Field asked him to join him in attending Macquarie University to become preschool teachers. They both ended up starting The Wiggles alongside band member Jeff Fatt and fellow student Murray Cook after submitting an album of children's music.
Greg Page
was a roadie for Pink Floyd before Nick Mason asked him if he would be interested in joining the band as a guitarist.
David Gilmour
was a roadie and guitar technician for Anthrax before replacing Dan Lilker on Anthrax's second album Spreading the Disease.
Frank Bello
of The Flaming Lips was originally a roadie for the band before being asked to join the band as a drummer on tours.
Kliph Scurlock
Rick Biddulph was a roadie for and National Health and then went on to play in several bands with members of those bands
Hatfield and the North
was a roadie for Menace and the Cockney Rejects before starting his own band the 4-Skins.
Hoxton Tom McCourt
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.
Bob Bryar
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.
Billy Howerdel
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.
Jon Walker
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.
Henry Rollins
worked as a roadie for The Ravers (later known as The Nails) before forming the Dead Kennedys with guitarist East Bay Ray
Jello Biafra
was a drum tech for the band Armor For Sleep, until he was asked to join Cobra Starship as their drummer.
Nate Novarro
Ben Carr was a roadie for the and became a part of the group when a venue refused his entry on account of being underage.
Mighty Mighty Bosstones
John Lang was a roadie for the Los Angeles nightclub band Andy Hardy, pop singer Andy Gibb, and pop bands Pages and Mr. Mister, before writing the lyrics to "Broken Wings" and "Kyrie." He went on to become the founder (along with drummer Russell Battelene and guitarist David Battelene) and the lead singer/songwriter/roadie for the New York-based rock band Djinn.
worked as a roadie for the British group Thompson Twins before officially joining the lineup.
Joe Leeway
has had two instances where roadies have replaced members to become official members themselves: Chuck Behler was originally the drum tech for Gar Samuelson only to replace Gar who was fired. Some time later, Chuck's drum tech, Nick Menza took over on drums when he too was fired.
Megadeth
of Sepultura was a guitar tech for the founding vocalist and guitarist Max Cavalera until he was asked to join the band as their lead guitarist replacing previous guitarist, Jairo Guedes.
Andreas Kisser
aka Skinhead Rob, of the Transplants and Expensive Taste was a roadie for Rancid until Tim Armstrong noticed him for his hip-hop vocalist and song-writing talent and they went on to form the Transplants.
Rob Aston
Rob Cannavino used to be 's guitar technician before he replaced him.
Bobby Gustafson
Ronnie Rush, a DJ in California was as a roadie for , he wrote a book about his adventures.[3]
Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds
Ian Roberts (aka TankTheTech) is a guitar, bass, and drum tech that now has a successful YouTube channel breaking down production and gear in music videos and live performances.
was a roadie for The Fall before formed The Teardrop Explodes. Also, Cope was mentioned in The Fall song "Two Steps Back".[4]
Julian Cope
was a roadie for Yes on their Close to the Edge Tour before joined The Clash, and later formed Public Image Ltd.[7]
Keith Levene
A number of roadies have gone on to join bands and write music.
Prior to establishing an acting career, Harrison Ford was a roadie for The Doors.[9]