This in from ‘Jrod’:

God booking sucks. I’ve been trying to book a cross-country tour and I just had half of it fall through because three shows in the Midwest got ‘cancelled’. There’s a bigger band touring the same route at the same time and we got bumped from the bills. Now I have to start all over and push the tour back a month, again. Booking can suck my ballsack. So can those clubs. My dirty, veiny, scraggly ballsack.

Booking your own shows and tours is one of the more inexact, patience testing things a band can do in the world of indie music. Mostly, booking is thankless and time consuming, ask Jrod’s balls. Trying to coordinate and communicate with musicians on the road and with venues where more than one person books is like trying to hit a fly with a dart that’s thrown from a moving car. (And you’re eating a burrito while you are throwing the dart. Salsa juice spills and there’s traffic. The fly is agile, it lands on your burrito, then shits on it.)

Solid booking agents and agencies are golden, but hard to come by. It’s been said that getting a booking agent is harder to do than getting on a label. Best thing for the self-bookers to do is start planning and contacting clubs and other bands as early as you possibly can.

Three things in booking are certain: Everyone wants a good bill, the bands all want the money slot, and everyone wants to get paid. Miscommunication happens often. Shows are set up, then changed, and changed again. Bands get bumped and line-ups shift. At some point, the shows need to be finalized so ads can be made and promotion done.

One booker advises:

Do everything on email and save your threads. Print them out. When clubs or other bookers try to change something on you that’s already been decided, show them the email where they originally agreed. The paper trail is good to have. It’s funny how the guarantees can all the sudden change the night of the show. If you’ve got a paper trail to back you up, you’re one step ahead of the game.