Help! There's No Room In The Car!

[Ben Jamin]

Hi!

My band's just started getting gigs outside of our home town - we're a five-piece with drums, bass, two guitars and vocals - and yesterday we had two gigs outside of Lincoln So we had to pack the whole lot (band members included!) into one little Skoda Fabia. Yep, we're all pretty young - mostly in sixth-form (16/17/18) with the exception of the 22 year-old guitarist who owns the car! Obviously packing was a bit of a mission and since the bass amp wasn't going to fit I had to DI - but mostly I was concerned about the welfare of all our hard-earned gear being squashed and the safety implications of driving on a motorway with piles of guitars on our laps - hardcases aren't quite the same as airbags!

So I was wondering how you guys get around? We've talked through a few options like hiring a van/hiring a trailer/buying a roof-mounted carrier thing but we're pretty stuck!

Cheers

[EssentialTension]

Find a guy with a van who wants to be your roadie. Pay him an equal share and get him to fetch and carry as well as drive.

Easier said than done but there you are.

[casapete]

Try to start building a working relationship with a local van hire company. After a few hires when they can see you're okay, you can probably negotiate better rates for regular use, and carry whatever gear you need in a reliable and safe vehicle. Sounds a bit boring I know, but worked for us.

Edited May 28, 2012 by casapete

[Cat Burrito]

We've all been there. I remember once as a 16yr old booking a cab and the whole band trying to impress the cab driver that we were big rock stars - looking back now he must have thought we were idiots - We were only going to a nearby Wiltshire village! Can't think of many rock stars touring with 20w practice amps

These days for the big gigs / small tours we hire a splitter van but normal practice is 2 band members per (sensible sized) car and we travel up that way. If I can blag an amp from a headline / support act for a London show I'll get the tube

[lurksalot]

Hiring a van under 25 is sometimes a problem , but a mate who wants to get involved is good , even get him sound trained to help on the desk, local businesse who have vans might like to help out , or not , but you won't know till you've asked

[Truckstop]

Trailer ftw

Over time you'd save a fortune over hiring a van for each gig or paying a guy to do it for you. Just get a fairly square one with the wheels on the outside and a stretchy tarp covering. Manouvering with a trailer can be a pain in the arse, but it tigh spots you can just unhitch it and push it to where it needs to be. Sometimes if there's a big enough band entrance, you can wheel the whole thing right up to the stage!

Truckstop

[Beer of the Bass]

One driver bands can indeed be a nightmare for out of town gigs. We end up with the situation where we don't fit in a car with our stuff, a standard van has one too few seats and most of our gigs don't pay enough to justify hiring a splitter van. I've never fancied bundling people in to the back of a transit van with the risk of being pulled over, getting points and so on, though I used to cheerfully squeeze in the back of them as a teen. Is anyone still daft enough to do this?
A box trailer worked wonders for my old band, but not everyone can store one between gigs and I don't fancy trying to park one in a city.

[Dad3353]

This...

[attachment=108956:Rena_Traf.jpg]

...cost 1500 €, seats up to 8 (or 5 with full band gear, including FOH...), normal drivers licence, 10 litres/100 kms. No power steering, so not for wimps, but fun 'on the road again'.

When the Stones started out, they were going around pre-motorway Britain in a Bedford Dormabile (look it up...).
Trailers are an option, but theft, either from the trailer or even the whole thing, is a major worry. You need a fairly powerful car to pull one, too. Don't ask how I know..!
Just my tuppence worth...

Edited May 28, 2012 by Dad3353

[Mr. Foxen]

You have a Barefaced cab. Introduce a weight limit per band member based on the weight of all yours.

[goblin]

You could always look at going for a bigger car, not as daft as it seems as insurance companies don't tend to see it coming. Young drivers tend to be associated with Corsas, Fiestas etc, so get higher insurance. hopefully within the month I'm going to be going from a 1.0 Polo to a 1.6 Focus at the age of 20, and there's no difference in the cost of insurance.

[Ben Jamin]

Thanks for all the replies guys! I'll send this thread to the band and we'll talk it over at the rehearsal tonight Looks like getting hold of a van is the trending option - whilst a trailer would work pretty well there isn't always the parking space at some of the smaller venues

[Ben Jamin]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1338250156' post='1671763']
You have a Barefaced cab. Introduce a weight limit per band member based on the weight of all yours.
[/quote]

They're pretty good in terms of gear actually - the kit is only a small five-piece jazz set-up and the guitarists use pretty manageable valve combos with only one guitar each and very few pedals

[Ben Jamin]

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1338249496' post='1671757']
This...

[attachment=108956:Rena_Traf.jpg]

...cost 1500 €, seats up to 8 (or 5 with full band gear, including FOH...), normal drivers licence, 10 litres/100 kms. No power steering, so not for wimps, but fun 'on the road again'.

[/quote]

I suppose we could save up some gig money - there's not much cooler than a band-van

[jonsebass]

no, not much at all - just the constant rising cost of petrol, insurance, tax and MOT's and then who pays for anything to be fixed if it goes wrong? Your better off making contacts with a van hire place and getting a parent to drive it.

[yorks5stringer]

I had a largish 2 wheeled trailer and it was a PITA. A big enough one is heavy, impossible to reverse and you're always worried if it will be there when you come back out of the gig, despite locks and clamps. Oh, tow-hooks/electrics don't come cheap either. There is a limit, as has been said already re the weight you can tow in a small car and a Fabia with 5 up and a trailer sounds pretty dodgy. You have to store the trailer somewhere at home too...
Far better to get a "man/mam with a van/other vehicle", whether it's hired, a friend, relative or some other arrangement.

[Gust0o]

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1338244089' post='1671660']
Find a guy with a van who wants to be your roadie. Pay him an equal share and get him to fetch and carry as well as drive.

Easier said than done but there you are.
[/quote]

As you're still young, you can try this option with a fellow you may know as "dad".

Doesn't work for all generations, however. I'd have to pay a roadie to fetch and carry my da around.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

We briefly used a trailer behind a people carrier, until one night on the motoerway a lorry doing about a ton clipped it, resulting in the trailer flipping over and the people carrier following it.
They had to peel the roof off like a corned beef tin.

[OliverBlackman]

learn to drive? Your going to have to do it at some point so why not now. During sixth form is the best time to do it because if you plan on going to university, you will have NO money. You don't realise how crap bills and rent is until you start paying them. Even guys i know that have gone to uni with thousands of pounds spend it in 3 months.

[Ben Jamin]

[quote name='blackmn90' timestamp='1338304007' post='1672420']
learn to drive? Your going to have to do it at some point so why not now. During sixth form is the best time to do it because if you plan on going to university, you will have NO money. You don't realise how crap bills and rent is until you start paying them. Even guys i know that have gone to uni with thousands of pounds spend it in 3 months.
[/quote]

I'm in my last 4 weeks of sixth form so definitely eager to start learning. The main issue is affording the car and the insurance/petrol/upkeep afterwards - insurance companies are particularly brutal at my age!

[Gust0o]

[quote name='Ben Jamin' timestamp='1338306915' post='1672482']
I'm in my last 4 weeks of sixth form so definitely eager to start learning. The main issue is affording the car and the insurance/petrol/upkeep afterwards - insurance companies are particularly brutal at my age!
[/quote]

Probably worth adding, from the inside, that they don't really get any less brutal if you learn later.

[darkandrew]

I remember carrying my 15" bass combo in my arms with my bass in a gigbag on my back all around the underground network from gig to gig in London when I was younger. That was hard work! I can't remember from memory what the drummer used to do with his kit though.

Edited May 29, 2012 by darkandrew

[Dad3353]

[quote name='darkandrew' timestamp='1338326862' post='1672938']...what the drummer used to do with his kit though.
[/quote]

This..?

[attachment=109021:Port_Drum_Kit.jpg]

[darkandrew]

Later on I started up my own goth band (for which I feel I must apologise) and put a load of stuff on multi-track (drums, keyboards, etc) which made gigging a hell of a lot easier. Who needs drummers anyway, they just end up drinking all the beer and eating all the biscuits!

[Ben Jamin]

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1338328785' post='1672989']
This..?

[attachment=109021:Port_Drum_Kit.jpg]


[/quote]

Now if only drummers could ride bikes... ours managed to forget his kit yesterday, bless him.

Looking in local van hire - thinking a crew cabin for a day can't be too expensive
With any luck I'll be on the road sooner rather than later too! Thanks for all the advice chaps!

[gafbass02]

Just keep doing it. Ive found that after being in bands for twenty years, eventually you'll be able to fit anything into any car
Not sure how, it just happens