DIY tour booking & essentials by GROUP OF MAN

UK’s post hardcore punk rockers GROUP OF MAN (members of Hang The Bastard, Centurians Ghosts, Pariso, Hammers and Apologies I Have None) have been around for a few years now, delivering their slick, infectious brand of swingin’ post hardcore tunes to our hungry souls. With the band having recently released their EP “What We Got In Common” and a new track earlier this month (listen below), and currently about to kick off a series of shows over in Europe, the good buds have decided to share with us some of their thoughts on the tour, the booking process and their own touring etiquette.

This is going to be our longest tour to date; 18 days of either sweaty, uncomfortable hell, or sweaty bliss. Its about 100 hours driving and 5250 miles. Ask me at the end of November how it went down. We don’t have a booking agent, manager or a label that can financially back us so we do everything ourselves. Thinking back to my past experience of trying to do the “big” band thing and having all that, it’s better this way.

I like to challenge myself to make tours longer and longer each time, getting as far away and out of our comfort zones as possible.

Essentials and tour etiquette

Coffee, every day without fail please. Finding a good spot is always important. My advice is to go with the more unassuming places rather than the minimalist, all white, light bulbs hanging real low aesthetic shops, we’ve been duped by them before.

Vegan food, for the most part we eat vegan while away so I apologise in advance if we stay with you and your front room smells like old cabbage in the morning.

Road snacks, those peanut flavor crisps and all the other wild flavours of Doritos you can’t get in the UK.

Road jams, it feels like the tour playlist really just consists of music that is older than us. A suitable soundtrack for when riding into battle is important.

Always be an excellent houseguest, Open letter to anyone that we will be staying with, we are really nice house guests.

Booking the tour

I’m a pretty optimistic and persistent guy when it comes to booking tours. I am however, convinced that there’s a meme with my face and the words “Hey there” on it floating around a circle of German promoters.

I try my best to do my research on promoters, take time to read their about sections if they have one and get a sense of what they are into and whether we suit their vibe at all. We’re a weird band so it’s hard to place us I guess.

We always want to play new places, even if that place is a 10-hour drive away. I’d advise all bands to do a few 10 to 20-hour overnight drives, you’ll learn a lot about the dynamics of your band. The weak will fall, while the strong survive.

Continued below…

We have a show booked in Istanbul, I’d never even thought about going there to play, not for any reason in particular, I guess it just never occurred to me to look. But, I found myself booking a show in Bulgaria, Turkey isn’t far, let’s see what’s up. Emailed a label that had booked Sheer Mag in Istanbul before, assumed I’d get nowhere but a nice dude emailed straight back and was excited to help.

Patience is important, if you’re in a DIY band, please remember that no one cares about your band, probably not even you if you dig deep enough. But what else are you meant to do with your boring life. So anyway, if a promoter doesn’t get back to you offering you the world, don’t stress. When someone does get back to you and can offer you a door deal and some vegan dinner, take it and cherish it!

GROUP OF MAN tour dates:

October
31st – London – Flashback Records

November
1st – Most, VEGAC – Czechia
2nd – Berlin, Schokoladen – Germany
3rd – Prague, Café Napul Cesty – Czechia
4th – Warsaw, Chmury – Poland
5th – Lviv, Underground – Ukraine
6th – Kiev, Art Club – Ukraine
7th – Odesa, More Music Club – Ukraine
8th – Cluj Napoca, Urania Palace – Romania
9th – Bucharest, B52 – Romania
10th – Istanbul, Muaf Kadıköy – Turkey
11th – Sofia, Grindhouse Skate Club – Bulgaria
12th – Belgrade, Jazz Bar – Serbia
13th – Orlova, Futra – Czechia
14th – Leipzig, WU – Germany
15th – Giessen, AK44 – Germany
16th – Solingen, Waldmeister – Germany
17th – Rotterdam, TBC – Netherlands