Sunday, October 25, 2009

HAVE A BACKUP PLAN!

As the soft, digital rain pours into my ears from my iPod, asleep in the rear of our tour van, I awake with my ears popping and the air coming through the window smelling far worse then the van itself does after three guys have called it home for the last month. I sit up and ask the rest of the band why my ears feel like they are going to pop out of my head, and what is that terrible smell? They inform me that we just dropped 1000 feet in two miles and that there is a paper mill at the bottom of the steep grade. Then Moey, pulls the van over and gets out of the van and says, “Ok, your turn to drive.” I say, “Ok what time is it and where the hell are we?” He says, “It is about 4am and we are traveling down Interstate 80 in Wyoming somewhere between Salt Lake City and Denver.” After filling up the van with gas and jump behind the wheel, crank up the iPod once again and prepare myself for the rigors of what will be a long and lonely driving shift. During that pre-dawn shift, I drove until the sun rose over the great Rocky Mountains. This tour was one month long and encompassed highways and nightclubs from Virginia to California and back. Growing up in “small town” Ohio, I could have never imagined touring the entire country or for that matter, doing it twice. But, there we were.

I toured in the band Red Metric for two years playing over 200 shows in 45 states. After the band broke up in 2007 I relocated to Chicago where I worked at Barnes and Noble College Bookstore at DePaul University. I was an operations manager there for a year and could not take it anymore. I decided to quit and go back to school to get my masters in entertainment business from Full Sail University. In this same time I joined the street team for House of Blues. On the team for only a month and I got a call from the marketing manager and she ask if I would like to become her intern. After interning for a month I got a part time position at the House of Blues retail store. After interning for 8 months I hit the road with my new band A Friend Called Fire for a month run which I booked myself with my company AMP Booking LLC which I started in 2005 but did not make the company official until April 2009.

I use AMP Booking to not only book my band but also other bands and showcase around Chicago. I currently book Wednesday nights at the legendry rock club Elbo Room (200 capacity) and just last week I worked a deal out with a new club called Reggie’s Rock Club (450 capacity) where I will be booking a few shows a month. I have only lived in Chicago for 3 years and I am working with some of the best clubs in the city. I did not do this by just sitting around at home but by going out to shows at different clubs and talking to people.

Over all I always have a plan and a backup one. There is nothing I want more then to play and tour in a band for the rest of my life but that is a one and a million shot. This is why I started AMP Booking and also working for House of Blues. I need something to fall back on if the band does not take me where I want to go. I know I will be working and playing in this business for a long time just by knowing the right people and work at the right places. At House of Blues I have went from working in the retail store to running band merchandise for each show that comes to the venue and just last night I will be doing security too. I feel by keeping an opened mined about doing different things in this industry will only help me get to where I want to go and always have a backup plan.


Author Bio:
Adam Powers owner of AMP Booking LLC and bass player for the band A Friend Called Fire grow up in Tiffin Ohio. After graduation from Heidelberg University in 2005 he toured with the band Red Metric for tow years. After the band broke up Adam moved to Chicago to work. Shortly after moving there he started the band A Friend Called Fire and working for House of Blues where he still currently works and goes to great school.

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