Bands rock, but it hurts to roll

As gas goes up, can the beat go on for touring groups?

By OTIS R. TAYLOR JR. - otaylor@thestate.com

Three years after the release of “Silent Alarm,” Bloc Party’s agit-prop commentary sounds prophetic.

On “Price of Gas,” the English indie rock band sings “The price of gas keeps on rising / Nothing comes for free.”

Nowadays, a lot of bands are singing similar complaints. Four-dollar-per-gallon gas has made them rethink how they tour.

Villanova, a local alt-funk five-piece, plays four to five regional shows a week, said DJ and keyboardist Eric Adams, whose stage name is Able 1.

“We started driving our new van in December, and when we first started filling up it was $50,” he said. “Now it’s $70.”

Since December, Villanova has been spending $400 to $600 extra per month to drive to its gigs in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee, Adams said.

The increase has changed the band’s eating habits.

“You really do have to scale back on stuff,” he said. “You might not supersize the combo. You have to learn how to budget.”

And be smarter about where you play.

Dave Britt, who books Headliners’ calendar for SOLID Entertainment, said bands need to place greater emphasis on routing.

“So a band really needs to play, say, Charlotte and Raleigh if they are going to play somewhere in Virginia, instead of doing a straight shot from Columbia,” he said.

Others, like A Cursive Memory, which played New Brookland Tavern Wednesday night, have defrayed tour costs by traveling in an RV. (MTV fans might recognize the RV; it was abused by the network’s “Road Rules” casts.)

While the Los Angeles band saves on hotel bills, it has forgone mundane comforts like, say, showers.

“It’s just easier for us to do it bootleg — with the hose, or take a water-bottle shower,” ACM’s guitarist and vocalist Colin Baylen said. “I’m pretty sure we invented it.”

But the RV is roomier than a 15-passenger van, the vehicle of choice for many working bands.

“It’s nowhere near a tour bus, but we think it’s worth it,” Baylen said.

“It’s definitely more comfortable, but the hardest part is gas. Especially in the summer when you want air conditioning.”

ACM played the New Brookland show — headlined by Baumer, a local band that had its summer tour canceled for reasons beyond the band’s control — as a warmup before joining the Vans Warped Tour.

To balance travel costs, bands could start asking for a higher guarantee. But Southern-rock singer David Cooler points out that only works for established performers.

“So you tack on an extra $200 and you’re liable to outbid yourself for what the next guy will play for,” said the Bamberg native, who frequently performs in Florida and Georgia.

Aram Shelton, a saxophonist living in Oakland, Calif., will perform at the Columbia Museum of Art and The Whig with his post-bop jazz quartet, Arrive, on July 25 and 26. He said jazz quartets might become rare.

“They’re going to try doing trios and duos to keep the cars smaller,” Shelton said.

Arrive travels with drums, an upright bass and vibraphone, so fitting into a compact car is impossible; the band rolls in a mid-size van.

“Hopefully CD sales will help out with (gas),” Shelton said of the tour, which also has stops in Indiana, New York and Canada.

Rising gas costs could be passed to customers — fans —much like groceries and restaurants do. But for bands like Bloc Party, the thwarting of the “Price of Gas” should be shared.

This refrain leads into the song’s closing: “I can tell you / How this ends / We’re going to win this.”

As always, though, someone will have to pay.

Reach Taylor at (803) 771-8362.