Hi guys, and welcome to this new segment called All Black Everything. This is for those of you who are interested in hearing the behind the scenes of life on the road; interviews with crew members, the odds and ends of what it takes to survive touring with bands you love (or hate or don’t feel anything for), weeks and months on tour, and maybe some occasional album reviews.
My name is Blake, and I am a touring Merchandise Manager who has been a part of the professional music industry since 2012. In my career, I have done full cross-country tours with clothing companies, bands and even corporate events such as a ballet. My expertise is in merchandising and everything that goes along with it. For All Black Everything I want to dive deep into what the readers of The Prelude Press want to know about touring and the music industry. I will use my resources to reach out to friends and acquaintances in the industry and interview people in all sorts of positions so we can delve into what it takes to do their jobs on the road – everyone from bus drivers, tour managers and photo/video/content creators to different types of Techs and even the humble cotton slingers fighting on the front lines to give you guys your tour memorabilia.
This isn’t your normal music industry segment. I want to stay away from the record label side of things as well as band interviews in the traditional sense and mainly focus on the what it takes to make the show happen behind the scenes instead. From there, we can dive into whatever blackholes we want. Please email us here at The Prelude Press (contact info is below!) and let’s delve into the things you guys want to know.
As far as your inquiries go, let’s try make this simple but direct. Hit me up with some general questions and try to be specific if you can. For example:
Instead of asking, “What are those lights you use?” maybe ask, “What is the process for a lighting designer to choose the lights they use for a tour or even a show and how do you go about the placement on stage?”
Rather than, “What microphone is best?” try, “As a Sound Engineer what equipment do you use and what lead you to that specific setup and is it different for different people?”
Or instead of “What brand of t-shirt should my band print on?” go with, “Is there a reason some bands use this brand compared to this brand?”
I will do my best to be your direct connection with multiple people in every position of the touring and music world. Each segment we do will be with a different person so you will have multiple interviews with different tour managers, lighting designers, merch managers and more. I will even sit down and answer merch-related questions from my perspective as well. We want to offer you some variety and give you different perspectives as the year goes on, so we will be breaking up the interviews so you can continue asking questions about the subjects that you’re interested in and get the answers you’re looking for as this segment goes on.
All that being said, welcome to All Black Everything, and don’t miss bus call
– Blake
@blakexkunkel