I used to be roadie for a number of different bands, and for those who are not familiar with the definition I will elaborate. A roadie is person who basically does all the hard graft behind the scenes at a public concert. As a fan of the group, you attend the concert and enjoy the performance and also the ambience of the whole event. But who really gives a monkeys for those who have slaved away to assemble and trasport the band’s equipment?
It is seen as a glamour job, because of the close relationship with the band, which is of course a thrill at first. But after spending three months on the road with them, they soon become just regular people.
If you end up working for famous rock stars, you will more than likely use fantastic equipment and unbelievable types of transportation. No longer will you be associated with small van transportation we are talking here about massive articulated lorries. This, in a way, is a benchmark of the success of a particular band.
In the good old days, someone would drive the band in an old Transit van, probably one of the band member’s mates. That is exactly how it started for me, back in the late sixties. I owned a Commer van once in the sixies, until the arrival of the Ford Transit in the early part of the nineteen seventies. Every since that day I have had a love affair with Fords, and have too many great memories to ever change! In those days cheap van leasing did not exist to the extent that it does today. Any way we would not have been able to afford it had we wanted it.
If leasing products had been available, I would have been looking at medium or small van leasing or pick up truck leasing, which has bundles of style and fun.