Group Of Man: How to plan your DIY European tour

This November, Group Of Man goes out on the longest tour the band has done. Chris gives us an insight into his DIY method and he makes it look pretty simple. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. But one thing is sure, once you read it you won’t have any excuse, you need to get your band out there.

Chris: “We’re playing in nine different countries, some none of us have ever been to before or if we are being honest, know much about apart from that we are going there.

Our drummer has messed his hand up and needs an operation, our bassist is flying home from Belgrade halfway through, and a replacement will fly in to meet us. It’s a fairly standard affair for us really.

My approach to booking a tour is straightforward, I just try not to overthink it. If someone wants to book us and it’s not a 20-hour drive to that spot, we’ll probably go.

What I really like to do is to confirm one show and then get on a map to see what’s going on around that city or country. We got a show confirmed in Warsaw, so okay Ukraine isn’t that far, what’s happening there. Bit of research and a couple of emails later, we have 3 shows booked there, and the promoters are keen on it. And so on. This tour is going through Istanbul…how has that even happened.

The ethos of this band has always been to essentially ‘rock on’ for lack of a cooler term and make shows happen, even if that means having fill-in members for half the band or making an overnight madman drive. We’re lucky enough that there are people out there, mostly people that we don’t know at all that will take a chance and help us out with a show, so we’ll make the maximum effort to make it happen.

One of the great things about booking tours like this is that you meet people who still like music and are excited by it. I get the impression from the people I’ve spoken to recently over the last few months that this is just a hobby because they love music and want to bring bands through their spot. They’re smart; turn promoting into a real-life job, and you’ll be forever putting on groups you don’t like and doing ‘favours’ for industry douchebags and gatekeepers who send emails that begin with “Unfortunately, we feel you don’t have enough exposure…”