From The Inside: Gypsyhawk Tour Manager/Merch God Art Daniels: “Don’t do door deals for anyone in Lincoln, Nebraska.”

983543_10152939894610637_444873451_nWelcome back to the 2nd installment of From the Inside. This time around I had a great time talking to Gypsyhawk tour manager/merch guy Art Daniels. Art is the man behind the curtain doing all the can to make sure that the Gypsyhawk road machine runs as smooth as possible. When he’s not putting out fires, getting the band paid, getting them on the stage, and getting them out to the fans, Art can be found at the merch booth with an infectious smile, magnetic personality, and a great conversation to be had with any and everybody.

Art’s a good buddy of mine and he was awesome enough to talk to me from his home in Beverly Hills (ooo lala). Art is pretty new to the business of being a tour manager but in his short time in doing this he already seems to be a wealth of knowledge as to what’s going on behind the scenes. Just sit back and enjoy getting to know Art Daniels and to all those out there looking to get into the biz, pay attention. I’m sure Art will quiz you next time he sees you!

Art, thanks for taking the time to talk to me today.

No problem Don.  It’s always great to talk with you.  It’s cool because I’m trying to raise my profile a little bit so I really appreciate this.

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So how are you doing man?

I’m good but man, Harold Ramis died.  I’m bummed! It’s like one of the Beatles died for me but other than that I’m ok [laughs].

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So you live in Beverly Hills.  You must be big shit huh?

[laughs] It’s fancy here but I’m in the shittier portion of Beverly Hills but it’s still pretty fancy.  The Sharon Tate murder was like a mile from here so that’s kind of crazy [laughs].  Tour busses go by here all the time.  I’ll be out getting my mail in the morning looking all haggard and shit and people are like riding by staring at me.  I actually rent out a room in one of these big ass houses so it’s pretty sweet.

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You and I first met on your first tour managing Gypsyhawk and it was love at first sight.

[laughs] I think so.  Well, you had a bottle Jack Daniels with you so could it not have been?  [laughs]

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So what made you decide to get into managing a band?

It was kind of a natural progression for me.  I worked in retail pretty much my entire life.  I was in management and then I started doing merch for a band and I just started to pick up on the other things that needed to get done in the day for these bands and figured this was something I could easily handle.  I just gave it a try and loved it.

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Is tour managing a band as easy as or harder than you thought it would be?

Well, it’s definitely harder than it look s[laughs].  It’s been a learn as you go experience and there’s a lot thrown on you from the beginning.  You want to do the best you can and if you’re not performing to what you feel is a good standard you’re kind of disappointed by it.  It did get easier as time went on but every day is a new challenge.

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Do you work with anyone other than Gypsyhawk on the business side of things?

Gypsyhawk is pretty much my sole focus right now.  I do get a lot people calling me and asking me for advice and I’m always happy to offer up advice to anyone.

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Being that you’re pretty much working primarily with Gypsyhawk, what do you see is your role in trying to get the band to that next level?1057922_10152997588035637_898226894_n

My role is to just be the man of the people when it comes to fans.  I just want to keep the boys in line and keep them fan friendly and to make sure that when the show’s over that they’re not disappearing behind the scenes.  At the merch table the fans want to talk to the band and buy shirts.  They don’t necessarily want to buy them from me.  If Eric Harris is standing there at the merch booth people are going to react to that.  They want to meet him and talk to him and it’s going to be a good time for the fans.

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I know bands have influences and what not.  Do you, as a manager, have any managers that you look up to and consider an influence on you?

There are ones that I’ve met recently named John Hopkins and Chris Greene who we affectionately call “Milkshake.”  These are guys that I’ve watched work that have their shit together and they know what they’re doing.  They know how to control things and keep things running.  Those guys are definitely people to look up and people that I can learn from.

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Give us a rundown on what an average day in the life of Art Daniels is like when on the road.

I don’t know if there’s any such thing as an average day [laughs].  Every day is different.  Depending on what happened the night before you have to wake up, gather people up and just get out of town to the next gig.  That’s the basics of it [laughs].  What happens in between is always not what you’d expect.  You could have a blown tire, you may need to get drumsticks from the Guitar Center, or something happens to the van and needs repairing.  There is no average day to my life any more.  It’s always a series of problems to be solved.

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What has been the most challenging thing you were faced with in your time with Gypsyhawk?

Man, two tours ago we were on the Scorpion Child tour and just had a lot of van problems.  The trailer lights, the tires, and then eventually one of our rotors blew out.  Every day was a challenge of just getting things fixed and staying on schedule.  Things like that are always out of your control and the most challenging to get through.

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What is the biggest misconception about what you do?

That all I get to do is hang out and just have a nice time [laughs].  That rarely happens if ever to be honest.

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Metal bands have always been notoriously hard to manage.  How are the Gyspyhawk guys to work with?

They’re pretty good to be honest.  There are days when everyone’s a little hung over and a little grouchy from little sleep but it’s really not that bad.  I wouldn’t call anyone that I work with hard to work with.  Everybody’s pretty cool.  Everyone’s a little older and if something band is happening we can all just talk about it and work through problems.  I just know that if shit ever gets bad we can always work through it and get through it with each other.

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Have you had to break up any fights or go to jail for anyone yet?

[laughs] Oh God now.  Nothing that crazy is going on and I hope it stays like that.  Let me find some wood to knock on [laughs].

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What has been some of the biggest lessons you’ve learned while doing this job?

Well, I feel like a lot of the stuff that I’ve learned I can definitely file away for future transgressions on the road.  Like I said, it’s a learning process and every day seems to have a new lesson for me to learn that I put away for future use.  Something that happened in say Chicago could be something you’ll use when you get to Columbus, Ohio.

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We hear all the time about bands getting stiffed by venues and what not for money.  How do you handle this kind of catastrophe?

Some venues just don’t like to pay up what they say they’re going to pay.  Sometimes you’re dealing with someone on a door deal, which we do not generally do because you get paid so little.  If you’re not doing a major tour and you’re just trying to get back across the country to get home you may have to take these door deals.  You’re getting x amount at the door.  Basic math skills should dictate that if you count how many people are at the show, you can count them and say, “We’re going to get approximately this much.”  Then you talk to the venue or promoter and it’s not the right amount.  They then give you some bullshit excuse about how they had to pay out the other bands and this person and that person.  They just get you by the balls because you’re out of your element because it’s not your bar, not your people and you just have to remedy it the best way you can.

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1060504_10153014222360637_615665069_nSo was there a life lesson to be learned there?

Yeah. Don’t do door deals for anyone in Lincoln, Nebraska.  Maybe that is one of those life lessons there [laughs].  But yeah, things like that can happen when you’re not on a major tour.  When you’re on a major tour with other bands, everything is laid out for you.  When we’re touring to go pick up a tour or to get home after a major tour we’re trying to do our own thing.  Sometimes you just have to deal with stuff like that when it happens.

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How important is it to keep a clear head doing what you do?

It’s very important but it doesn’t always happen.  All those years that I worked in retail I just learned to just take a breath, think the situation over, and just go from there.  If you’re just going to be reactionary it’s not going to work for you.  If you’re a hot head you’re going to just be the guy that nobody wants to deal with.  Nobody wants to deal with someone who yells all the time.

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Is this something you could see doing on a bigger scale like managing other bands?

Certainly.  That would be the big dream for me.  Like right now, Gypsyhawk is on hiatus while they’re recording the new album.  It would be great if enough people knew who I was that someone could call me up and say, “Hey, can you come manage our band on the road for this tour.”  That would be really awesome because at this point, I’m just hanging out in LA and working.

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Is there any particular band that you wish you could get out there and manage for any particular reason?

No, not really.  I mean, obviously I’d love to tour with any band that would have me but I’ve never really thought about a specific band.  I would be more concerned about where we’re going, are the guys going to be a bunch of douchebags, or having to deal with egos for the next six weeks.

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So you wouldn’t go out with Five Finger Death Punch then?

Oh I don’t know.  How do they pay?  They’ve got a tour bus so they must have lots of money [laughs].  Actually, I would never put myself in a shitty situation just for the sake of money.  If I’m not having fun doing this than it’s just going to become a regular job.  Who wants to deal with that when I could easily get a regular 9-5 job at home.

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What kind of prep work do you have to do before setting out on tour?

Once a tour has been finalized I get the routing sheets.  I look at it and try and figure out how much driving between shows we’ll need to do, do we have time to find a place to sleep, do we know someone in town who we can crash with.  Just preparation like that and making some notes.  We don’t get hotels at this point.  I don’t’ have to worry about booking rooms here and there.  We’re still at the point where we’d rather sleep in the van and keep that money.

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Being a tour manager, are you in direct contact with the label/management and if so how do you guys work together to get shit done for the band?

I’m not in contact with the label.  They know who I am but as for management, we totally work together.  They have certain expectations and things that need to happen while they’re on tour like photos at venues so we can update our Instagram.  On our last tour we had an Indie GoGo thing to raise money for a van so we had to meet people at the shows and get them on the list.  Management want’s photos of the events and reports of what happened and how it all went.

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Looking back on your first big run as a tour manager, is there anything you would’ve done differently?

No.  Everything that happens is an experience and that’s how you learn.  However it goes it goes and you just deal with it hoping that it goes correctly [laughs].

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If you had any advice for anyone wanting to go into this kind of work, what would you offer to them?

I would say to just do it.  Go for it and make friends.  If you know a local band in town who’s really awesome go and tell them you want to do stuff for them.  Tell them you’ll do it for free and get your foot in the door.  That’s how I did it.  Opportunities always come from places you don’t expect them to.

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Art, thanks so much for doing this interview brother.  Let’s have a drink when you’re back in the ATL.

The Brainfart & Art Daniels
The Brainfart & Art Daniels

Thanks so much Don. We can’t get back to Atlanta soon enough.  Thanks again and I hope I didn’t blow this one too hard [laughs].

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