A day in the life of a rock star

commentary
www.brainerddispatch.com
& opinion
Monday, July 1, 2013
7A
A day in the life of a rock star
show, and how much their
music means to them.
By PHIL SEIBEL
phil.seibel@
brainerddispatch.com
M
usic fans often wish
they could trade
places with their
musical heroes, experience
what they get to live each day.
Usually this is accompanied
by a fantasized rendition of
what that life might be like.
This past weekend, however,
I was able to experience that
life first hand by spending a
day with the rock band Great
White. Known for their hits,
“Once Bitten, Twice Shy”
and “Rock Me”, among others, they have toured across
multiple continents and
more than 30 countries in
their 30-year career. During
my day with them I discovered how insanely awesome
it is and I was also pleasantly
surprised to learn what really
goes on behind the scenes
with these world-renowned
rockers. Check it out as I
walk you through a “Day in
The Life of a Rock Star” — or
in this case, five of them.
SATURDAY
■ 8 a.m. — The band
loads up on their tour van
with their equipment; they
flew into MSP Airport last
night. They travel relatively
light as their stage equipment was shipped ahead of
them. During the three hours
to Brainerd they rest and review information about the
show that night and their
upcoming dates on the West
Coast.
■ 11 a.m. — The band arrives in Brainerd where they
check into The Arrowwood
Lodge in Brainerd, the official hotel of Lakes Jam.
■ 11:15 a.m. — I get
a chance to sit down with
the band, which consists of:
Mark Kendall on lead guitar,
Michael Lardie on guitars
and keyboard, Audie Desbrow on drums, Scott Snyder
on bass and dynamic front
man Terry Ilous. We spend
about 30 minutes chatting about what it’s like to
be world famous rock stars
and also about their music.
Check the Dispatch later this
week for the full interview!
■ 11:35 a.m. — Great
White hosts a “Grab a Bite
with Great White” lunch
often for fans in the cities
they are in. Four lucky winners from the Brainerd area
were selected and arrived to
hear a little of my interview
with the band and then have
lunch.
Phil Seibel • [email protected]
Gallery
BD Photo
brainerddispatch.com
Great White performing at Lakes Jam Saturday at Brainerd International Raceway.
■ 1:15 p.m. — We hustle
out of the hotel so we can get
out to the Lakes Jam event
area so the band can get
unloaded. Once they arrive
they are ushered to an area
just behind the stage where
there is an RV they can use
for a green room (that’s a prep
room for us non-performers).
As they are getting their gear
unloaded I can’t help but notice that the items they’ve requested for their green room
are (surprisingly?) healthy
— Powerade, fruits and
cheese, light snacks, lots of
bottled water and Diet Coke.
Scott, their bassist, says that
they need to be on the top
of their game when performing because the fans have
paid good money to come
to the shows and they want
to deliver a top notch performance for them.
■ 1:30 p.m. — The Lakes
Jam crew prepared for the
full lineup of artists and instructed their crew well. As
the band sets up the Lakes
Jam crew is on the ball helping move heavy equipment,
gathering cables and cords
and helping out in any way
needed. The band, along
with their stage manager,
Matt, show their experience
as they unload their gear and
set-up within minutes. Michael (guitar and keyboard)
also has decades of experience in sound engineering
and producing, so he also
checks in with the festival
sound techs and works out
some of the details for their
set.
■ 2-4 p.m. — A rare
time for the band — down
time. Michael chats with me
R E A D E R
O P I N I O N
From Page 6A
above questions.
stands on these cover ups and Richard Wray
what, if anything, she and her Tower
Senate colleagues are doing
about them. I urge you and
your newspaper to publish
my letter and join me by publicly encouraging Sen. Klobuchar to publicly announce
her position on the Bengahzi
and IRS cover ups.
We citizens completely
depend upon the press to
keep our senators and representatives accountable. All
Minnesota voters want and
deserve detailed answers
from Sen. Klobuchar to the
about their schedule, saying they are on the road so
much — the bulk of their
tour dates fall from May to
October — and when they
aren’t touring they are usually working on details for
upcoming shows, doing interviews and promoting the
band. The band is one of the
most active out there, giving
over 200 interviews recently,
and sometimes only getting
a couple hours of sleep between shows, travel and set
up. They each go their own
way, some checking out the
other acts, others heading
back to the hotel for a power
nap and some just hanging
around enjoying the nice
day. Audie, the drummer,
spent a little time chatting
with one of the techs from
REO Speedwagon about
their drummer’s set up, just
one more example of how
these guys know there is always something new they
can try.
■ 5:15 p.m. — A meet
and greet has been arranged
and the band heads off to the
tent just behind the stage.
After meeting with the press
and answering a couple
questions they meet with
some of the VIP fans and
contest winners that get to
meet the band.
■ 5:45 p.m. — Sound
check time, and for the first
time I see the band with their
game faces on. I watch each
member check his equipment one last time with help
from the crew to get their
audio levels and signals as
close to perfect as they can
before they go live. It’s an
added treat for the audience
as this is not a closed set and
the crowd gets front row seats
to see how professional musicians prepare for the show.
Even with the seriousness of
making sure everything is
technically sound, you can
still see how much they enjoy every minute leading up
to the performance. They
poke some jokes at each other and Mark gives me a little
rock star wave and a smile
as he coolly sips on his Diet
Coke. Michael works with
the sound techs as they set
mic levels with Scott, Audie
and Matt running instruments through check. Terry
is off in the wings getting
mentally prepared to deliver
his trademark high energy
performance to the waiting
fans.
■ 6 p.m. — Showtime!
Following a brief intro from
Danny and Mac from BL
Broadcasting, the band
slams into their opening
number with the full force of
a Great White, obviously just
as much an attitude as it is
a namesake. For the next 90
minutes the fans are treated to
a performance that I can only
describe as mind-blowingly
fantastic. The band shows
they still have the chops after all these years touring, as
they move from song to song.
Terry flies around the stage
interacting with the other
band members and playing
to the crowd — at one point
borrowing a lucky concertgoer’s cellphone and snapping some pictures with it of
the band performing and of
the crowd. Audie hammers
relentlessly on his drum kit,
putting the driving beat out
to the crowd. Scott shows
his talent on his Spector
five-string, delivering a fluid
low end. Michael is right at
home on the keys and guitar,
sprinting from side to side of
the stage at times. He even
takes a moment during one
of the songs to take a picture
of some of the stage hands
watching the show from
backstage. Mark, the quintessential guitarist, lays down
solos that showcase the blues
rock that Great White strives
for. His tone reminds me of
old school Clapton (Cream
era), or Ritchie Blackmore
(Deep Purple), who Mark
confessed are influences
of his. Still, Great White’s
sound is unique, a product
of working with the band for
years and creating a sound
all their own. They play for
the crowd perfectly, blending numbers from their new
album, like “(I’ve got) Some-
thing for You”, along with
the songs that helped them
climb to the top like “Rock
Me” and “Mistabone”. They
close out the set with “Once
Bitten, Twice Shy,” a crowd
favorite, with Terry enticing
the crowd to sing along and
at the last minute taking the
camera for the Jumbotron
and giving the audience a
firsthand view from the stage
and closing out their set with
a huge finale that leaves the
fans screaming for more.
They exit the stage with
Audie throwing his drumsticks to the crowds, and Michael, Mark and Scott throwing guitar picks. Terry leans
back to toss the mic to the
waiting fans, but at the last
minute stops himself, gives
the crowd a sly wink and
throws them a kiss instead.
The 90 minutes flew by and
it seemed that they should
still play on but I suppose
that’s indicative of a great
show, it feels like it’s over too
soon. Great White, mission
accomplished — you rocked
our socks off.
■ 7:45 p.m. — The Lakes
Jam crew shows that they
are still ready for everything
as they help tear down Great
White’s gear and start getting set up for Night Ranger.
As their gear gets loaded
the band takes a minute to
refresh in their RV and then
they are off to the Merchandise Tent to meet their fans.
■ 8 p.m. — The band
walks through the VIP area
towards the merch tent to
accolades like “Great show
man!” and “Great White
rocks!” These comments are
met with heartfelt thanks
from the band and they take
the time to shake hands or
high-five all their fans. Once
they get to the erch tent there
is already a line out the door
and the band hustles in to
make sure that everyone
there gets an autograph and
a photo. The fans in line love
Great White and the band
loves them. I hear comments
from many of the fans that
they have seen them before
and they still put on a great
■ 8:30 p.m. — With all of
the official business done for
the day, I chat with the band
about their final comments
on Lakes Jam, their performance and what it means to
have their fan base. Every single band member expressed
great gratitude for their fans,
with the common denominator being “It’s about the fans,
man.” Michael said, “Minnesotans know how to rock!
They understand blues rock
and roll, it’s their bread and
butter, and they always rock
really hard.” Terry summed
up his thoughts of how much
these performances mean
with, “As long as you enjoy
it, do it. The crew was amazing and it was a great time.”
Audie and Scott echoed
his comments saying, “Fun
equals the reaction of the
fans” and “If the crowd loves
it, I’m happy!” Mark offered
his final thoughts with, “It’s
awesome being able to get
out and mingle with the
fans. I was really impressed
with the production (Lakes
Jam), for a first year event it
went really well, with great
acts and I am seeing a good
future for it.”
■ 9 p.m. — The band
finishes getting changed
and grabs a bite to eat with
the freshly replenished fruit
and cheese. They then meander backstage to watch
Night Ranger, who they have
toured with extensively in the
past, to show their support.
They hang around watching Night Ranger and REO
Speedwagon, another band
they admire, and eventually
head back to the Arrowwood
Lodge for the night. They tell
me they are taking full advantage of a full night’s sleep
and they are going to enjoy
it.
Sunday
■ 10 a.m. — The band
loads up and starts the drive
back to the Twin Cities, this
is a comparatively light travel week they tell me with
it only being 13 hours one
way. Normally they have
two to three days like that
each week during their touring season, so this is relatively easy.
Thanks, Great White, you
came, you saw, you rocked.
PHIL SEIBEL, vice president of revenue development, may be reached
at 855-5862 or [email protected].