How To Become A Roadie

What Do Roadies Do?

While many people may think of roadies as large, hairy men who carry heavy objects for touring rock bands, this is often far from the truth.

In fact, roadies (short for ‘road crew’) can have a wide range of responsibilities. As well as those that take care of the lifting and moving, others may specialise in looking after musical equipment, setting up lights, the sound system or even pyrotechnics. Others still may serve as security personnel or bodyguards, stage managers, catering professionals or merchandise vendors.

How to Become a Roadie

Road crew no longer tend to be unskilled but enthusiastic chancers. Rather, the average roadie is a skilled professional offering something unique to a tour or production, As such, the best way of becoming a roadie is to develop such a specialism and then try and get into the business this way.

Offer a Skill

It’s highly likely you’ll know from the start what area you want to specialise in. It could be lighting, stage management, guitar or drum repair and maintenance or logistics. Whatever it is, make yourself an expert in this specialist skill. Consider taking a part-time qualification. For example, many colleges offer courses in stage management or audio engineering and a suitable qualification could help you stand out from the crowd.

That said, it’s also a good idea to have a broad range of skills and abilities as you never know when these might be in demand on the road. A good technical knowledge of common musical instruments is likely to prove useful, while additional abilities such as a foreign language, a good head for numbers or a driving licence may also help improve your chances of landing a job.

Get Experience

Alongside your skills, you will also need some solid experience of working as a roadie. Almost without exception, this will mean starting out small. So, look for a local, up-and-coming band and offer your services to them, even if you have to do so for free for a few weeks of months. This will give you invaluable experience of working on a real tour, while it will, hopefully, also provide you with good references and a few new contacts, while it may also be a useful way of finding out if life as a roadie is for you.

Alternatively, look into putting your skills into use at a local theatre. Again, this will give you the practical experience prospective employers will be looking for.

Use Your Initiative

As with nearly every other line of work, it is possible to find road crew jobs online. For instance, you could try posting your name and profile on sites such as RoadieJobs.com or applying to some of the larger concert production companies.

However, you should also be prepared to use your initiative. After all, being a roadie is not a job for a shrinking violet and many positions are filled by word of mouth. So, it pays to make the most of the contacts you make from each and every job. Don’t be afraid to be pushy and make sure you get known as an enthusiastic, passionate professional with a specialist skill to offer.

Benefits of Being a Roadie

Roadie jobs aren’t usually well paid, though top tour managers and specialists can earn very good money indeed. However, the perks and the experience is what attracts most people to the job. The excitement of going on the road with the next big band, getting a glimpse of what it’s like to be famous and getting that little bit closer to the music business is the real draw. Additionally, there are numerous examples of roadies being asked to join the bands they are touring with, with Lemmy from Motorhead and Noel Gallagher among the most famous names to have made the switch from being the help to being the star.

Potential Downsides to Being a Roadie

As well as the low pay at the bottom end of the road crew spectrum, this line of work can also be physically, mentally and emotionally challenging. Being away from home for long periods of time is the norm rather than the exception, while roadies are also required to work to strict deadlines, meaning the work is often far from stress-free.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that, unless you reach the very top of the road crew chain, you will probably not be able to pick and choose jobs. So, while you may have dreams of joining a rock tour across America, you may well have to settle for working on a teen boyband tour of provincial UK towns.

Further Reading

Post your profile and search for road crew positions here.

Brush up your resume with our top CV tips.

Read our guide to these top music venues form a hit list of places you might gain experience.