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"There's a lot more to tour managing than a live gig..."
Teresa Armitage has worked with some of the world’s biggest bands, from Iron Maiden to Westlife. She is a sought after tour manager (TM) who has worked at every level from pub gigs to arenas, organising bands with their own private jets and entourage to the Pop Idol (UK and USA) live tours.
She remembers at a young age being given tour books for the David Bowie Serious Moonlight tour and The Jam. “I was always into music but I didn’t even know these jobs existed… and I thought "oh my god people get paid for this, that’s what I want to do!’” - and she did.
Being born in Liverpool after the 60’s when it was no longer the hub of all things musical she made the decision to move to London. She got a job as a hotel receptionist “because it had free accommodation” and scoured the job ads daily. It paid off: she found a job advertised in the Evening Standard, - a new artist management company looking for an office manager/ PA, and landed her first job in the industry. As luck would have it ...
...this management company’s only two acts were Curiosity Killed The Cat and T’Pau, both of whom had just signed record deals and went on to become major selling artists within her first year of working in the business, so she learnt hard and fast.
Teresa went on to work with uber-guitarist Jeff Beck running his office for around a year whilst he was on tour. “It was great experience but I was literally on my own all day and if you’re quite chatty like me it’s a bit of a killer! A friend of mine told me Maiden were looking for someone and I went along to see a guy called Dick Bell who is their live production guy (and has been since 1982). We just got on and I got the job!”
She started off as a production assistant helping Dick set up the tours and then started looking after Maiden on a day-to-day basis. As Sanctuary had lots of artists she set up a dedicated in-house artist production department and with the help of two assistants handled everything to do with the artists. “We set up systems that made our life easier and ensured we got the best deals from all the suppliers on every tour - basically what many production companies do now”.
It was during her time with Iron Maiden that Teresa met her husband to be, John Armitage, aka Deptford, who was one of their guitar techs at the time. They were married a year later. As well as being a much in-demand guitar tech John also runs his own Guitar Hospital and is featured on our site here…. Whilst both are leading lights in the inner circle of the touring world, Teresa is mostly definitely the boss when they happen to be touring together, by both their admissions!
Teresa has not stopped working since her first days with T’Pau and Curiosity Killed The Cat and has since worked with numerous multi platinum selling artists and industry luminaries from the Rolling Stones at Giant Stadium NYC with Keith Kevan (Woodstock’s original stage manager), to Stuart Young (ACDC & The Scorpions management), S Club 7 Live shows and led three years of Pop Idol tours, on both sides of the Atlantic for Simon Fuller/19 Management. She’s also been Westlife’s tour manager for the last 4 years. “I resigned in January this year after I realised I hadn’t had a day off in 3 years and needed a break”
Asked if she felt there were any advantages to being a woman on tour she replied, “well, women are just better at looking after people I think, they are more organised and have the ability to multi task and are generally more patient than men, so yes there are advantages to being a woman. “
“I have never played the helpless female. When you are in charge that just doesn’t work, you have to show you are in charge to command respect”. Asked if people ever try to take advantage of her being of the fairer sex she replied “only the idiots, and they only ever try it once! It is more to do with your attitude than other people’s, that’s my thinking, so people will only take advantage if you let them… there is always one dickhead though, you just have to put them in their place firmly and quickly”.
Nowadays she feels people who have done a course(s) are definitely in a better position to get themselves a job.
Starting out….
“When I started out there weren’t any courses…you just had to learn on the job. I get people offering to work with me for free all the time but half the time its more hassle than it’s worth because they know nothing and I haven’t got the time to be a teacher as well….the job is so busy. If it came to a choice between someone who had taken a course and who hadn’t I would pick the person who’d taken the course …. at least they’ve learnt the basics. The industry has changed, there is so much health and safety, so I think any kind of advance information or training you can do is going to put you to the top of the queue.
On asked how to get in the business;
“To get in the business you’ve got to be pro-active, in trying to get yourself work. You’re not going to see these jobs in a job centre or in a newspaper, its all word of mouth. Someone’s looking for say, a lighting guy and they’ll ask around. Someone will say I know someone on the last tour and they did a really good job, give them a ring. Be enthusiastic, make a good impression. Yeah you’ve done a course but you can’t just sit back and expect something to happen… Look in Music Week, do job searches, get a White Book and write to all the management companies, go to gigs, get known, that’s what I did”
What’s involved….
“There is a lot more to tour managing than a live gig. Everything the band does you have to arrange….I don’t think people are aware of that…. If you are with an established band it encompasses a whole array of stuff from recording, meeting producers and songwriters. Then there’s all the promotion, the photo shoots, the radio and tv shows, the meet and greet with sponsors (if they have them), competition winners and charities…no good deed goes unpunished … and then they write a book, and guess what?- you have to arrange stuff round that too! Every band’s set up is slighty different but the TM represents the band, will speak on behalf of the band and will travel with the band. ”
What is vital for a TM on the road?
“Your phone book, having contacts everywhere, in every city, having contacts in the airlines, nightclubs, airports, car companies, you need so many things from all these people for your life to run smoothly at a high level you need to have all these people’s numbers at hand….”
So start your contact book…..
How do you deal with groupies?
“I don’t really, I get the security to deal with it. With Iron Maiden I used to get blokes chatting me up to meet the band but with boy bands the girls don’t bother with me so it’s not a problem…for me anyway. .If you’re going to a nightclub I would call ahead and get a space sectioned off with security.”
And lastly we asked about the pay…..
“Pay ranges from around £150 to £500 per day depending on the band’s status and budget. Bands just starting out anything from zero up!”
What do you do when you are not on tour? “My laundry, open a 3ft pile of post, catch up with my friends and get drunk!”
A BIG thank you from all at FTTS to Teresa Armitage
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