Sour Note: Bands struggle to go on tour

Rob Denty can work a calculator, but he's no mathematician -- he's a jazz saxophonist and bandleader. Still, no matter how he crunched tour expenses, he couldn't find a way for his band, The Rob Denty Trio from Chicago, to tour all summer as planned with the price of gas skyrocketing.

It was a losing proposition -- far more than usual, Denty said, laughing.

"Clubs are going down, and the price of gas keeps going up -- it's $4.50 a gallon here," Denty said, speaking last week from Chicago. "You don't have to be a math whiz to figure out it's not workable.

"Even traveling for a small jazz band such as ours -- remember, for most people, the word ‘jazz' means ‘stay home and rent a movie' -- is nearly impossible without making sacrifices."

For the Denty Trio -- which will perform tonight at Speakeasy Jazz in downtown Winston-Salem -- the sacrifices included parking its van and cramming members and equipment into a Chevy Malibu to play just four cities (Winston-Salem is the second stop) before cutting its losses in Georgia. "What started out as a long tour to promote Round and Round, a new CD, ended up being a jaunt to see my parents in Georgia," Denty said. "Maybe I can borrow some gas money from them so we can get back home.

Ten years ago, a thriving club scene made it possible for an industrious band to tour the country and stay afloat by sleeping on floors, eating less and selling merchandise.

But this year's economic dive is hitting musicians hard on all levels. Clubs are closing as disposable income disappears. "When times are bad, culture is suddenly not as important," Denty said. "It's time for everybody to think outside the box. For musicians, it's time to learn how to siphon gas."

Jay Stephens, the former owner of Ziggy's and a local promoter, is sitting back, waiting it out. "I had a bad spring with some shows, and I know that all mid-level promoters are starting to feel the effects of the times. Bands are complaining about not having enough money to keep moving. They are going to be doing shorter tours, hitting only major markets -- and Winston-Salem is not a major market."

Mitch Easter, a local musician, producer and the owner of a recording studio, has toured through the years as the leader of a successful international recording band (Let's Active), a hired-gun guitar player and, more recently, as the leader of his band and as a member of his wife's band, Shalini.

"There is no doubt that the cost of fuel has made things far more difficult," he said. "I bought a diesel van a few years ago, and it cost us $80 to go to Orlando, which was really incredible. Recently, we spent nearly that much going to Raleigh and back. And it's tough to get a decent place to stay for under $100 -- and that's still weighing your chances of getting murdered in your sleep.

"Making money touring isn't an option. This just makes me look at what I can stand to lose out of pocket. Years from now, bands will look at this period and tell war stories of what they did to survive. Personally, I'm not that into adversity. I'd like to see things move along."

Gas prices are also making it tough on such solo singer-songwriters as Bruce Piephoff of Greensboro, who has been a fixture in the Triad and beyond for 40 years. "Even as long as I've been performing, I'm lucky anybody comes out," he said. "I should tour more than I do, but it's really hard to break even.

"I recently played a gig near Asheville, and gas was about $70 there and back. It's kinda like the Wild West for people trying to tour."

The expense of moving an arena-level band is equally tough, said Jim Brammer, the owner of Special Event Services in Winston-Salem. Brammer's company provides trucks to accompany major touring bands, and until recently provided tour buses.

He just had eight trucks return from a short tour with Lynyryd Skynyrd and Hank Williams Jr. -- a tour that saw the total fuel costs for the semitrucks run $10,000 a week over budget.

The tour also had eight buses on the road.

The fuel to keep each bus on the road was about $1,000 a day, based on an estimate of $6 (to compensate for fluctuations around the country) a gallon for diesel fuel.

"There is no doubt that gas prices are hurting everyone," Brammer said. "The trick is to keep passing the expense on down the line. As long as you can keep moving, you're good."

■ Ed Bumgardner can be reached at 727-7365 or ebumgardner@wsjournal.com.