Nov. 7, 2025

Drove 10 Hours to a Show That Didn’t Exist

Show Notes
Transcript

In this episode of the Music Business Newsletter with Matthew Rix, I read one of the funniest (and most painfully real) emails I’ve ever gotten from a touring band.
A bassist, van-sleeper, and unofficial band therapist, wrote in about a problem every road warrior has faced:
They drive 8 hours to a gig… unload the gear… walk into the venue… and find out the show’s been canceled.
No text. No call. No warning. Just an empty stage and a crushed dream.
To make matters worse, he admits the band doesn’t do any advancing no contracts, no confirmation emails, just good vibes and Instagram DMs. The result? Door splits that never split and road trips that end in heartbreak and bar food.
In this video, I break down:
-Why this happens (and how to prevent it)
-How to properly advance your shows
-How to protect yourself financially when doing door splits
-The simple steps that make you look professional to promoters
If you’re a band that’s ever shown up to a venue just to find out you’re not playing tonight this episode is for you.
Got a story or question about the music industry?
Go to https://MatthewRix.com and click Submit Your Question, The more details (and chaos) you include, the better!

#MusicIndustry #TourLife #IndependentArtist #LiveMusic #BandLife #BookingTips #MattrixMinute #MatthewRix #ArtistAdvice #VenueBooking #GiggingMusicians #MusicBusiness

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Hey, this is Matthew Ricks and today on the music

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business newsletter, what happens if you get to the venue

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and they canceled the show. That's an email that came in.

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But before we get going, I asked that you like

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leave a comment if you agree or disagree, make sure

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to subscribe to this channel. If you have a question

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on the music industry that you would like for me

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to answer, just go to Matthewricks dot com click submit

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your question. I don't need you to sign up for

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a Patreon. I don't need you to join a book club.

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I don't need you to hire me as a private coach.

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I don't do any of that stuff anyways. Just go

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to Matthew Ricks dot com and click submit your question.

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Now for the email, he says, Hey, Matthew a huge

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fan of the Matrix's minutes. Thank you seriously. Your videos

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make me feel slightly less insane for dedicating my life

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to hauling amps into bars that smell like friar grease

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and broken dreams. That's pretty good one. This is a

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good email. Like this. This guy, we're gonna call him Bob,

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massive band, under energy, massive band, like musician, slept in

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too many truck stop parking lots in his van, like

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massive energy. I'm here for this though, so he says.

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So I play in an indie rock band. We're not

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gonna mention the name. We're gonna protect Edison, just like

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how we name everybody Bob or Sarah. He says, we're

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not famous, but we've been putting in the work, hundreds

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of shows over the years, thousands of miles one van

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that's definitely held together by duct tape and prayer. We

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are road dogs exclamation point. I mean hundreds of shows

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over a couple of years, thousands of miles one van.

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I mean you say your road dogs like you guys

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sound like uh yeah, you sound like you don't you

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don't ever go home. You sound like a You sound

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like a throwback band. Just like we're making thirty bucks

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a night and we're as happy as can be. Good

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for you, guys, he says, here's the problem. Then you

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just keep canceling us when we literally show up to

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load in yikes, he says, like We'll drive six to

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ten hours, roll up sweaty and optimistic, and the bartender

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looks at us like we just asked if they serve

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unicorn meat. Then comes the line, Oh, the show is canceled.

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That's gotta suck. Could you imagine driving ten hours in

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a van with a couple of other boys that you've

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been traveling the country with and you're probably sick of

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them already, because no matter how great the band is

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and all, yeah, we love each other, we're brothers, you

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still get on each other's nerves. And then you get

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there and they tell you the show is canceled. Ugh,

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he says in the email, continues, no warning, no text,

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not even a carrier pigeon, just heartbreak and car snacks.

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And since we mostly do door splits, when the show

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gets canned, we make the same amount we did when

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our drummer set He'll handle the social media. Zero band energy, man,

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this is this is musician energy all day long right here.

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It's okay, So showing up, you're driving ten hours for

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a door split, that's that's crazy. What if nobode shows up?

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What if you make like thirty bucks? I knew bands

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back in the day who had this mindset. They actually

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got signed and went on and they would travel everywhere

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and they make like thirty forty fifty bucks a night.

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And I remember when we were getting ready to sign them.

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I asked to said, how are you guys surviving? This

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doesn't make sense? And they all kind of looked and

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they're like, we got girlfriends who send us money. And

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I was like, and I joked, and I was like

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how many? And they wouldn't answer. But uh, and you know, hey,

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in this line here, since we mostly do door splits

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when the show gets canned, we make the same amount

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we did when our drummer said he'd handle the social

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media zero. Oh man, I got warse stories about something

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in the band's like, oh, you're not doing a good

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enough job social media. I'll take it over. And then

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they just run it into the ground or they don't

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do anything. You know. I'm getting right too. I'm thinking

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about what I need to do. Don't worry, guys, it's

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going to be huge. The email continues, not to be fair,

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we might share some of the blame here. We don't

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really do any advancing. Bruh, bru How do you not

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how do you not advance the show? Hey? Hey, you know, Bob,

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we're gonna be there tomorrow. Are you ready? Are you stuked?

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How do you not advance? He says, no, contracts, no deposits,

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no cus seven confirmation emails. We mostly just lock things

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in over Instagram dms. This is such band energy. I

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can't just stop like from like smirking. This is such

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a band right here. No contracts, no deposits. Typically in

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a band, there is one guy who is lucid enough

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to hand the business on the rut. I don't care

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how small the band is or how big the band is.

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He's typically a bass player or drummer, and he's the

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one who handles the money. Will advance just to make

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sure you guys don't travel ten hours and the show

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gets canceled. No confirmation emails. We mostly just lock things

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in over Instagram dms. That is horrible. I almost think

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at some point you guys are just like, yeah, that's cool,

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let's go to Kansas. Sounds like a good time. I don't.

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I don't think the email says where you guys are from.

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He was like, yeah, we've never been to Kansas. Let's

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go and if there's a show, cool. If there's not,

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we'll send for money back home. But yeah, you gotta stop.

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You gotta stop booking. You got to stop getting confirmation

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for your shows over Instagram dms. You gotta get an email,

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you gotta get a phone number, you have to advance

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the shows. You won't get a deposit because it's a

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door split. No contract. Yeah, you need contracts, but if

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they're not providing anything for you, if they're not providing food, hotel,

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and honorarium, the contract basically says they're going to be open.

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What you want is bartenders or club promoters. It sounds

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like you guys probably play a lot of bars, so

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you want the guy who's booking the local entertainment that

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night for the bar to be really excited and love

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you guys and just love like your attitude and your vibe.

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And he's like telling the bar rats like, oh, Friday night,

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you got to come see this band. These guys are

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really cool. They're a lot of fun. You're not gonna

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get that off of an Instagram DM. And also, you

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don't even know who you're talking to over there, so

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he says, we're basically trusting total strangers with our plans

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in gas money. It's fine, Everything's fine. Uh yeah, I

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mean you don't even know the person you're DM. And

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if they're actually in charge of booking shows, I mean

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it could be the fry guy. You know, come on

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and it sounds great. Guys, Hey, yeah, there's some bands

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supposed to be he an extra. I also wonder how

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far out of advance you guys are doing. I know,

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like in the punk world, you know you're booking shows like, oh,

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we're gonna be in Nashville in seven days, let's try

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to find a venue. I wonder if you guys are

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going with that approach or because that might be too quick.

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But then you guys also could be like booking like

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nine months in advance, and then you have no follow

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up and so when you show up, they're like, oh hey.

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So he says, my question is how do we stop

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getting ghosted by venues advance the show, stop doing business

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over Instagram DM, book it within enough reasonable time if

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it is if it is under a week or smaller

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band like you guys, you don't give me any numbers

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or anything, so someone's gonna ASSUME'M a smaller band. If

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it's under a week or over two months, it's it's

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probably you got to be in that. You got to

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be in that sweet spot window. He says. Do we

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need to start sending contracts out? Yeah? I mean that

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that would be the best thing. Here's the problem. If

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you're playing smaller bars, most of them are not reputable anyways,

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they'll sign a contract and still cancel the show. What

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do they care. But also what you do run into

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with that is I think you guys, you don't give

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me any numbers or anything. You probably are playing smaller

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size bars and maybe they're in royal places. They're not

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gonna sign a contract. So if you advance and you're like, man,

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i've been trying to call this guy for three weeks,

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he's not calling me back. We're not going to wherever

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if I don't hear from this guy by tomorrow, and

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you allow him know that, But I mean I would

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do a contract. I ain't going anywhere without a contract.

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Like I get it. I get you know, offers to

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speak and stuff, and it's like, oh, it sounds great.

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Like my guy's like it sounds great, So it is,

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you know, we'll send you a contract. Because then when

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you get into a certain world, like they don't want

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to pay for a hotel for you, so they're like, oh,

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but he can stay at my house. He seems like

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a cool guy. He seems chill, which I am a

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cool guy. And I am chill. I don't want to

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eat breakfast with you though, So he says, should we

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confirm every show a week out? Yes, and if you

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do not hear from them within a week, you don't go,

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and you let them know. If I don't hear from

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you by tomorrow, we're not coming, he says. Or the

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other option is should we make our guitarist mom start

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calling ahead like it's a field trip. Hey, when MxPx

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was starting out, Mike's my career's mom was doing that

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for them. She was their manager for the longest time,

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and she was calling in advancing like their shows, making

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merch orders. You're trying to be funny here, but you

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can actually get your guitarist mom if she wanted to

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do it. Moms can be very persistent if they have

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to be, he says. We just want to show up,

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plug and play. Now find out the headliner canceled the

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now it's Karayoka. Please tell me, my guy, that's happened.

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I mean, you're bad and you want to show up,

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plug in and play like you don't want to be

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bogged down with logistics of being in a band. How

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dare you? But please tell me the headliner canceled and

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it's and it did turn into Karaokan now when he

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got there. I would love I mean, I would hate

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that for you guys, but that would also be pretty funny.

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He goes out, appreciate any wisdom you can drop, man,

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and if you ever cover this on the matrics minute

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called how to avoid driving six hundred miles to Nowhere,

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we'll take the songwriting credit. All the best, Bob, And

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then his signature says Bassis Van Sleeper, band therapist and

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guy who swears this tour is the one. All right, well, Bob,

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how to avoid driving six hundred miles to nowhere. That's

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pretty good. That's pretty good. We'll come up with some better,

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I think, and maybe I'll maybe I'll still give you

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some songwriting credit on it. This is a very humorous

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email in the light of if I was in your band.

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And do you know there's someone in this band who

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is just absolutely furious that they're showing up at these venues.

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The show is canceled, But it sounds like Bob here,

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who's a bassist, is probably just like, this is cool.

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We get to go to BUCkies, which is a good

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attitude to have when you're being this h careless. So yes,

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if you can get a contract, get a contract. But

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it's hard with a contract if it's a door split,

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and if they're not getting you hotels or providing you

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meals or whatever, it gets a little bit difficult more

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difficult for a contract. And like I said, if you're

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playing rural areas in rural bars, they're not going to

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sign contract. So I think the best thing to do is,

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you know, advance the show a week out. I would send,

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I'd get a phone number. You can't be doing the

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stuff over Instagram DM. You just can't because, like I said,

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you don't know if it's the fry guy, the intern,

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the wife, the kids, you don't know. Come on, dad,

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we got a band plan. I don't know what they're called.

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Because you want to avoid it, might going that route,

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might might take some shows off of your calendar. But

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if these shows are getting canceled when you arrive or

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they don't know you're there, you don't want it on

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your books. Anyways, you guys are I mean to drive

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ten hours in a van. There's a lot of money,

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So yeah, I would, I would start doing advancing. I mean,

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bars and clubs are notoriously pissed poor communicators, and you

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will be put in a situation where you're not gonna

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hear from anybody, and you're gonna tell them like, if

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I'm hear back from me in twenty four hours, we're

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gonna cancel. And then you'll still not hear from them,

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And then you need to cancel because if you show

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up and it's canceled after you've called them and everything

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and they never called you back, and you get there

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and it's canceled, you got to no one to blame

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about yourself. But thanks for the email. This was very humorous.

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And if you want to be like bobbin is Van

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Sleeping banned, just go to and have a question for

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me on the music industret Just go to Matthew Ricks

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dot com, click submit your question, give you as many

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details as possible, and until next time I will talk

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to you. Life