Dave Rat - Roadies in the Midst

I love Canada! I love the large clean open spaces, I love the friendly warm natured feel that seems to radiate from the nearly all that I meet here. I love the laid back attitude towards life and I do not love the border crossing. We used to joke that getting into Russia is easier than driving north over the border. But it is no joke. There are few countries more difficult to enter for a US citizen on the planet earth than the homeland of our close and friendly Canadian brothers. I have spent many a 4 am morning shivering in a parking lot as our bags are rifled through as they give their pet drug puppies a private tour of our bus. I think next time I will hide little dog treats in various locations just for fun.

Canadian border patrol has has developed a two part plan for effective border control:

1) If a person has done anything wrong ever, make them wait as long as possible and try and make them pay as much money as possible to get into the country. With bus full of traveling nuns, this may not be an issue but shocking as it may be, many roadies and musicians often do not have perfect pasts. Be that as it may, any violation such as a misdemeanor traffic citation or DUI could mean a 4 hour wait or even denial into the country.

2) Regardless of how many times you have been allowed into Canada before, always start from scratch at the last minute while the person is at the border and offer no method of allowing people to pre apply or effectively prepare. I heard that on The Warped tour traveling with 20 or more busses, they called ahead to the Canadian border well in advance "we will be arriving with several hundred people late at night," provided the time, the names, the passports and everything. So arriving at the crossing to find two graveyard border officials on duty and fully prepared to start processing the roadies one by one, from scratch, of course fits right in with the Canadian immigration strategy.

There also is and added bonus of keeping the anticipation level up by letting whomever is on duty at the time have total discretion over the misery level of the border-crosser involved. Fortunately, I am not one of the humans that got harassed, unfortunately the border antics effect us all. Though I personally do not partake, the whole thing is especially amusing when you realize that preventing someone from bringing drugs into Canada from the US is about as ingenuous as setting up checkpoints to stop people from bringing sand to the beach.

All that said, now that I have made it into Fort Canada, I remember why it is so heavily protected, it is truly beautiful here and maybe the underlying plan of preventing Americans from coming over has some merit.

The appreciative of many lands,

Dave Rat

IWTYTYYDLFP!

Not only was my dad at the show yesterday, so were my daughters as well. Family day and since their mom works for Pearl Jam and is currently on tour as well, the little people have been parentless for a bit. The good part is is that they are well cared for, safe and happy and the downside is that the two tours are awkwardly and consistently overlapping and putting them for longer periods without either parent in town. Regardless, what it means right now is that I step into full time dad mode instantly which is all good. Unfortunately though, I live too way far away from where they go to school so after the weekend I say bye-bye to my home and move up to their mom's place for the break, good thing my bags are already packed.

At this point tour has pretty much become the norm and getting back to home feels more like just an extended set of days off. Time to play catch up until get ready to leave time comes around.

As far as touring schedules go, this is one of the best in my opinion. Three weeks on and two weeks off is the rough pattern we follow. Many if not most bands will do six weeks as a typical segment length with ten weeks out not being too uncommon. My first tours was four months long and in the pre cell phone era, pre internet era, a four month tour meant total and complete disconnection from the other world. At the peak of my touring I was doing sound or PA tech for three bands with interwoven tours flying directly from one to the next. I used to try and call home when I had someone I wanted to talk to in my life but it was pretty easy to spend 1/2 the tour pay on calling cards and hotel phone charges. The largest hotel phone bill I saw was $ 1200. One of the guys had used a hotel phone to talk for a few hours to his gal from Europe. It happens to most new touring humans at least once. That hotel phone just looks so tempting sitting by the bed, so easy, how bad could it be? I have paid the bill of shame myself but where and how much I have long ago forgotten. There was even a "mail day" because our schedule kept changing, as did our hotels and the cities we though we were going to. So any mail was sent to the management and they would then forward it to certain cities. Motion meant disconnecting and that disconnection is both the best and worst part of touring.

In it's purest form disconnection can be one of the most invigorating and wondrous experiences imaginable. Completely letting go of everything. No bills to pay, no car to register, no set schedule to follow. Each day is just a simple set of instructions to follow cryptically written in a the book of life called the itinerary. Lobby at 8 am, eat, set up gear, eat, tear down gear, shower, eat, sleep in bus, wake up, repeat. Each day someone paints a different picture of the world outside the bus and makes it a bit hotter, colder or wetter. Each day the gear comes out of the trucks and each day your focus slips farther down from the horizon to seeing only that which immediately is at hand. It is at that point where living distinctly in the moment is all that matters where the sensation of true freedom solidifies. That sensation is the essence of what I believe is the allure and magnetism of choosing a life on the road.

The price paid for disconnection is that when the tour ends and reality is crushingly dropped back into your lap, you have no where to stay, all your worldly belongings are scattered in various garages, the battery is dead in your unregistered car. Motionless is depressing. New cities and music and crowds of excited humans all gone. I used to dig through all my stuff stored at home and rediscover things I tucked away and forgot. Drive somewhere, I guess, eat food and begin to miss the endless string of adventures that had presented themselves daily. Instead I sit with four walls waiting for the phone to ring and take me away from motionless stagnation.

After about 16 years of touring and around 5 years ago, I made the conscience decision to try to learn how to be a normal human and try and adapt to a more normal life. I wanted to learn how to not to travel and also to be happy at the same time.

The enjoying my time off,

Dave Rat

OSMCITBRAPMWIDNLHC!

**** Begin Pondering Rambling ****

It is so strange, this place used to be so huge. I remember the way it felt in the sheer awe of being herded through the various sections to my seat 29 years ago more clearly than the events themselves. Loge 21 if my memory serves me, just off the floor on the left side, maybe row K? I remember how insanely excited I was in that sensory overload awaiting the big rock show and savoring every nuance. Flipping between being wrapped in the music and making mental notes of things to tell my friends that I wanted to remember. Jimmy Page playing Dazed and Confused with the violin bow and then there was and that spinning laser cone. It like totally surrounded him and was a just a single green beam at first. It started waving into a triangle and three more triangles sliced down forming a pyramid of green eerie light that began to spin around him into a glowing cone as he hammered away at the strings. And finally the blinding green dot of the laser hitting his bow he swung in a circle around his head brought the entire audience on top of their seat again to be put down by security.

If there is one clear sacrifice I made by entering the music industry as a way of life, I would have to say it is the dilution of exactly that anticipation and thrill. I realized as it happened. Slowly my perception of bands and enjoyment of their music began to weigh heavier as the lines blurred between rock-show and job-site. Where I used to enjoy listening purely to the songs created, I found myself equally concerned with the 'whom' I was listening to. As I worked with more artists I found it increasingly difficult to enjoy the music created by knuckle heads. Or worse yet, listening to the music of a sonic-monopolizing ego-maniacal artistic dictator surrounded by minions as I have met quite a few, became nearly unbearable. So I graciously avoid those entities both musically and professionally.

As a replacement for what I have lost, I have found something enjoyably unexpected. That exuberance has somehow developed into an awareness. Just as the less than enjoyable humans devalued their own music in my ears, being exposed to inspirational and intriguing humans elevates my taste for much that I had previously overlooked and now with that clearer insight I have an added enjoyment of their sonic creations.

*** End Pondering Rambling ****

Today my dad came to the rock show. Today I gave my dad his first full tour of what goes on at a large concert and for the first time my dad actually watched a rock show and for the first time I actually think he truly grasped what it is that I do. He is not much of a music guy, best I can remember hearing from him was some recordings of 3 old guys playing recorders (wooden flutes) and a few classical albums he never listened to. Also I am relatively confident that he was not too thrilled to have me huddled in the corner of his living room for hours and hours on end, headphones blasting. I started with a used Beach Boys live album and quickly ramped up to Pink Floyd, Sabbath and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young with the help of a friend named Raggs who lived down the alley. I am pretty sure that career choice was not quite what he had envisioned but none the less, today my dad came to the rock show. And the best part is that he liked it.

**** Highlight of the Day ****

Watching my dad fully immersed and focused in watching the Red Hot Chili Peppers grand finally encore jam.

**** End Highlight of the Day ****

Oh, and he definitely enjoyed it a bit more than his very first rock show and though he has bragging rights to say he actually saw Black Flag in 1985, I do not think he fully appreciated the significance. My mom on the other hand, well she think that Henry Rollins guy is cute and once showed up at a 45 Grave/Channel 3/Godhead show with a birthday cake for me. Imagine my joy of having mom running around at a punk rock show with a pink birthday cake and candles, singing away. Like many things in life, it often takes time to fully appreciate.

And so concludes US tour leg #1.

The looking forward to home,

Dave Rat

BBLWWAMTY!

Not only is this the first of two shows at the Los Angeles Forum and no question about it, we are surrounded by friends and the feeling of festivities abound but it is also the centennial day since tour started! One hundred days of pure road joy and even roadie Bill Rahmy has joined the occasion and helped spread much cheeriness.:

Though no one but me actually realizes that we have hit the 100 mark and the balloons are totally unrelated, it still makes for a party like feel and speaking of feel, how about that mixing the show with an outdoorsy feel:

And an awesome ending to a great show:

**** Begin Sound Nerd Speak ****

Back in 1974 the Grateful Dead put together what was easily the most unique, experimental and possibly most complex sound system ever configured for live sound reinforcement in that era. This system was named the "Wall of Sound" and was a complete divergence from conventional sound reinforcement thinking. There were two key concepts combined together resulting in a very interesting outcome:

1) Because PA systems of the day were stacked on either side of the stage and often blocked audience sight lines, they designed a sound system that was placed behind the band and acted as both the PA system, their instrument amps and as their monitor system (way for the band to hear themselves).

2) They found that when all the various instruments and vocals were mixed together into the PA speakers the sound was less clear than when each instrument was amplified separately. To deal with this, they actually designed and used a separate sound system for each instrument and another sound system for the vocals totaling six PA systems!

While a giant step in forward thinking was made, it was not without issues. Having the sound system directly behind that band meant the speakers are pointed straight into the mics. Also, the sheer complexity and magnitude of the setup greatly limited the venues that it could be implemented and the fact that the sound system became the entire stage backdrop relegated it to become a niche concept that possibly could only be used by its creators and equally unique Grateful Dead.

And as you can see, it did not make for the cleanest stage set:

Just to provide some contrast, here is a cool old picture of The Rolling Stone stage setup with the PA located behind the lips scrim:

Even with it's awkwardness, the concept of the Wall of Sound was so intriguing that I had to try it and understand it. I finally got that opportunity in 1986 while touring with Black Flag when, after some persuading, Davo and I talked the band into letting us set up the Rat PA in a mini Wall of Sound configuration:

Since I had designed and Rat Sound had built Black Flag's guitar and bass cabinets exactly the same dimensions as the Rat PA, the system fit together really well. On the upside, the system was incredibly clear sounding while on the downside, it sounded a bit distant and the sound bleeding into the mics was cumbersome enough not to continue with that setup. The most important thing is that I learned enough to set my sights on someday resolving the issues.

Twenty years later, through a round about way I have come full circle. My testing in designing the MicroWedge series has clarified my understanding and goals. The evolution of sound systems from giant globs of speakers to finesse full narrow line-arrays created the opportunity to cover large venues with multiple systems utilizing minimal space. The entire Wall of Sound was 26,000 watts, current systems run at ten times that power and are a fraction of the size. Plus we now have the capability of effectively predicting the sonic coverage in a venue based on room dimensions. What this means is that with today's sound system technology, multiple sound systems can be hung conventionally to either side of the band rather than stacked behind them without blocking sight lines creating an inconspicuous yet effective implementation of the concept:

Initially I considered proposing a triple system rather than the dual system Peppers are currently touring with. The triple would have been three separate stereo sound systems, one for guitar, one for bass and one for vocals with drums interspersed into the three. To test the concept, I purchased three small home Hi-Fi systems and roadie Ethan and I built a small simulator in my living room. With a pro tools system and live Peppers multi track recordings from last tour, I was able to try out different combinations and test the effectiveness of the setup. I found that the most noticeable improvement occurred when going from one system to two and adding the third was more subtle.

So here we are today, at a home town gig and amidst all the excitement, my heart secretly pounds and I smile as long ago dreams become real. Here in the place where I saw my first rock concert ever, hanging from the ceiling in front of my eyes is the first touring and practical application of multiple systems on a arena scale. A refined and usable version of what the Grateful Dead had started, a grand scale application of what I learned from so many years and this is the PA that Rat built.

**** End Sound Nerd Speak ****

The still pinching myself,

Dave Rat

SFAYDINLTTIDMR!

Woke up at a gas station near Magic Mountain, when I was shorter I would have been bouncing of the walls seeing the huge wooden roller coaster. No such luck this morning though as we are dumping roadie Dave Lee and roadie Daniel off before heading into to town. All of the out of town roadies and some in towners, with no reason to go home, are staying at the hotel in Marina del Rey. The rest of us will make our various ways home. It says two days off in the itinerary but if you interpret that it means drive day and pre-rig day where a bunch of roadies go load in a day early, fortunately I have been immunized against pre-rig-itus so I get to stay home.

First order of business, swim. Then clean up the splattering I left the house in. My friend Andy has been staying here on and off and we get caught up on the happenings. He arrived two weeks after I left and it has been mega hot here. He was especially curious as to whether I still wanted the chinese food that I left in the microwave before leaving on tour. I guess It took him quite a while to discover the source of the less than pleasant new house odor.

Fixing the house AC (again) was not so bad. This time it was just water leaking out all over the garage floor from a little pump and once I got inside the little thing reglueing the impeller back to the shaft was pretty easy.

And with that being as interesting as I got for these two days, how about rewinding back to a decade onto Rage Against the Machine tour and here is a picture of Matt, myself and Tom Morello in business suits after visiting the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange

And that was the first and only time I saw Tom in a suit while I have actually put one at least twice since then. Oh, and here is Brian Rat, myself, Ford Engerth and Zach de la Rocha standing in front of a Buddhist temple in Thailand.

And while you imagine exploring Thailand, I am going to wash the sticky kitchen floor.

The multi-lived

Dave Rat

DYTDCTTHYS!

How about something new today? Come have a seat at Chad's drum kit and check out the view:

and lookie here, nothing like a sweet romantic love song to bring joy to the heart and tonight Freaky Styley is very much one my old school favorites!

**** Roadie Insight ****

As glamorous as the roadie life of pushing cases and bus riding marathons appears to be to the outsider, believe it or not, it truly is a bed of roses, thorns and all. As quickly as the euphoria of knowing your 1 1/2 years will be spent in many elsewhere's, the swirling 'drink me' temptation of all the pretty colored alcohol bottles, seductive wine labels and selection of local temptresses can all to easily become the preferred evening ritual. Load in, rock, load out, party, bus ride, TV, sleep, repeat. Days can easily slump into sleeping in, eating and meeting for drinks again. Add in some strip clubs, extraneous drugs, power dating and burn a few all nighters and bingo, you have the recipe for a generic rock roadie. That of course is the easy path and has its assets in the short term and prices in the long. Getting out of bed early to workout in the hotel gym or booking a car rental over the noise of the gig for a snow boarding trip on the next day off is where the true challenges lie. The obstacles of orchestrating scuba diving and fishing trips range from predicting bus arrival times to finding out that your alleged day off has morphed into a loading in day early.

For the roadie me, I have to have projects above and beyond the adventure of mixing the best rock show I can mix or at least I need drink enough to forget that I need them. Sober and project-less I spiral into boredom and the worst thing of all happens, I become no fun to be around or maybe too much fun depending. As you may have well guessed, one of my projects for this tour is sharing the adventure of this tour. Another ongoing one is is always my passion for Rat Sound and the livelihood of all those that make it what it is. Next I am going to learn to fly fish so I bought a fly fishing rod and Scott the Lampi is going to teach me how.

I guess because the product I am hired to create is so intangibly fleeting and the sound of the show vaporizes into a diffused set of opinions whisked away as the audience leaves. The only remnants that remain from something that was just hours ago phenomenal, is just some distilled words by a few reviewers sharing their own microcosm of the experience. As meaningful as they are meaningless and I have finished all to many tours with nothing to show for it but a wad of cash, a monster hangover, some ringing ears and offers for another tour.

And so spawns the playfully absurd and roadies desire to frolic and where better to frolic than in a grassy field? Non-where better there is. And so was realized Nick the Fly's dream of the FOH micro lawn. In October 2003 it became a reality and though short lived, on the west coast part of the Pepper's By the Way tour, we purchased and toured with several square yards of Marathon sod. To this day I still reminisce of the cool sensation mixing barefoot upon the lovely green.

**** End Roadie Insight ****

The appreciative of my world,

Dave Rat

ICWTSMGAMHC!

With the carpet store open, Scott and I could hardly contain our excitement as we carefully selected our floor covering. Scott showing buyers remorse:

If you look carefully on his bag you can spot the yellow plastic blow gun. Unfortunately the carpet was neither comfy nor popular as roadies Scott and Monte Lee Wilkes are demonstrating here:

We had informed Nick the Fly of or purchases and he clearly does not show up under-prepared.

Of special note, you may not realize it but this photo was taken at front of house and not in a forest during autumn. Those shrubbery like leaves are actually camouflaging the high tech equipment.

Let that games begin and so they did. The ruthless battle saw no quarter as foam darts filled the arena skies deep into the night for several yards surrounding. Though all FOH roadies were fair game for the hunt, soon we followed the lead of roadie Scott. Turning our weapons of war upon the punters, valiantly and ruthlessly shoot audience members in the back whom dare to stand betwixt us and the band. Effectively the mysterious thump to their hind sides inspired those blocking our view to forfeit their stance upon thy chair and return to the earthly level. From this we derived much pleasure.

The wounded but surviving,

Dave Rat

After arriving in Fresno and not wanting to miss a single moment of this joyous day off, I dropped my bags off in my room and set out seeking a drinkable cup of coffee. After wandering aimlessly to the point of infuriating frustration and completely failing my task, I headed back the bus and brewed a pot myself while I regrouped my thoughts.

Then it dawned on me. Soon if not already, Scott the Lampi would be inspired to follow the same dire path I just abandoned. A quick phone call confirmed he too was questing coffee, after warning him of the challenges he faces, we met at the tour bus for a sure cup of coffee and to form our Fresno strategy.

First and foremost and when in doubt, one must shop and what could be more perfect than a $1.00 store for critical tour supplies. Let's see, what do we need, blow dart guns, fake autumn leaves, catapults that launch small foam airplanes, perfect that pretty much was exactly what we were looking for!

While walking around we spotted this and oh that was close, I almost wore the same outfit today,

but at the last moment some strange thing came over me called common sense and instead I chose shorts and a white t-shirt to fend off the 105 degree weather.

Though we did score some incredible items, I still carry some remorse that I passed on the red studded, rotating wheel, business watch:

Though the carpet store was closed by the time we got there, tomorrow morning we should have enough time to buy some. Because, I quite sorry to say we are currently lacking FOH tour carpet.

Off to play with my goodies!

The wishing I had that red business watch,

Dave Rat

MGILIBIWWHB!