ON THE ROAD:
ANTIGHOST’S TIPS FOR TOURING
Rock in Detroit recently spoke to Sean Shepard of Antighost about touring as an indie band. Antighost is Sean Shepard (vocals/guitar), Dylan Vanderson (drums) and Andrew Trompeter (bass).
ROCK IN DETROIT: Why don’t we start with some quick background about Antighost. Where are you guys from? How did you meet? How long have you been together? Favorite band(s)? Etc.
SEAN: I always wanted to be in a band, but I had trouble finding people to play with. I had been writing music for most of my life, and in 2016, while I was in film school, I went into Raydon Studio to record a few songs to release under the band name “Antighost.” I never looked at it as a solo thing, I just wanted to use the material as a way to find some like-minded musicians to perform with. I was living and going to school in Grand Rapids at the time, and I started auditioning drummers through an ad I put out on Craigslist, and that’s how I met Dylan. We played with a lot of different bassists over the years but it wasn’t until we met Andrew when we felt like things really fell into place. We all share a genuine love for music and we listen to all sorts of different stuff, but we primarily bonded over the stuff we grew up on: 90’s grunge and the emo music from the early 2000s. Bands like Nirvana, Alice in Chains, My Chemical Romance, Taking Back Sunday, The Used, and Bush really shape a lot of what we do.
ROCK IN DETROIT: You describe yourselves as a band that tours extensively. Where have you toured to? For how many years have you toured? What’s a typical tour consist of?
SEAN: The band formed in 2016 and we have been touring seriously since 2017. We have played in 34 of the 50 states, I think? And a couple cities in Canada, but we mainly tour in the US. Aside from the time off everyone had to take during the pandemic, we are almost always on the road. We usually try and plan out runs that span anywhere between a month or just a few dates on a weekend. We just look at where we want to go, where we can book a show, who can play with us, etc. and line up the dates to make it happen. Then we pack up the van with our gear and merch to sell at shows and go out for as long as we can.
ROCK IN DETROIT: How did you get into touring? What led you to trying it? How did your first tour go? And, most importantly, what are you trying to get out of touring?
SEAN: The way I see it, a band is only as good as what it can give away. Giving people our music and sharing that with them on stage is our favorite thing in the world to do. We all love it otherwise we wouldn’t be doing it. You really need to love it, because if you don’t you would be crazy to pack yourself into a van with a bunch of smelly guys and drive for 14 hours a day to show up to a show in some city you have never heard of to play in front of total strangers. The main purpose behind a tour is to make connections with fans and bands alike, and just share in that love of music. The hope is if you play enough in one town and people come out to see you, you can leave an impression on them, then the next time you are playing in the area they bring some friends, and those friends tell people and the chain goes on until you have a fan base. Then the shows get bigger and it’s a lot of fun.
ROCK IN DETROIT: What do you like best and worst about touring?
SEAN The best part of touring is definitely being able to play our music live, and being able to share that with my bandmates. We have a lot of fun on the road together and I think that shows in our performances too. It’s always really awesome to meet new people who our music has made an impact on as well. The worst part of touring is definitely moments in between the shows. If you aren’t careful the day to day can really wear on you. People hear about a tour and they think it’s all partying and performing all the time but it really isn’t. Most of what we do every day is drive for hours on end, so we try to find fun ways to kill time in between the long drives. We have been doing this for quite a while so we know what works at this point. We spend a lot of time in trading card shops, comic book stores, thrift stores and music shops. It keeps things fun and helps fight the monotony of the road.
ROCK IN DETROIT: Have you ever done the van-tour thing where you all pile in and travel, eat and sleep in a van?
SEAN: Oh yeah I would say more times than not we are sleeping in the van. We usually try and line up a place to stay if it’s a city we have been to before. Either with a friend we met last time we toured through, one of the local bands that has space on their floor, or if we are lucky enough to play in a state where someone has a relative or friend from college or something, but yeah most of the time it’s sleeping in the van for sure.
ROCK IN DETROIT: How do you organize a tour? It’s hard enough getting a show in the local scene. How do you book shows in cities you have no connections in? Do you have an agent/manager/booking company?
SEAN: We book everything ourselves. All of our tours, merch designs, flyers, music videos, it’s all made by us and/or our friends. We don’t have a big label working for us so we have to promote everything ourselves, we don’t have a manager to book shows for us so we make sure we have good places to play and good bands to play with. The nice thing about touring nowadays is we have access to the internet. Our jumping off point is usually people we know in the area, like bands we have played with or something. We reach out to see if anyone can line up a show and then start researching other bands in the areas to see if there is someone who can help round out the lineup and bring people. If it’s a place we have never played before we try and do as much research as possible beforehand on local bands and venues in the area, then we start reaching out and just going from there.
ROCK IN DETROIT: What about EPKs (electronic press kits)? In getting out-of-town shows, have you found them essential/helpful/superfluous?
SEAN: Having an EPK and a website is also super helpful. A lot of times, when you’re booking a show the people booking you might not be aware of your band, so giving them a place to find out more information on your band, what you look like and what you sound like can be super helpful.”
ROCK IN DETROIT: How do you coordinate touring with your professional and personal lives? Is it hard to get away?
SEAN: It definitely is, and we have all lost our fair share of jobs and such from being away for extended periods of time, but we make it work. If you really love something you find a way to make it work. We want this to be our career and we want to make a living off of it someday so we are willing to sacrifice things to make that happen. The band is self sufficient so the money we make off of touring goes right back into the band to pay for things like recording costs, merch and whatnot which definitely helps us stay smart about it all.
ROCK IN DETROIT: Have you found audiences in different cities react differently to your music? Any songs that go over particularly well?
SEAN: Yeah it really depends on the show but certain cities definitely experience it differently from others. The cool part about America is that each state has its own vibe. Sometimes it almost feels like you are in a different country depending on where you are. Still, no matter where we play, no matter how many or how few people are in the audience we always bring a lot of energy to our shows. We genuinely love performing so it is easy to get lost in what you are doing, and we have found that when you give it 100% audiences will always react.
We almost always end our set with our song “I Can’t Feel the Sun.” It’s definitely a crowd favorite and it kind of ebbs and flows in energy until this build in the bridge that explodes into a climactic ending. Playing it live is so much fun because people sing it back to us and get really into the energy of the song. I think that’s why we always end on it, there isn’t really anywhere else to go once you’ve gone up there with that one. FYI, here’s the Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/track/6b75mcuiqc25ka8WvXJLjt?si=c6202683b69047e9 )
ROCK IN DETROIT: Any future tours planned? Ever thought about touring internationally?
SEAN: We are actually about to head into the studio in a couple of weeks to work on our next record so we are scaling back from being on the road for the time being, but we will still be playing some shows here and there locally. I am sure once recording finishes we will be on the road quite a bit to promote the new record. Eventually we would like to tour abroad, we do have pretty healthy fanbases outside of the US especially in the UK but it is really expensive just to get out there and we aren’t quite there yet financially. I know we will get there someday.
ROCK IN DETROIT: Any final advice for bands thinking about touring?
SEAN: Don’t be afraid to just get out there and do it! Don’t wait for a band to offer you a run or a label to offer you a tour; go book one yourselves! Start messaging people and asking around about who books shows, if you have an instagram and music on a streaming service there is no reason you shouldn’t be able to get on a local gig. Touring can either be the greatest or worst experience of your life, it all depends on your mentality and how you go about it. If you have a solid group of friends who you love being with and performing with and you are able to line up some shows in some new cities, you should go for it! If you have questions, talk to bands and friends who have toured, chances are they will have advice that will be invaluable to you.
ROCK IN DETROIT: Thank you for the invaluable advice!
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