We were lucky to catch up with Drew Price recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Drew thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you take vacations? Why or why not?

Working in an industry where I get to travel around the country regularly is kind of like taking work vacations all of the time. Most work days, I try to spend some of my free time exploring the city/town I’m in. Honestly, that’s one of the best things about touring in the music industry. However, during the December/January times touring slows down and I will always try to take a real vacation around then. Usually I go back to my hometown Dover, Delaware to visit old friends and family. Delaware is very laid back and slow paced. It’s a great place to reset and get some rest & relaxation. Also, no sales tax and free parking is a nice bonus. Another bonus, Delaware has plenty of amazing beaches being a peninsula in the Atlantic Ocean. Plus, if I ever want a change of scenery Delaware is only 1 hour from Philly, 2 hours from DC and 3 hours from New York City.

Drew, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Drew Price. I’m a 29 year old Belmont University graduate born and raised in Dover, Delaware. I currently live in Nashville, TN and work in the music touring industry. I got into the touring world as an audio engineer. For some artists/bands I mixed front of house sound. For others I would mix monitors, RF tech (coordinating the radio frequencies we would use for all wireless microphones, instrument packs, and in-ear monitor packs), PA tech (hang the audio speakers in the air and tech the system to make sure it’s working efficiently every show), or patch (making sure all the audio cables are patched into the correct inputs and output). I started my touring career doing front of house sound for To Speak of Wolves and He is Legend (2 metal bands). I then took a gig mixing monitors for Jacob Whitesides (a pop artist). My next gig was mixing monitors and stage managing for Danny Gokey (American Idol season 8 finalist). It was during these years I found a passion for stage managing. A couple years later I started working with the Newsboys as a backline tech. I would set up and maintain the band’s musical equipment. Eventually, I was offered the stage management position. I’ve stage managed a few tours now for the Newsboys and I’m excited for more. As a stage manager, I make sure my crew has the tools and local help they need to put together a show as well as pack up the show at the end of the night. I am facilitating the flow of the load in and load out as well as managing truck packs and overseeing the departmental deployment of the local crew with my crew plus the positioning of the fork lift drivers to help stack and unstack cases of gear. During the show I help artists on and off stage as well as maintain a safe stage. The main goal for me as a stage manager is facilitating an amazing and consistent show for my artist and their fans.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Most tours will have a professional crew of 10 or more. Along with them, tours will also source a local crew of 20 or more to help the tour crew with unloading the trucks/setting up the gear and tearing down the gear/packing the trucks. Usually we’ll source union stage crew labor. They are just as professional as the touring crew. However, sometimes union labor isn’t an option and we have to take what we can get. There have been times my crew has had to use local reformed convicts as stage hands. Those days are always tough and test your patience and resilience. While most of the convicts are very kind and hard working, they generally don’t know much about setting up or tearing down audio, lighting, video or backline equipment so you have to be patient and train them on how to help you while also trying to make sure the show still gets set up in a timely but safe manner. In this line of work we deal with very heavy pieces of equipment and multiple types of heavy machinery. If safety is not a priority injuries can occur including broken bones, loss of limbs, even death. As a stage manager, it is my job to make sure everybody is working safely and efficiently (or as efficient as they can be for the current situation).

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

After 2 and a half years of no concerts tours are finally starting up again. Most artists, bands and crews have all been without work for the duration of the covid19 lockdowns. Even after the lockdowns, world tours were still canceled because of travel restrictions. However, now we are all able to get back on the road and do what we love. All restrictions (even world wide) have been lifted and 2023 could potentially be one of the busiest touring years the music industry has seen since 2020. If you love music and concerts please try to attend as many as you can in 2023. Concerts are a great way to simultaneously support your favorite artists and their crew plus we’d love to see y’all again!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @drewprice_
• Twitter: @drewprice_

Image Credits
Feature photo: photographed by Chris Cavanaugh (bio.site/thechriscavanaugh)