Q&A: Anthony Hook, Courtney Barnett’s Tour Manager

Before the release of her debut album in March, Courtney Barnett was receiving high rotation both locally and in the US, her track Avant Gardener was named track of the year by Pitchfork Media and her advocates included Patti Smith and Ellen DeGeneres.

Now, with one early ARIA Award already under her belt and seven other nominations, the 27-year-old songsmith is touring the globe, performing in front of millions on US talk shows, opening for Brit heroes Blur at Madison Square Garden and at sold out festivals across Europe. But behind every great artist is the person who’s the first one up and the last one to bed, the Tour Manager.

Barnett’s tour manager Anthony Hook was a prep cook at a private elementary school when he personally tracked down her team. However, his indelible pull toward life on the road has been curating his life since he was 17.

Speaking to TMN, Hook chats about how disobeying his parents in high school lead to a career in tour management, how he went from prep cook duties to Courtney Barnett’s tour manager in the space of a few months and the on-road crisis which ensued after a late night in London last year.

Anthony Hook

Tell us about what drew you to a career in tour management.

I grew up in a small town outside of Boston and my family never had much money so I always had an itch to get out of Massachusetts to see the USA. The summer before my last year in high school my best friend was singing in a skate punk band called Bones Brigade and they were about to head off on a four-week loop out to California and back and he invited me along. I ran this by my parents telling them how cool of an opportunity this was and they instantly said no. I couldn’t stand the thought of sitting around for the two months so I told my friends yes and packed a backpack/pillow/skateboard and wrote a note to my parents and took off. That summer was one of the coolest experiences of my life.

I then started to gain contacts and travel with bands selling merch and quickly picked up the routine of day-to-day travel and how it worked. I moved to San Francisco after living in Boston for two years and started gaining contacts and tour managing. I really enjoyed the responsibility of tour management and always liked having guests and looking after them.

How did you come to be Courtney Barnett’s tour manager?

During the start of 2014, I wanted to take a rest from traveling so I picked up a gig as a prep cook at a private elementary school in San Francisco. While working there I would look up tour schedules on the Windish Site (Courtney’s US booking agent). I saw that there was an artist called Courtney Barnett doing a one-week tour in the US and it fit exactly into the schedule when the school was out for winter vacation.

This fit so perfectly that I was adamant on looking for any sort of contact info and came across her manager’s email. I sent over a message and surprisingly heard back right away and after a few fangled time constraints, got Nick [O’Byrne at Look Out Kid] on the phone and got the gig!

The first tour was a pretty nuts schedule of seven shows and press in seven days across the US. I remember walking into the venue in Chicago after walking a long way in the snow from the train station. I walked up on the stage during their soundcheck and shook their hands and I’m not sure they had any idea I was their tour manager.

A funny little side note is while working at the school the chef would listen to XM satellite radio and Avant Gardener would come on at least once a day.

Given her recent success both here and in the US, how has your job changed since you began working with Barnett?

When I first started working with the band, I was the only crew member and it was a bit tough to drive, tour manage, tech and do merch but since the project has grown so has the team and things have been running much smoother and easier.

Source:Instagram

How closely do you work with an artist’s booking agent, tour promoter and manager in your role?

I speak with the Tour Promoter and Management the most, I receive all show info and contacts from our agent which I’ll advance before the tour starts. Creating a tour book beforehand creates a much more organised and smooth running operation. I usually speak to the management daily with reports from the show and such. Communication is very important with the promoter to make sure everyone is on the same page and provides a fun and successful show.

What services do you use to handle the logistics?

Besides our travel agency The Appointment Group (TAG), the main services I use on tour are Google/Google Map and Yelp. Yelp is obviously great for nearby music shops or things necessary to saving a show but also for good food and coffee, which is a huge part of touring for me. Quite often you only have small pockets of time to eat between traveling and working a show so I enjoy looking ahead for good restaurants to bring the band/crew to.

I just starting working with TAG in the beginning of this year and it has been really great. I used to use various discount sites for hotels and sometimes ended up in a really bad place. It’s great that TAG has lots of longstanding relationships with hotels and other accommodations to make sure you are comfortable and taken care of. They also handle all our flight schedules, which are very hectic, and they are easy to reach if there is ever an issue.

There’s this preconceived idea that tours are full of buccaneering and debauchery, is that just a ‘90s past time or has the dynamic shifted?

Lots of people think that, I’ve worked with some bands that get pretty wild and they’re usually very hard to deal with. We try to stay pretty healthy on the road and eat fairly well, when you are hung-over all the time, you’re usually a grump to deal with and no one wants that.

How would you describe the dynamic on Barnett’s tours?

I really enjoy the driving aspect, I don’t really know what to do with myself in the passenger seat. In the beginning we were doing longer tours across the US but since the band’s set up is fairly simple, our schedule for the last few tours has had us flying around a lot and renting small vans. We will be touring on a bus in Europe this fall and hopefully soon in the US. It provides a little more comfort and easier to fit in press and bringing more crew into the traveling party.

Source:Instagram

Can you share any on-road crises that you’ve had to solve?

The one that sticks out is last summer we had spent a month traveling around the UK and went to France, Spain and Portugal for three festival shows. We had a pretty late one in London before we had a very early departure for a festival in South France the following morning. There was a last minute schedule change and the band had to fly earlier and I was arriving by train with Bones’ (Courtney’s bassist) girlfriend. We had to take some bags as the airline is pretty stiff with baggage fees. I gave the band the one mobile phone we had and we went our separate ways. When we arrived by train six hours later, I met the promoter who says that I have the drummer’s passport and he is stuck in London. We scrambled to make arrangements to get myself back to Paris to sleep and then was on the first train to London to meet the drummer and fly to Barcelona for our festival performance. Not one of the best moments, but we all learn from our mistakes!

Has the tour management sector changed since you started out?

Technology is constantly growing and pretty soon bands will hire a robot to look after them when they travel. No but seriously, the first tour I went on when I was 17 we had a map and a binder that stayed in the front seat. Before we left for the five-week jaunt across the US, the bass player printed off directions how to get to each show and that’s it. None of us had a cell phone or anything so if we went off track we would have to pull over and ask how to get back to the freeway. He also had some directions to some cool skate spots and pizza/Mexican food places that he found in Thrasher Skateboard Magazine. I can’t imagine how large-scale tours operated before that.

The Appointment Group (TAG)is an award-winning global, independent travel and event management company dedicated to clients around the clock from offices in London, Manchester, New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Sydney and Singapore.