Archspire Guitarist Says Touring Cost Band Over $100,000 Before Even Playing a Show

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Archspire: Stephane Mahot (Selbymay), CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
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While many bands face financial obstacles while on the road, there are also costly expenses that come up before the band has even started touring.

Per a video he has uploaded to his YouTube channel, Dean Lamb, a guitarist for the technical death metal band Archspire, talks about the financial costs his band got hit with before their recent tour with Whitechapel. Lamb says that, before the band “played a single note,” they accumulated over $150,000 in debt.

Throughout the video, the guitarist provides a breakdown of what the band needed to plan for before heading out on tour; Lamb also shares a financial breakdown associated with each one of these needs.

For starters, as a Canadian band, Archspire needed to apply for a work visa, which he says cost $2,500. When it came to securing a vehicle for this tour, the band’s rental cost came to $24,150; the estimated gas cost for this vehicle is estimated to be around $8,100.

When it comes to the crew the band hired and worked with for this tour, the cost associated with paying them came to around $21,500. Regarding the cost of booking flights associated with the tour, the band paid around $5,200.

Lamb also gets into the costs associated with the band’s actual performance, including rehearsal space, lighting, and merchandise. For lighting (which was split between Archspire and other bands), that came to $1,900; regarding their merch bill, the band paid about $90,000; and their rehearsal space cost $900. Lastly, other costs (including agent fees, supplies, etc.), amounted to $7,450.

In total, before even hitting the road with Whitecpael, Archspire had accrued a total of $159,450.

This is a ton of money to keep in mind before even getting on the road – but thankfully, Lamb says the tour was financially successful. Also, per a comment provided alongside the video, Lamb clarifies that not every one of these costs had to be paid upfront.

This is an extraordinary video to check out if you are interested in learning more about what goes into heavy metal touring. You can check out that video for yourself below.

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