Work has ramped up the last couple of months and everyone I have ever worked with is calling me. I can have three different people asking me about the same day at one time. Meanwhile, the bar at the venue hasn’t got enough staff and the kitchen is missing a head chef. Where is everyone? The politicians in the UK are hoping that we now will start to see the positive effects of Brexit. They think: less immigration from Europe equals better paid UK citizens. Wrong! There are reports all over the nation on missing staff in different sectors, there’s talk of food shortages in the near future and now there’s an energy crisis in all of Europe! Crazy effects of the messy world we live in. Don’t get me started on shipping! I bought a guitar for my fiancé in April from my friend at Gretch and we are STILL waiting!
I know of musicians that have left the UK to make it easier to tour Europe, I know of technicians that have left too and I know people who during the pandemic were forced to sell their equipment and work in another sector. No wonder why there are missing people. Not only because of Brexit but also because of the pandemic. My colleague, who also is a guitarist, is working in rehearsal studios, at our venue and is now also touring. I am working at four different venues and recording podcasts. My close friend became the head sound engineer at a big hotel in London during 2020 and is really struggling to find and keep technicians. They keep getting offered even better jobs!
We are all working harder than we have before. I have 24 gigs in October with very little downtime. I had to move some stuff around and get some deps in for the lower-paid jobs, which is a great way to pay it forward! I love that I can help others to get more work. A guy who went to the same college as me in Sweden found me on Facebook and asked me about work. BUT, that was last year and I told him he’s crazy to come over when there’s lockdowns and NO work and NOTHING is open! He did it anyway, and when we opened back up, I saw his feed on Instagram and asked him where he was. Back in Sweden, he answered! I kinda wish he’d come back now and give me a hand, or that we could switch lives and I could live in the countryside and run with my dog on fields instead.
Like now, for example, I am sitting here, at the last minute, writing this piece when really I should already be in bed. I had a nine-piece on my little stage tonight and a fight broke out in the audience. I was shocked. I have never witnessed something so violent. So basically, a tough and strange gig.
I think my lesson here is, rest when you can because you never know when there will be staff shortages and you have to work harder than you have ever done before.