These are the exact words of a friend of mine who was a
drum tech/software technician for Prince on his latest tour.
He will remain anonymous for obvious reasons. He was
John Blackwell's tech of whom he said is among the nicest
guys ever. So I want to be clear about that. He says it's
Prince who's the Jerk and not John.
He was telling a little of what it's like on a daily basis working
with the Prince tour: 18-20 hour work days, Prince walks in
about 2pm giving orders and changing everything including
the entire sound board setup. He told me how Prince would
ream him and fine him publicaly in front of everyone even for
things that were out of his control or not his fault. Prince fined
him $200.00 because the bass player's pedals were in the wrong
spot. He's also been fined for equipment system and structual
failures. So If Johns playing and cracks a cymbal or breaks a
drumhead or if any of the electronic devices fail, then he gets
fined and publicly humiliated for it. He said that the money was
very good but the tech help and stage hands were all treated like
bottom feeders.
He just recently left the tour and said that John begged him to stay
but he just couldn't go on being treated sub human. They are still
scrambling to find someone else to fill his spot.
As of late, he's been working with Matt Sorum who he says is the
complete opposite of Prince. He actually totally erased a bank of
Matt's snare drum samples and was sweating bullets over it. He
said Matt called him over he and thought to himself "aww, man, here
we go." He said Matt told him not to worry that it's just some programs
and that they'd go over to the studio and reload them. Matt then said:
"Let's go have lunch." Night and day. Btw, he says Prince is an extra-
ordinary performer, but he just happens to bite as a person.
He's got a possible tour coming up with a really big name but he won't
tell me who it is just yet.... He's a super cool guy and a very knowledgeable
friend who is helping me with some digital sound concepts that I'm getting
into as of late. I wish him all the best!
Thanks my friend.
drum tech/software technician for Prince on his latest tour.
He will remain anonymous for obvious reasons. He was
John Blackwell's tech of whom he said is among the nicest
guys ever. So I want to be clear about that. He says it's
Prince who's the Jerk and not John.
He was telling a little of what it's like on a daily basis working
with the Prince tour: 18-20 hour work days, Prince walks in
about 2pm giving orders and changing everything including
the entire sound board setup. He told me how Prince would
ream him and fine him publicaly in front of everyone even for
things that were out of his control or not his fault. Prince fined
him $200.00 because the bass player's pedals were in the wrong
spot. He's also been fined for equipment system and structual
failures. So If Johns playing and cracks a cymbal or breaks a
drumhead or if any of the electronic devices fail, then he gets
fined and publicly humiliated for it. He said that the money was
very good but the tech help and stage hands were all treated like
bottom feeders.
He just recently left the tour and said that John begged him to stay
but he just couldn't go on being treated sub human. They are still
scrambling to find someone else to fill his spot.
As of late, he's been working with Matt Sorum who he says is the
complete opposite of Prince. He actually totally erased a bank of
Matt's snare drum samples and was sweating bullets over it. He
said Matt called him over he and thought to himself "aww, man, here
we go." He said Matt told him not to worry that it's just some programs
and that they'd go over to the studio and reload them. Matt then said:
"Let's go have lunch." Night and day. Btw, he says Prince is an extra-
ordinary performer, but he just happens to bite as a person.
He's got a possible tour coming up with a really big name but he won't
tell me who it is just yet.... He's a super cool guy and a very knowledgeable
friend who is helping me with some digital sound concepts that I'm getting
into as of late. I wish him all the best!
Thanks my friend.
Last edited by D. Slam on Fri Jul 29, 2011 5:38 pm; edited 2 times in total