Episode 003: Gayle Alquizar – Tour Manager for Between You & Me

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Interview Transcript

Introduction

Lor: We’re here with Gayle Alquizar. She is honestly one of the most kind people I’ve ever met in the industry. She is a fantastic tour manager. She’s a human being extraordinaire. You probably have seen her fishing out bassists from the crowd. She’s currently tour managing Between You and Me. She’s been with Issues, State Champs, Motionless In White, and Coin. Hi. How are you?

Gayle: I’m great. Thanks for having me.

First Band Gayle Was A Fan Of

Lor: Thank you for being here. We wanted to rewind really quick just to get to know a little bit about you. If you had to think of the first band that you were into, that you were a fan of – What band is that?

Gayle: Fall Out Boy.

Lor: Tell us more.

Gayle: I think that was the first time I was ever able to choose my own music. I was listening to Shania Twain, Céline Dion in the car because that’s what my mom loved. Of course, those are still tracks that are near and dear to me. But I heard ‘Grand Theft Autumn’ on MySpace, and I was like, guitar!? And these people are young. It’s not classic rock. I thought it was so fresh and cool, and the melodies just pulled me in and I loved the esthetic. I was able to choose my own music that I liked. Now, they’re still a huge part of my life, very adjacent to everything that I work in. They feel like a dream that’s just right there. I’m always going to keep chasing.

Lor: Do you remember the first time you saw them?

Gayle: I do, because I was older. It was after they re-reunited. It was Save Rock and Roll. And I followed them after that. That was a wake-up call. I was like, I need to start supporting live music again because my bands are starting to break up. When I was in college, and when I was in high school, and I was like, I’ll just catch the next show. Because I started going at 15. At some point, I was like, I don’t have the money to do this. This is what I can save money on. I was in college. Then I was like, There’s no more My Chem. There’s no more Fall Out Boy…

Lor: Dude, ‘What A Catch Donnie’ came out and I was in tears. I’m like, this is not okay. Everything’s in shambles.

Gayle: Correct. That was a wake-up call for me. Covid was a wake-up call for me…

Madi: I was going to say, I feel like COVID did the exact same thing where all of a sudden it was taken away for a year and a half, if not more than that. And then you realize that it’s not always going to be there or you never know what’s going to happen.

Gayle: You never know when it’s going to come back. You never know when you’re going to feel that feeling again or see your friends again. I was like, let’s quit my very cushy stable job and chase a pipe dream, huh?

What Made You Start Touring

Lor: Hell, yes. That’s perfect catalyst, too. Because next question is, was there a certain instance or a band that kicked you into gear and was like, you know what? I’m going to fucking do it. I’m going to chase this dream and just go out.

Gayle: Look me in the eye right now if you’re watching on video, a band called Northbound is putting out an album called ‘Juniper’. And Northbound is the reason I tour.

Lor: How did you get started with them?

Gayle: Jon Fraser is my best friend. And when I would have four days off from work, when I was a nurse, I would do four days on, four days off. He would have a little weekender, and he was like, just get in the van with me. I sold merch, and then every time he would go out, I would go with him. Then all my friends were… This was pre-COVID. 2018. And I started hanging out with Derek from State Champs a lot. I was getting a lot of FOMO! A lot of FOMO because… I want to be with my friends!

The shows were so fun. I was like, what? 25? And I hated my career. I woke up every morning anxious, which, by the way, shout out to nurses in the healthcare field because it was too much for me. I got really lucky that Jon showed me this world because when shows started coming back, then bands lost crew. People got real jobs. People realized they didn’t like being on the road. Some people did.

I realized I wanted on the road. So, Champs took me in, and I guess it was a tandem of Northbound showing me the ropes and State Champs realizing I would have worked so hard for them. You know, those are my boys. I would have done anything to make a show happen for them.

Lor: love the Champs fam. They are great peoples.

Does Being A Music Fan Yourself Affect The Way You Approach Your Job?

Madi: One of the things that we really like talking about and why we really started this podcast is we’re so interested in people that work in the music industry because it’s almost a given that you’re a hardcore fan of music If you’re in this industry.

So, the next thing that we wanted to talk to you about, is do you think being such a strong music fan and the bands that you listen to and the music that you’re a fan of, did that give you any insight or perspective into the job you do now or the way you approach the job you do now or why you wanted to segway into working in the industry?

Gayle: That’s a great question. I would say, I don’t know if the music I listen to really helps the way that I work, but I think that it helps me attach meaning because there were people behind the scenes doing what I’m doing for the bands that I loved. So I’m helping fulfill that for people who love this band.

I loved Starting Line growing up and just romanticizing all these feelings of being on the road. They’ve had songs like ‘Touring’ Say Anything. Stuff like that. I think about moments that I have on tour and relate it to those songs. I think it’s more of just an emotional attachment more than what drives my work ethic. But it’s definitely there. I joke about being a music hater haha because, I mean, music is ever-changing. I’m not going to act like I know everything, but I am a boomer at heart.

So when I hear new music and it’s catchy, it’s TikTok, I’m always like, will it last, though? I love being a music hater, but I love that people are still creating no matter what.

Lor: I feel like… I don’t want to bring it all about COVID, but tying it back to COVID. I feel like that was such a moment in history where people, they couldn’t obviously tour. They were like, we’re just going to throw it out there. To see the bands actually making it and doing it, like Knox, for example.

Gayle: I actually… One of my friends who I just saw a few days ago, Haley Mewborn, she’s a photographer, and she’s been going out with Knox. She just told me that the shows have been great. He’s selling out his ad mat. That’s what I love to see. I love to see when the music translates to the live show.

Lor: I will be the defender of the people. People are like, Oh, my gosh, that music sucks. It’s a TikTok song because he had that song, ‘Sneakers’, and it was a huge TikTok song.

Gayle: But yeah, that was catchy as hell.

Lor: I was like, Fuck you guys. This is a great song. Now look at him. Just saying.

Gayle: I mean, I’m not going to knock it if there’s proof. He got it.

Lor: I feel like the kids who weren’t… I say the kids. I’m like, okay they’re my age. But it’s like they almost had some… They had a new sense of something to prove. It’s really interesting to see the ones fighting for it. It reminds me of the early pop punk scene where it’s like they were just trying to get out of their hometown kind of fight. Like that dog in them.

Gayle: That’s how I feel about BYAM right now. You’re from across the world. And, I mean I was telling you guys earlier that even though we’re not selling out a lot of these venues. The nights where we have 250 kids, it feels like we have 500. The energy’s there. It doesn’t matter how many people are there. These guys are putting on a show. And my crew is putting on a show.

That’s what I love. I love the grind. I love the dedication. JT, my singer, has been saying to me, sometimes they’re not going to be good shows. They can’t all be good shows, but what matters is we’re playing a show at all today.

Lor: Exactly. Yeah, because like we said, you never know when it’s going to be gone. You got to fucking make them count. It’s so fucking cheesy. I hate that. It’s like, you never know when it’s going to be your last. But it’s so fucking true.

Gayle: Yeah, but we’re away from home, and a lot of us are homesick. What’s the point in falling into it and playing a bad show, moping around? We’re going to put it all out on the stage.

What Keeps You Going During The Lulls of Touring?

Lor: You mentioned being homesick, and you’re on the road a lot. You said to us earlier, how long have you been gone?

Gayle: February 13th. It’s like a month and maybe a half at this point now.

Lor: You’re ending in California. You live in Florida, and then you’re hitting… I’m sorry to bring this all up again. You’re going back on tour across seas. What is the struggle like going from having that high, high of a show, and then you’re in the lull? What keeps you going?

Gayle: I will tell you right now, there have been times that we have been humbled. The Champ shows? So we did the three back-to-back shows of ’10 Years of The Finer Things’, and I was driving us in a minivan. And we were staying in Secaucus. Our show was in New York…

Lor: Saccaucus, New Jersey. Okay, hold on. Let me paint the map really quick. Everybody who’s like, Oh, yeah, they’re playing a New York City show, they’re not staying in New York City. They are staying in Saccaucus, New Jersey, across the fucking bridge, like 30 minutes out, it’s not glamorous…

Gayle: Listen, it is part of my job to save money.

Lor: That’s the quote everyone in New Jersey – save money, live better.

Gayle: I don’t know if it really did in the end because we were in the New York City in the holidays. But that also is a part of the picture that you must remember. I’m driving State Champs and crew in a minivan. By the way, Chrysler Pacifica, I be whipping that. There was also construction going on at the time. It’s New York City. During the holidays in New York City. The Lincoln Tunnel was backed up. Can I curse?

Lor: Yes.

Gayle: It was backed up like a motherfucker. It took us what should have been a 17-minute drive home, two and a half hours. How incredible is it to play a sold-out show in the middle of New York City, celebrating your record that helped you make it 10 years ago? And you’re sitting in a minivan. Real humble. I’ve got my hand on my head just trying to make it through, not letting people cut me off, honking my horn. All the guys are sharing one bag of French fries. We’re hungry and tired.

Lor: You would not think that it’s the State Champs that everybody knows and loves.

Madi: what a way to end the night.

Lor: They really brought the 10 years of The Finer Things back to the home.

Gayle: And everybody was so stoked. Everybody loved the show, and then you’re just sitting in traffic for two But what kept us going…

Lor: What keeps you going? We went on a tangent there. So sorry.

Gayle: I mean, honestly, we had to paint the picture. What kept me going is I love working for my friends. I’m very lucky in the position I am. Working for state champs is a dream come true because they are just people that I respect on a personal level, on a working level.

Even with Between You & Me. This is very situational with these two, but what keeps me going when we have a rough show or a humbling experience is the culture that we have. We’re a family. We check on each other. And we make sure everybody is doing okay, that the amount of work is split up. Right now we have somebody who’s doing four different jobs, and I want to make sure that he’s okay because touring is fun. It shouldn’t make you feel like you’re drowning.

Going back to answer the question TLDR, it’s the culture. It just matters in your camp. It does. Even with Motionless, even with Coin, just having human dignity and understanding that the people you’re working with are people makes a show happen every night.

Lor: It’s so fucking true.

How Do You Balance Being a Fan And Your Love of Live Music While Also Now Working In The Industry?

Madi: To piggyback off of that, too, one of the things that we wanted to ask you as well is it’s such a weird balance between obviously being a big fan of music and now working inside of it. Do you have a way that you balance that as far as keeping the love of live music and the fan aspect of it when it’s also your job? Is that something you struggle with?

Gayle: 100%. Because I love going to a live show. I love putting on a sick show.

Lor: Can I tell a story!

Gayle: Yes!

Lor: Because you do. And it shows.

Madi: This is why she’s on the podcast right now.

Lor: My first time meeting you was at the Champs Finer Things show. I was just standing on the side with you and I took a picture of you because you were just fucking enjoying yourself. You were like, I’m having a great time. This is the last night. The crowd was feeling it. And then I looked down and then I looked back up and you’re stage diving into the crowd. I was like, she fucking gets it. I was like, hell yeah. That’s what I feel like the end of a tour should look like, even though it was a short run. But that’s what it’s about. You’re having fun doing your job. You do your job fucking well. It’s like it should be. You shouldn’t have to be so uptight and stressed about everything…

Gayle: This is a cool fucking job. There’s no reason anybody should have a bad time. It’s very important to me that we have a good culture on the road because we could all be with our families. But instead, we’re creating our own family and putting on a show every night for live music. How fucking cool is it that? My best friends are now from across the world because they made a cool record.

Madi: It’s the dream.

Lor: Who can say that? It’s so fucking cool.

Gayle: I literally, when I heard Armageddon, Tyler showed me the record. I was like, this is fucking good. Armageddon is good. You know what? Quote me on that. Armageddon is good.

Then they were on that Bearings YC tour. You know, Young Culture had been my friends since before I even thought about touring. So went to go see them, saw BYAM, and I was like, wow, they put on a sick show. I told my husband on the way home from Orlando, I said, maybe one day I’ll work for them.

Lor: Shut up.

Gayle: Yeah. Now here we are. The biggest pain in my asses. I’m just kidding. I love them so much. They are great. But we were answering something and I forgot…

Madi: How you balance being a fan and working in the industry.

Lor: You balance it by stage driving.

Gayle: This is the thing, though. I want to keep going to shows, but going to a show on an off day is the most daunting thing ever…

Lor: Do you just observe everything…

Gayle: I debate half the day. I’m going to go to a place willingly with loud music.

Madi: The one day you don’t have to.

Gayle: The one day I don’t have to listen to a snare drum and I’m going to go willingly?! Is insane. But for bands that I love, for friends that I love seeing, I would. We all saw Mom Jeans when they were in LA. Then they had an off day when we were in Albany and they came to our show.

I don’t know if you could tell, but I just love friendship!

Madi: I think that’s one of the coolest things about the music industry, though, and we’ve talked about this countless times. I feel like as soon as you get your foot in the door and you start meeting people, it’s such a tight-knit community. It’s such a just everyone-knows-everyone once you just get a little foot in the door there.

Lor: And I mean, both of us bing music photographers, we actually didn’t even become friends until we were like, wait, we’ve shot so many shows together. We know of each other, but then we’re like, wait a second…

Madi: One of the shows being a Champs show. That was one of the first shows we realized that we both shot. And we didn’t know each other at the time. Sponsored by state champs.

Gayle: Yeah, this podcast is sponsored by State Champs.

Lor: No, it’s not. They can’t afford us.

Gayle: But when you’re in the pit, I’m sure you’re just focused on what you see. You want to enjoy the show, you want to snap the show, you want to get the good moments. I’m sure it’s really hard to realize who’s around you.

Madi: Yeah. You only have three songs, so you’re… Yeah, you’re very focused in.

Gayle: Three songs, no flash!

Madi: That’s the one.

Lor: Then Loreal takes her camera into the pit.

Gayle: Scary. But you know what? Living life on the edge, I respect.

Lor: Let me tell you, Beartooth in the crowd, like crowd surfing with my camera was the most fun thing I’ve ever done.

Gayle: Wow. Congrats to you. I could imagine that kids were getting washed at that show.

Lor: They had such a good time, especially for Texas.

Madi: It was such a good environment. The crowd was insane. It was so fun.

Lor: I walked in the pit and they had a tiny circle, whatever. There was this guy, no shirt on. He’s like, She’s a photographer!!! I was like, Yes. Then he was ready. He’s like, Do you need up? What do you need? I’m like, Yes, I do need up.

Gayle: There have been… Oh, there’s this weird trend that’s been happening at the BYAM shows. Just a lot of guys taking their shirts off and swinging them over their heads. It started in Salt Lake City, last place I imagined it to happen. But if you see it happening tonight, just don’t get alarmed. Embrace them.

Is There Anything You Do As A Tour Manager To Try To Make The Fans’ Experience Better?

Lor: That’s kind of leading on to my next question. I feel like you see things with a different eye, obviously, because you are behind the scenes working it, even now just experiencing a different show. You’re just watching and observing, taking notes of things.

Is there anything that you try to do in particular as your role now, being a tour manager, to make the fans’ experiences any better? Anything that you do to make the fans’ experience just more memorable?

Gayle: I mean, it’s a lot of little things that just add on to each other. I like to make sure that security is always kind. In Charlotte, we did not have a great experience. I’m not going to get into it, but Basie and I almost did get into a fight. Me and Basie together.

But I mean, if you’re there to make sure kids are safe, I don’t like to see security I’m not ruffing anybody up. I make sure setlists have the date and place of where we’re at because it’s… One, it’s a sheet of paper. I know it. But it could mean so much more to somebody who’s in the front row.

Lor: Gayle loves a printer.

Gayle: I love a printer. I print out where we’re at. Just a slight chance that my boys forget where we’re at today.

Madi: It happens.

Gayle: I love a logo. I love printing a logo.

Madi: I have many a setlist that I’ve gotten from shows in my office, and it pisses me off when I get a setlist and it’s just the songs. I’m like, okay, there’s no day or venue listed…

Gayle: No, we personalize it.

Madi: Yeah, you need it!

Lor: Going back to Knox, his little setlist, he always had a picture of Ed Sheeran somewhere on his setlist because people would be like, you’re a young Ed Sheeran, just because he has red hair. When a fan showed me she got a setlist, I took a picture of it because in the top left corner is just Ed Sheeran’s face.

Gayle: With Loveless, I used to put a little funny meme in the back. Then on the last night of tour, just for morale, I put a group picture of us.

Lor: I love that so much.

Gayle: I love doing that. I love just letting the fans see a little bit of our life. I like to encourage the guys talking to a few fans, but I am very very passionate about boundaries. Being on the road is hard enough. If my guys need time, I don’t like when people wait by the door, so I do have to put my foot down there. But if we’re in passing and we see a group of kids, I love to just talk to them, ask them if they had a good night. They’ve been giving me bracelets lately.

Madi: I love that that’s a trend now.

Lor: I’m here for the bracelet trend. It’s so fun. I don’t care. There’s so many haters.

Gayle: Yeah, it’s It’s really nice to see that the fans care so much. The least I could do is just personalize a little bit of things that could go home to people at the end of the day.

Favorite Tour Memory

Lor: Favorite tour memory?

Gayle: Oh, this is hard. Favorite tour memory. Okay, this one’s a rogue one. Okay. Northbound. This was a Northbound tour. My dear, dear friend Sterling Gowinsky and I had to drive from Pensacola to Oklahoma City, which is a 14-hour drive to make it to the next show, which was a house show. It was a DIY tour. But we were like, we’re going to make the next show. Why even do this if we’re not going to play the shows?

Everybody else went to because it was torrential downpour. Instead of us stopping or taking a nap somewhere, we drove all 14 hours together through the night, chain smoking cigarettes. And listening to a podcast on how Charles Manson is a CIA asset and the government was testing LSD on him. So that’s a little bit of…

Lor: God bless Charles Manson.

Gayle: Honestly, doing God’s work. Don’t quote me on that haha.

That was one of my first memories where I was like, yeah, the road is rogue. We stopped maybe once for a piss, and that’s it.

Lor: But you did it.

Gayle: I did it. Yeah. Now I’m here, I guess, my favorite, favorite, favorite tour memory would have to be just like London. We played Underworld and sold it out, and the energy was insane. I think the only thing that could have made it better that night was if our guitarist was physically there. But we propped him up a picture of him on an iPad on stage the whole time.

Lor: Again, another Gayle original. Just a little touch.

Gayle: He had to be there! It was important to me that he was there. But that was a great memory and insane energy. So thank you to everybody who was there.

What Do You Have Going On?

Lor: What do you got going on? What can people be on the lookout? And how can they find you?

Gayle: More tours. If you’re a band, hire me. You will probably see me around… I don’t really have any thing this summer going on, which is honestly kind of nice. But you will see me in November, hopefully, but I don’t want to be the one to announce that.

Madi: So keep your eyes peeled.

Gayle: Keep your eyes peeled. And listen to ‘Juniper’ by Northbound when it drops. Between You & Me is also dropping an EP on April 5th. We’re playing Chain Reaction on April 6th, and that is the release show.

Lor & Madi: Well thank you so so much Gayle!

Gayle: Thank you for having me! This was so fun and I can’t wait to see more.

Episode Show Notes

Follow Gayle:

https://www.instagram.com/ughgayle/

Follow Between You & Me:

https://www.instagram.com/byamaus/