Driving the breadth of the country to perform in rock ’n’ roll shows, booking venues for gigs, managing every aspect of a touring music act from fuel to staging – managing one band would be plenty of work for most of us.
But Joel Hanks, bassist for Badfish: A Tribute to Sublime, decided this year to extend his range. He opened a Rhode Island-based boutique agency to manage bands and book them into venues across the country.
His agency, Providence Music Group LLC, now manages two bands, Badfish and Stranger – both of which tour nationally – and he does bookings for four rock ’n’ roll bands in all.
Hanks’ inspiration to open the agency came to him with the recognition that he had been doing a lot of this type of work for years and had built up a stockpile of connections in the industry.
Hanks has played with Badfish for 19 years, he said, and he has spent three years doing booking for the Empire Agency in California. “It all aligned at the right time,” Hanks said.
His biggest challenge so far? “People don’t respond. Not even to say ‘No,’ ” he said.
