At the moment, Better Touring is just me (Phil) and one van, Vangelina. I’ll be expanding the operation in 2024 and beyond but for now, if you book with us, it’ll be me turning up to collect you. I’m based in Leeds at the moment but can drive to meet you anywhere in the UK or Europe.
I’ve been working in live music – as a driver, tour manager, merchandise vendor/manager and occasionally a backline tech – for nearly a decade. I’ve worked from fifty cap venues to stadiums and I’ve driven about half a million miles around the UK and Europe in that time. Vangelina’s been with me for the last hundred thousand or so.
I think I’m pretty good at putting together plans and finding ways to get things done, whether that’s advancing a tour, building a merch display out of blu-tack and coat hangers, or sleeping all day so I can drive through the night! I’m getting really good at coming up with ways to get things done when plans don’t work out quite like you expected, too.
I‘ve driven about a hundred different band vans in the last ten years. Some are good, some are great; some are dingy and a bit gross. I designed my van with that experience in mind, taking the good ideas on board and making sure to avoid the bad ones. I tried to make it a place where artists and crew can relax and enjoy their time on the road. That’s what I’m all about really: on the road, I’m there to make everything around the performance run smoothly so that everyone else can be fresh and ready to go to work on stage when the time comes.
*Getting recognition for being good at what you do is always nice, but I don’t think it’s necessarily a big motivator for most people working in music. For me, it’s not about trying to be “the best” – it’s more about getting out into the world, building relationships and being part of something that makes a lot of people happy.
There are always ways to be better though, so that’s what I aim for. Better planning, better communication, better environments, better driving, a better time for everyone.
