musicians go rockin’ in new terrain—asia

USA Today

PETER MENSCH, COMANAGER OF metal band Metallica, sets the scene from a pay phone somewhere in Singapore, one stop on the band’s recent tour: “I’m telling you," he shouts, “this is the wild, wild West right now ... You know, ‘Space: The Final Frontier’? Southeast Asia: The Final Frontier!”

Mensch is riding high on the energy of the Western music industry’s new expedition out of Europe and into Asia.

Andrew Bull, a Hong Kong–based promoter, says he’s seen the number of major U.S. and European concert tours increase from a lonely one in 1987 to more than fifteen last year.

Like any other expedition, this one is not without adventure, culture shock, and hardship. “The fact that we’re here for the first time makes it interesting,” says Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich, speaking from a stop in Manila.

“You’re fumbling in the dark because you don’t know what to expect, and they don’t know what to expect because they get so few Western rock bands here ... Things seem more chaotic—I mean chaos has a certain coolness to it, if you can tap into that energy.”

The chaos goes beyond the zealousness of fans faced with the uncommon chance to see their favorite acts, and beyond the region’s fast pace and swarming streets. The real challenge is the lack of a standard infrastructure for mega-tours that now are commonplace in the West.

“PA systems are inadequate, lighting. It’s like using a typewriter with a manual return on it,” says Mensch. “We’re playing with stuff that bands played on that went over to Vietnam twenty years ago.”

So why bother with the hassles? After all, Mensch claims the Asia leg of Metallica’s tour will go just a hair beyond breaking even. Consider it an investment, one the entire Western music industry is making.

The industry’s focus on Southeast Asia and Latin America, begun ten years ago, has accelerated big time in the last five. The new perception is that the playing field is larger than established markets like the USA, Europe, and Japan—much larger.

According to Neil Turkewitz, of the Recording Industry Association of America, overall worldwide record sales doubled during the last decade, with a “lot of that growth in Southeast Asia.” From 1985 to 1991, Indonesia saw a thirty percet increase in overall sales. Singapore clocked in a staggering five hundred and thirty-five percent growth.

Turkewitz says the recent crackdown on piracy in the region explains much of the increase in legitimate sales. But Alastair Monteith-Hodge, executive editor of Asia Beat, a Hong Kong-based trade publication, points to a general boom in Asian economies.

“Some have recently become very healthy and wealthy,” he says. The result: The birth of a middle class and the entertainment product’s best friend, disposable income.

Where there are potential record sales, there are concerts. “Oftentimes, the bands aren’t going to make much money on the concerts themselves,” says Gary Bongiovanni of Pollstar, a U.S. concert trade publication. “They do it to sell records and create an awareness in the marketplace.”

Of course huge acts, and even midline ones “can go out and make quite a bit of money,” says Barry Siegel, who helps manage the business of performers like Lenny Kravitz. Either way, touring costs are expected to pay off somewhere along the line.

As for hassles in the new touring markets, they’ll fade.

“Let’s say you’re a young entrepreneur in Jakarta,” says Mensch. “You say, ‘Now there are gonna be thirty-five rock shows. Maybe I‘ll buy a PA and rent it out.’ Last year, when there were only ten shows you thought, ‘I think I’ll stick with making batik shirts.’”

So where does all this leave Europe? While recessions in Western Europe have caused a market slump and belt-tightening in the form of elaborate shows, says Fiona Harley of the British trade publication Applause, they’ve also inspired creative approaches.

One trend is outdoor festivals offering fans more bands for the bucks. At the same time, U.S. groups seem to be making the most of what little dough is out there. “Two or three years ago,” says Harley, “there were new trends coming out of the U.K.—dance music and Rave. But the most important movement lately has been the Seattle sound and funk/metal bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers.”

Even established markets like Europe and Japan have their share of culture shock and hassles. In Europe, the venues tend to be old and “harder to work,” says Scotty Row, tour manager for rockers Van Halen. One particular arena struck Ross during the band’s recent outing. “In Nuremburg, we played the same place you would’ve seen Hitler give his speeches. It’s the same building! I mean, I got the chills ’cause I’d seen it in so many documentaries.”

And lead singer Sammy Hagar describes an experience in Japan that begs the flipside of the cultural question—what effect are foreign audiences having on American bands?

“We played the Tokyo Dome, forty-four thousand people, and I swear, when the song was over they stood up and applauded, and as soon as I started talkin’, they sat down and you could drop a pin. Scared the hell out of me.

“When the show’s over, the manager comes backstage and says, ‘You gotta see it! So I walk out and look: No one’s movin’. They had ushers, and one row at a time, everyone single file marched outta there. That’s respect! I was like, ‘We don’t deserve this.’”

Which brings up one more thing. Money isn’t the only reason bands go overseas. A lot of performers call it a learning experience. Hagar says Van Halen will start the U.S. leg of its tour sharper than ever.

And a common notion is overseas stints serve as a warm-up for stateside gigs. “In the case of Springsteen’s new band," says Jane Cohen of Performance, the European tour provides a chance to “loosen up and get accustomed to each other.”

But Henry Rollins, who as front man of Black Flag and the Rollins Band has toured Europe nearly every year for the last decade, bristles at the idea: “Say you’re havin’ open heart surgery. Do you want the guy to be gettin’ his chops together on you so five weeks from now, he’ll really have it together?

“Sure, it’s better night three, you get it goin’ on, but night one kicks. ‘Let’s do a few clubs and warm up.’ No, man, don’t come out of the garage unless you’ve got both guns blazin’.”

For Rollins, as for others, the equation is simple, and it makes no difference what “market” you’re in. “To get to go to Japan and pay the rent, that’s the total cookie! Find one band in the world who doesn’t wanna drop what they’re doin’ right now and go play Tokyo. C’mon. You’d cut off a digit to go tour abroad. How fun is that? You get to go to Germany, Switzerland, Holland ... and to go rock!” +