Stage Right

There’s not much happening in the live music scene right now. Although, yes the bands can keep creating and putting out music for your ears, but what about all the people behind the scenes of live music. The people that make sure the band actually makes it on stage, people like David Herrington tour manager of bands like  Skegss, Dune Rats, DZ Deathrays, Parcels, and more. David has been compiling a bunch of photographs from tours, to create what is now his first publication Stage Right. Stage Right is a magazine full of photographs and tales of some sticky situations from life on tour around the world, it showcases what happens before, during and after the show as well as the mishaps that can happen, not all the glitz and glam you may think. We got the chance to interview David about his first zine, which is out now! Have a read below to get a taste of Stage Right.

WANDERER: What led you to create your zine?

DAVID: In 2016 I lost all of my photographs off all of my hard drives and my mobile phone. As a result, instead of only sometimes photographing with film, I began solely working with that medium. I figured it was easier to never lose the negatives than it was to not lose digital files. I had always enjoyed working in a darkroom since I was in highschool and I knew the importance of printing the work, especially having lost so much so quickly and became excited with the prospect of creating a publication of some kind. I wanted to make a larger book but this smaller publication just seemed like the easiest first step. 

What's behind the name Stage Right?

Stages have names for various positions, for example, if you are looking at the stage from the audience, the left hand side is “stage right”, the front of the stage is “down stage” and the back of the stage is “up stage” and so on, it is from the perspective of the person on the stage. As a guitar tech for all of these bands my position is stage right. In 2016 I came up with the “Stage Right” as a title for a book I wanted to make that showed my perspective on tour, and this is the result. 

How did you go about putting the zine together, have you ever done anything like this before?

The whole process was, and is a big learning curve for me. I photograph predominantly using black and white film and I really enjoy the process of developing and scanning the film when I get home from tour to relive the memories. 

I have had a Dropbox folder called “Stage Right” that I have been adding the photographs to since 2016 but the pace of various band’s touring cycles has meant that I have not had time to actually do anything with the project. 

When physical distancing put a pause on live music it was a very strange feeling. There is a photograph of DZ Deathrays in the zine that shows the drummer, Simon, standing on his kick drum and waving goodbye to the audience. This was in Canberra on March 13, 2020 and we were supposed to be at a festival in Sydney the following day but that was cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns. The photograph is poignant for me because it was the last time any of us were able to do what we love and the wave goodbye feels fitting.

With the uncertain future I started putting the photographs together as a creative outlet and began to design the zine. I had never used Adobe InDesign before but my good friend Todd from the band These New South Whales helped me through it over a few screen-sharing-Zoom calls. Now I know what “true black” is.

Throughout the zine you mention some of the not so glamorous life of touring the world, can you possibly share one of these times that was the most terrifying?

I have seen a fair few strange things. Blood stained hotel rooms in the UK, an audience member drinking a bucket of a band members’ vomit in Prague, a guy in Hamburg once took all of his clothes off and covered himself in permanent marker and once I sat across the aisle on a plane from a man who thought he was possessed by the devil and had to be restrained with cable ties on a flight from Melbourne to Perth.In terms of terrifying things, I have had a van door opened on me by someone screaming and holding a syringe in Toronto, I got punched in the back of the head and knocked to the ground in Melbourne by someone who wanted to crowd surf (if by chance he is reading this, I would not have stopped you from doing it anyway, but it would have been nice if you asked and did not punch anyone in the process), I broke a rib in Townsville when the crowd barrier broke and I was trying to hold the crowd back but got pulled onto the floor by the audience and was trampled. Someone from the band Tired Lion has a video of that somewhere. Someone once tried to open the driver's door while screaming shirtless in the middle of the road and then as I slowly drove forwards he tried to smash the back window of the van in while I was driving in Manchester, it was like a scene from Terminator. However I think the scariest moment was when I was put into a van in Slovakia by men with assault rifles. I talk about that moment in the zine.

What’s it like trying to manage some of your best mates? Are there anytimes you have to pull them into line?

I am not sure I do an especially good job of it. I think ultimately we all realise we are on the same page and work well together out of a mutual respect for what each of us does so we all end up traveling the same direction. 

Stage Right highlights an unknown experience for many of life on tour, what do you think was the best place/tour you’ve encountered?

I think musicians, or people of any notability, are often placed on a pedestal and out of reach of the “average” person. I think that is nonsense and I hope to show through this zine that everyone is human and everyone is equally special, perhaps just in different ways.

I am so fortunate that I have got to travel the world doing what I love to do and I am appreciative of the opportunity to do so every day. 

I think the biggest lesson I have gained while touring is regardless of where people are from and what their situation is, music has an ability to bring people together in a very special way. I have met investment bankers and squatters at the same concerts and I find the unity, if only for that moment, heartwarming.

I would not put one place over another, I am grateful to have travelled everywhere I have and will always be grateful for the lessons I have learned along the way. 

How was it trying to navigate yourself through this year?

It has definitely been different to the past decade for me. This is the longest I have been in one place in almost ten years. I have tried to start selling photographs, tried to teach myself to sleep properly again, and spent a lot of time putting this zine together. 

What are the specs of the zine (size, format, etc)?

Stage Right is 8x8 inches, perfect bound and has a soft cover. It is 50 pages including the covers and has 36 both colour and black and white photographs as well as four journal entries. They are limited editions of 100 and are all hand numbered. 

Where can we purchase Stage Right?

The zine is available for purchase on my website, which is www.davidherington.com

Shall we be expecting more zines from you further down the track?

I hope to continue building this body of work into a bigger book in the future. In the meantime I do have some other plans for different zines, but they are not so music related.

Check David’s website to purchase Stage Right www.davidherington.com, and you will probably want his instagram too @david_herington