An interview with Rick Nielsen, lead guitarist and founder.
The crowd is waiting in anticipation. The opening act just left the stage and the crew is setting up the guitars and equipment for the main act to hit the stage. After every tiny detail is in place, the lights go down, and the crowd screams their approval.
Year after year for almost 30 years, Cheap Trick has been entertaining their fans with award-winning songs like "Surrender," "Dream Police," and "I Want You to Want Me." Few of us fans, however, know of what actually goes on backstage or on the road to make shows go off without a hitch. Believe it or not, mobile devices play a key role in helping bands and their management put on shows flawlessly.
I was lucky enough to meet the guitar legend Rick Nielsen while on tour and got to spend some time discussing the secrets of Cheap Trick's success all these years. Amazingly, I found that mobile technology plays a huge part in making tours go smoothly. Even better, Windows Mobile devices, Microsoft UMPCs (Ultra Mobile Personal Computers), and Microsoft Office all play a key role in the management of the band's schedule.
I also asked Rick how other entertainers like him use mobile technology. Some of his answers surprised even me.
Adam: Thanks for meeting with me, Rick. So what is Cheap Trick up to today?
Rick N: Best place to go is CheapTrick.com to find out. We're doing a lot. We're finishing another album—recording and touring just like normal. I just got back from Japan doing a press tour for the 30th anniversary of Live at Budokan. We're also playing for John Varvatos for a crisis center in L.A. and doing an ad campaign. The other night I did "shoot the puck" with Al Jourgensen from the band Ministry at the Chicago Blackhawks game. We're touring in July, August, and September all over the country. I'm involved in 10 other projects as well as working on a bunch of corporate events.
Adam: Sounds like you travel a great deal. Whether traveling for concerts or other business, what tools do you take with you to manage your schedule, i.e. mobile technology?
Rick N: Yes, I travel a great deal. We have a tour manager/road manager. When we have questions, which we all do, someone has to have the master schedule. We have the itineraries. We need to know what kind of car is picking us up, what time a set is, is it 24-hour room service at the hotel, do they have high-speed Internet. But she [road/tour manager] does the master scheduling.
We use MS Word or Excel apps with our itineraries and use paper copies so we can write notes on them when things come up. Our road/tour manager carries a thick notebook of stuff. While she has it all on the computer, she needs to constantly make changes—like what kind of car we want, is my wife going to be there, etc. She has her hands full babysitting for four over-39 year-olds and all the affairs and the crews. It's a logistical nightmare. She's gone through five computers in five years. It's brutal.
Adam: I know you like to use all kinds of mobile devices as well?
Rick N: I like high-tech toys that work for me.
Adam: What kind of mobile devices do you use?
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