IE: Hey Mike, can you tell us how old you are and how long have you been working as a roadie for hardcore bands?

Mike: I am 35 years old and I have been working as a roadie since 2000 or 2001.

IE: How did you initially get into this line of work and what bands have you worked with over the years?

Mike: I got into it basically from working shows locally and also from throwing my own shows as a promoter. I would put on shows out here on Long Island so I learned a lot by doing that. I was doing everything on my own. I was bringing my own PA down and all that so I got to see all the ins and outs on a lot of different things and it just kind of rolled over to being a roadie along with me being a musician as well. For touring I work mostly with Sick Of It All and Madball and that’s really it tour wise for me. I don’t really tour much with other bands. I do work locally when I am not on tour. Working with Sick Of It All is comfortable with my schedule and they keep me consistent. I have been offered to work tours for other bands but if it conflicts with a Sick Of It All tour I am not going to take it. Sick Of It All is pretty consistent and pretty busy so I stay faithful to them and they take care of me. That’s basically my bread and butter for touring. They are great dudes to work for. 

IE: What exactly is it that you do on a day in and day out basis when you’re out on a long tour? Take us through a typical day out on the road with Sick Of It All who you said you primarily work with?

Mike: Obviously it all depends if it is like festival season or just a regular club show. With a regular club scenario it is more of a consistent schedule. With festivals sometimes you’re going on at like 5 o’clock in the afternoon and sometimes you’re going on at midnight so sometimes my working times are different. On a regular headlining show we usually have load in from anywhere between noon to about 3pm. I usually wake up about an hour or 2 before that to have something to eat from whatever catering they have and have some breakfast and then after we load in we get the whole stage set up. I have a guitar tech that usually works with me. We have had a couple of different ones throughout the years. Pete’s wife did it basically for the majority of the years that I worked for the band. She had a baby who is now about 3 or 4 years old so she hasn’t worked with us since then. Since then we have had a couple of different people in and out. We usually also have a sound guy as well so that’s basically it as far as the people who help with the stage. It’s usually just 3 of us who actually work on the stage. 

IE: Do you know what the biggest crowd you ever were a part of was?

Mike: I think it was 120,000 or 130,000 people. Obviously not all in the same spot at one given time but how many people were at that particular festival. I don’t remember which exact one it was but I think it was in Belgium. The name of the festival I forget as they sometimes all blend in.

IE: Is there a lot of down time when you are out on a long tour and what is it that you do usually to pass the time?

Mike: Yeah, there is a good amount of down time. There are times where you don’t have to do stuff for hours so if we are in a city we will go into the main area of the city and check out whatever that city has to offer.

IE: Does everyone kind of hang out together or separate?

Mike: Everyone kind of goes their separate ways here and there. Once in a while we will all go out together but what usually happens is a couple of us will just pair off as everyone wakes up at different hours and kind of has their own schedule. Pete (Sick Of It All) gets up super early and works out and starts his day. He is usually way out into his day by the time others of us are just waking up.

IE: What are some of your favorite cities or countries to go back to over and over?

Mike: I love going to South America. We were just there a couple of months ago. I am stoked for this upcoming September and October. We are going to Southeast Asia. I have been over there a couple of times and this time we are doing two cities in China. Sick Of It All will be playing in China for the first time ever. We will be going to Shanghai and Beijing. Southeast Asia is really cool. The kids don’t really get to experience it that much so when you are there they are like on fire. You can see the fire in their eyes. They are stoked to see the bands and just go off. Kids don’t stop dancing and stage diving the whole time and it’s like a great old school vibe. They definitely keep me busy with the stagediving and knocking shit over. 

IE: What are some of the biggest differences you see between US fans and fans from the rest of the world?

Mike: In other countries it is more well perceived. Here it is becoming more like a trend. People over there will buy stuff like crazy. Everyone over here wants to get on the guest list, they want to download the album for free, they want to ask you for a free t-shirt. Over there they support the bands and buy stuff. The merchandise is obviously one of the biggest incomes on tour and you can see the difference support wise.

IE: How many months out of the year would you guess you are out on the road working?

Mike: Ummmmm, anywhere from 6 plus months and that is between Sick Of It All and Madball as well. I am constantly working shows no matter what. When I am home here in NY and not out on a tour I work for Rocks Off, Black ‘N Blue, Murphy’s Law and some others.

IE: Do you ever get to a point on longer tours where you lose track of what day of the week it actually is or what city you are in?

Mike: Yeah, pretty much all the time and that’s why we have day sheets. There is a schedule of everything I have to do and it is posted up on the bus and up in the backstage room. We basically live by the day sheet. The tour manager makes the day sheet.

IE: How much does eating the right things and taking care of your health on a day in day out basis come into play when out on the road?

Mike: That basically depends on what kind of tour and where it is as well. Over in Europe we will have most stuff provided for us. At the festivals you get meal tickets, other times things are catered so you have options. When we are out in a van driving per say and trying to get things done on a tight schedule we might not always eat as healthy as we would like to. We basically don’t eat fast food. We try to stick more to the restaurants and stuff like that. The closest we will get to fast food is like Denny’s (here in the US) for breakfast because you’re in a rush. Over in Europe on the tour bus we have a two burner stove and some frying pans so we will request stuff on the rider. 

IE: What is a rider?

Mike: It is a list of the things that the band gets hospitality wise. We get boxes of cereal, peanut butter and jelly, bread, cold-cuts, vegetable platters, fruit, vegetables. Some bands can get pretty crazy and in depth with detail but I think we keep it pretty basic. Basically every day we get X amount of dollars to spend on this and basically the promoter goes shopping for us. We provide a list of what we like and they pick it up for us. 

IE: When you are back home in between tours do you still hold down jobs similar to what you’re doing out on the road?

Mike: Aside from jobs with Rocks Off and Black ‘N Blue, I work with some corporate stage and lighting companies. Some of these things aren’t even shows sometimes. They are just like some weird corporate events. Yesterday I did some work for Converse. It was almost in like this empty warehouse/studio type of place. Tomorrow I am going to be on Ellis Island doing some event there. I am not even sure what it is. We will go over there and set up the stage and lighting. I hustle like that and I work for maybe 4 or 5 different companies that work around the same kind of realm. I take the work while I can get it. It has taken a while to get it where it is this consistent.

IE: How does being away for so long affect your personal life? Do you have a dog, a cat, a girlfriend, a wife? Can you see yourself one day settling down and not going on the road or is there something about it that you feel will always draw you back time after time?

Mike: It effects my life A LOT! My real friends know the deal that I am not like just skipping out on something. It does let people down here and there. My family is completely cool with it and accepts it. I do not have a girlfriend right now. I was in a relationship for about 4 or 5 years about 5 years ago. She was really cool with the situation and it worked out really, really well but stuff just kind of fizzled away. I am still friends with her till this day. I am not sure if it was the touring that got in the way, she never said that it was, we just kind of went our separate ways. I was dating somebody after that where it was the complete opposite. She thought she would be cool with it but it was just too much for her. Coming up in October I will be in Australia which I am super stoked for but I will also be missing the wedding of my friend who I have been friends with since I was 5 years old. It sucks. I have flown home before for people’s weddings when there was time but I will be in Australia so there is no way I’m going to be able to do it. He is one of my long term friends and knows my job and doesn’t take it personally. It is really, really hard for me to make plans. I wish I could have animals but I wouldn’t even be able to keep an ant farm alive. You know what I mean? I love cats and dogs but I can’t have them. I would be dumping them on people all the time. 

IE: At the end of the day this is a job and with every job comes some level of stress. What are some of the aspects of doing this that you don’t look forward to doing?

Mike: There really aren’t many things except for this thing called cross loading which I hate because basically you are touching the gear twice. It’s like when you have to go to your trailer, into a van, to then go load in somewhere. You have to take your stuff out of the trailer, put it in somewhere else as opposed to having your trailer next to somewhere and going into the venue. It’s usually a long annoying process. That’s basically the ONLY thing that I can say I actually hate. I love what I do.

IE: What are some of the positives… the main reasons why you have done this for so long? What makes doing this fun for you at the end of the day?

Mike: The energy. Being part of the show. Being a part of people having fun. Looking in the crowd, seeing people going off and being stoked. I feed off of that energy and knowing that I helped set that stuff up all day and that there was so much behind the scenes that people don’t even know about. I live for that energy.

IE: Your also the drummer for Last Call Brawl. What’s up with LCB these days?

Mike: LCB is basically playing whenever the heck we can actually get together. With me being away so much and the other guys having regular jobs and Chris having a kid who is 4 years old now it’s definitely hard for us to get together. We have been trying to get together for a couple of weeks now just to practice and hopefully we will finally be getting around to that this weekend. Our last show was 8 months ago. We played in December at that Hardcore Holiday show at Sinclair’s in West Babylon. Our next show will be August 22nd at the Long Island Punk Rock BBQ in Bayshore.

IE: Thanks for coming out Mike to do this interview. Talk to you soon!

CHECK OUT LAST CALL BRAWL'S VIDEO FOR "ON THE UP" BELOW