Road Crew - Other Careers

Other Careers

A number of roadies have gone on to join bands and write music.

• David Gilmour was a roadie for Pink Floyd before Nick Mason asked him if he would be interested in joining the band as a guitarist.
• Krist Novoselic was a roadie for the Melvins before forming Nirvana with Kurt Cobain.
• Joey DeMaio of Manowar was a pyro-tech for Black Sabbath during their "Heaven and Hell" tour.
• Frank Bello was a roadie and guitar technician for Anthrax before replacing Dan Lilker on Anthrax's second album Spreading the Disease.
• Kliph Scurlock of The Flaming Lips was originally a roadie for the band before being asked to join the band as a drummer on tours.
• Rick Biddulph was a roadie for Hatfield and the North and National Health and then went on to play in several bands with members of those bands
• Noel Gallagher was a roadie for Inspiral Carpets before he joined Oasis.
• Gene Hoglan was a light technician for Slayer during their early days.
• A southern rock band named Grinderswitch were composed of Allman Brothers roadies. They would often open for them during the early Allman days and would usually borrow their instruments. This is a good story, but it isn't true; the band this refers to is "The Almost Brothers".However, Grinderswitch bassist Joe Dan Petty was the Allman Brothers guitar tech for three decades.
• Lemmy was a roadie for Jimi Hendrix before joining Hawkwind, and later forming Motörhead.
• Hoxton Tom McCourt was a roadie for Menace and the Cockney Rejects before starting his own band the 4-Skins.
• Bob Bryar, of the New Jersey rock band My Chemical Romance, was a sound tech before the band asked him to play drums for them, following the departure of their original drummer.
• Billy Howerdel worked as guitar tech and Pro Tools engineer for the band Tool before he started A Perfect Circle which featured Maynard James Keenan as band member.
• Jon Walker, of Panic! at the Disco, was a guitar tech for Chicago band The Academy Is... before Panic! at the Disco asked him to be their bass player.
• James Larner is currently superstar backline technician for Delilah after his sparkling career as drummer for Saving Aimee.
• Henry Rollins, of Black Flag and Rollins Band fame, was a roadie for The Teen Idles, the band that would eventually become Minor Threat before singing with both bands.
• Jello Biafra worked as a roadie for The Ravers (later known as The Nails) before forming the Dead Kennedys with guitarist East Bay Ray
• Ben Shepherd was a roadie for Nirvana before joining the band Soundgarden.
• Kyo was a roadie for Kiyoharu before forming the band Dir En Grey.
• Billy Powell was a roadie for Lynyrd Skynyrd until he joined the band as piano player.
• Nate Novarro, was a drum tech for the band Armor For Sleep, until he was asked to join Cobra Starship as their drummer.
• Ben Carr was a roadie for the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and became a part of the group when a venue refused his entry on account of being underage.
• Larry E. Williams was a roadie for Neil Diamond before writing Let Your Love Flow.
• Joe Leeway worked as a roadie for the British group Thompson Twins before officially joining the lineup.
• Megadeth has had two instances where roadies have replaced members to become official members themselves: Chuck Behler was originally the drum tech for Gar Samuelson only to replace Gar who was fired. Ironically, sometime later, Chuck's drum tech, Nick Menza took over on drums when he too was fired.
• Andreas Kisser, of Sepultura was a guitar tech for the founding vocalist and guitarist Max Cavalera until he was asked to join the band as their lead guitarist replacing previous guitarist, Jairo Guedes.
• Rob Aston, aka Skinhead Rob, of the Transplants and Expensive Taste was a roadie for Rancid until Tim Armstrong noticed him for his hip-hop vocalist and song-writing talent and they went on to form the Transplants.
• Gary Holt was the guitar tech for Kirk Hammett when he was in Exodus