Tour manager mostly in charge of getting band drugs

Cleveland, Ohio – Wes Bradley, tour manager for the heavy metal band Faces of Nothing, spends most of his time on the road trying to score drugs for each member of the band, sources said Sunday.

“Most people think being a tour manager for a road band is easy: ordering hotel rooms, organizing transportation, maybe coordinating some interviews,” said Bradley, double-checking his cell phone to make sure he hasn’t missed a return phone call from his Cleveland hookup. “The truth is I’m on call twenty-four hours a day, and I’ve usually got my cell phone glued to my ear. My job is to keep [the band members] happy, and that means getting them whatever they need. Usually, that means drugs.”

Added Bradley: “I barely get any sleep because I’m so busy making sure these guys barely get any sleep.”

Bradley and the band are currently winding up a 30-city headlining tour with a string of shows in the Midwest, an area Bradley said is notoriously among the most difficult places in the United States to score drugs.

“This area is pretty dry to begin with, but it doesn’t help that I don’t know too many people up here,” said Bradley, who is originally from San Francisco. “Next week we’ll be in Michigan, which is like a barren wasteland when it comes to dope. I’m hoping my buddy in Toledo comes through tomorrow night so we’ll – I mean, the band will – have enough shit to get through the week.”

Bradley ran through a typical day in his life as a tour manager.

“It usually isn’t until about five or six o’clock at night, a couple hours before the gig, before the guys start asking me to get them something, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t already been working on hooking up all day,” said Bradley. “As soon as the bus pulls in I’m on the phone trying to see if anybody I know knows anybody in town that deals. If not, I start shaking down the local [production] crew for them to call somebody. If it’s getting close to sound check and I still haven’t found anything, I’ll start asking the bartenders, door guys, anybody who looks like they party. Believe it or not, it’s usually an all-day project.”

Bradley said that in addition to the illegality of his duties, the preferences of each individual band member make his job a difficult one.

“It would be easier if the entire band were just straight-up cokeheads,” said Bradley, nervously standing outside the band’s tour bus waiting for a person named “Goat,” whom he’s never met, to arrive in a white Chevy S-10. “But no, only [guitarist] Gary [Knuble] and [drummer] Eddie [Corset] are into white. [Bassist] Mike [Richards] always wants smoke and [singer] Pete [McWilliams] is into downers, so I’ve got to find somebody that can deliver all three. This is where the good tour managers get separated from the okay ones – the good ones can get everybody exactly what they need so the show can go on.”