In this episode of Backstage with Crew Nation, we meet some of the key players who make the magic happen night after night for one of the most legendary bands around. From the opening number to the show closer, these folks make a Fleetwood Mac show come to life in all its glory. Meet Ali Vatter, production coordinator; Marty Hom, tour manager; Jennifer Tini, Christine McVie's personal assistant and Bobby Herr, production manager. They reveal a bit about their day to day tasks, how they’re a family and how they’re dealing with this span of no shows. Watch:
Their roles:
Ali Vatter: I handle all of the logistics of the crew, going day-to-day from hotel to venue, or getting on the bus and the bus going to the next place. In the morning, I go straight to back-of-house: dressing rooms, catering, how the artists get in, all that stuff. And so I handle everything back there.
Bobby Herr: I am advancing shows, with different venues and working with Ali and just liaisoning with everybody within the crew on a day to day basis.
Jennifer Tini: I basically take care of Christine's needs on the road, from a show point of view, when we get there, I have a set a schedule for her, a very tight schedule. We go into vocal coaching, sound checking, she likes to go to dinner with the crew cause she loves being around everyone. It kind of goes more than just like being an errand person for sure, you have to make sure they're feeling good.
Marty Hom: I do all the budgets and all the financial analysis for the tour. I hire all the vendors that work on the tour, the lighting, the sound, the video, the trucking, bussing companies, all the people who work on the tour and then to liaison with the principal artists, to make sure that their needs and wants are covered.
A family affair:
Bobby: The cool thing about this organization is it's more like a family kind of thing. Marty is super fun and he loves to do stuff: dinners, football pools, there's a lot of costumes that Marty makes people wear and I do mean makes.
Marty: I think you have to not only make it fun for the people who are working on the tour, but the principals as well. We used to do this thing during the encore where I would produce this extravaganza. It not only makes it fun for us to do it, it makes it fun for the band because every night Stevie and Christine and the rest of the band would look forward to that.
Ali: It just can make a tour really long and really tiring if you don't have the laughs and the love and support.
Jennifer: We celebrate birthdays together and anniversaries, whatever, even now, I wouldn't dream of celebrating a wedding or anything big in my life without these guys.
Ali: The passion started through the music, but then it's just, it's the people that's kept me wanting to keep going and to do my best.
The challenges of being on (and OFF) the road:
Marty: If you're the kind of person who needs to get a paycheck week after week after week, and you have to know what you're going to make every week, then the road is probably not for you. And I tell people: if you go on the road, you got to save your money until your next tour comes. Nobody ever thought that this would happen and we'd have to save money for a year.
Bobby: Ali and I were actually set to go out on Crowded House with Neil Finn, when this thing broke out.
Ali: We had our year planned and it was gonna be a really nice year. We had Crowded House worldwide tour, schedule wasn't too crazy. In between that, we had little Stevie one-offs, so she was going to be doing a couple of festivals and some private gigs.
Jennifer: I was actually supposed to be Stevie's road manager, out on these little one-offs that she had throughout the year. What's next? I really — for me I don't know.
Marty: You know, people have to work. They have to pay their mortgages or their rent and they have to pay their bills. At some point, unemployment’s gonna run out. And what Crew Nation is doing to try to get them some funds for them to get by is incredible.
Ali: There's so many people I know that are like, it's dire for them. And it will really help out and go a long way, for the people that have applied for it.
Bobby: People need this kind of support, and knowing that they’re actually reaching out it does a lot for the morale of these crew members that are out of work.
Looking forward:
Marty: You know, that first show back for Fleetwood Mac, I think is gonna be great for the principals of the band, I think it's going to be great for the crew, seeing the six of them up on stage again, just playing their songs is gonna be incredible.
Jennifer: I really hope to get that feeling again, cause it's, there's nothing like it. I think about it, I get the chills, cause it's like, literally like—
Ali: Honestly, I think the crew and the band would have more fun than the actual audience.
Bobby: We are all very excited to go back out not only just to be working again, but to be with our road family. I think there will be a lot of hugging and a lot of crying.
Marty: Crying for different reasons.
