Booking Tours and Life On The Road With Singer Tash Cox
I sat down with my good friend and fellow singer Tash Cox—an incredible vocalist and touring artist who I had the pleasure of performing with on the road not long ago.
We talked about how to get started with touring, connecting with your audience, and taking care of your voice when you’re performing show after show. It’s not just about technique anymore—it’s about listening, adjusting, and trusting yourself in new ways.
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Vocal Health Starts with Awareness
🎙 Tash: You had a couple of shows where you weren’t feeling well, but I never would’ve known. Your vocal prep was so dialed in.
💬 Lara: I just did extensive vocal warmups. My vocal folds were swollen, so I had to figure out how to get more closure and reduce swelling—with gentle warmups.
In the fall of 2024 I had the pleasure of joining Al1ce on the first half of their tour as a background singer. I unfortunately was super sick for the first 4 days of tour, coughing none stop, which leads to vocal fold swelling.My warmups changed depending on how I was feeling. Some nights, I needed 20+ minutes of gentle vocalizing. But once I started feeling better just a couple of lip trills were enough since my parts were vocally pretty easy for me. Always listen to what your voice is asking for.
How To Put Together A Tour
🎙 Tash: It’s a numbers game. Reach out to as many venues, promoters and bands as possible and expect to face a lot of rejection. But if you don’t quit, you’ll eventually snag a fish.
Here are some tips Tash shared with me when it comes to putting together your first tour.
Start Locally
You don’t have to tour the entire country to get started with. Start with 3-4 cities close to you and build from there.
Do Your Research
Every city does it differently… In some you reach out to the venues, in others to promoters. Don’t just message everyone on Instagram (a lot of them specifically ask bands NOT to do that, while others like it). Check out their website, LinkedIn and ask other bands who have played at the venues you want to play at to get the right contact to reach out to.
Tash also mentioned a Facebook group for touring bands to get some help. Check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/diytouringmusiciansnetwork
Talk To Other Bands
A great way to get your foot in the door in a new city is by putting on a show with other bands local to that city. You could be their opener or vice versa, opening you up to a different audience. Just make sure that style wise these other bands are a good fit. You don’t want to play in front of a crowd that loves bubble gum pop when you’re a death metal band. ****The audience, and therefore the venue, won’t be happy about that
Keep Track Of Everything
Create a system that works for you where you can take notes of different venues, bands, promoters and contact information. Take notes of every communication you’ve had (a rejection is better than no answer!) and if you performed at a venue how the experience was. If it wasn’t a good experience you probably don’t want to go back on the next tour… But if it was a great experience you’ll definitely want to reach back out again when you’re passing through that city the next time.
Getting Paid On Tour
🎙 Tash: Our audience puts the gas in our tank and the food in our bellies. Merch is an absolute must!
Believe it or not, but not every venue pays their artists and bands to perform there! Here are some different ways to get paid on tour (and remember, every venue is different!):
Ticket Sales: Some venues split tickets sales with the bands
Guarantees: Some venues pay bands to play there (this can range anywhere from $0 to thousands of dollars, it just depends on the venue and the band!)
Merch: This is an absolute must for all touring artists and bands. Give your audience the chance to support you directly by buying your t-shirts, CDs, vinyls, stickers and anything else you can think of. Al1ce has an amazing merch table featuring everything you see on a normal merch table (mentioned above) plus different teas, hot sauce, egg shakers, a drive with all of their songs and music videos, and much more! Get creative here and bring it with you on tour! FYI - some venues charge a commission on merch sales. For example you’ll have to give them 10% of all Merch sales.
VIP Experiences: Give your super fans the opportunity to spend more time with you at a premium price. This could be hanging out backstage before the show, going to dinner together, taking pictures, anything you want! Al1ce even created a retreat style weekend in New Orleans for their fans in the middle of their tour, helping them pay for cost of touring across the entire country for 4 weeks.
Connecting With Your Audience
🎙 Lara: I vividly remember watching you perform and making real connections with your audience. They appreciated and loved it so much!
We hear advice like “just look over everybody’s heads” or “don’t make eye contact with your audience” all the time. And while that’s not necessarily bad advice (it can really help with nerves!), it also means that you might be missing out on really connecting with your audience and giving them this special moment. Trust me, if you give them this special moment, they will be your fan forever.
🎧 Want to Hear the Full Conversation?
From swollen vocal folds to soundcheck strategies, this From Singer to Artist episode with Tash Cox is full of insights and lived experience for singers who want to start experiencing life on tour as a singer.
🎧 Listen to the full episode below.
I sat down with my good friend and fellow singer Tash Cox—an incredible vocalist and touring artist who I had the pleasure of performing with on the road not long ago.
We talked about how to get started with touring, connecting with your audience, and taking care of your voice when you’re performing show after show. It’s not just about technique anymore—it’s about listening, adjusting, and trusting yourself in new ways.
Vocal Health Starts with Awareness
🎙 Tash: You had a couple of shows where you weren’t feeling well, but I never would’ve known. Your vocal prep was so dialed in.
💬 Lara: I just did extensive vocal warmups. My vocal folds were swollen, so I had to figure out how to get more closure and reduce swelling—with gentle warmups.
In the fall of 2024 I had the pleasure of joining Al1ce on the first half of their tour as a background singer. I unfortunately was super sick for the first 4 days of tour, coughing none stop, which leads to vocal fold swelling. My warmups changed depending on how I was feeling. Some nights, I needed 20+ minutes of gentle vocalizing. But once I started feeling better just a couple of lip trills were enough since my parts were vocally pretty easy for me. Always listen to what your voice is asking for.
How To Put Together A Tour
🎙 Tash: It’s a numbers game. Reach out to as many venues, promoters and bands as possible and expect to face a lot of rejection. But if you don’t quit, you’ll eventually snag a fish.
Here are some tips Tash shared with me when it comes to putting together your first tour.
Start Locally
You don’t have to tour the entire country to get started with. Start with 3-4 cities close to you and build from there.
Do Your Research
Every city does it differently… In some you reach out to the venues, in others to promoters. Don’t just message everyone on Instagram (a lot of them specifically ask bands NOT to do that, while others like it). Check out their website, LinkedIn and ask other bands who have played at the venues you want to play at to get the right contact to reach out to.
Tash also mentioned a Facebook group for touring bands to get some help. Check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/diytouringmusiciansnetwork
Talk To Other Bands
A great way to get your foot in the door in a new city is by putting on a show with other bands local to that city. You could be their opener or vice versa, opening you up to a different audience. Just make sure that style wise these other bands are a good fit. You don’t want to play in front of a crowd that loves bubble gum pop when you’re a death metal band. ****The audience, and therefore the venue, won’t be happy about that
Keep Track Of Everything
Create a system that works for you where you can take notes of different venues, bands, promoters and contact information. Take notes of every communication you’ve had (a rejection is better than no answer!) and if you performed at a venue how the experience was. If it wasn’t a good experience you probably don’t want to go back on the next tour… But if it was a great experience you’ll definitely want to reach back out again when you’re passing through that city the next time.
Getting Paid On Tour
🎙 Tash: Our audience puts the gas in our tank and the food in our bellies. Merch is an absolute must!
Believe it or not, but not every venue pays their artists and bands to perform there! Here are some different ways to get paid on tour (and remember, every venue is different!):
Ticket Sales: Some venues split tickets sales with the bands
Guarantees: Some venues pay bands to play there (this can range anywhere from $0 to thousands of dollars, it just depends on the venue and the band!)
Merch: This is an absolute must for all touring artists and bands. Give your audience the chance to support you directly by buying your t-shirts, CDs, vinyls, stickers and anything else you can think of. Al1ce has an amazing merch table featuring everything you see on a normal merch table (mentioned above) plus different teas, hot sauce, egg shakers, a drive with all of their songs and music videos, and much more! Get creative here and bring it with you on tour! FYI - some venues charge a commission on merch sales. For example you’ll have to give them 10% of all Merch sales.
VIP Experiences: Give your super fans the opportunity to spend more time with you at a premium price. This could be hanging out backstage before the show, going to dinner together, taking pictures, anything you want! Al1ce even created a retreat style weekend in New Orleans for their fans in the middle of their tour, helping them pay for cost of touring across the entire country for 4 weeks.
Connecting With Your Audience
🎙 Lara: I vividly remember watching you perform and making real connections with your audience. They appreciated and loved it so much!
We hear advice like “just look over everybody’s heads” or “don’t make eye contact with your audience” all the time. And while that’s not necessarily bad advice (it can really help with nerves!), it also means that you might be missing out on really connecting with your audience and giving them this special moment. Trust me, if you give them this special moment, they will be your fan forever.
🎧 Want to Hear the Full Conversation?
From swollen vocal folds to soundcheck strategies, this From Singer to Artist episode with Tash Cox is full of insights and lived experience for singers who want to start experiencing life on tour as a singer.
Check out the band's website here: https://ilikealice.com/
Follow them on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/alicemusicofficial/
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