Vans, Granny Flats & Beyond: Why There's More To Everywhere Roadie Than Just Cheap Amps

12 July 2016 | 9:03 am | Mitch Knox

"Anyone from a photographer to a film crew can list their services."

In a world filled with people looking for quick and easy solutions, it's always refreshing to connect with those who have made actual change happen in their community rather than just sat around complaining and hoping for the best.

Kate Bradley and Liz Thomas are two such proactive forces making a difference for Australian musicians. With their friend and business partner Martin MacDonald (from Son Of Sea), the pair of creatives-cum-entrepreneurs have recently launched gear-and-services app Everywhere Roadie, an intuitive new platform designed to streamline and cheapen the process of sourcing amps, instruments and personnel for touring musicians in unfamiliar places.

According to Bradley — who spends her evenings in the alter-ego boots of one Ramona Moore, of Dark Fair — seeing the need for a product such as Everywhere Roadie grew out of her personal experiences and frustrations as a travelling performer.

"We’re all musicians and have played in bands for many years — so all of us have experienced the budget blow-outs from lugging or sourcing gear when on tour," Bradley told The Music. "For me, personally, the moment was when I was gigging in Sydney and needed to hire an amp.

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"I couldn’t get the gear I was after, and I also needed to have it delivered and collected. So by that stage it had blown out to over $200. That’s when I thought, 'There must be an easier way of doing this!'"

As it turns out, there is; Everywhere Roadie's simple interface makes light work of tracking down the people or gear that users are chasing. Such is the utility of the program that the final platform actually quite closely resembles the trio's original concept, Bradley says.

"We knew the platform and core functionality that was needed to deliver the service we envisaged," she explains. "Initially, we spent time plotting out how we thought the site should look, feel and behave and then determined that a sharing marketplace solution would best fit our model.

"The beauty of digital technology is that products are not static. They evolve and change. We have all the right functionality in place now but we also have a roadmap that we are working towards. Lots of our members have shared ideas with us, so we are taking that on board everyday to evolve the service."

Indeed, Everywhere Roadie provides much more than just access to physical gear — although, yes, that's a large part of it — and, in fact, could be seen as a viable platform for industry workers such as sound engineers, film crews, photographers, lighting professionals and even session musicians to pick up some extra employment by hiring themselves out to fellow community members in need.

Granted, those services tend to come at a steeper cost than static equipment but that's at least partially because they're so in-demand and can be difficult to source. Besides, the main thing, as Thomas indicates, is that users are aware that the option exists.

"Everywhere Roadie is about covering all bases, so anyone from a photographer to a film crew can list their services."

"I feel a lot of users are unaware of the scope of the service," says Thomas, who has graced stages as part of outfits such as Ouch My Face and Loveless. "I’ve played interstate countless times and struggled to find an engineer, so I really believe an important part of the platform is creating access to the people who are integral in shaping your show.

"We only switched on the service roughly five weeks ago, so it’s been pretty amazing to see the range of products and services already listed, with the only promotion really being via word-of-mouth," she says.

"We’ve been contacted by members who are interested in listing their vans and granny flats, so it would be fantastic to see more people jumping in with similar listings. Everywhere Roadie is about covering all bases, so anyone from a photographer to a film crew can list their services."

Although the program is still a fledgling concern, its founders note that the initial response — which has seen their membership grow consistently over the past month or so — has been "very positive", acknowledging the support in particular of local independent label Poison City Records ("It's been great"). And its founders have noble and grand visions for the future, with Thomas suggesting they've no intention of stopping with metropolitan locations.

"We would like to see Everywhere Roadie membership throughout Australia and New Zealand, especially in regional areas," she tells The Music. "We want to be an integral part of enabling bands to tour in areas that may not have been previously accessible or affordable for them."

Beyond that, the limits of the platform, or lack thereof, are really up to its growing user base, Thomas says.

"What is available to list and rent through Everywhere Roadie is really determined by the members," she explains. "We are unique in that we are the first Australian sharing marketplace available for musicians. 

"We’re no different from our members — we all want to play and tour as often as possible and make it as affordable as possible."