Behind The Scenes With Violent Soho Tour Manager Mark Bawden

Our series of Converse mini-documentaries focusing on remarkable figures of the music industry continues today with a third instalment following the day-in-the-life adventures of renowned Aussie tour manager Mark 'Mawds' Bawden.

Bawden is no stranger to the hard-edged world of Aussie music, having cut his teeth as part of cult West Australian outfit Break Even before shifting his primary focus to managing tours. Bawden says this career development came as something of a surprise, as he wasn't even aware that the duties involved were tantamount to gainful employment. 

"As a tour manager, no days are ever the same," Bawden says in the video. "Being around music for so long, I didn't think I would actually be able to do a job; I didn't even think it was a job. I was kind of doing the job for my band, but I just didn't realise it was an actual job. I just thought it was just part of being in a band.

"I think it's karma for looking after bands. Like, I've got a bit of a punk house … back in Perth, and I've let a lot of bands stay there, so I think it's just a bit of good karma for letting people come into my house and looking after them, somehow, I've been able to do a job now where I get to look after bands."

Granted, Bawden makes it sound like a pretty sweet deal — the ever-evasive ideal of the 'dream job' — but, as with pretty much anything people do for a paycheque, there's a considerable amount of responsibility laid at the tour manager's feet.

"There's a lot of things that fall back on me, [like] if the band isn't on stage at this certain time," he explains. "Time is a big factor in the day of a tour manager because you've got so many things going on. As much as you can have a day sheet and give it to someone, it's not going to work, because there's so many things that can go wrong in an instant that it makes the job exciting.

"I've had to deal with missing band members, missing luggage, missing gear, rental cars, flights, the venue doesn't even know that we're playing that night, oversold shows, security, people hurting themselves on stage… in the end, it's my job to make sure it all works."

Despite the many brushes with potential disaster, however, Bawden says that the experiences afforded him in his role as a tour manager — and the camaraderie he now shares with those acts in his charge — remain a pursuit worth getting out of bed for in the morning.

"I live a pretty simple life, and even if I had all the money in the world, I'd still be doing this."

"You have to feel as though you're a member of the band, and the only thing you're not doing is walking onto stage and playing," Bawden says of his role on the road. "Everything else behind it, like, you're a part of the band, and I feel as though the people that I work with, they treat me like that.

"Money's never been a big issue to me; like, I live a pretty simple life, and even if I had all the money in the world, I'd still be doing this. What keeps me going is watching a band play and knowing that they're enjoying themselves. Not just the band but the whole crew; everyone sort of enjoying themselves, everyone giving high fives and just knowing that they fucking killed a show, rocked the shit out of it, and knowing that everyone's had a good day, sort of thing — that's what keeps me going.

"Being a road dog, I'm just going to keep going down that road. One band to the other, I'm just going to keep travelling down it and hopefully I can keep doing the same thing that I'm doing now."

See more Converse + the music documentaries

karina utomo — high tension

kane hibberd — music photographer