---
title: "A Building On Wheels with Sam Durkes (Ezra Furman, Grace Cummins, Art More)"

description: "Want to take your show on the road? Sam Durkes has toured with Ezra Furman, Grace Cummings, and Art More, van to train to bus, and knows the reality of it from every seat. This episode covers what it actually takes to build a touring life."

status: complete

date: 2026-06-09

kind: guest

guestSlugs:
  - sam-durkes

listenUrl: "https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lovemusicmore/episodes/A-Building-On-Wheels-with-Sam-Durkes-Ezra-Furman--Grace-Cummins--Art-More-e3kgme3"
spotifyUrl: "https://open.spotify.com/episode/3V6z53SgsEguqDUvNMWBmB"
appleUrl: "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-building-on-wheels-with-sam-durkes-ezra-furman/id1567355195?i=1000771825503"

topicsDiscussed:
  - "Drums"
  - "Microphones"
  - "Microtonal music"
  - "Touring"
  - "The pandemic"
  - "Booking agent vs. tour manager vs. crew roles (and when one person wears every hat)"
  - "Getting paid: guarantees, door deals, and post-pandemic merch cuts"
  - "Van life to tour bus, bunks, sanctuary, and the episode title frame"
  - "Ezra Furman’s BBC 6 breakout and audience geography surprises"
  - "Drum influences, ghost notes, and programming vs. playing"

hostNote: |
  Sam Durkes has spent **~20 years on the road**, drummer for **Ezra Furman**, creative director, and a veteran of **Art More** (Anti-). The episode title comes from his tour-bus line: it doesn’t feel like an RV, it feels like **a building on wheels**: lounge up front, coffin-quiet bunks in back, a sanctuary that isn’t the green room.
  
  We start where most bands actually start: **DIY routing** through cities you already know, bringing a friend who can drive or run merch, and learning why a dedicated **tour manager** is worth their weight when the cognitive load would otherwise land on the players. Sam breaks down agent vs. manager vs. sound person, the economics of guarantees and door splits, and why **venue merch cuts** hit so hard when touring is already expensive.
  
  Then Europe (planes, trains, better hospitality), the **Ezra Furman** story of a “last hurrah” tour that sold out on **BBC 6** radio, bus-vs-van whiplash, and a second half that goes full drummer: Malcolm Cadoo, Pat Wilson, **ghost notes**, elbow mics, and holding tuning constant when every room is different.

selectedMoments:
  - label: "20 years DIY, don't wait for an agent"
    startSec: 143
    note: "Branch out to Milwaukee/Madison first; build from who you already know."
  - label: "Booking agent vs. tour manager"
    startSec: 380
    note: "Agent routes off the road; tour manager advances shows and often drives."
  - label: "Merch cuts and touring economics"
    startSec: 630
    note: "Guarantees, door deals, and why venue merch cuts feel so wrong."
  - label: "Six to eight weeks to dirty-dog America"
    startSec: 271
    note: "Scale of US touring for European bands; post-show van drives."
  - label: "A building on wheels"
    startSec: 768
    note: "Episode title, tour bus vs. Winnebago; lounge, fridge, silent bunks."
  - label: "Ezra Furman BBC 6 sold-out pivot"
    startSec: 1535
    note: "Planned last hurrah in Europe; radio play had built an audience they didn't know."
  - label: "Ghost notes, even in programming"
    startSec: 1867
    note: "Funk lives in the stuff between the backbeat; quantize can't fake it."
  - label: "Love Music Why, community on the road"
    startSec: 2700
    note: "Why Sam loves music: people showing up for the same thing, night after night."

excerptQuotes:
  - text: "In those early stages you're doing everything DIY — you can't just wait around for a booking agent. We branched out to bands in Milwaukee and Madison we already knew."
    startSec: 144
    reviewed: true
  - text: "The tour manager handles the spreadsheets, interfaces with promoters, advances the shows. The booking agent doesn't come on the road — they organize routing and the deals with venues."
    startSec: 377
    reviewed: true
  - text: "Merch is the way to make money a lot of times — for venues to take a cut of that is pretty gnarly. They don't care; they're like, play somewhere else."
    startSec: 678
    reviewed: true
  - text: "It doesn't feel like an RV — it feels like a building on wheels. The bunks are dead silent, cold and dark. The bus is a sanctuary where you can turn your brain off."
    startSec: 770
    reviewed: true
  - text: "We booked a European tour thinking we'd call it quits — every show was sold out. BBC 6 radio play had turned into something and we had no idea."
    startSec: 1540
    reviewed: true
  - text: "Ghost notes, man — look them up, kids. Even if you're programming, you've got to put some in."
    startSec: 1879
    reviewed: true
  - text: "I love music because it brings people together — a little community everywhere you go. Everybody's there for the show, working together from morning to the nitty-gritty at night."
    startSec: 2710
    reviewed: true

faq:
  - question: "What does Sam Durkes mean by 'a building on wheels' on Love Music More?"
    answer: "He uses the phrase to describe a proper tour bus versus an RV or Winnebago, solid, purpose-built, with a front lounge and rear bunks that are silent, dark, and cold. It's the episode title and his frame for the luxury of having private road space after years in vans."
  - question: "What touring advice does Sam Durkes give for bands starting out?"
    answer: "Don't wait for a booking agent, start DIY, play nearby cities where you already have connections, bring a friend who can help with driving or merch, keep books from day one, and grab real fans one at a time rather than chasing virality alone."

transcriptPublished: false

draft: false
---