Kimiko Price

Admit it! We've all done it. We've all daydreamed of being a roadie or tech for our favorite band. I remember when I was in junior high school, I wanted Duran Duran to come to my hometown and sweep me away to travel with them to exotic locations around the world. I knew John Taylor would see me, drop his model-of-the-minute girlfriend, and I would go lead this glamorous life on the road. Yeah, right!

Well, for some of us, this daydream is a reality. But life on the road with a successfully touring band isn't all the fun and glamour we daydreamed of. In fact, it's like any other job -- almost -- but more people see and check on your work. One person living the touring life is Lisa "Sulli" Sullivan, who is one of the guitar techs for the Indigo Girls.

MTV: What was the deciding factor in you becoming a professional guitar tech?

Sulli: It all started with Kristen Hall. I moved here at the end of 1990 from Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. I used to play in cover bands there and made a decent living. I wanted to become a better songwriter, and since Atlanta was such a hotbed for that, I moved here to make a go of it. I thought if I moved here I would be inspired to write better, but you have to able to tap into that deep part of you. I'm not very good at expressing myself, so I can't do the translation from head to paper well. Anyway, I wrote a few mediocre songs, not good ones, and I played at Trackside Tavern, opening for Wendy Bucklew and Natalie Farr, for 20 dollars. Playing was cool, but my belongings were beginning to fill the pawnshop. Then a friend of mine, who was a fan of Kristen's, said she was looking for a guitar tech. I figured I knew how to tune a guitar, so I approached her. It all started there. She gave me my break.

MTV: So Kristen was your mentor.

Sulli: Yeah! She showed me how to be an anal guitar tech. She taught me how to pack cases, wrap chords -- you know, everything. She used to tech for the Indigo Girls. Actually, she was amazing because she would go on the road with the girls and be the opening act and then go back, break down, and tech the girls' show. She is very talented. She lives in L.A. now.

MTV: Is that why you're not with Kristen anymore?

Sulli: No. She chose to give up the performing aspect of her career and now writes for a living. Boy, can she write, but life on the road with Kristen was like a rollercoaster ride. She didn't like performing very much and she had stage fright that made it difficult at times. Also, we are friends, so it was even harder to deal with things because you take things so personally when you're friends. I got fired and re-hired a lot.

MTV: Sounds like you learned a lot from her.

Sulli: Definitely. I'm still learning today. I mean, Kristen threw me into the fire. I remember my first show was at Rhodes College in Tennessee. That was my first real experience with the rock 'n' roll lifestyle.

MTV: How did that evolve into your latest post?

Sulli: It was a long road. I did a lot of different things between then and now. I ran sound at the Star Bar and at Eddie's Attic. I delivered pizza for a local pizza joint. I started doing contractor work, building things, doing drywall work, etc. Oh, and I started a booking agency....

MTV: A booking agency?

Sulli: Yeah, that was great! It was a fulfilling experience. It was called Underdog Entertainment.

MTV: Why aren't you doing that anymore?

Sulli: I couldn't afford to do it anymore. Seriously, I was broke. It was hard to stop doing it because I loved the bands. I booked for Shawn Mullins, who is a talent in his own right. I love Shawn -- he's very, very talented. I also booked for Ashley and Mark, Matthew Kahler, and Billy Pilgrim while they were waiting for their contract with Monterey Peninsula to go through. I loved all the music by these artists, so it was a great job, but it was hard to be the asshole with people. You know, I was charging fifteen percent plus expenses, and that really didn't add up when whole bands were getting fifty bucks a night.

MTV: So you had to stop?

Sulli: Yeah, and after Underdog Entertainment I went back to doing a lot of different things to pay the bills. Then Billy Pilgrim got signed to Atlantic Records and needed to go on a promotional tour. We were friends and they asked me to go on the road with them. But that was another big learning lesson. I was still so naive. So green. In fact, after that tour, I basically got fed up and decided to stop the music-industry thing.

MTV: What got you back in?

Sulli: I was asked to stage-manage the Atlanta Gay and Lesbian Pride festival stage. That was rough. I had to work with seventy-two bands in two and a half days. That was the year that the Indigo Girls were performing at Pride. We were backstage catching up with each other. I had worked on a festival with them a year before...

MTV: Yeah, rumor has it you saved Jackson Browne's guitar at that show.

Sulli: I don't know about that. I did catch it from falling down. God, thinking back now, I realize how bad I used to be. I was totally clueless.

MTV: So, how did you get together with the Indigo Girls?

Sulli: When we were catching up at the Pride show they said they were going back on the road and their tech, Jimmy Descante, wasn't returning. Then, a couple of weeks later, Emily told me to call Russell, their manager.

MTV: You've been doing this gig for a while. What has it been like?

Sulli: At first it was so hard. I had to get the chip off of my shoulder that I wasn't going to be as good as Jimmy. I mean, I idolized him. He was so cool. As soon as I got beyond that, I began to grow. Initially I was very slow, but fortunately for me, Amy and Emily were very, very patient. In the beginning I was their only tech. They've got between twenty to thirty guitars. I had to be re-stringing everything every day. And with Amy, Miss Stringbreaker that she is, you've got to change those strings every day. That part of my job would take several hours. I would miss dinner a lot of the time ... I lost so much weight that first tour, I was so nervous, so new at the job, and so clueless.

MTV: You certainly don't seem clueless now.

Sulli: I am still evolving as a tech. Every day and every situation is a learning experience.

MTV: You're going back on tour soon?

Sulli: Yeah, we're going back on the Lilith Fair tour this month.

MTV: What is it like working on Lilith Fair?

Sulli: Lilith Fair is such a great experience. It is communal in every sense of the word. Everyone is working for a common goal and it's so beautiful.

MTV: So there's no competition, et cetera.

Sulli: You know, I prepared for that when we did the first Lilith. You know sometimes people can be assholes and territorial. But at Lilith we all were there to do our jobs and we all bonded. Sarah McLachlan handpicks the crew and the big thing for her is "no attitudes." Everybody helps everybody else. I mean if, you blew tubes in an amp and didn't have spares, somebody would help out. It was such a laid-back environment.

MTV: That's cool. Speaking of environments, what do you think about the Atlanta scene?

Sulli: It's a great scene. There is a kind of music for anybody. You can go out seven days a week and hear a good band. But the scene is not as tight-knit as it used to be. There isn't one place where everyone goes to hear music or just hang out. Bands aren't loyal to one club, so you can go to any club in town to see the band you want to see. I guess we're all getting older so we don't go out anymore. Maybe it's like work to go out. I don't know, maybe that's just me.

MTV: Do you have any favorite local bands?

Sulli: Michelle Malone still rocks my world. If I had a big record label I would sign her right up. Shawn Mullins, of course. I'm talking more in the acoustic sense. Stereo Popsicle. They were in the Atlanta production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Amy just signed a band called 3 Finger Cowboy. They are really fun.

MTV: I love all those bands. So, in conclusion, what do you think the future holds for you?

Sulli: I don't know. It depends. I could hurt my back and not be doing this tomorrow. But if I won the lottery tomorrow I'd still want to be working in the music business. I like teching. I work for great people. So, for today I think this is what I want to do. Tomorrow? Who knows.