'Relentless' costs force band to postpone European gigs

The band said travelling to Poland recently cost them £6,000

A band has postponed their European tour dates due to the "relentless rise in touring costs".

Ferocious Dog, from Nottinghamshire, said "inflation had made touring extremely difficult for bands".

Violinist Dan Booth said they recently spent £6,000 travelling to and performing two gigs in Poland.

The government has been urged to tackle the rising costs of obtaining visas and transporting instruments that musicians have encountered since Brexit.

Mr Booth said on Facebook: "Just to give a bit of perspective - Supporting Flogging Molly on the 2 Poland dates cost us over £6k.

"This was due to flights, hiring a backline for two dates, mini bus and driver and more besides. Hope this helps bring some clarity of how things are at the moment.

"Add to that, carnet costs due to Brexit makes touring costs absolutely ridiculous."

A carnet is an export/import document for transporting goods and professional equipment.

"Once you get to Dover they take you away for about an hour and they get your carnet stamped.

"Nine times out of ten, they don't even look at what's on the bus and it adds time onto your journey.

"Due to Covid, everybody is back touring. Everything that is available is more expensive."

Ferocious Dog hope to tour in 2023

Ferocious Dog said their tour costs included:

• Hiring of backline (drums and amps) - "About £800 for two gigs."

• Mini Bus and fuel - "Over a thousand pounds easily for two days"

• Cost of carnet - "Because of Brexit it's costing us £890"

• Emission zone costs

• Tolls - "Especially in France, we could spend £80 going from one city to the next"

• GMR (goods movement reference) - "Every border we cross, because we aren't in the EU, we are paying £50 for each border cross."

• Tax on all merchandise - "Something we never had to do before: we pay VAT on every item before we go out."

Ferocious Dog have had to postpone and reschedule their 2022 shows in Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne, Aschaffenburg and Munich.

They currently have several shows in the Netherlands booked for the first quarter of 2023. They plan on combining the rescheduled dates with the shows in the Netherlands to form a short European tour.

Ferocious Dog said "We hope you understand that it is out of our hands, inflation has made touring extremely difficult for bands

"However, we are already excited to come back and see our European Hell Hounds!"

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