Niles Anderson

Credit: Ben Erickson

Carpenter

Foo Fighters / Grace Potter

CHANGEOVER: Tell us a bit about who you are and what you do in the music industry.

Niles Anderson: My name is Niles Anderson and I would say, at this point, my primary gig is being a carpenter but have worn many hats. I started out as a drum tech then moved into being a guitar tech. I’ve also been a monitor engineer, did production management as well as stage management. 

How did you get into all of those various positions? 

Credit: Coba J

I never wanted to pigeonhole myself into having just one gig. One thing led to another, like I was a drum tech and then somebody needed a monitor engineer. I knew how to do audio so I jumped on that tour and did that for a few months. Then, all of a sudden somebody needed a guitar tech. I didn't know what the hell I was doing being a guitar tech and I definitely faked it until I made it. I think so many people in the music business do that, fake it until you make it, and then you become pretty good at it. I just never said no to a gig, even if I didn't know what I was doing. 

How did you originally get into the music industry? 

Originally, I was just playing music in punk rock and hardcore bands back in California. We weren't making much money at all doing that sort of thing. I knew about Full Sail University in Florida and always had ambitions of learning audio or lighting. I lived a little too far away from San Francisco, and the town I was living in didn't have a club scene so going down to the local club to offer my services wasn't really an option. After playing in bands, I just decided to move to Florida and go to Full Sail and learn about audio and lighting. That led to a job at the House of Blues in Orlando.

How did that lead into getting on the touring circuit? 

After graduating from Full Sail, I had a really good friend back home who was doing merch and photography for a band called Death Cab for Cutie. She was really curious about me going out to Full Sail. Randomly, about two months before I was slated to graduate, I got an email from her saying, “I remember this thing that you were doing was only for a couple of years but I've got a band who needs a drum tech.” The band was Minus The Bear and she was really good friends with those guys. She connected the dots for me. I graduated in early October and, literally, three days later I was on an airplane flying to Seattle to start a tour with Minus The Bear.

Credit: Bongo

Where were you when COVID-19 hit and how did it affect your job? 

I was in Vancouver, British Columbia doing a gig with an artist named Grace Potter. I was doing monitors for her and we had literally flown in the day before the shutdown happened. We unloaded our gear, got the stage set, got the stage wired, and the locals started talking about the governor of the province doing a news conference at noon to brief people. That's when he announced that any gathering above 50 people was going to be shut down, which meant our show was going to be shut down. We literally got everything set. She did a sound check party which turned into a full on show. She did a two hour show. The soundcheck party is typically 10 or 15 minutes but she went all out for it and then we put the stuff back in the busses and flew home.

What have you been doing since everything has shut down? 

It's been pretty cool because 2017, 18 and 19 were extremely busy. 2020 was a pretty special year of just just hanging out with my girlfriend. My girlfriend and I are in Las Vegas. I relocated here so I’ve been connecting with her. We got a dog because we saw it as an opportunity to fully commit to having a pet. I also ended up going back to California and working the wine harvest for about three months, which is really, really rad. My dad's in the wine industry so he got me connected with that. He knew that there was a little bit of cabin fever happening and it definitely helped the pocketbook as well. Other than that, it's just been house projects, taking the dog for a walk. A daily and weekly routine of being at home has now been developed. Wake up, have coffee, take the dog for a walk, have lunch, hang out, watch TV. It's been super refreshing. It's going to be great once we do get to go back to work though. I think a lot of people are going to feel amazing because they've actually gotten to have time off where so many of us just work ourselves to the bone and never take breaks, never take vacations. It's been an amazing reconnection year, that's for sure. 

What is it that you miss most from touring? Also, what sound do you miss the most from tour, for example, the bus door closing or the chirp of a radio?

I just love working, especially with the carpenter side of things and building the stage. I love the physical aspect of it and getting paid to basically go to the gym. I miss the camaraderie of tours too and having days off and hanging out with people. I miss days offs when you tour in Europe or Australia and you go find a pub or a cafe that's along a river. You hang out for a day. I really miss that, that's for sure.

As for the sound I really miss hearing, it would be the first thing that I would hear when my day was getting started. It’s when the riggers chalk out the floor and they're yelling back and forth. They're yelling numbers to each other. When you hear that first chain go up out of a motor box, it finally clicks and you're like, OK, the day is starting. I really miss that.