Panel: Martin Atkins (Public Image drummer/Invisible Records), Eddie Spaghetti (The Supersuckers) – Martin Atkins took quick and charismatic control of this session. His advice to bands comes from 25 years in all aspects of the music industry. He advocated the idea that before anything else, a band planning a tour should form a coherent strategy, and plan all the stages of their rise to fame before embarking on random thrusts that seem like a good idea at the time.

This was a session full of sound practical advice – Atkins and Spaghetti both agreed that there was no substitute for hard graft, taking responsibility for every aspect of your band’s and your own development. Someone needs to do publicity for the gig? Don’t assume the publicist (if you’re lucky enough to have one) is going to do all the promotion you might think necessary; get those promo cd’s printed yourself – stand in the street yourself, handing them out, get the edge over the competition not through strokes of genius, but by being creative and working to make the most of every opportunity. Oh, and if you’re touring in the USA, 80% of the major markets are in the East of the country, so unless you like spending time in the van, smelling your band mates and spending your gig receipts on gas, stay right of Chicago…