“I never one day in my life think that I have a job,” says Corey Moore,
suckin’ on a Shady Thang a few weeks before going on the road as Charlie
Sexton’s tour manager. A drummer turned drum tech turned tour manager, the
eternally mellow Moore has followed a natural career track over the past few
years. Just as it’s not all that unusual for musicians between gigs to take a
teching job, it’s not unheard of for them to take the next step into tour
managing. For Moore, the new job is a welcome progression.
“Being a tech is a very commendable postion to have. You can make really
great money,” says Moore, who’s done most of his drum work for Chris Layton. “I
like being the boss, I like being in charge. I’m in charge of 10 people on this
tour including Charlie, and I’ve got to be a day ahead of everybody the whole
time. I’ve done a lot of the grunt work coming up, from pushing the cases to
being a drum tech to doing all kinds of different aspects of it. A good tour
manager is someone who has done all the other work and knows everybody’s job.
It’s like a higher level.”
When Moore says that that higher level also means he can teach or help, he
seems to be stretching at first – until he explains his new pet project, the
Luther Wolf Agency, a tour support association made up of guitar techs,
soundmen, road managers, etc. “What I’m wanting to do is just start out with a
small roster of some guys, and then put out the word,” he says of the agency.
The name, not incidentally, derives from his deceased father, Luther, and the
nickname given to Moore by Layton – Mr. Wolf, the character from Pulp
Fiction who is the supreme expert in “fixing” situtations gone awry. “I’m
starting it off small with just me, Jeff Tweedy, and several guys I know that
are really good, have no problems, aren’t going to get on the road and be doing
drugs or any of that goofy shit.
“I think four years from now, it’s going to be a big roster, and I’ll have
group insurance for everybody.” When questioned about the logistics of the
operation – who takes a pay cut from whom – Moore contends genuinely, “I’m not
trying to do this, like as my business. It’s like having a union. That’s all
I’m trying to start.” For more information, you can reach Moore – when he’s not
on the road – at the Austin Rehearsal Complex: 443-5522. –M.L.
This article appears in June 23 • 1995 and June 23 • 1995 (Cover).