Roadies have created a charity cookbook to fund mental health first aid on tour

Virgin Radio

4 Aug 2021, 17:50

When Covid-19 brought live music to a grinding halt last year, it wasn’t just the bands and the fans that were negatively affected. With tour buses standing still and venues sitting empty, countless music industry employees found their entire livelihoods threatened, and isolation and mental ill-health became commonplace within the forgotten touring business.

And so it was that Nile Rodgers & Chic’s Production Manager, Nick Gosling, and his industry pals came up with an idea. Along with Production Coordinator Julie Cotton (Massive Attack), Production Assistant Athena Caramitsos, Backline Tech Rich House (Elbow) and Kel Murray (Stagehand, Music Support), Nick helped his peers re-engage in the much-missed mealtime connection of crew catering, by sharing recipes over social media and Zoom. 

With gigs cancelled for well over a year, this virtual connection became the new catering hub for unemployed music workers and, as stories of memorable meals and secret ingredients in roadie comfort food took hold, it became clear that food can bring people together when touring the world. 

From there, the idea of an industry cookbook was formed and soon turned into a fundraising initiative, the aim of which was to generate enough sales to secure crisis prevention training for touring music industry folk.

Now, the vision has become a reality, with the publication of The Roadie Cookbook: Toured There, Ate That. The excellently-titled book is created by live music crew members with the mission of funding Mental Health First Aid training for every tour bus in the UK.

The Roadie Cookbook showcases 50 recipes, as well as anecdotes and advice for staying healthy on tour. Recipes include The Killer Sandwich, Stage Left Satay Bowls, Tour Bus Nachos, and an interesting sounding Loose Cocktail.

Contributors to the 124-page book include lighting designers, bus drivers, sound engineers, and tour managers. They have worked with artists such as Dolly Parton, Bryan Ferry, Chemical Brothers, Kylie Minogue, and Robbie Williams, as well as at massive festivals such as Glastonbury. 

For each copy sold, 100 percent of profits will go towards charities Music Support and Stagehand to help continue funding and delivering Mental Health First Aid training and, importantly, normalise taking the Mental Health First Aid course.

One in four people in the UK will experience ill mental health in their lifetime, and those figures jump to three in four in relation to high-pressure environments such as touring and live entertainment. In several cases, the pandemic has accelerated episodes in those who had not previously experienced ill mental health.

Julie Cotton, who works with Massive Attack, said, “Although Covid-19 was devastating beyond anything we could have imagined, a positive to have come out of the situation was for the industry to have an unexpected opportunity to reset.

“During the last 18 months, we've all had a chance to reflect and work together to create positive change by working towards a healthier and more sustainable future in touring.”

She continued, “By undertaking the Mental Health First Aid course, many of us have been able to learn how to better support those around us, and we want to extend that knowledge free of charge to our touring colleagues, funded through book sales.”

So if you want to help with the wellbeing of the UK’s live music industry, and have the added bonus of learning some excellent new recipes, you can pre-order The Roadie Cookbook: Toured There, Ate That at theroadiecookbook.com