Our series Balance Sheet seeks to dissolve taboos around money in the music industry. Today, Slow Hollows goes through the income and expenses from a nine-date leg of their current tour.
Slow Hollows’ Austin Feinstein has been around the music industry block more than a few times. Recording and releasing music since he was a teen, Feinstein garnered increasing attention over the last decade or so, collaborating with the likes of Frank Ocean and Tyler, the Creator, before disbanding Slow Hollows, and (as of March 8th) reviving the project.
That revival — the fourth Slow Hollows album Bullhead — sheds the dancy, electronically-infused direction of 2019’s Actors, instead embracing a warmer, folkier strain of indie rock. At times it’s soft, understated, and lap-steel-backed, like on opener “Bullhead.” In other places, it ramps up to make a little more noise, like on the single “Idle Hands” or the cathartic, distorted anthem “Soap.” It’s a new era for Slow Hollows, but one that couldn’t feel more natural.
To accompany the new release, Slow Hollows hit the road for a headlining tour across the United States. He’s currently in the midst of the second leg of the tour, which will run through early May. In the Balance Sheet spirit, Feinstein has shared the expenses and income from the first nine dates, rounding up everything from food per diems to a night at the pub to a “nightmare scenario” that, luckily, resulted in a free hotel room. “While these numbers account for 13 days of touring, we are going back on the road for another three weeks,” he clarifies. “So, it’s hard to say what money will be left to collect at the end.” Still, it’s a transparent peek into the realities of life on the road.
Read on for Feinstein’s full Balance Sheet breakdown below. Also be sure to check out his Origins breakdown of the Bullhead single “Tired.”