James Monteith of Tesseract/Cage Fight on what touring is like post-Brexit: “For all bands things have become more difficult, but the smaller bands are the ones who have been impacted the most”

Britain’s exit from the European Union has complicated life for the touring musician. Bands encounter more red tape and other logistical hurdles that make tours more difficult to organise, and ultimately more expensive.

James Monteith, guitarist for progressive metal band Tesseract and in up-and-coming hardcore/thrash crossover crew Cage Fight, has seen touring on both sides of Brexit, and here he offers an eye witness account and a guide for the perplexed; this is what it is like to tour as Europe as a UK artist.

As director of Hold Tight! PR, he also has the perspective of an industry insider, and he views Brexit – as it is currently arranged – as a serious threat to the UK music scene, reducing the opportunities for new bands to tour, and for European bands to visit the UK, with the knock-on impact that will have on the venues and promoters.

As he explains, everything has to be gamed out in advance; from the merch you need to sell, to the electric guitar and all the other gear you need, there’s a form you need to fill out, and ultimately there is a price you need to pay.  

How much extra preparation work in terms of paperwork and application time did you experience touring with both your bands in Europe post-Brexit compared to before? 

"The major difference is that you can no longer move goods freely over the border, which affects musical equipment and also merchandise. This has a big impact in terms of costs and also paperwork time.

"For musical equipment you need a carnet, which is effectively a passport for the gear. It’s a manifest of all your gear, and when checked at customs everything on the list needs to be present, with the correct serial numbers listed. For Tesseract this isn’t a big deal, as an international touring at we have a carnet already, which we annually renew. However for Cage Fight – which is effectively a new start up band –  this has much more of an impact. 

"First off there’s the time you have to set aside to create the manifest and apply for a carnet, but main impact is cost. Thankfully there are some very helpful agents out there who will help with the carnet creation very cheaply, but you’re still looking at least a £500 outlay."   

"Pre-Brexit you could just fill your vehicle with merch stock and away you go. How, if you import merchandise for sale, you have to declare it at the border and pay tax on it. One way to avoid this is to print the merch locally. 

"For Tesseract, we work with various international merchandise partners, so on our summer run we had it printed in Germany and then shipped to our first show. This took extra planning, and managing of logistical issues (shipping etc). However it was doable, despite the extra work. A smaller band like Cage Fight probably isn’t ordering the quantity to make this worthwhile… so will have to take the hit on the import duty."

What about other extra costs, post-Brexit? 

"The cost of insurance, breakdown cover has gone up significantly, and if you’re self-driving, you’ll now need to get an international driver’s licence. 

"Finally – most phone companies are introducing charging for roaming again. Communications are very important on the move, so this is an additional cost." 

Tesseract are an established band while your other band Cage Fight are newer, were there any contrasts in terms of the challenges caused by Brexit for each tour in 2022?  

"I think for all bands things have become more difficult, but the smaller bands are the ones who have been impacted the most. If you’re on, say, 200/300 Euro fees a night, the initial outlay of the carnet, merch import duty and extra costs of driving internationally can be quite prohibitive."

You had obviously heard from other band's experiences about the challenges now, but what were the biggest surprises when you got out there? 

"It turns out the customs are not open 24 hours! Bands travel at all hours to meet their schedules, so it came as a big surprise to me that if you’re travelling at night, quite often you won’t be able to get your carnet stamped in or out, until ‘normal’ working hours. A Danish band I spoke to nearly missed their set at a UK festival while waiting six hours for the customs to open. 

"Another interesting one is that EU bands are no longer allowed here on their ID cards. I guess it makes sense as we’re not part of the EU, but I’ve worked with a few bands this year who have had to cancel their UK dates as they turned up to the border without knowing this. 

"One UK band I spoke to said they weren’t allowed to enter the customs area at Dover unless they wore a high vis jacket. Luckily the driver had one, but there is no information about this being a requirement anywhere. Or if there is, it’s not clear."

What is the contrast of clearing border control now compared to pre-Brexit? 

"Pre-Brexit you’d just jump on a boat / tunnel, flash your passport and off you go. Sometimes you might be asked the odd question by a cautious border force officer. Now the questioning is quite extensive, which is time consuming, and then you have to clear customs on both sides which on a good day will only add an hour to the process. 

"On a bad day, it could take any amount of time. A UK band I work with got held up in customs coming into the UK on a European tour, and missed their London show because they were held up for so long. 

"When flying, UK citizens can no longer use the electronic passport lanes as we have to be stamped in /out with all the other international travellers, which adds time. Not a biggy but an added inconvenience which could be problematic on tight schedules." 

What counties seemed the most efficient in dealing with processing? 

"So far I’ve only entered the EU into France and Sweden. In my limited experience both were pretty efficient, but I’ve heard some stories that aren’t great about the UK/ FR border on both sides."

What advice can you offer other musicians from the UK looking to tour mainland Europe? 

"Read up on all the regulations in terms of merch, carnets, and travel rules. From what I’ve heard, if you’re a small band and sharing backline (ie just bringing guitars/ breakables into the EU), then you can get away without a carnet. It’s not strictly the legit way to do it, but a guitar can be a personal item. If you’re bringing a full drum kit, amps etc, it might be harder to justify that.

We're seeing established US bands like Anthrax and Shinedown cancel European tours due to logistical challenges, while still playing the UK. Do you think this will become more common? 

"Yes we are already seeing many tours just tour Europe and not come here, and vice versa. It’s a headache for all international touring bands. I actually think the UK will be worst affected by this - A US band on a tight budget would probably skip the UK in favour of playing in the EU as it is a much bigger market."

Is this even a Brexit effect or just general rises in logistic costs for bands to tour overseas in multiple countries?  

"There are many factors involved here. The biggest one is the huge rise in costs, and also lack of crew as many people left the business during covid to find other work. Brexit makes it that little bit harder to come here, so if the budgets are tight, coming to the UK is a headache and cost many bands will chose to not have."

What ways does touring in Europe need to become easier?  

"A waiver on merch imports under a certain amount (both ways), and also not require a carnet on basic band equipment – that would make a big difference." 

What do you think the longterm effects of Brexit will be on live music?  

"Unless we see some big changes soon, I feel Brexit will stunt the growth of new UK artists, and the costs and admin have made getting to Europe quite prohibitive. I also feel that our live scene will suffer as fewer international acts will tour here as a result. This will have an effect on venues, local scenes and more."

• Cage Fight is out now via Spinefarm.