Ex-Bäackpain roadie Phil Gibbons on the Backbreaker Tour

Back in the days when I was a college student (you know, back when I used to shave even less than Stoop Williams does now and before my hair started to fall out), I became a roadie for Bäackpain.

Well, on Bäackpain’s Backbreaker Tour we had a manager who was an ex-Heavy Lifters roadie called Sean. He was a right muppet. As soon as we'd get to a gig he'd say, “Right. I want everything set up in 30 minutes and I don’t want to hear any excuses or whining about how heavy things are. We lifted heavier in my day. Just get on with it.” Then he'd go off to his trailer to enjoy a cuppa while he read the paper.

We didn’t know much about the risks of back pain in those days so we’d do everything manually. It was towards the end of the tour that my back finally gave in. I was placing some of the heaviest speakers on a stack for the upcoming gig when my back seized up. I spent the next couple of weeks in bed by which time the problem had got worse. When I finally went to see a physiotherapist she put me straight - when you’ve got back pain, it’s much better to ‘stay active’ than stay in bed.  Even so, unable to lift anything, I was soon dropped from the tour and haven’t been able to work as a roadie since.

I’m glad to hear that the band’s making a comeback. I just hope their new manager gets his lads the equipment they need to do their job safely, preferably some hoists and trolleys.