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PREGNANCY AND PARENTHOOD ON TOUR Bryony October and Jake Vernum share their account of becoming tour parents, the fear of losing freelance work, as well as the unique steps they’ve taken in order to make it work.
Words: Jacob Waite Photos: Jake Vernum and Bryony October
Having toured the world for the best part of 25 years as a freelance FOH Engineer and Tour Manager, earning her stripes on the merchandise stand for The Levellers in the ‘90s, Bryony October and her partner, Jake Vernum – also a well-known face to TPi Magazine readers – welcomed their first child, Jesse, into the world last year. The baby was due on October’s 40th birthday. “I left it late because I knew it would be a huge compromise to my work and even considered it to be career suicide, but it was the best decision I’ve ever made,” she began, speaking to TPi 16 months on, having recently wrapped up production rehearsals with Katie Melua and a successful six-week touring campaign with modern country-pop duo, Ward Thomas. “I was eight weeks pregnant when the world shut down, which afforded us the luxury of time spent at home with the baby. I had never taken time off, touring from the age of 15 without coming up for air my whole life,” October explained, having been booked to work until 27 September, with her baby due weeks later. “If I hadn’t had the downtime, I wouldn’t have been mentally, physically, emotionally prepared. Uniquely, the lockdown set us up in the most amazing way for a baby.” Vernum, who splits his time production managing for the likes of Fatboy Slim and George Ezra alongside project management gigs at family-run Pearce Hire, was able to spend the first six months of Jesse’s life at home before travelling to Japan to help deliver the power distribution at Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics. “The demand in our roles in the sector to meet deadlines is high,” he noted. “We’ve had a very different and fortunate experience as touring parents to be able to
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