BACK CHAT
STEVE MAPLES Vice President, Rock-It Cargo - North American Trucking Division
How did you initially get into the rock ‘n’ roll industry? “As did all of my peers, I simply fell ass backwards into rock ‘n’ roll. As a high school graduation present, a neighbour hired a guy to teach me to drive a truck and get a CDL. I drove for his tire company during summer breaks. The tire plant burned to the ground under suspicious circumstances, so I was out of a job. There was a trailer parked in front of small industrial park near my apartment in Hermosa Beach, CA. I went in to see if they needed a driver. The company was Tycobrahe Sound. A guy who resembled John Lennon on a really bad acid day asked to see my license and then told me that if he could get me to the airport for a flight leaving in about an hour, I had a job. That evening, in April of 1974, I was running down the highway with Deep Purple’s entire rig in the trailer behind me.” When did the world of entertainment trucking really take off for you? “I’d say the real launch occurred about a year later when the tour manager of Ten Years After, Larry Griffiths, hired me for their summer tour and introduced me to Jim Bodenheimer with Egotrips. I drove his trucks for a few years, mostly doing Beach Boys, and then started dispatching for him.”
Does Rock-It have a motto for its customers at all? What do you feel has kept you in business all of these years? “I think that Rock-It’s motto is ‘Don’t just ship it, RockIt’. Here in the Treehouse [the company’s Topanga Canyon office], we like the phrase ‘You make the music and we’ll bring it’. It’s the people and the task, but mostly the people who keep you going. I’m fortunate to work in an office with young, creative folks who enjoy what they do. But, as an industry, we’re populated with kind, involved, and smart men and women. The task is to bring a show that challenges the mind, warms the soul, and makes people laugh and cry.”
Since your early days on the road, how have logistics operations improved? “I think it was when we put the buckboard in the barn, turned the mules out to pasture, and started using diesel powered tractors and air-ride trailers. Drivers check called about once a week from a pay phone. Problems were solved with cash, sweat, and a prayer. The only way to reach a driver on the highway was hope. Today’s drivers can reach out when the ashtray gets full and enjoy all the help they can ever possibly need. We can reach a driver when they’re taking a shower. When I drove we found gigs with Rand-McNally and the kindness of strangers. Today everyone has GPS directions in theirr pockets. That’s not to say that the drivers now have it any easier than it was for us back in the day. Gigs are bigger, regulations are Orwellian, and their responsibilities are tenfold. That we showed up for load-in at all was considered nothing short of a miracle. If one of the guys today arrives a minute late, everyone in their office, on the tour, and their own mother hears about it.”
Your job must come with daily challenges. What’s been the one that’s stuck with you? “One of the cool bits about what we do is that there is no intent to harm anyone, in fact, just the opposite. However, over the course of four decades, people have been injured severely or died. In the early years drugs took as many people as accidents. I will always carry those souls with me.” What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt during you time in the business? “There’s no point doing something unless you do it right - and have a laugh at the same time.” 98