BEX Interview - Butterfiles & Parasites tour 26
When opening for the Parasites & Butterflies tour supporting the Nova Twins in March across the UK leg of the tour, I had the joy of photographing BEX at the Brighton show (day 1 of tour!) and then catching up later with them, crew and management to give an insight into what the tour was like, once it was all said and done.
I asked a variety of questions, about touring and equipment, all the way to diversity in the industry and on this tour. I was lucky enough to have have BEX (singer/songwriter/bassist), Josh (bassist), Evan (drummer), and their lovely manager Claire.
Starting things off with what it’s like touring with a fully female line up and what makes that special or stand out in any way to them, For this tour, what's it like touring with a fully female lineup and is there anything that makes that special or stand out to you?
BEX started with “Honestly it feels very normal, I have never done a tour that has been an all male line up so I wouldn't be able to compare it in that sense. Girls rock and girl bands are awesome, it is great that we have recognition and awareness around female musicians and tours like this are a blessing, knowing I could be fully myself around the girls and relax was awesome.” Recognition and pushing forward of female tours is something we strive to do and having that and the tours themselves making artists be able to feel more relaxed is key.
Josh, the bassist noted that “I don’t really know it any other way; most of the tours I have been on have been with female artists. It’s great to be part of them all and to be able to help give female musicians the huge appreciation they deserve. Most of the BEX crew is made up of women and they are all amazing at what they do and all a pleasure to work with!”
Having most of the crew with BEX be female puts another perspective onto the tour for the other male musicians that work with her on the band live. With Evan saying “It’s lovely to see a full female. From playing shows with a full male lineup to a full female line up I’ve personally seen a big difference, there’s no issues or anything and everything seems to be so much more inclusive.”
My next questions followed this up, asking about that carry over of inclusivity within the crew and if theres a need for more opportunities for diversity in touring crew for those coming up in the industry. While the lineup of the bands playing on this tour are generally more inclusive and diverse than normal for a punk/alt tour sadly, does that carry over into the crew for the tour and do you feel like there need to be more opportunities for diversity in touring crew for those coming up in the industry?
BEX spoke briefly about her crew for this and their perspective on it, “My personal crew is extremely inclusive however I do not hire people just to tick these boxes, my crew is made up of extremely talented musicians, photographers and people, regardless of their identity. It would be great to see more diversity throughout the entire industry however this should never be a criteria when hiring and selecting crew, I believe in hiring the best person for the job that fits in nicely with my current team.”
We then moved onto what scheduling days are like for tours/shows and the process of creating those schedules, What is the process like for creating a day schedule for everyone with touring/shows?
Starting with BEX and then following it up with Claire her Manager. “We don't tend to follow much of a schedule on tour, we are pretty free spirited in that case. My mum is tour driver and she makes sure we leave the hotels with plenty of time to get to each show but regardless of that, we try and maximise our time in each city and see as much as we can!”
From the management side its a lot more work and hands on for organising with “As soon as the advance lands (sometimes very last minute), it’s about pulling together a working day schedule. If BEX are staying away, we’ll map out a rough structure for them to follow. The key timings are always load-in, soundcheck and stage time - although these can shift depending on the day. Most schedules follow a similar rhythm, with travel and location being the main variables. If there are added elements like pre-show events or signings, it’s just about building in enough time around soundcheck - especially for headline shows where you want to make sure all artists, including supports, are properly accommodated. My top tip for schedules… requesting good, local food and coffee spots. It sounds small, but it genuinely makes a difference getting that insight from reps/promoters in that area - something more venues could lean adding into their specs! When you’re on the road and dictated by advance schedule, sometimes it really does help the band and crew.”
We then moved onto tech while on tour, Tech wise do you feel that you have all the lights/sound equipment from venues backlines available as comprehensively as you would ideally like as an opener?
With BEX commenting that “In regards to tech we of course have our own set up, our next step would be to get a touring sound engineer, hopefully we can start to get that in budget this year! When it comes to the venues, everything ran extremely smooth on this tour and the venues and their teams were very helpful. We had some lighting requests that unfortunately weren't met but theres only so much you can do when you're an opener.”
Josh followed this up saying “ It tends to be a bit ‘get what you’re given’ as an opener but all the venues on this tour were pretty helpful and accommodating for us. The lighting tends to be where there’s issues as most venues don’t have a lighting engineer for the openers so it can be pretty hit-or-miss what you’re gonna get.” It’s interesting that lighting engineers at venues aren’t commonly there for openers, when I would imagine many fans, when thinking about it would assume that the venues just do the openers, as the headliner would have their own crew to do it themselves. Having this information and perspective gives people starting out and new mangers important things to keep in mind. Evan followed with “For me it’s been no hassle, the venues have always helped supply shells for shows we can’t take kit too, or the other support bands are willing the share the kit”. Likewise sharing kit isn’t something I image that many fans think about or imagine much.
We followed with asking about what is it like teching in new spaces everyday, as lots of these venues have more of nightclub setup and environment?
BEX noted that she “love playing in new venues everyday, it's exciting. We work well as a team to combat anything that could go wrong or affect the show and we solve any problems that come our way. One of the best parts about touring is playing in a new space to new people every night.”
Equipment was the next focus, do you have any equipment you feel you wouldn’t go without and are essential?
Starting with BEX, “Well there are the obvious choices of my bass and microphone haha, alongside that, I rely heavily on my quad cortex. We keep our equipment to a minimum anyway so really, we would struggle to play without any of it.”
Josh followed with a similar answer, “The obvious answers are my basses and our Quad Cortex because without them there would be no show. However, I also always have a roll of electrical tape and some safety pins (learnt from Bex!) with me because you can fix most things with one of the two.”
Evan has it slightly different from being the drummer and so the drum kit all essential in terms of use “For me I can’t go without any of my kit, i use the entire kit for the set and really need every little part for the kit. But I’d say the important one is my sticks and snare.”
Finishing up, we focused on if they found the behind the scenes roles like being a lighting & sound technician, photographer, manager, merch salesperson, ect vary in detail/difficulty from tour to tour or location to location.
BEX spoke about the fact it changes a lot and is never the same, as “100%, every tour is different, every venue is different. The shows vary in size and this has a huge impact on the crew that's supplied at each venue and also the crew I can bring with me due to budget. My mum always takes care of the merch and I like to stick to the same handful of photographers. My session musicians are always the same but regardless of that, it will always be different!”
Josh saying that it definitely varies, and is never the same twice, noting both the good that came with this tour and the bad which they have experienced at pervious shows. “Absolutely! I do most of the tech for BEX shows, and it can be a real mixed bag of what the venue setup is going to be and how useful the in-house sound engineer is. This tour ran super smooth for us and everyone was wonderfully helpful which makes my life easier and keeps everyone relaxed. We have played quite a few shows though, where the sound has been terrible or there’s been issues with the venue, which can be very stressful and makes it much harder to play shows.”
Evan finished off noting about crew that they reguarlary work with and then some similar yet contrasting accounts about previous shows, focusing more on the overall positives they experince “Sometimes, not always as they’re pretty on it all the time, as we usually bring a photographer and merch salesperson/ driver with us we never have the issue of it being different or changing massively. So I’d say nothing really changes that much, and most shows we do the sound tech is pretty on it and the lighting tech is also pretty on it and reads the specs.”
Bex and her band are only on the up and up, so make sure to check them out even more, with links to insagram, their website and updates avaliable bellow.
A massive thank you to BEX, Claire, Josh and Evan for working with me for this interview, and giving us an insight into this tour and working as a musician touring as an opener in the UK in 2026.
See you next time, over and out!
