rock stars who went back work.

Kurt Wagner kept up the fllooring business.

And didn't Sterling Morrison become a tourist boat captain while waiting for the Velvets reunion?

Why, surely he could. But I think that he actually takes pleasure in working as a building contractor.

You won't WITHER when you get the BILL!

ihttp://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~bgwaters/ed1.jpg

Bill "Zoot Horn Rollo" Harkleroad apparently works in a little music / record shop and sometimes teaches guitar.

Sterling Morrison was a teacher .. College I think ...

Benny Spellman, the great New Orleans singer (of "Lipstick Traces") was a beer salesman.

Alex Chilton was a tree-trimmer and dishwasher in New Orleans in the early '80s.

I think Alberta Hunter became a nurse...

I'm pretty sure Moe Tucker worked at a Wal-Mart down in Georgia.

here in glasgow, steven pastel of the pastels runs a record shop (although the pastels are still going too). one of uresei yatsura works in a record shop, alan rankine of the associates teaches music technology and bobby bluebell of the bluebells is a dj.

Where?

More Chicago musicians:

Janet Bean of Eleventh Dream Day and Freakwater works at a law firm. Tim Kinsella of Joan of Arc and Johnny Herndon of Tortoise have both bartended at the Rainbo Club in Wicker Park. John Navin of the Aluminum Group is a public school teacher; his brother Frank waits tables at the restaurant in the Hancock Building.

I remember Steven working in the music department of John Smith' before they sold up to Starbucks. Alan Rankine helped get Belle and Sebastians career off the ground.

on the pylon website, there's information about all the current occupations of its members.

i almost never hear of musicians / artists in general existing without some sort of dayjob.

Mark Perry (Alternative TV) worked in WH Smiths for a while
Vic Godard (Subway Sect) is a postman
Manic Esso (Lurkers) was last seen working as a drayman
Viv Albertine (Slits) works (vaguely) in television
Topper Headon (Clash) is apparently a taxi driver
Gaye Advert (Adverts) works (vaguely) in personnel / admin
Pauline Murray (Penetration) I believe works in Social Services
Jayne Casey (Big In Japan / Pink Industry / Pink Military) works for Liverpool Council
Howard Devoto (Buzzcocks / Magazine) works / worked for a picture archive library
Paul Jones (drummer with Killing Joke protegees Red Beat) works for High Wycombe council; as, I believe does Howard (also form High Wycombe but no relation afaik) Jones' mime-artist chum Jed Hoile.

If you follow the link in my first post....

dave allen from gang of four and shriekback is in the digital/computer/music/whatever biz in some capacity.

john s. hall from king missile is an entertainment lawyer.

as for M4rk 1bold of Pavement -- hell, he was working as the mersh guy for other bands even when pavement was at the height of their success. i'm not sure he ever went back to work inasmuch as i'm not sure he ever didn't work.

You worked at sonicnet, fcc? Was that what used to be Addicted to Noise?

sonicnet and addicted to noise were two separate companies that merged in the late '90s and continued using both identities; i started not long after the merger and essentially worked for both.

must ... fact-check ... self. for the historical record: sonicnet was on broadway. damn close to bleecker, though.

in the late 1980s or early 1990s, i no longer remember, i visited friends who lived in a squatted flat in brixton. I was introduced to a couple that was temporarily staying in one of my friends rooms. they guy looked like a heroin addict. he was introduced to me as topper headon, the clash drummer. i had no idea of his or the clash's fame and had certainly not heard their music before. topper told me he works as a cab driver. not sure if he still would be as some of their songs were successfully rereleased.

re: mid-level indie bands -- lots of them work temp jobs in between tours. this also explains why bands like that tour a lot: its one of their few sources of income.

Sorry for my bad english, I meant “what he had been up to after retiring from music”

Mick Pointer of Marillion returned to his career as a kitchen designer after being fired from the band he formed.

I wish this article wasn't paywalled because the lede is a masterpiece:

Life on the road as the leader of an indie-rock band wasn’t such a far cry from clocking in as a corporate lawyer for Darren Richard. He was welcomed into Dinsmore & Shohl LLP’s Columbus office as an associate in September 2009 following a career in which he owned a record label, mainly supporting his band, Chicago-based Pinetop Seven, where he was songwriter, instrumentalist and singer.

https://web.archive.org/web/20110415193240/https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2010/10/11/focus3.html

Richard was surprised at the similarities between professions. Both involve problem solving, whether it’s working through the logistics associated with shipping six band mates overseas for a European tour or helping a client negotiate a commercial lease agreement.

“Playing music professionally is a collaborative endeavor,” Richard said.

A musician works with band mates on song arrangements, recording sessions and shows, as well as with label representatives and promoters to generate album sales and to fill seats at venues.

“Similarly, transactional legal work is collaborative,” Richard said.

An attorney advocates his client’s position, he said, but ultimately all sides want to close the deal, whether it’s an asset purchase or a recording contract.

The similarities end with the lifestyle. Richard said a typical day on the road started early and ended with dinner at 9 p.m. “Now, I’m in the office generally from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m,” he said.

Meeting with clients and opposing counsel with a speciality in entertainment law has replaced driving between venues and loading equipment. Writing and reviewing documents takes precedent over penning lyrics and arranging songs.

Imagine, two different professions that involve “problem solving”... what are the chances

Btw, here’s another lawyer who runs a record label.

tbf environmental law is pretty noize

I got lots of friends who had low- and mid-tier music careers who've moved on... some of them at a certain point felt impossibly famous, like they were part of ad campaigns, were working as models for certain designers, etc. etc.

Of all the secondary career moves that these people have taken, "therapist" seems to be the most prevalent. I can think of six musicians who're now working as therapists. All six of them, too, I'm like, "that sounds like a perfect job for you, you'd be a great therapist". All of them are so, so much happier!

James Corden's drummer is off awaiting the birth of his child, so one of the show's producers is sitting in.

Their name?

Kate Shellenbach of Beastie Boys & Luscious Jackson fame.

Mudhoney's current bassist is also a nurse

https://crosscut.com/culture/2021/10/mosh-pit-er-mudhoney-bassist-being-nurse-during-covid

(current = for over two decades)

The shadow of Matt Lukin looms large (Also: before initially clicking on the link I thought it would be about Lukin having an interesting second chapter outside music ala Jason Everman).

PW Long of the old Touch and Go band Mule works doing TV news and documentary work.

I really loved PW Long's Reelfoot, more than Mule actually

Never saw that band live, but Mule rocked some serious mullet. I saw Long on some feature watching a news program on Vice and thought it was him, looked it up and it was.

xxxpost Lukin worked as a carpenter after quitting music

From a Guardian article based on a new book by Nick Duerden about what happened to music stars after their fame had faded, here's a curious update on Dennis Seaton of Musical Youth.

Child reggae stars Musical Youth were a ray of early-80s sunshine when their single 'Pass the Dutchie' sold 5m copies around the world. Once their fame elapsed, and it did so with breathtaking speed, one member, Patrick Waite, developed drug problems, turned to crime, and died of heart failure at 24. Another, Kelvin Grant, became a recluse; singer Dennis Seaton a born-again Christian. “It saved me,” he tells me. Now in his mid-50s and a father of four, Seaton is the chairman of the Ladder Association training committee, alerting builders to the dangers of working at altitude without sufficient protection.

Hmm....

Hey just sent you DM about pretending to interview me! 👍

— Róisín Murphy (@roisinmurphy) April 17, 2022

After Mr. Siebel walked away from the music business, he became a bread baker for a restaurant and a county park worker in Maryland.

He leaves no immediate survivors.

Asked in 1996 how he thought he would be remembered, Mr. Siebel said: “He was a guy who wrote a couple of pretty good songs. What ever happened to him?”

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/16/arts/music/paul-siebel-dead.html

Maybe he was called Max Decharme that time

.. or maybe I've got the wrong bloke (opps)

From that Guardian piece:

When 10,000 Maniacs’ Natalie Merchant grew tired of being a marketable commodity, she quit for the quieter life of a solo artist, and was then duly horrified when her debut album, 1995’s Tigerlily, sold 5m copies, because “then came the treadmill again”.

Kira (Black Flag) - computer programmer

Actually she went into the film/TV business - currently a dialogue editor with two Emmy Awards.

Also, it was mentioned in another thread, but when Jonathan Richman isn't doing music, he makes a steady living building and installing pizza ovens.

Best story I've heard is Philip Glass - from The Guardian:

...Glass supported himself as a New York cabbie and as a plumber, occupations that often led to unusual encounters. “I had gone to install a dishwasher in a loft in SoHo,” he says. “While working, I suddenly heard a noise and looked up to find Robert Hughes, the art critic of Time magazine, staring at me in disbelief. ‘But you’re Philip Glass! What are you doing here?’ It was obvious that I was installing his dishwasher and I told him I would soon be finished. ‘But you are an artist,’ he protested. I explained that I was an artist but that I was sometimes a plumber as well and that he should go away and let me finish.”

Forgot, I looked into the Gang of Four after catching their reunion. Turns out Hugo Burnham went into academia to teach art, Jon King became the chief executive of World Television, which produced news reports, webcasts and corporate video for clients from Greenpeace to Nestlé, and for awhile Dave Allen went into advertising and brand marketing, first with a division of Overland Agency and then co-founding the digital strategy firm Fight.

when I read that Guardian piece I did think that his was not an accurate take on Róisín Murphy's recent career:

After singer Róisín Murphy had navigated the end of her pop duo, Moloko, and then attempted to steer an idiosyncratic solo career with a determination Orson Welles might have admired, she moved to Ibiza to focus on two things: motherhood and the Mediterranean. “Sometimes it’s nice to just relax, you know,” she says.

I saw something about how after her solo album tanked, Jemina Pearl from Be Your Own Pet was overseeing open mics and karaoke nights in Nashville.

Forgot, I looked into the Gang of Four after catching their reunion. Turns out Hugo Burnham went into academia to teach art🕸, Jon King became the chief executive of World Television, which produced news reports, webcasts and corporate video for clients from Greenpeace to Nestlé, and for awhile Dave Allen went into advertising and brand marketing, first with a division of Overland Agency and then co-founding the digital strategy firm Fight.

Kira (Black Flag) - computer programmer

Actually she went into the film/TV business - currently a dialogue editor with two Emmy Awards.

Update yr info. Kira won an Oscar for sound editing on Mad Max Fury Road.

When I last checked on him, in the 90s, Arthur Brown was doing this:

In the 1980s, Brown moved to Austin, Texas, where his wife came from, and obtained a master's degree in counselling.[28]...Together with former Mothers of Invention drummer Jimmy Carl Black, he also became a painter and carpenter for some years,[10] and released an album with him, Brown, Black & Blue (1988). In 1992, Brown and fellow counsellor Jim Maxwell founded Healing Songs Therapy, a service that culminated in Brown creating a song for each client about their emotional issues.[30]

Update yr info. Kira won an Oscar for sound editing on Mad Max Fury Road.

Hah, even better! I just pulled everything from the opening paragraph on Wikipedia - I was surprised it's not in there. (It actually is, but buried towards the bottom.)

Bit of a niche interest this, but Michael McGuire, from 80s' conceptualists/ pranksters Sudden Sway, is now Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Surrey.

https://www.surrey.ac.uk/people/michael-mcguire

And if you doubt it's the same guy then about one seconds worth of hearing him talking about cybercrime on YouTube will convince you it's definitely him!

my brother-in-law is in advertising, used to live in portland, and would run into dave allen at things regularly. It took him a few times before he realized it was the guy from GoF and not just some random advertising guy

Xpost I have a home made box off all the "sing song" bits, so "Yes, yes, I did know that actually..."

Inspired by that latest Dandy Warhols thread, I fell into a clickhole and discovered Zia McCabe is/was a realtor.

Nice interview from 2017: https://www.wweek.com/music/2017/12/26/when-zia-mccabe-got-tired-of-touring-with-the-dandy-warhols-she-became-a-licensed-real-estate-agent/