Serena Cherry, singer\/guitarist of UK post-hardcore four-piece Svalbard, has detailed some of the ludicrous expenses that go into being a touring band in the 2020s.<\/p>\n
In a new interview with the Heavy Stories podcast<\/a>, Cherry, whose band announced last year that they\u2019d split up in 2026<\/a> after one last tour, breaks down the reasons why Svalbard are calling it quits, with the rising costs of touring being one of the biggest.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Over the 75-minute conversation, she reveals that she has to balance touring with her full-time job at a gaming magazine to make ends meet, often working eight-hour-or-longer days while on the road playing shows.<\/p>\n \u201cWe did a tour fairly recently, in 2024, that I found really difficult,\u201d she recalls. \u201cI remember bumping into Liam [Phelan, co-singer\/guitarist] while we were on this really long ferry journey between Helsinki and Stockholm and just bursting into tears. I was just so stressed trying to tour and work at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n She adds, \u201cMy job is very hectic and busy. Sometimes it goes outside of the regular, 9-to-5:30 hours. Even on the UK tour, we had a showcase happen that I was running, so I was working right up until stage time.\u201d<\/p>\n Elaborating on the expenses that bands now face on the road, she explains that following the UK\u2019s exit from the European Union they now need to pay for a carnet, a document that permits the importing of goods from the UK to Europe.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to pay different fees just to bring merch across \u2013 not to sell it in other countries, but just to bring it!\u201d she explains. \u201c[The cost is calculated] on a percentage, so it depends on how much you\u2019re bringing. It means you have to increase the cost of each t-shirt when you\u2019re over there, but sometimes that feels really wrong, when you\u2019re playing somewhere where things are normally cheaper, like Poland. It\u2019s not ideal.\u201d<\/p>\n Furthermore, if Svalbard were to ever tour America, they\u2019d be charged many thousands of pounds for visas, and their applications may be denied even if they pay everything they owe. This is why the band have never performed in the United States.<\/p>\n \u201cThe visa costs are insane!\u201d she says. \u201cSometimes America will just turn it down based on, \u2018Oh, we don\u2019t think it\u2019s big enough or warrants coming over here.\u2019 That is a reason, as well. We just can\u2019t afford to do it! And it\u2019s not for lack of offers. It\u2019s thousands and thousands of pounds, per person. And that\u2019s not including the cost of touring when you\u2019re over there.\u201d<\/p>\n Then, once a band hits the road, they have to fork out for petrol and bus or van hire. When Svalbard toured Europe as a support band for blackgaze pioneers Alcest<\/a>, they spent \u00a323,000 on a tour bus. She also says that the majority of venues take merch cuts, pocketing a percentage of the profits that bands make from selling t-shirts and records inside the building.<\/p>\n \u201cEven when you\u2019re the one selling, or you\u2019ve got your merch person there to sell for you, [they\u2019ll charge you,]\u201d Cherry says. \u201cYou\u2019re still doing all the work, selling your own merch, but they\u2019ll still come at the end of the night and take 25 percent. For what?! They didn\u2019t print it, they didn\u2019t play the set! Absolutely outrageous.\u201d<\/p>\n Svalbard are far from the only heavy metal band to either break up or announce their intention to stop touring in recent months. In 2024, rising UK hardcore five-piece Ithaca announced that they\u2019d break up the following year after playing just two more shows. Guitarist Sam Chetan-Welsh later told Hammer<\/a> that the emotional and financial impact of touring played a major part in their decision to stop.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we could be a lot more choiceful about touring and recording and still keep things going, then maybe we could have kept it going,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it\u2019s not sustainable. Touring is such an unbelievable investment. Recording is an unbelievable investment. And ironically, now that we\u2019re breaking up, this is the first time where our finances as a band are healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition, last year, progressive metal solo artist Devin Townsend<\/a> said that he\u2019d be taking a break from touring for the foreseeable future. The musician has previously said that he does not make money from touring, as he pours whatever profits he makes back into his onstage production. UK metalcore band While She Sleeps said last month<\/a> that they were stepping away from the stage, as well, burnt out on the cynical grind of the touring lifestyle.<\/p>\n Acknowledging the break-ups and hiatuses of these other bands, Cherry says in the Heavy Stories interview that \u201cit\u2019s becoming the case where, if you want to tour \u2026 and be in a band, you have to be from a privileged background now\u201d.<\/p>\n She continues, \u201cFor me personally, I\u2019ve never had a parent\u2019s place that I could go and live in rent-free. I have to make a living every month to put a roof over my head. If I\u2019m not making money touring \u2013 because of 25-percent merch cuts, visa fees, carnet fees, bus fees, petrol, all these massive outgoing costs \u2013 I can\u2019t afford to do it. It\u2019s going to become the case where every single voice you hear in metal will be from a place of privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n Svalbard played their final UK tour in November last year and released their final song, If We Could Still Be Saved<\/a>. The band are playing in Japan, Canada and Europe in the spring and summer, before drawing their career to a close with a set at Arctangent festival in August, a stone\u2019s throw away from their hometown of Bristol.<\/p>\n