[From a New York Times article on Roadies]
With ‘Roadies,’ Cameron Crowe Takes His Good Mood to TV
By LORNE MANLY JUNE 17, 2016 New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/19/ar...o-tv.html?_r=0
[excerpt]
Waiting for a concert to begin, the writer and director J. J. Abrams, an executive producer on “Roadies,” spotted a woman perched on the rigging who vanished as soon as the band appeared. His curiosity piqued, he called Mr. Crowe: Wouldn’t her story, and that of the rest of the behind-the-scenes crew, be fascinating to tell?
Mr. Crowe was intrigued. A subsequent backstage visit at a
Fleetwood Mac concert, where he glimpsed a family atmosphere among the crew, cemented the show’s tone in his imagination.
“I always knew that the roadies were more pure music geeks than crews on movies are movie geeks,” he added. “And I wanted to honor that.”
* * *
Though Mr. Crowe invented a 16-page history of the headlining Staton-House Band, viewers never hear the group’s songs. Live music will come from the “real” acts performing before them, which will be a constantly changing group, Mr. Crowe said.
“Like the drummer joke in ‘Spinal Tap,’ our band can’t hold on to an opening act,” Mr. Crowe said.
That comedic conceit allows “Roadies” to bring in an eclectic list of singers and bands including the Head and the Heart,
Lindsey Buckingham, Halsey and Lucius.