In a recent chat with Planet Rock’s Liz Barnes, roadie Tana Douglas shared snippets from her 2021 memoir ‘Loud’ where she gave insight into how she got started in a male-dominated occupation where there was no such thing as a ‘female roadie.’
The trailblazer shared that tour manager Swampy had taken her to see a show, and she was mesmerized by what the roadies were doing, and that was the moment she wanted to become one herself. She didn’t have a clue that women weren’t doing it during the early 1970s, but she persisted, and soon after, she was working for AC/DC.
Tana explained that once she got settled in a house with AC/DC, it was such a thrilling experience where she not only learned a lot but also had so much fun listening to different albums all day, every day, during the years when it was Bon, Malcolm, and Angus.
Apparently, one album was on repeat at the house: ZZ Top’s ‘Tres Hombres.’ AC/DC loved and idolized that album and the band, so Tana always has very fond memories attached to the album as it reminds her of the time she was a roadie for the heavy metal icons.
Tana Douglas’s words about how she got her start as a roadie and lived with AC/DC read:
“What is this? So you know when a break came up, and [Wayne] Swampy [Jarvis] came back to me, and he’s like, ‘So what did you think of the show, you guys? You like the band?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, they’re okay, but what are these guys? What are they? What’s all that?’ He says, ‘Oh, they’re Roadies.’ That’s the first time I heard the term, you know, I’m like, ‘Do you get paid?’ and he’s like, ‘Uh yeah!’ and just right then it was like, you know, one of those moments it’s like this is what I want to do you know had no idea women weren’t doing it in those days had no idea whatsoever because I’d seen it now. So that was it, and within six months of that, I was working for another band, you know, and that band was AC/DC.”
She added:
“It was exciting, it was really exciting, and we all lived in a house together and stuff, we’d share music, and we’d pick different albums and what do you think of these guys, and it was right at the beginning where Bon [Scott] just joined the band they didn’t even have Russell [Coleman] or Mark [Evans] at the time the drummer of the bass player so there was just Malcolm, Angus, Bon and they were starting to audition other members you know but in this house where we all lived. We just hung out, and all we talked about was music, so it was an exciting time, and I learned a lot from those guys.“
Douglas’s words about AC/DC’s love for the ZZ Top album read:
“Well, that was one of the albums we’d listened to in the house with AC/DC; they all loved that album, you know, so we that that was on high rotation in our house on Lansdowne Road, you know, so it’s it it has good memories fun memories for me so always when I hear it I get taken straight back to that house where we all lived with AC/DC so it’s a good memory.”
Although her lifestyle never felt out of the ordinary, for most, it was an unorthodox life and career that she pursued living on the road with a bunch of metal and rock heads, but Tana wouldn’t have it any other way. It had its perks since living with AC/DC is not something many people can say!
