Instrumental Voices

Instrumental Voices: The Boys in the Band is the follow-up to Amanda Kramer and Wayne Byrne’s 2024 book, Hired Guns: Portraits of Women in Alternative Music, which documented the careers of professional female touring musicians.

Now, Kramer and Byrne turn their attention to the male experience of touring with some of the most celebrated and successful artists in the music industry over of the last half-century.

This book takes the reader on a journey across several decades of the music industry through the experiences of these inveterate road warriors, charting their professional challenges and triumphs, providing an insight into the machinations of the industry, and offering a glimpse into the education, work, and lifestyle required for success. The chapters draw readers into the artistic, social, and industrial contexts of important musical movements while giving voice to the musicians who enthral millions while remaining largely anonymous to the public. Instrumental Voices brings these musicians centre-stage to tell their own stories.

Crossing genres and decades, the authors profile musicians who have contributed their unique aesthetics, skills, and presence to the live performances and records of such artists as Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, World Party, Guns n’ Roses, R.E.M., B-52’s, Duran Duran, Soul Asylum, Billy Joel, The Cure, Cyndi Lauper, Radiohead, The Golden Palominos, Grace Jones, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Public Image Ltd., Carla Bley, Herbie Hancock, Brian Eno, Jeff Beck, Sun Ra Arkestra, The Waitresses, Billy Idol, The Psychedelic Furs, Paul Young, Iggy Pop, Max Roach, Sinead O’Connor, Eurythmics, Page and Plant, Goldfrapp, The Cult, and many more.

This is a world that Amanda Kramer knows intimately and with immediate context, having toured the world herself and recorded albums with many major artists including 10,000 Maniacs, Lloyd Cole, Information Society, Eurythmics, Siouxsie Sioux, World Party, The Golden Palominos, and The Psychedelic Furs. Her 40-year experience as a professional musician combined with Byrne’s literary work documenting the industry has resulted in a book that offers an undeniably unique and compelling look at this under-explored aspect of the music industry.