Interview with Harry Parslow of Local Bristol Business: TourLife.co.uk
Posted on: 30 Nov 2016Bristol has always been a hub of youthful activity and a safe home for small businesses to grow and develop comfortably. In order to inspire and inform young people thinking of starting up their own business, we have conducted a short interview with Harry Parslow, the founder of TourLife. TourLife is a global entertainment company with a creative edge. Born from a genuine passion for music, TourLife works alongside some of the industry's biggest names on a wide range of projects including, but not limited to, tour video production, merchandising and brand management to maximise their client’s potential.
Tell us a bit about yourself:
I'm Harry Parslow, a 19 year old Bristol born entrepreneur and founder of TourLife. We just moved into our first office which is based just down the road in Weston-super-Mare. (Thats me on the right.)
What is TourLife?
TourLife was set up for one reason, to bring fans closer to their favourite artists, celebrities, bands and brands.
How did TourLife come about?
It was the first week of college, I was 16 and had just started a media production course.
What gave you the idea for TourLife? Have you got any stories you can share?
About 2 years prior to this I experienced my first hip hop concert, the artist was Xzibit and the venue was the Bristol O2 Academy. That was definitely the day it changed everything for me. Me and my friend left school early that afternoon, we got to the venue at about 3pm, 4 hours before doors even opened, I had listened to Xzibit for about a year or so before that so was really excited to see my first rap show. Before Xzibit and his entourage arrived in the UK they were playing shows in other cities and his tour DJ at the time, DJ Fingaz would record and upload clips from backstage. I loved the feeling of seeing 'behind the scenes' clips and getting a little insight into life of a touring artist. Getting to travel the world with a team to perform shows across the world would be a dream.
As we queued outside of the venue, I recognised one of Xzibit's touring party, Demrick walk to the front door. He introduced himself, grabbed a picture and then headed inside the venue. I thought to myself how cool would it be to see backstage and experience sound check etc.
Shortly after Phil, Xzibit's head of security was having a cigarette outside the venue, I recognised him from one of the previous tour videos and thought I'd say hello and asked him what's it like to be on tour with a rapper. To my surprise he was very polite and talkative, he easily could've ignored me and my 14 year old mate for being nosey. We were the only 2 queuing up at this point and we stayed talking for 10 minutes. I remember asking questions about what's it like to have a tour bus and what was his favourite country on the tour so far. We told him how we skipped school early to come to the show and he must've told Xzibit because this happened:
At the end of the show Big Phil found us and let us meet Xzibit who signed our shirts and commented on my hair looking like Justin Bieber, let's be honest, there was worse he could've called me for turning up to a hip hop show in chinos and a hollister polo shirt.
From that moment on I knew I wanted to work in music, and more importantly touring. That one experience was the best day of my life, It got me thinking, how could I pursue this? It wasn't like there was a school for how to tour with rappers.
Later that year it came to picking your options at school for what to study I remember choosing to study media production, film studies and music at school. If it wasn't for that concert, I would've probably been that guy to say "Film studies? You just want to watch films all day" if a friend had picked that. I just put all my effort into media, film and music. Media studies was the first time I picked a camera up and started making the world’s worst short films. I passed the course though, that's what counts right?
My new tutor mentioned the fact that we were free to take out cameras from college for up to a week at a time, I never used a camera other than one of those cheap flip cameras that they provided in school but that day I borrowed one of the Sony cameras that was worth about £1000 and I had no idea how to use. I emailed every venue, local artist and music agency company there was on google. I got 0 replies. So I ended up going on the O2 academy website and seeing who was playing that night, it happened to be Mac Miller, so I got the bus into Bristol and waited outside the tour bus in hope of asking someone from his entourage to do some free filming. This went tragically, I asked his tour manager and she obviously replied No. I couldn't afford a ticket for the concert so It wasn't like i could just try and sneak a camera in so it was all or nothing.
Mac Miller appeared from his tour bus with his entourage and whilst walking to the stage door I shouted "Hey, I'm a media student, could I film some of your show. It wasn't Mac that replied but one of the entourage told me to "f--- off" - It wasn't a great start.
Feeling pretty beat I was about to call it a day, the support act, Rockie Fresh was just leaving the venue after performing so I thought I'd try my luck once more, I asked him for an interview and he accepted. That was the first time I ever filmed an artist. From that I emailed the footage to every contact I could find online and the only person that replied was Ali Fletcher who is now one of the biggest managers is in the industry and someone I will always be thankful to. He was the first person to give me the opportunity to film with Ayah Marar and do a tour diary with.
From that I labelled all the videos I did "TourLife with..." and kept working for little to no money whatsoever. I loved every second of it at the same time with the goal to someday work with Xzibit in the back of my mind.
In my second year of college my student loan come through, I was 17 at the time and decided to go to the local travel agent and book a flight to Los Angeles. I didn't have a plan or any contacts I just knew that If I didn't book the flights there and then I probably wouldn't ever.
As soon as I booked the flights I started reaching out to anyone I could in LA, Xzibit was doing a radio show out there at the time and I emailed to the show to do some work experience, to my astonishment I received a reply and it said something along the lines of "Call this number..." it happened to be the producer from the radio show, I was so scared to call as I didn't want to mess it up, I left the house and ended up doing about 25 laps of my house getting the nerve to call. I wasn't given a time or place until I landed.
I ended up heading to the studio and meeting the team from Open Bar radio, including Xzibit himself. It was surreal to meet an artist I looked up to and was a fan of. We watched a basketball game and he invited me to join them on a fishing trip. From that we stayed in contact, working the marketing for his radio show and eventually he brought me out on a 20 date european tour. That was my first time to Switzerland, Germany, Denmark and to actually be part of the entourage I was once in awe of was about as surreal as it gets.
What advice would you give to young entrepreneurs looking to start up their own business?
I think that If you can't get a job doing what you want, why don't you try and create one? If the worst happens and you fail, you're sure to have gained some experience along the way.
To find out more about TourLife, visit their website and Facebook page, or follow them on Twitter.
Article by:
Miri is an English literature student at the University of Bristol who enjoys folk-punk & math-rock music, trailing round art galleries, and playing video games. She is a keen follower of politics and will read any science fiction you throw her way. Having lived in and around Bristol for many years she has developed a keen interest in the Bristol underground music scene and independent restaurants.
