Paul McCartney has spent over 60 years bringing joy to millions with his cheery,
upbeat love songs. But serve his crew steak and you're asking for trouble!
Here's why being on McCartney's staff may not be the dream job it seems like.
When author Stan Slap was writing "Under the Hood," his book about employee culture,
he wanted to learn how certain employers secured an all-in commitment from their workers. So he
spoke with Brian Ray, the bassist and guitar player in McCartney's band. Ray confirmed that
it wasn't just about hiring the best, most technically gifted people and then putting
them up on stage. Instead, McCartney requires more from those thinking of joining his band:
The ability to change things up on the fly. Ray told Slap,
"Anything can happen. [...] We are not playing to Pro Tools, pre-taped material, or time
references. We're not tethered to anything but each other up there. ... We are sharing a live,
musical experience like real musicians have always done, and it requires you to have visual and audio
connection with each other. It is an immediate, vital music experience for Paul's band."
Of course, things can go wrong, and when they do,
McCartney does expect his people to fix it. But overall, Ray says that working with the
singer has been a transformative experience. He revealed to Slap,
"McCartney [has] made me a better musician, and he has made me a better human being."
When Kylie Olsson sat down to talk to Brian Ray about his incredibly long career, the conversation
naturally turned to what it was like to work with Paul McCartney in the studio. At the time,
he had been working for McCartney for two decades. Ray revealed to Olsson,
"Yes you can call him my boss, I mean, he's more than that."
When it comes to playing with McCartney in the studio, Ray admitted that the singer is pretty
particular about what he wants. For one, McCartney expects his people to set up an
almost shocking number of instruments. He added that for the former Beatle, it's not about what
he plans on playing in any given session — but what he might want to play. And that
includes multiple pianos, several keyboards, various synths, and guitars. Ray told Olsson,
"And they're all set up, and mic'd, and ready to go, because he might want to play a piano,
then jump over to acoustic guitar, back-to-back."
Ray says that it all has to do with the way McCartney works. If something
pops into his head, he'll want to record it that second. Ray added:
"So it requires everyone to be on their toes."
Paul McCartney is about as famous for his vegetarianism as he is for his music. So
when he spoke with The Guardian in 2010, he not only shared some of his favorite recipes,
he also revealed that he tried to convince the Dalai Lama to become vegetarian. So it's not
entirely surprising to find out that he also expects his staff to eat vegetarian meals.
For example, for his 2010 Up and Coming Tour, McCartney made it clear that anyone working on
his crew couldn't eat meat. Moreover, when McCartney put on a Canadian show
at Mosaic Stadium, a vegetarian menu was one of the conditions of the show.
Fast forward to 2017, and Perth Now reported that McCartney's
Australian shows had gotten even more strict. A crew member told the outlet,
"All the crew members have to eat vegan food. No one's
allowed to eat meat for three weeks on site. It has to be vegan food."
The crew member also noted that McCartney wanted a guarantee that his vegetarian menu
would be adhered to — or else he wouldn't go on stage. That said, people in the crew
haven't always been happy about McCartney's food restrictions. In 2004, crew members complained to
local newspapers that they were being expected to work 12-hour days on strictly vegetarian meals.
"People say to me, 'Don't you miss a traditional sausage?' I say, 'No way.'"
Ask most stage workers and they'll tell you that one of the most important pieces of clothing they
wear is a good pair of heavy leather boots. But when you work for Paul McCartney, that isn't
going to happen. According to workers setting up for one of his European concerts in 2004,
they were under strict instructions not to wear any leather, including shoes or belts. In 2017,
Perth Now reported that the zero-tolerance policy for animal products also extended
to backstage furniture and his cars — and it had been that way for years.
When The Smoking Gun got a copy of McCartney's concert rider, it confirmed that the "Yesterday"
singer's limousine couldn't have leather seats. It also specified that the backstage
dressing rooms couldn't be furnished with materials sourced from animals.
And that makes sense. Why go vegetarian and vegan for animal rights, and then use hide-covered
furniture? But strangely, there's one more step to the rules and requirements for furnishing
a McCartney concert. He also insists that there are no faux animal skin, fur, or prints, either.
"I enjoy being vegetarian."
Check out Paul McCartney's Facebook page or Instagram, and at a glance,
it seems pretty standard for someone of his status. There are plenty of throwback pics,
concert images, and photos of him in the studio and at events. But according to what he told GQ,
McCartney actually has some instructions in place for his social media team.
Those following his pages won't see anything super personal, aside from
the occasional birthday or anniversary snap — and that's by design. McCartney says that he
trusts his team to run things most of the time. However, he did add that he enjoys "dipping in"
to his social media accounts on occasion, especially when something big or important
has happened. But the singer doesn't like to spend too much time on social media, saying,
"I'd rather just go off into a corner and try to write a song."
"One of the great things about writing songs — it's almost like a therapy."
He also says that it's important to him that no one gives too much of his private life
away when they're posting for him. He's not going to be promoting a hot new restaurant,
publishing pool-side photos, or sharing some of those vegetarian recipes he's
so fond of. Those restrictions are for good reason. He told GQ,
"Why would I want to tell anyone where I was? Why would I want to tell
them what I'm eating? [...] That's private, otherwise, you don't have any private life."
He suggests that it was easier to be famous during the heyday of The Beatles. Sure,
everyone knew who they were, but behind closed doors, they still had their own, private lives.
Gina Vincenza Van Epps is an Emmy-winning seamstress who worked with Paul McCartney
in 2013. It was her second time working for the former Beatle. Van Epps had come further along in
her career, though, and this time, she was given an inside look at his wardrobe department. In
the process, she learned that for his wardrobe staff to effectively do their job, it required
some serious commitment to organization, as well as meticulous record-keeping.
In an entry on her Psycho Seamstress blog, Van Epps revealed that everything
in McCartney's wardrobe was labeled. And the labels were pretty extensive too.
They revealed both when and where the article of clothing was worn,
as well as the coordinating shirts and accessories that went with it. Van Epps wrote,
"The hang tags document his White House performance, his appearance
on Saturday Night Live, Charity Events, and Concert dates from 2010 to present."
Van Epps went on to add that there was a very good reason for this. The wardrobe people had to be
so meticulous because there was a good chance his clothes would be donated to museums or auctioned.
For this reason, institutions needed to know where his clothes were worn. And when you're a huge star
like Paul McCartney, your clothes can go for a lot of money. In 2004, a suit that McCartney wore in
1964 sold at Christie's for a whopping $53,775, which was about six times the estimated value.
In her 2013 blog post about working for Paul McCartney,
Van Epps admitted that part of her job was to set up the singer's personal items. She also
had to ensure that the spaces he would be using were spotless. And "spotless" is kind
of an understatement. It meant doing things like putting down McCartney's personal bathroom mats,
making sure there were no fingerprints or footprints on any of the surfaces,
and ensuring there was no garbage left behind anywhere — including trash cans.
As Van Epps noted, there's also a level of security involved in working for Paul
McCartney. For instance, Van Epps was tasked with making sure that the cleaning staff didn't take
any photos of the singer's private rooms. She also had to ensure that nothing was distributed
in the rooms. That said, each day McCartney was there, everything was re-cleaned and freshened up.
Van Epps also noted that even blankets that had creases were expected to be re-folded.
Paul McCartney might be widely regarded as one of the greatest musicians that ever lived,
but that doesn't mean he's happy resting on his laurels. When Billboard took a look
at what goes on behind the scenes of his empire, the outlet noted that his company,
MPL, and its employees, are largely responsible for his continued success. McCartney has also
credited his hard-working staff on several occasions. He's also
said that he holds his employees to one simple rule, telling Billboard,
"I've got a great team, and my main thing is: Let's try and keep it exciting."
Easy right? That's debatable, maybe, and it's the sort of thing that's easier said
than done. It's also why fans see him teaming up with people like Kanye West,
and appearing on albums with other performers.
"I just enjoy it."
And it's about more than just musical collaborations, as Forbes has called
McCartney "The Master of Content Marketing." It's also why you see him on Carpool Karaoke,
why he and Jimmy Fallon surprised random people by getting on an elevator,
and why he's consistently reaching out to the younger crowd with various appearances,
collaborations, and interviews. In other words, he wants everything to stay fresh
and relevant. So when his team of people sit down to hash out the next big idea,
they'd better be thinking outside the box.
Watch any old footage of crowds at the height
of Beatlemania, and it's nothing but mayhem. All that chaos has taught Paul McCartney some very
important lessons about crowd control, and according to what he told the BBC,
it's impacted the instructions he now gives his security detail. He explained to the outlet,
"What happened occasionally was you had security guys who would growl,
'Get out of the way! Move out of the way!' and the crowd would get a bit aggressive."
However, that would sometimes have the opposite effect. McCartney continued,
"So we learned to keep moving forward and be very quiet and
calm about it — out of necessity, to not make a crazy scene any crazier."
Getting hostile and denying fans a glimpse of their idol would just add fuel to the
fire — which no one wants. Now, McCartney says that he and his security team have a rhythm:
Move through the crowd, slowly and purposefully, and with absolutely no
hostility. As the singer told the BBC, he's more than happy to greet people,
but adds that he's going to keep moving. Because as the former Bealtes knows all too
well, that's how you smoothly make your way through a chaotic crowd.