STAR COACHES, INC. • BAND BUSES • TOUR BUSES

STAR COACHES was founded on a gravel parking lot by Danny Hamilton in 1990 with one bus, a forty foot Model 10 Eagle... Very humble beginnings...

Our objective and business model has always been very simple and straight forward:

DO BUSINESS WITH INTEGRITY...

Today, our fleet of nearly sixty coaches has been built and tailored to help meet the budget of most every touring band...

We offer both Prevost and MCI Entertainer Coaches as well as Executive Limo Styled Coaches...

Check out this video to give you an up close and personal look at who we are...

Danny Hamilton had a vision... Take a rock & roll bus and turn it into a limousine. So that's exactly what he did.

After meeting with numerous coach builders who turned him down, Danny met with Jerry Calhoun, the Godfather of the rock & roll bus industry.

The meeting was brief and to the point. Jerry asked Danny to write down references and then told him to go to lunch...

When Danny returned from lunch Jerry said "Go pick out a bus, I believe in you!"

Since 1990 and millions of dollars later, the relationship between Danny Hamilton and Jerry Calhoun has been very special.

Star Coaches is proudly recognized as a founding member of the Entertainer Motorcoach Council.

The mission and purpose of the Entertainer Motorcoach Council (EMC) is to inspire a level of confidence in the safety, reliability, and quality of service for the operations of entertainer coaches employed on a charter or lease basis; actively promote the high quality services of EMC members; and more.

The EMC is an organization of responsible owner-operators of high quality and professional motorcoach service in North America.

These services are generally provided for the entertainer market, specifically those needing tour accommodations while they travel on the road from one performance venue to another.

Prospective, current EMC members and our clientele with questions or requests should call (202) 218-7227 or email emc@buses.org.

A few years ago, and thanks to our friend George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, we made a decision to convert some of our coaches from 12 bunkers to 14 bunkers...

This move has opened the door to helping bands save money by "sharing a bus" with an opening act, or carrying a full crew and keeping the cost involved to only one bus...

With a year round rate starting at $850 / day, our 2013 to 2016 model 14 bunker coaches can really make a difference to bands and touring theatrical shows that are faced with tight budgetary restraints...

In 2005, we went to our drivers with a simple task:

"GUYS, FIGURE OUT A WAY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO OUR CLIENTS."

We knew that the economy was going to tank. We didn't know when, or how bad things would get, we just knew the bubble was going to burst.

Over the course of two weeks, we held countless phone calls with all of our drivers discussing their ideas on "how to make a difference".

They came up with many great ideas. Finally, our drivers decided that the best way to give back and make a difference was to change their overdrive structure IN FAVOR of the client.

Industry standard has always been, and still is, for a driver to charge an overdrive (equal to a days pay) after driving 450 miles.

Our drivers voluntarily and collectively, decide to break that mold.

Their decision was to NOT charge a client an overdrive at 450 miles, but rather at 501 miles.

This was a HUGE move on their part. Unheard of in the industry. They were mocked and ridiculed by their esteemed colleagues in the industry.

BUT... They made a difference.

So, ever since 2005, our great drivers have made a significant difference to our clients every day with their overdrive structure, which starts at 501 miles, not at 450 miles like our competition!

Our drivers WILL save you money on your next tour!

OUR GREAT DRIVERS

Congratulations to JAY RAY, the recipient of our 2022 Driver Of The Year Award.

Jay Ray joined the Star Coaches' Team in 2012 when he made the jump from trucking into entertainer coaches. For many, this is a big learning curve because of the drastic difference in driving styles. Not for Jay Ray, he was a natural from day one!

Jay not only has provided our Clients with a smooth and safe ride from his first tour with us, but also is one of our top drivers when it comes to coach maintenance and cleanliness...

His past clientele ranges from rock & roll to theatrical tours, and everything in between. Jay has logged nearly 700,000 miles with Star Coaches, and his impressive list of past clients includes; AEG Live, Alestorm, The Scooby Doo National Tour, Cyndi Lauper, Sick Puppies, Donny and Marie Osmond, Travis Port, Los Lonely Boys, Experience Hendrix, Matt & Kim, Three Days Grace, Keith Sweat, Howard Jones, The Doobie Brothers, Issues, Don Felder, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Hall & Oates, Janelle Monae, Feld Entertainment, Disclosure, At The Drive-In, Bocelli, Rob Zombie, Corey Smith, Annie National Broadway Tour, The Australian Pink Floyd Show, Temples, T-Pain, Two Door Cinema Club, Luke Bryan, The Struts, The String Cheese Incident, Janet Jackson, Jason Bonham, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Nightsweats, Gryffin, Gary Clark, Jr., Claypool / Lennon, The Faint, Beabadoobee, Godsmack, Million Dollar Quartet, Robert David Steele, Bad Bunny, Morat, Manchester Orchestra, Collective Soul, Carry The Load, Wisin & Yandel, Trixie Mattel and Ghost to name more than a few!

With such a vast touring history and wide variety of musical genres, it is clearly evident that Jay understands the importance of acclimating himself around the personalities and needs of our Clients.

Among he fellow Drivers at Star Coaches, Jay has proven to be a valuable team member with his vast knowledge of the US and Canada.

Congratulations Jay! You certainly are deserving of this year's award!

1,000,000 MILES... That's like driving around Earth 40 times... It's like driving to the Moon FOUR TIMES!

All of us at Star Coaches are filled with pride to announce that we now have FIVE members of our elite Million Mile Club: PHIL STEWART, SAM FIERMAN, KEVIN MIDDLETON, BRYAN SHELNUTT and TERRY MCGEE...

PHIL STEWART
SAM FIERMAN
KEVIN MIDDLETON
BRYAN SHELNUTT
TERRY MCGEE

In the transportation industry, logging a million miles is an accomplishment that is respected by all. But when an individual logs 1,000,000 miles with the same company, it is monumental and should be recognized as such... It speaks volumes of the individual's loyalty, hard work, and dedication.

Phil Stewart joined Star Coaches in August 2002... Since then, he has driven for such clients as Hootie & The Blowfish, David Copperfield, Dog the Bounty Hunter, Rickey Smiley, Jill Scott, Feld Entertainment, The Neighbourhood, Experience Hendrix, Gary Clark, Jr., Of Monsters & Men, Lionel Richie, The Temptations, 88Rising, Cyndi Lauper, Yo Gotti, and Marc Anthony just to name a few.

Phil has proven over his career with Star Coaches to be "the guy for high end clientele".

Sam Fierman joined Star Coaches in October 2008... Since then he has driven for such clients as Matt & Kim, Poison, Feld Entertainment, The Struts, Twiztid, Insane Clown Posse, Saving Abel, Sick Puppies, Corey Smith, Chromeo, Adrenaline Mob, Big Time Rush, Celtic Crossroads, Above & Beyond, Coheed & Cambria, Blue Man Group, Benny Benassi, Timeflies, The Monkees, Jack White, Earth Wind & Fire, ALT-J, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Disclosure, KORN, Deftones, Experience Hendrix, The Australian Pink Floyd Show, Pentatonix, Alan Parsons, and The 1975 just to name a few...

Sam has proven over his career to be able to adapt to any client and situation and is often our go to guy for a "Lead Driver".

Kevin Middleton was nicknamed "Smooth K" by the actor / musician Kevin Bacon, and there is a reason for that... No one gives a client a better ride than Kevin Middleton! Kevin joined Star Coaches in April 2009 and has been working non stop since then!

Averaging well over 300 days a year touring, Kevin has driven for clients such as Musiq Soulchild, Hippifest, Kid Koala, Queensryche, Kid Cudi, The Summer Set, NeedToBreathe, Experience Hendrix, Insane Clown Posse, Big Time Rush, The Wailers, The Osmond Brothers, Fitz & The Tantrums, Volbeat, Machine Gun Kelly, Dweezil Zappa, Toto, 3OH!3, Donny & Marie Osmond, Feld Entertainment, Keith Sweat, Corey Smith, Don Felder, Clean Bandit, ALT-J, Hoobastank, The Neighbourhood, T-Pain, Gogol Bordello, Brynn Elliott, Echo & The Bunnymen, Alan Jackson, Miranda Sings!, TI, The Struts, Big Boi, Kodak Black, Above & Beyond, Pentatonix, and 88Rising just to name a few...

Kevin has proven to his clients and Tour Managers, that he will always get the job done safely, smoothly and on time...

Bryan Shelnutt joined Star Coaches in 2009 as one of our Executive Coach Drivers... When he moved to the Entertainer Coach world, he brought with him, the unique skills he acquired handling Executive Coach Clients... Bryan is in demand by such Clients as Gary Clark, Jr., Shinedown, Feld Entertainment, Laidback Luke, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Collective Soul, Tycho, Bianca del Rio, BTL Industries, SUM 41, Rich Brian, Pentatonix, Claypool / Lennon, and MisterWives...

Bryan is also a recipient of our Driver of the Year Award and is highly respected and admired by his fellow Drivers...

Terry McGee joined Star Coaches in 2007 and is well respected by all his peers, both veterans and new Drivers. He was the recipient of our 2016 Driver of the Year Award, in which he was unanimously voted for by his fellow Star Coaches' Drivers.

Terry's clientele list is quite impressive and includes The Acacia Strain, Corey Smith, multi-year tours with Feld Entertainment (Disney Live Shows), Coheed & Cambria, The Wailers, Dweezil Zappa, Glenn Tilbrook, Matt & Kim, Natalie Merchant, Family Force 5, Musiq Soulchild, Los Lonely Boys, BoB, Gogol Bordello, Abi Ann, Timeflies, Rival Sons, Metric, 3OH3, John Bellion, Keith Sweat, The Struts, Nightwish, Luke Bryan, Ghost, Dispatch, Marc Anthony, Trinity Broadcasting Network, The 1975, Billie Eilish, Les Claypool, Sean Lennon, Phil Lesh, Jurassic World, Carly Ray Jepson, SUM 41, Charlie Brown Christmas, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Nightsweats, The Temptations, Andrea Bocelli, 2 Chainz, Robert David Steele, Train, Moenia, Karol G, ALT-J, Gary Clark, Jr., Flo & The Machine, Earth Wind & Fire, T-Pain, Voss Events, Eladio Carrion, and Rauw Alejandro. Known as the "go to guy" for higher end clients, Terry is often paired up with the best of the best!

As Phil, Sam, Kevin, Bryan and Terry celebrate this milestone in their driving careers, we proudly award them with the Star Coaches 1,000,000 mile championship ring!

Congratulations Phil Stewart, Sam Fierman, Kevin Middleton, Bryan Shelnutt and Terry McGee!

We are very proud of our drivers, especially those who have proven their dedication and commitment to Star Coaches over their many years of service... And with years of service, comes miles driven... Many miles driven!

500,000 miles is like driving across country over 200 times! Most people NEVER drive across the United States!

We'd like to recognize those drivers who have logged over 500,000 miles with Star Coaches...

They are:

TERRY McGEE
MARC YORK
HANS SCHLOESSER
POLO GARCIA SANCHEZ
JAY RAY
ISAAC JORGE
CONOR O'BRIEN
LIZ CRAIG

As of December 2021, Don Neuen has created proposals totaling over 147 million miles, and has contracted over 48 million miles worth of tours! 48,000,000 miles worth of tours!! That's more than half way from the Earth to the Sun!

When Don prepares a proposal for your tour, he leaves "no stone unturned".

More often than not, when clients compare a Star Coaches proposal to our competitor's proposals, our proposal will "appear" to be more expensive.

Why? Because it is thorough...

It's NOT designed to be "pretty"... it's designed to be accurate. Actually, it is designed for you to end your tour BELOW the projected budget.

Don takes the time to prepare every single proposal for every single tour himself.

He suggests stop point cities on longer drives to keep a driver safe and legal.

While this level of thoroughness takes more time, it has been invaluable, especially for foreign clients that are not familiar with the geographical layout of the United States.

See for yourself what many consider to be the best, and most informative proposal in the industry, and then get ready to enjoy "coming in below budget" at the end of your tour.

REQUEST A PROPOSAL

TOUR MANAGERS LOVE THIS!

In LESS than 5 minutes, find out how much an entertainer coach will cost for your next tour!

We are pleased to offer you the new 2023 Star Coaches Online Tour Cost Estimator!

Since January 2016, this exclusive and invaluable tool has been used more than 46,000 times by Tour Managers, Band Managers, and Business Managers to research for themselves the true cost of touring in an entertainer coach...

Only Star Coaches offers such an online experience!

Only Star Coaches offers complete transparency!

Only Star Coaches offers you this budgeting advantage!

During the development and creation of this website, we consulted over a dozen Tour Managers about this concept...

Their reactions were all the same: "Wow!!"... "Amazing!!"... "Unbelievable!!"... "Oh My Gosh!!"

They were blown away!

Only Star Coaches offers such an online experience: The Tour Cost Estimator!

Now YOU can enter variables into a form and calculate approximately how much it will cost to lease various entertainer coaches for your next tour.

Here is what you'll need to get started:

a) your tour itinerary with mileage...

b) your pick up city...

c) your drop city...

d) approximately how many overdrives will take place

Now YOU can see how much bus your budget will allow... Experiment with different logistical scenarios...

This online feature will give you a very good idea of the estimated cost you will incur on your next tour...

TOUR COST ESTIMATOR

Our primary facility and corporate offices are located in Atlanta, GA. In addition, we also have a satellite location in Indio, CA.

The majority of our fleet is based on the east coast in Atlanta, but we also position coaches on the west coast.

This has proven to be beneficial to our clients, especially those with a west coast pick up and drop, as we are now able to greatly reduce the deadhead costs by utilizing our west coast coaches.

Now our clients can receive the same great customer service from both the east coast and the west coast!

About 60% of our clients pull rental trailers to carry their backline equipment, merchandise and additional production... BUT, with the increased importance of performing, also comes the desire to "bring additional stuff"!

Most of the time, this is not a problem, as most bands are staying within our 10,000 pound limit for GVWT (Gross Vehicle Weight, or a loaded trailer)...

By the way, for you Production Managers, our trailers weight about 4,500 pounds empty, leaving you about 5,500 pounds for the gear / merch...

Anyhow, a more frequent occurrence is that we find ourselves receiving a frantic call from our drivers at pick up stating that "this trailer is very heavy"...

So we instruct the driver to immediately weigh the full trailer, only to find that the GVWT is over 10,000 pounds... This becomes a new problem...

To battle this potential problem, we suggest making sure your packed load is less than 5,500 pounds, and if you must exceed that limit, act BEFORE the tour pick up...

Rent a box truck and a driver...

Star Coaches now has a small team of box truck drivers that can help solve the problem of a disaster at pick up...

If you can't get the gear to 5,500 pounds, let us know, and we will gladly assign one of our auxiliary drivers to your rented box truck from Hertz, Budget or UHaul...

Don't be THAT guy who is overweight at pick up...

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