Radio Check - Life In The Concert Touring Industry

Send us Fan Mail Kille Knobel went to the California Institute of Arts with the mind of becoming an actor. When she discovered acting wasn’t for her, she side shifted over to Cal Art’s theater department and fell in love with stage lighting modern dance. From her days at Cal Arts, Kille has since gone on to become one of our industry’s most versatile lighting minds, having designed, programmed and...

Send us Fan Mail Brothers Wob and Chris Roberts have a combined 70 years in concert touring. From their humble beginnings playing in garage bands in the UK, they have risen to industry prominence as two of the most sought after production managers in our business. Their parallel journeys throughout the decades have been filled with friendly jealousy and respect. Their incredible stories are heartw...

Send us Fan Mail Health and Safety has risen to the forefront of the concert touring industry. No one individual personifies this movement more so than Jim Digby and the non-profit association he founded, the “Event Safety Alliance”. Listen as Jim shares his story on why both physical and mental health, along with overall site safety, have become so important to him. He also tells Matt and me all...

Send us Fan Mail In our 40th episode, we pay homage to the mighty RUSH. Matt and I had the great pleasure of welcoming back Howard Ungerleider and Robert Scovill to revisit their days working together with the band. They have great stories of fun n games with Geddy and Alex as well as thoughts, on how hard it still is, getting over the death of Neil Peart. This was a real privilege.  www.pdifx.com...

Send us Fan Mail Pyro Pete is a legend in the world of pyrotechnics. We first met in 1983 in the days when he was blowing up cars and buses for the Plasmatics. From there, his career exploded touring with Kiss, Def Leppard, Motley Crüe, and AC/DC shooting the biggest, most innovative pyro displays on the road. We talk about his career, technology, the future of pyrotechnics and what it’s like to m...

Send us Fan Mail Ken “Pooch” Van Druten has done it all. He’s mixed live sound for heavy metal bands, pop divas, hard core rap artists and even K-pop at the highest level of success. We breeze through his massive resume, talk about his love for Linkin Park, his giving back to the sound community thru his master classes, and even get into his podcast he hosts with Kevin “Tater” McCarthy called “Wro...

Send us Fan Mail It’s no coincidence that DC Parmet went from tour merchandiser, to tour accountant, to tour manager in just a few short years. His work ethic, enthusiasm and knack for balance sheets, swung open the door of a great career working with Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Sade and for the last 25 years, Elton John. We chat about our early days touring together with Ozzy Osborne, Soundgard...

Send us Fan Mail Pantera were the mightiest heavy metal band of their era. Both Guy Sykes and Grady Champion worked for Pantera throughout most of their career, Guy as tour manager and Grady as “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott’s guitar tech. We have a great time recalling Pantera’s storied history from their spandex club days in Texas all the way to becoming one of the most inspirational and infamous heav...

Send us Fan Mail Dale “Opie” Skjerseth describes himself as a “brick and mortar” production manager. I would imagine that is what it takes to handle The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Black Sabbath and Guns n Roses all at the same time. Opie is one of the most respected and successful production managers in our industry, having followed in the footsteps of his legendary mentors, Jake Berry and Charlie Her...

Send us Fan Mail #34 David Lawrence has always done whatever it takes to get the job done. Titles mean nothing to him. That’s how he went from selling t-shirts and driving the van for Manchester hip-hop and reggae bands in the 80’s, to winning the 2019 TPI – Dennis Sheehan, Tour Manager of the Year award. David tells the story of his early days in Manchester, his 25 years with Massive Attack, work...

Send us Fan Mail Tom Kenny started his stage lighting career at the age of 14 in Ireland, where he learned a little bit about everything. He has gone on to cover the entire ROYGBIV spectrum of lighting, working in theater, rock n roll and television. Concert lighting with Eric Clapton, Page and Plant, David Bowie and The Who to television, lighting The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, MTV Storytellers...

Send us Fan Mail Robert Scovill knows a thing or two about audio. Not only is he a world class, award winning sound mixer, but he is also a teacher, lecturer and ambassador for the sound community. We have a wonderful time talking about his history with Def Leppard, Rush and Tom Petty as well as his role with AVID developing the future of audio technology. Robert is very funny and charismatic. We...

Send us Fan Mail Marguerite Nguyen is one of our industry’s true success stories. From her early days working in clubs in Richmond, VA, all the way to becoming the tour manager for Coldplay and everything in between, she has done it all. Listen as we exchange fun banter telling tour stories as well as discuss what truly solidifies our friendship, food. This was a fun one.

Send us Fan Mail Debbie Sharpe has always had a love for music and the music industry. From her early days in Australia as a music writer, all the way to Britain to do the accounts for Adam and the Ants, to becoming one of the early pioneers of rock n roll tour catering. Debbie’s story takes you from Paul McCartney, through the Rolling Stones, all the way to her successful Chicago gourmet deli cha...

Send us Fan Mail Keely Myers is a Renaissance woman. She is driven by many things to include equality, gender neutrality and updating the outdated language used in both. We discuss her forward-thinking Tour Production Group’s diversity sessions, how she started The Production Office, and her current very progressive company, the Global Touring Office. I also had to ask Keely about her experience w...

Send us Fan Mail Andy Franks, who is lovingly known in our industry as “Franksy” has done it all. He started as a musician in the 70’s playing punk rock before moving into live audio, mixing acts like Gang of Four and Pig Bag. He went on to work with Depeche Mode for 17 years starting as their monitor mixer and quickly elevating to tour manager. Franksy has great stories about Depeche, Robbie Will...

Send us Fan Mail Jon Lemon is a well-travelled sound mixer. Between his impressionable days working with Jands in Australia, and then moving to the UK working with Britannia Row, he began carving his very long and successful career becoming one of our industry's true world class sound engineers. We discuss his early days with Level 42, The Cure and Depeche Mode, get into his transition from a...

Send us Fan Mail Malcolm Weldon and I first met on the Club MTV tour in 1989, and have been good friends ever since. Since our early days together with Paula Abdul and Milli Vanilli, Malcolm developed into one of the top production managers in our industry. Under the tutelage of super star manager Roger Davies, he has worked for some of the biggest artists in the business. From Janet Jackson to Ti...

Send us Fan Mail Todd Fox began learning his trade in the Marine Corps before segueing into personal security with Madonna and Maynard James Keenan. He has risen to the top of his field by developing forward thinking methods and practices that are now common place on the road. We talk about our long history working together, his company “Tour Protection Group”, the executive high-risk end of his i...

Send us Fan Mail LeRoy Bennett is possibly the most celebrated theatrical show designer of our time. Starting with his career working with Prince in 1980, he has designed hundreds of shows for all sorts of artists in every genre, from Rammstein to NIN, Madonna to Tina Turner and from Ariana Grande to Paul McCartney. We discuss his early days with Prince as well as how he approaches each show desig...

Send us Fan Mail John Huddleston has been in concert lighting for over 40 years, starting as a crew chief in the 80’s and making his way to becoming the Director of Production Services for Upstaging. I spoke to him from his office in Sycamore, Illinois where he and the company have reinvented themselves into a PPE production line creating face shields and barriers for schools and hospitals. We hav...

Send us Fan Mail The Warped Tour broke many barriers en-route to becoming one of the most influential and innovative festival tours of our time. Kevin Lyman tells the story of how he carved his path thru the school of hard knocks, not paying any attention to the norm with Warped for 25 years. We also discuss how his influence and mentoring have helped so many artists and crew members find their ow...

Send us Fan Mail Marty Hom has found himself predominantly working alongside super star women for the last 35 years, shepherding them around the world, through their biggest tours and moments. Between Stevie Nicks, Barbara Streisand, Shania Twain, Paula Abdul, Shakira, Bette Midler, (I could keep going) he has cultivated a wonderful and productive career for himself, as a tour manager and director...

Send us Fan Mail Bill Leabody was part of the London punk scene of the 1970’s, witnessing first-hand the rise of the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. He went on to cut his teeth with the Pretenders, eventually becoming their long time Production Manager. We talk about his great career with Peter Gabriel, David Bowie and The Cure as well as his current clients Coldplay and Beyonce.  We also d...

Send us Fan Mail Tait Towers has been the leader in theatrical scenic fabrication since it’s inception in 1978.  Their exceptional staging concepts, automated engineering and show control have contributed to the biggest shows in the history of our industry.   Here to tell their story are the company founder Michael Tait, President and CEO James “Winky” Fairorth”, and Chief Creative Officer Adam Da...