April 11, 2024
#236 - Dan Braun

Talk about career spans - Dan Braun started his legendary career path more than 45 years ago. In fact this year will mark Dan’s 30th year working with mega-act, Metallica where he remains their Show Director today - while delivering the best show he can to their massive audiences around the world. Longevity in this industry isn’t by accident, and Dan is no exception.
This episode is brought to you by ACT Entertainment and GearSource.
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Hello there and thank you for
coming on board again here today
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for Episode #236.
Today's podcast, as you can see,
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is brought to you by ACT
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Some days my job is more fun
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than other days.
Today is one of those days.
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I'm really looking forward today
and I'll tell you why in a
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couple of minutes.
But first I wanted to just
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mention if you haven't seen them
already and you're watching this
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live right now.
This week we launched both Josh
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Allen who's an incredible
designer who's created a really
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cool firm.
We've launched his Episode #233
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and also the brilliant Swami
Richard Kadena on episode 234.
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Both of those were really fun,
both were very informative as
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well, and we're starting to get
some smarter people in, I guess.
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What's going on here?
And challenging me for sure,
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asking or answering questions
that I don't always understand.
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But no, it's been amazing.
I'm super proud and and grateful
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to have the quality of people
that we've got.
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Yesterday I recorded #235, which
will be out probably.
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I think it's next week, next
Wednesday, probably April,
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whatever that is 10th, maybe
that's an excellent 1.
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Matthias Henricks who is the
head of I believe lighting
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engineering or product design or
whatever adulation.
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Super smart dude.
Spent a lot of time at Martin
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running their console console
division and now is adulation
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and has been bringing out all
these incredible new elation
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products and also has had his
hand in Obsidian of course.
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And so yeah, really great
episode.
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I hope you like it.
But for this week, listen to
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2:33 and 2:34 both really good
and yeah, I'm grateful.
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Like I said so as I said, some
days are better than others.
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Today is a superb day.
Today's guest is has a resume.
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I don't even want to get into
his resume because it's crazy.
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But I'm going to name a few
bands or acts or clients.
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Poison, Robert Palmer.
Queens Reich.
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Tesla.
Luis.
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Miguel.
Bruce Hornsby.
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Andrea Bocelli.
Madonna.
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Rush.
The Allman Brothers Band.
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MI Don't even know who that is.
Shania Twain?
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Josh Groban?
Desert Disturbed.
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NFL.
Salesforce.
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Throw that one in there.
That's a weird one.
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And yes, Metallica.
So talk about career spans.
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Dan Brown started his legendary
career path more than 45 years
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ago.
In fact, this year marks Dan's
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30th year working with the mega
act Metallica, where he remains
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their show director today while
delivering the best show he can
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to their massive audiences
around the world.
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Longevity in this industry isn't
by accident, And I tell people
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this all the time.
You know, if you've been here
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that long, you're doing
something right.
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Dan is no exception.
So please join me and welcome
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Dan Brown.
Hey, Dan, how are you today?
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I'm doing very very well.
Thanks very much.
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And good to see you.
You look well.
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You look well.
You look rested.
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You're in between massive
stadium shows, I think, aren't
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you?
Or legs.
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Big, big legs, yeah.
That part of my life starts back
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up at the end of May over in
Europe.
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So, gearing.
Up a lot of work going on to get
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ready for that, and I have some
corporate clients and doing some
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work with them, but a lot of
that's on Zoom, so I've been at
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home and able to enjoy a little
bit of downtime.
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Very cool.
And you're in.
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You're in Washington somewhere,
aren't you?
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Cameras, Washington, The hotbed
of the entertainment industry.
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So I'm from Calgary, Canada,
just across the border there and
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and so yeah, I've spent a whole
bunch of time in my youth in in
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Washington, but I live in South
Florida.
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I have a house up there in in
Alberta where I go for the warm
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months.
Now I finally got smart and I
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just go up for the warm months.
I don't even ski much anymore.
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So but yeah, I'm not that far
away.
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I used to get your TV channels.
Little transitioning away from
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the skiing thing, too, just.
You know.
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Getting older and I've had a
great run with it, so it's.
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Me too.
It was like I started when I was
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probably 9 or 10 years old, You
know, growing up in in Western
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Canada, it's just one of the
things You did that in hockey
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and I ski very well.
But now that I'm turning 60 this
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year, like my legs just don't do
the same stuff for the the same
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length of time.
And so now I find myself nearing
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epic wrecks, you know, because
I'm just, I'm doing the stuff I
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know how to do and my legs are
given out, you know?
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So I didn't, I didn't, I didn't
start early.
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I I firmly believe you should
start anything, any kind of a
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risk thing like that before you
understand the word mortgage.
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I did not.
I started in my 30s and I've had
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a a great time with it and I
too, I've got a couple of years
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on you and I'm crossing into a
time where it's like well.
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Yeah.
What do we want to do here?
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So.
Kind of.
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Well, you know, I I still have
lots of friends up there who are
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in their late 60s, even 70s who
still ski 100 days a year.
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And if you're doing that, it's
OK.
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But for me to go up there like
in November or December for a
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week and try and do three or
four days of skiing by the 4th
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day, my legs are just kind of
starting to feel normal.
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But you know, it's just
dangerous.
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It's it's dangerous at some
point, right?
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It's why so many of these, so
many of these people my age and
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older, you know, get injured or
die skiing.
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You know, it's because we forget
that we're not 30 anymore and we
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can't do the same stuff.
And in my case, I was never as
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good as I thought I was anyhow.
Well, is any of us, you know, I
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thought I was a world champion,
you know, Olympic skier or
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whatever, but not so much.
Yeah, I'm, I'm decent.
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But again, even though I live
right there, like my house is
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right there, where all the great
ski areas are very close to Lake
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Louise and all that stuff,
there's.
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Some beautiful skiing up there.
That's where Elvis has barbecues
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with God.
That's a pretty place, that.
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Is a pretty place in here.
I'm gonna have to village.
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I think it is.
That's a beautiful.
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Place Yeah, I spent loads of
time at Sunshine Village.
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I actually, I broke my leg one
time skiing and it was at
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Sunshine Village and I was about
15.
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So it's a long time ago.
I was probably 13 or 14 actually
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and I think I had just
discovered marijuana and
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combining marijuana with skiing
and so I was pretty wasted.
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And I, they had just that week
opened a run called Teepee Town.
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And so me and my friend who was
also wasted, decide we're gonna
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go for it.
And, you know, I had just gotten
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brand new skis.
And so I always just get the
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bindings, you know, pretty much
wound up as tight as they can go
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so that the skis don't come off.
And and so, you know, I went
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through one of these things.
It was blizzarding, too.
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It was a full whiteout when we
got off the lift.
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And I went through one of these
things going probably 45 miles
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an hour or something, hit some
rocks, started tumbling.
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Of course, my skis stayed on.
So I broke my leg and then my
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knee started twisting, you know,
because the skis were still on.
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So I was a mess.
I was in a cast for, I don't
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know, six months or something.
I've never really been the same
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since then.
Still my leg, you can tell that
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it's been broken badly and
stuff.
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But so yeah, I, number one, I
never skied wasted again, I
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don't think.
And even though I stopped doing
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that when I was like 20 anyways.
But but yeah, I I just learned
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some things, you know, slow down
a little bit perhaps.
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I probably didn't do that then,
but certainly now, yeah.
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So we've got a lot of stuff to
talk about and I can't keep you
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until, you know May when you go
back out with Metallica.
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So let me dive into it a little
bit since I've never had you on
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I, I, I like to, you know, I
like to talk about really kind
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of how you got into the business
a little bit.
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That's kind of important to me
because, you know, obviously our
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industry's looking for new
people all the time.
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And people love to hear these
stories of, you know, back in
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the day when we didn't go to
school for production management
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or lighting design or sound
engineering, we it just kind of
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happened, right?
Like some of the stories are
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hilarious.
Jake Berry's probably one of the
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funniest, but you know, lots of
funny ones.
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Chaz Harrington, I think he was
sitting on his front step
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drinking beer or something and
somebody drove up in a pickup
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truck and said, hey, jump in, I
got a gig for you.
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Come work at the studio and next
thing you know he's a recording
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engineer in a studio.
So how'd you get into it?
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I I That's a interesting
question.
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I was a kid.
I I used to go to concerts.
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It's what I did.
I went to concerts.
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The group of people I hung out
with went to concerts.
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It's what we did.
We went to concerts and saw
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incredible shows.
It was really kind of I I think
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of it as sort of a a a whole
different time in the business
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when it was a lot about music
and stuff and.
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Yeah.
And, you know, went to see
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everything from Yes to King
Crimson to to Cat Stevens or or.
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This is the 70s I'm guessing
then yeah.
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Yeah, yeah, this is.
Back in the 70s, so back in 75,
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I was in a place that no longer
exists, called Milwaukee County
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Stadium.
OK, and Pink Floyd was playing,
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and I'll try to keep the story a
little bit abbreviated 'cause
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it's pretty long story anyhow.
That's the real Pink Floyd, too,
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right?
When?
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When it was still Roger Waters.
And yeah, all of them, yeah.
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There's 100% humidity, 100, you
know, 90 degrees, 100% humidity
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day.
Everybody's getting baked.
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It's the old days when crowd
management was sort of a we'll
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put some plywood up and that'll
keep them contained and
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everybody's lined up to go in
the stadium.
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They open the gates to the
stadium.
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The Milwaukee County Sheriff's
decided going to a a rock show
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was was cause for search and
seizure.
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So there were tons of arrests.
They went through all this stuff
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with people that all got thrown.
I went to the Supreme Court and
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got thrown out.
Anyhow, there's a huge
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thunderstorm coming in.
They try to start the show
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early, so the band wanted to get
the show in.
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They started playing the stuff
that would become the Wish You
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Were Here album and that This
storm is coming.
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You can.
It's a Midwest thunderstorm.
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You know the drops are a size of
silver dollars and and so
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they're playing and people start
pulling Visqueen over the stage,
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right PA stack.
And I'm watching all this go on
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00:13:29,720 --> 00:13:33,040
with my keen mind and I'm
thinking, who does this?
222
00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:35,640
How do they decide this that
looks like a really cool job and
223
00:13:35,640 --> 00:13:39,400
this guy's got no shirt on
shorts and cowboy boots and you
224
00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:42,760
know, hair down his back.
And this is 1975 and I'm like,
225
00:13:43,800 --> 00:13:46,480
how do you, how would you what
do you how do you work in this
226
00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:48,240
stuff?
What Who decides where all this
227
00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:51,000
goes Like who?
How do they do this?
228
00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:55,600
And anyhow, the thunderstorm
hits, they stop playing.
229
00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:58,880
The thunderstorm clears as as it
happens in the Midwest.
230
00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:02,080
After an hour, or whatever it
is, the band comes out, plays
231
00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:06,040
the entire Dark Side of the Moon
album in its entirety, and as
232
00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:08,920
they sing the line, I'll see you
on the Dark side of the Moon,
233
00:14:08,920 --> 00:14:10,600
the Clouds Part, and There's a
full moon.
234
00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:13,480
So perfect.
Goodness wow.
235
00:14:13,880 --> 00:14:17,440
So perfect that I couldn't
figure out how they projected
236
00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:18,840
the moon up there.
And.
237
00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:22,840
It took me a minute to.
Realize this was just a bizarre
238
00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:25,840
phenomenon.
That is wild.
239
00:14:26,360 --> 00:14:28,680
That is why.
Anybody who is there will tell
240
00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:31,320
you that story, if they were
capable of remembering it.
241
00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:34,120
So she's 75.
South.
242
00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:37,160
Here's a funny story.
One of my first ever concerts
243
00:14:37,160 --> 00:14:45,160
was Super Tramp Crime of the
Century in in Calgary, Calgary
244
00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:49,800
at the McMahon Stadium.
And my sisters took me, I think,
245
00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:51,640
or my sister and her boyfriend
or something.
246
00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:56,320
And there was a band on Atlanta,
Rhythm Section I think was on,
247
00:14:56,720 --> 00:15:02,000
and the skies opened up.
And so that Visqueen, instead of
248
00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:06,040
going over the PA or whatever,
was coming up off the ground and
249
00:15:06,040 --> 00:15:10,880
became trampolines and became an
umbrella and then became fire to
250
00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:14,680
warm people up at one point.
And I mean, I'm watching all of
251
00:15:14,680 --> 00:15:18,320
this along with the clouds of
weed and everything else flying
252
00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:20,160
around.
And I was like, whoa, I like
253
00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:21,480
concerts.
This is cool.
254
00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:30,840
So then a Canadian band came on
called Trooper and and they do
255
00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:32,720
this song.
We're here for a good time, not
256
00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:36,480
a long time.
And it's something about the sun
257
00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:39,320
is shining.
And so the sun came out and
258
00:15:39,320 --> 00:15:43,320
everybody went, whoa, this is so
cool, you know, So it was a
259
00:15:43,320 --> 00:15:46,360
similar story during a similar
time.
260
00:15:46,360 --> 00:15:51,360
It had to be probably 7677 I
guess when?
261
00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:53,480
That so yeah that would have
been the time period for that
262
00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:57,280
for that show.
So anyhow I I had this thing
263
00:15:57,280 --> 00:16:00,640
where I went to school and and
in my home and any of those
264
00:16:00,640 --> 00:16:03,760
things you know I I grew up in a
home where you know turn the
265
00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:07,040
turn the stereo down was a was a
a regular cry.
266
00:16:07,480 --> 00:16:11,120
I played my my stereo too loud.
My dad would go in the break in
267
00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:13,400
the basement and turn the
breaker off to my bedroom.
268
00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:16,080
He had no.
No use for any of it.
269
00:16:16,080 --> 00:16:19,800
Thought I was crazy and none of
the no one ever said, well, if
270
00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:22,680
you're interested in that you
should do this or do that or
271
00:16:22,680 --> 00:16:25,880
anything like that.
Yeah, little did he know, You
272
00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:28,920
know, you'd end up with in a
career with Metallica, you know.
273
00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:33,240
That's he shuffled off to do a
little bit of time at school,
274
00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:35,360
didn't have any money, couldn't
afford that.
275
00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:37,960
Had to find something to do.
And I got involved doing
276
00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:41,120
concerts at school.
Had a little bit of success and
277
00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:43,600
I said, well, I'll go be a
concert promoter now.
278
00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:46,120
I'm 18 years old, nineteen years
old.
279
00:16:46,120 --> 00:16:51,040
I know nothing about business,
money, leverage, finance.
280
00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:55,800
I have no nothing.
I just decided I'd be a concert
281
00:16:55,800 --> 00:16:57,440
promoter.
Well, you know, that didn't work
282
00:16:57,440 --> 00:17:00,960
out very well.
Went home, started working any I
283
00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:04,760
I worked in a factory so that I
could eat and started hanging
284
00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:07,000
out and I'd already been hanging
out.
285
00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:09,520
I knew how to help people move
gear around and stuff from
286
00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:11,720
working.
Hang out at free concert sites
287
00:17:12,359 --> 00:17:16,720
and got involved in the club and
ran the music end of that club.
288
00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:19,079
I was just basically a glorified
bar.
289
00:17:19,079 --> 00:17:22,480
It was a 1000 seat kind of old
theater place with the seats
290
00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:26,000
removed and a dance floor put in
and which then became the floor
291
00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:29,040
for the the rock shows.
About the same size as the
292
00:17:29,040 --> 00:17:33,160
Fillmore is now in San Fran.
Yeah, 800,000 seats.
293
00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:36,720
And this was the halcyon days of
clubs.
294
00:17:36,840 --> 00:17:39,520
Like everybody played clubs.
The police played for us three
295
00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:41,840
times.
Dire Straits, Flock of Seagulls,
296
00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:44,480
Boomtown Rats.
I Faye McMahon was there.
297
00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:47,040
He was probably the oldest guy
in there who still works in the
298
00:17:47,040 --> 00:17:48,880
business.
And Faye was doing lights for
299
00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:52,680
the rats at the time.
And I did the club and worked my
300
00:17:52,680 --> 00:17:55,480
way through the club and then
got a job at a small sound
301
00:17:55,480 --> 00:17:59,200
company and that led to doing
some tours with some pretty big
302
00:17:59,200 --> 00:18:00,880
acts.
And I was just a kid kind of,
303
00:18:00,880 --> 00:18:04,520
you know, moving gear, doing
this, mixing monitors, mix in
304
00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:08,160
front of house, building
distros, figuring out how to
305
00:18:08,160 --> 00:18:11,720
build the PA, doing those
things.
306
00:18:11,720 --> 00:18:15,160
And and then because of my work
at the club, I got to know one
307
00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:17,800
of the local promoters and
started doing when they had two
308
00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:19,800
shows booked.
I did the second show and
309
00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:22,000
backing things up and one thing
led to the next.
310
00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:27,280
Eventually I worked for that
promoter and I don't think you
311
00:18:27,280 --> 00:18:30,680
could take that path.
I mean, I I look at it and it's
312
00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:33,560
like I stuck my fingers in the
wall, in the cracks in the wall
313
00:18:33,560 --> 00:18:37,840
and started clawing my way up.
Even at the club, I was always
314
00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:40,800
trying to make our show special.
We had, you know, favorite bands
315
00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:44,480
that came in, tried to make
their show special, ended up
316
00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:46,800
going on the road for a little
while with one of those bands
317
00:18:46,800 --> 00:18:49,040
that got signed to RCA
Millennium Records.
318
00:18:49,040 --> 00:18:51,480
Drove the truck, set up the
gear, ran the lights or the
319
00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:54,200
sound, put the gear back in the
truck, drove.
320
00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:57,640
We opened for Foreigner and
Cheap Trick and South Side
321
00:18:57,640 --> 00:19:00,920
Johnny and things like that.
But after two albums, they got
322
00:19:00,920 --> 00:19:04,040
dropped and and as happened back
then, when that occurred, you
323
00:19:04,120 --> 00:19:07,120
the band broke up.
Yeah, and just kept following
324
00:19:07,120 --> 00:19:09,360
the path.
Wherever it LED did. 10 years at
325
00:19:09,360 --> 00:19:12,680
Summerfest in Milwaukee, which?
Which band was that, that, that
326
00:19:12,680 --> 00:19:13,720
first one that you?
Were talking was.
327
00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:16,440
Called Yipes, they were on RCA
Records.
328
00:19:16,560 --> 00:19:19,320
There was a band called Yipes
out of Milwaukee that got signed
329
00:19:19,320 --> 00:19:21,280
to Jimmy Einer's label.
Our.
330
00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:23,360
Our record Rep on the road with
us.
331
00:19:23,360 --> 00:19:25,480
Our promo guy was Donnie Einer.
She has.
332
00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:26,600
His.
Name.
333
00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:27,520
That's.
Wild.
334
00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:31,680
Chicago had a band called Off
Broadway right in the same time
335
00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:34,840
period, kind of a power pop take
off on a Cheap Trick sort of
336
00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:37,840
thing.
And Detroit had a band called
337
00:19:37,840 --> 00:19:41,640
The Romantics, and the Romantics
got signed, did the best of
338
00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:43,320
those three acts.
It was a little band out of
339
00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:46,240
Madison, WI, which is 90 miles
from where I grew up.
340
00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:48,640
And certainly we knew all those
guys and crossed paths.
341
00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:51,480
They had a drummer in the band
named Butch Vig.
342
00:19:51,960 --> 00:19:55,720
So the music, the the music
world was pretty ripe and
343
00:19:55,720 --> 00:19:59,160
pretty, pretty awesome in that
time period.
344
00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:03,240
I didn't know Butch came from
that area and I didn't actually
345
00:20:03,240 --> 00:20:05,440
even really know that he started
as a drummer.
346
00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:10,640
I I knew him first as a producer
and then as a drummer and yeah,
347
00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:14,720
you know, funny Side Story.
So, you know, I'm pretty close
348
00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:18,360
with with the boys at upstaging
and I get a call.
349
00:20:18,360 --> 00:20:21,080
I can't remember if it was HUD
or Donnie called me up and said,
350
00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:24,520
hey, we're doing this corporate
show in Grand Cayman.
351
00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:28,720
Do you want to come diving?
And I said, sure, you know, I'll
352
00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:32,960
be part of the pretend crew.
And it was a gig for like
353
00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:36,680
Gillette or something.
And it was 100 contest winners
354
00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:40,040
for the band Garbage.
So 100 contest winners were
355
00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:42,760
being flown onto the island.
And it was just a concert for
356
00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:46,240
100 people on the beach.
And with full production and
357
00:20:46,240 --> 00:20:47,920
everything, Gillette spent a
fortune.
358
00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:52,720
And so they would finish, you
know, working as much as as
359
00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:54,520
Huddleston and Don Caron were
doing.
360
00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:58,520
And we would walk around the
back of the stage, jump in the
361
00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:02,560
water and walk out a little ways
and and you'd end up in 4050
362
00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:05,000
feet of water, you know, dive in
a wall or something.
363
00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:07,200
It was just beautiful.
It was unbelievable.
364
00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:11,240
But I got to know Butch there,
you know, we went to went
365
00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:14,600
snorkeling and stuff with him
and Shirley, whatever her name
366
00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:15,960
is.
And yeah.
367
00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:19,120
I'm very close with with.
Don and and Robert.
368
00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:21,480
Yeah, yeah.
I knew Robert before he was
369
00:21:21,480 --> 00:21:24,080
Robert.
And such nice people.
370
00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:26,720
They were always wonderful to me
and I've always.
371
00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:28,720
I'm very loyal to them.
They.
372
00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:29,880
Were really.
Wonderful to me.
373
00:21:29,880 --> 00:21:33,920
When I was really, really a dumb
kid, you know, doing, doing the
374
00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:37,080
thing with yipes opening for
Cheap Trick and and that whole
375
00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:38,080
thing.
Yeah.
376
00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:40,320
Well, I'll tell you quickly
because I don't want to keep
377
00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:45,880
talking, but so I moved to South
Florida to work for Martin
378
00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:48,440
Lighting in the very early days
of Martin Lighting.
379
00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:53,000
And I remember the first time I
went to visit Upstaging, I
380
00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:57,440
called Huddleston and made an
appointment, and this is 1991 or
381
00:21:57,440 --> 00:21:59,720
something.
And I called him and made an
382
00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:03,280
appointment and I got there and
I was so nervous, 'cause this is
383
00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:06,440
like a real rock'n'roll touring
company, you know, And I'm some
384
00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:08,760
schmuck with a little disco
lighting company.
385
00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:15,240
And I get into John's office in
Mundelein and and John says you
386
00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:18,440
want to go shopping.
And I said sure.
387
00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:22,200
And he goes, cool, let's go.
And so we go to some like outlet
388
00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:25,560
mall, and he convinces me to buy
this real piece of crap thing
389
00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:28,320
that was kind of like an Apple
Newton, but not really like a
390
00:22:28,320 --> 00:22:30,240
Casio version of an Apple
Newton.
391
00:22:30,680 --> 00:22:34,000
He convinces me to buy that.
So I buy that thing and then we
392
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:37,200
go play golf or something.
I mean, we had a whole day of
393
00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:40,200
just screwing off, doing
nothing, and then ended up
394
00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:43,400
meeting Donnie and Robert, I
think later that day for dinner
395
00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:46,120
or whatever.
It was one of the coolest days
396
00:22:46,120 --> 00:22:49,760
ever, You know, It was just like
such a they, they just put me
397
00:22:49,760 --> 00:22:52,680
under their wing and said you're
one of us now, you know?
398
00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:55,200
Really good people.
Yeah, I've been friends with
399
00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:58,720
them ever since.
So I just kept following that
400
00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:02,520
path at around 1990.
The I I was working for a
401
00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:10,760
promoter doing a lot of shows.
I was very fortunate that I did
402
00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:14,440
a series of dates and the
accountant I was working with
403
00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:18,200
sort of explained the facts of
life to me in terms of my skill
404
00:23:18,200 --> 00:23:20,080
set and how much money I wasn't
making.
405
00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:27,640
And it altered my life very much
So and I ended up there was
406
00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:29,520
nothing more for me to do in
Milwaukee.
407
00:23:29,520 --> 00:23:32,320
I couldn't couldn't really get
to where I wanted to get to work
408
00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:35,200
Wise ended up going on the road.
Scotty Ross.
409
00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:38,280
I had a good relationship as a
promoter with Poison.
410
00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:40,680
Did tons of shows with them.
Did their rehearsals.
411
00:23:41,280 --> 00:23:44,560
Dale left to go do Guns and
Roses and Scotty called me up
412
00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:46,640
and said I want, you know, we
love you, why don't you come do
413
00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:49,360
this thing.
And at that point, I was looking
414
00:23:49,360 --> 00:23:52,440
to get out the door anyhow, and
that led to about 10 years of
415
00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:54,080
touring.
So what?
416
00:23:54,080 --> 00:23:56,160
What was the role though, in
that First?
417
00:23:56,760 --> 00:23:59,440
Was it poison you said?
Yeah, I was production manager
418
00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:01,200
with Poison.
Wow, Straight in, huh?
419
00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:04,360
Nice.
Scotty obviously trusted you.
420
00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:08,680
Yeah, Scotty said.
I could never say enough good
421
00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:10,520
things about Scottie.
Ross He's a cool dude.
422
00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:13,760
So we did that and did a couple
of those things and one thing
423
00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:17,960
led to the next.
And a great relationship with Q
424
00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:21,080
Prime over the years doing all
tons of their bands.
425
00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:24,000
The only ones I didn't do were
once I either had a scheduling
426
00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:29,200
conflict or turned down and and
it just was a great, it was a
427
00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:31,200
great thing.
It did about 10 years straight.
428
00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:34,400
I think for the 90s every year I
was 300 days away from home on
429
00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:35,280
my taxes.
Wow.
430
00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:38,560
Jesus.
And then I tried being in a
431
00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:42,320
building for a little while and
did very I was very successful
432
00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:44,640
at it.
But that's way too much work for
433
00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:46,600
not enough money.
I thought the hours on the road
434
00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:48,680
were bad.
But you worked.
435
00:24:48,680 --> 00:24:51,560
The same hours in a building, at
least I did at the level I was
436
00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:53,680
at and you have to drive home at
night.
437
00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:57,240
And boy, that bus is, is that
that bus that you didn't like
438
00:24:57,240 --> 00:24:59,320
Seems pretty attractive.
When you're driving home.
439
00:24:59,960 --> 00:25:02,200
After a 20 hour day.
No kidding.
440
00:25:02,360 --> 00:25:05,280
And then I just kept going and
finally got to a point where I
441
00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:07,880
could do what I always wanted to
do, which was really design
442
00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:12,120
shows and and find great
production partners to help me
443
00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:19,440
kind of help help artists.
Have the a vision of the artist
444
00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:22,880
come to life in real time and
and do that whole thing along
445
00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:24,800
the way.
Picked up some corporate clients
446
00:25:25,360 --> 00:25:28,280
and did some fun things figuring
out I could translate some
447
00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:29,840
skills I have into a different
world.
448
00:25:30,120 --> 00:25:32,920
Yeah, that's interesting.
So.
449
00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:36,560
I wouldn't recommend the path I
took to anyone.
450
00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:40,040
I tell all my friends, children,
when they say you have a really
451
00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:43,360
cool job, I say yeah, go to law
school, get your law degree.
452
00:25:43,360 --> 00:25:46,360
You don't have to practice law,
but then people work for you and
453
00:25:46,360 --> 00:25:47,680
you can do anything you.
Want.
454
00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:52,320
You know what though I don't
know that I completely agree
455
00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:56,040
with you because every lawyer I
know wants my job or or you know
456
00:25:56,240 --> 00:25:59,680
they hate their jobs right.
So I think regardless of what
457
00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:03,040
your job is you got to take the
bad with the good and I think
458
00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:07,120
there's more good in most of
what you do and and I'll say we
459
00:26:07,120 --> 00:26:10,320
I mean we the collective
industry you know I'm.
460
00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:13,320
On my path, I got to do exactly
what I wanted to do.
461
00:26:13,320 --> 00:26:17,400
I took a very difficult path to
get there, worked with great
462
00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:22,440
people almost almost to.
There's very few exceptions to
463
00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:24,400
that comment.
There's very few places.
464
00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:26,080
I wouldn't say we're just
incredible.
465
00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:28,880
People.
And and had a great run.
466
00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:32,160
I got to do what I wanted to do
and I got to see the world and I
467
00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:34,880
got to, you know, I learned how
to do things.
468
00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:37,040
I didn't even know I would be
ever be capable of doing.
469
00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:40,720
So fantastic.
You know, I I spend a lot of
470
00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:44,120
time talking with with people in
our industry, either on the
471
00:26:44,120 --> 00:26:47,560
podcast or in different groups
or whatever, about bringing in
472
00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:51,000
new young talent.
You know, 'cause obviously, I'm,
473
00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:53,440
I'm sure you have the same
problem everybody else does,
474
00:26:53,440 --> 00:26:58,640
getting people.
And one of the one of the first
475
00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:02,000
problems is people think that
it's a gypsy lifestyle.
476
00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:05,160
You know, people think that you
know you.
477
00:27:05,520 --> 00:27:07,680
I mean, some of it's true.
You know, you do live out of a
478
00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:09,600
suitcase.
You are on the road 300 days a
479
00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:15,680
year sometimes, but you can make
$100,000 a year very quickly,
480
00:27:15,880 --> 00:27:19,960
you know, especially now when
when people are being paid a lot
481
00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:22,520
more money than they were being
paid 5-6 years ago.
482
00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:29,040
And so, you know, I think for
young people who are undecided
483
00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:32,920
on what they want to do in their
life, it's not necessarily a bad
484
00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:34,840
direction.
Like, I know a lot of kids going
485
00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:38,320
to law school who hate lawyers,
hate the law, don't want to be a
486
00:27:38,320 --> 00:27:40,080
lawyer.
But it's just what they're
487
00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:42,200
doing, you know?
I don't think it's a bad
488
00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:43,800
direction if you're willing to
work.
489
00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:50,600
I think the I don't want to I
don't want to pontificate here
490
00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:54,000
but I think the thing that I see
that has shifted in the business
491
00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:58,880
when we collectively we kind of
that you know I don't know what
492
00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:02,720
a third generation group of
people who who I'm sort of part
493
00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:06,400
of that that you know late 70s
thing maybe that's 3rd or 4th
494
00:28:06,400 --> 00:28:12,760
generation whatever the heck it
is people there was an an
495
00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:17,320
unstoppable attitude nothing was
was and and we didn't order more
496
00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:21,640
equipment we learned how to make
things work and and we died
497
00:28:21,640 --> 00:28:23,320
doing it.
You know, I have a lot of
498
00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:26,440
friends who have limps and
injuries and you know all sorts
499
00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:31,400
of of things from doing that
work and it and you know the the
500
00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:36,040
life on the road is first work.
And if you're willing to adopt
501
00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:39,520
that attitude you can you can be
very, very successful.
502
00:28:40,360 --> 00:28:42,560
But it is, you know, it's not
easy.
503
00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:45,640
You know, they show that
Metallica is doing right now is
504
00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:48,920
this massive construction
project that goes on and it's a
505
00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:51,560
lot of work.
Yeah, you know, it's it's funny.
506
00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:54,440
My girlfriend always says she's
British and from the same
507
00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:58,520
generation and and she says, you
know, part of the problem is
508
00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:01,200
we've wrapped our kids in.
I forget what she says, bubble
509
00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:06,200
wrap and whatever.
And you know, they they all grow
510
00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:09,080
up thinking they're special and
thinking they're going to be
511
00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:11,480
taken care of forever and all of
that.
512
00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:16,360
And unfortunately that creates a
little bit of softness to where,
513
00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:18,800
you know, we come from a
background like you said, where
514
00:29:18,800 --> 00:29:20,000
we just find a way to get it
done.
515
00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:23,320
You know the equipment has
changed dramatically too and
516
00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:26,800
ordering equipment has become a
has become a skill for a road
517
00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:30,240
person to have.
And and you know I remember the
518
00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:33,080
day when somebody explained to
me how digital audio was going
519
00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:35,400
to work.
I remember exactly where I was
520
00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:37,720
and that, you know, wow, that's
going to be unbelievable.
521
00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:41,960
And and the advent of the Lin
Drum machine and polyphonic
522
00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:43,320
synthesizers.
Right.
523
00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:47,720
And and now all of that stuff is
like a cornucopia of things you
524
00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:51,680
can order and maybe you know how
to use them and maybe you don't
525
00:29:51,680 --> 00:29:54,480
but you saw that your friend
Billy on some other tours got
526
00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:56,080
two of those.
So you need. 4.
527
00:29:56,600 --> 00:30:00,680
And I find that that's an odd
thing in in our business.
528
00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:05,720
It is.
Is is work and excellence and
529
00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:09,760
striving for excellence, just
striving to be as good as you
530
00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:14,040
can be.
I think that is the the people
531
00:30:14,040 --> 00:30:17,440
of my generation when I think of
Jake or Charlie or Dale.
532
00:30:17,800 --> 00:30:22,680
A lot of guys who were striving
for excellence you know and and
533
00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:25,960
and you know the list is is
endless whether it's Benny or
534
00:30:25,960 --> 00:30:30,480
whether it's Chris Lamb or
whether it's Jerry Stickles or
535
00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:34,280
or and and people passed down
that passion for excellence that
536
00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:40,760
that that thing just trying to
be as good as you could possibly
537
00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:44,520
be and always taking care of the
show and making sure that that
538
00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:49,920
that what what you did prepared
the best environment possible
539
00:30:49,920 --> 00:30:53,240
for the artist on stage to
present the best possible that
540
00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:54,920
showed that they could to their
audience.
541
00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:56,040
Yeah.
Yeah.
542
00:30:56,040 --> 00:31:00,240
That makes sense.
That that was a passion at a
543
00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:01,920
level that made no sense.
What?
544
00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:06,560
Why else would you work 22 hours
a day and and do all the other
545
00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:10,640
crazy things and and there were
tons of, you know, nobody knew
546
00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:12,520
how to do a lot of the stuff
that was going on.
547
00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:14,520
The guys who were doing the
rigging, the guys who were
548
00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:16,920
putting the boxes together, the
guys who were putting the lights
549
00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:18,880
together were like, well how are
we going to do this?
550
00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:20,880
I don't know.
We'll we'll we'll figure it out.
551
00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:24,680
And you know the the, the roll
call of names is tremendous.
552
00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:28,800
And I was fortunate as a
promoter from 80 to 90 to work
553
00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:33,040
with all of these different
folks and watch what they were
554
00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:37,480
doing and be inspired by that
passion and that the show, the
555
00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:40,560
show, the show, this has to be
correct there.
556
00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:43,760
There has to be a rabbit in the
hat when the magician puts his
557
00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:50,240
hand in to pull it out and and
nothing can stop that and
558
00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:54,600
inspired by that.
Yeah, I mean even down to the,
559
00:31:54,840 --> 00:31:59,320
to the, like, I love the early
days of audio where, you know,
560
00:31:59,320 --> 00:32:02,120
we need more sound and they
built bigger boxes.
561
00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:05,280
You know, somebody went back to
the shop and built bigger boxes
562
00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:08,760
that had four eighteens in them
instead of two eighteens or
563
00:32:08,760 --> 00:32:11,360
whatever, you know, And I loved
that.
564
00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:15,840
Like it was just, it was not
only, you know, ingenuity or or
565
00:32:15,840 --> 00:32:19,240
whatever you want to call it,
but it was just like, let's get
566
00:32:19,240 --> 00:32:21,320
this done.
You know, we got to do this.
567
00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:25,800
And I think they were, you know,
I'm very fortunate to work with,
568
00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:28,160
you know, with a great
management company that was
569
00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:30,680
inspired to figure out how to
make those things work.
570
00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:35,040
You know, kind of Jake and that
whole tribe of people figured
571
00:32:35,040 --> 00:32:38,800
out Michael Tate and and you
know, the guys at Clarin that
572
00:32:38,800 --> 00:32:41,080
figured out how to make it.
You know, they put the roll in
573
00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:44,440
rock'n'roll, You know, You know,
the wheel was invented a long
574
00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:46,200
time ago.
Michael Tate figured out how we
575
00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:53,800
could use it in rock'n'roll and
and you know it's just it's what
576
00:32:53,800 --> 00:32:57,480
an awesome inspiring thing that
that whole story of how it came
577
00:32:57,480 --> 00:32:59,040
together because nobody had a
book.
578
00:32:59,600 --> 00:33:02,000
You know what I mean?
There was no book telling anyone
579
00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:04,200
how to do this so well We'll try
this so that doesn't work.
580
00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:07,520
Let's do this and and and I
watched that from 80 to 90 and
581
00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:09,520
then when I went out I was able
to do that.
582
00:33:09,520 --> 00:33:12,680
And I've always been inspired
with photography and
583
00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:15,720
architecture and and other
things and finding the way
584
00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:18,680
people like Marc Fisher married
those things together in the
585
00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:21,560
shows.
I just think that passion and
586
00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:23,200
inspiration.
I don't know.
587
00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:27,360
I I hope it still exists in our
business.
588
00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:31,840
It's all very different.
People coming up feel the burn
589
00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:34,840
of the music.
I think, you know, we'll get old
590
00:33:34,840 --> 00:33:39,720
and you get kind of a little
jaded, maybe a little cynical,
591
00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:43,520
right?
And and I try not to, you know,
592
00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:46,560
I I beg.
To be reminded why I started
593
00:33:46,560 --> 00:33:50,920
doing this, you know, we we just
did a show in DC.
594
00:33:50,920 --> 00:33:54,800
The guys just played a show, the
Gershwin Awards, with Elton John
595
00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:56,040
and Bernie Top.
And being.
596
00:33:56,840 --> 00:33:58,920
Honored.
And we were there at the show
597
00:33:58,920 --> 00:34:01,200
and I just, I walked out of
there and Oh yeah, that's why I
598
00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:01,760
do.
This.
599
00:34:01,800 --> 00:34:04,720
No kidding, huh?
Yeah, that's and that's cool.
600
00:34:05,320 --> 00:34:08,719
And I know if the young people
find that hook in the music that
601
00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:11,880
that it's not about the check,
it's not about the 100 grand you
602
00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:13,960
can make.
It's not about the bus, it's not
603
00:34:13,960 --> 00:34:16,760
about the party.
It's all about those things.
604
00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:20,639
I'm quoting a line from the
Journey, The old Journey video
605
00:34:20,639 --> 00:34:23,080
Frontiers, you know.
Yeah, it's about all.
606
00:34:23,080 --> 00:34:25,480
Those things.
But it's about the show and the
607
00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:28,719
music and and and creating
something magical.
608
00:34:28,719 --> 00:34:31,639
When people go see it, they
remember that you're talking
609
00:34:31,639 --> 00:34:35,280
about a Supertramp concert you
saw X number years ago, and I'm
610
00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:38,239
talking about a Floyd show that
I saw in 1975.
611
00:34:38,239 --> 00:34:41,280
That's almost just about 50
years ago.
612
00:34:41,600 --> 00:34:43,840
I have a friend who his name is
Randy.
613
00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:47,920
He's 65 now, I think he's one of
my best friends.
614
00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:52,199
And he still goes to almost
every single concert that comes
615
00:34:52,199 --> 00:34:57,280
through and he's got every
ticket back to like Poplar Creek
616
00:34:57,280 --> 00:35:00,600
and 'cause he grew up in Chicago
and he's got, he's got every
617
00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:03,280
ticket from every concert he's
ever been to.
618
00:35:03,560 --> 00:35:07,160
And you know, like he's seen
Aerosmith like 30 times.
619
00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:10,480
And like every band, he's seen
them from their earliest days
620
00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:12,160
till now.
I love that passion.
621
00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:13,520
I hope that the young people
come.
622
00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:15,480
It's incredible business.
Have that fire.
623
00:35:16,080 --> 00:35:18,240
And I worry about that.
And, you know, I know people
624
00:35:18,240 --> 00:35:20,640
think that I beg on young people
all the time, and I don't
625
00:35:20,640 --> 00:35:23,800
because, you know, we're
counting on you guys and girls.
626
00:35:23,800 --> 00:35:25,200
Like we're really counting on
you.
627
00:35:25,560 --> 00:35:28,960
But, you know, I think you lose
something.
628
00:35:29,240 --> 00:35:32,200
Like you got into this because
of that Pink Floyd show.
629
00:35:32,880 --> 00:35:37,320
You know, I'm in this because in
my early days I was a musician
630
00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:40,640
and then I met this guy named
Bear from Brimstone Productions
631
00:35:40,640 --> 00:35:42,600
in Calgary.
I don't know if you ever met
632
00:35:42,600 --> 00:35:46,560
Bear but Bear was like the
promoter in in Calgary at the
633
00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:49,880
time.
Big, huge guy like you'd call a
634
00:35:49,880 --> 00:35:52,240
guy Bear, you know, furry face
and stuff.
635
00:35:52,680 --> 00:35:57,400
And somehow I was working
security for him at at the arena
636
00:35:57,400 --> 00:35:59,240
shows there at the Calgary
Corral.
637
00:35:59,640 --> 00:36:04,000
And you know, I was a scrawny
little guy with hair halfway
638
00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:06,680
down my back.
And I have no idea how I was
639
00:36:06,680 --> 00:36:09,480
security, but I was and I just,
I loved it.
640
00:36:09,480 --> 00:36:11,680
I was like, this needs to be my
future.
641
00:36:11,680 --> 00:36:14,720
I want to be in this business.
And I never toured, but you
642
00:36:14,720 --> 00:36:18,000
know, I've I've always been
around either as a musician or
643
00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:22,640
supplier of some sort, just love
it, you know, It's just it.
644
00:36:22,840 --> 00:36:26,760
So I wonder, like us, we came
into it because of a passion for
645
00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:30,680
the music and the show.
I just wonder if people who went
646
00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:34,240
to school and for, you know,
technical arts or whatever it's
647
00:36:34,240 --> 00:36:37,040
called these days.
And I wonder if you come in with
648
00:36:37,040 --> 00:36:39,120
the same sort of passion.
I just don't know.
649
00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:41,480
Like, maybe they do.
Like, I know theater people
650
00:36:41,480 --> 00:36:44,600
still seem to have that same
passion for the show and for the
651
00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:48,320
art and all of that stuff.
But I don't know, It's hard.
652
00:36:48,360 --> 00:36:50,320
To say it seems to exist in
theater.
653
00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:53,800
I've been fortunate to speak at
at some seminars at universities
654
00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:59,720
and and that group of people
seems to have the fire for for
655
00:36:59,720 --> 00:37:06,560
not only figuring out how we did
things and how it came about and
656
00:37:06,600 --> 00:37:08,560
and what the vision of the
future is.
657
00:37:08,840 --> 00:37:14,680
I also have a a interestingly
and ethical sense of of duty to
658
00:37:14,680 --> 00:37:18,880
make sure that all of these kind
of video manipulations and AI
659
00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:22,280
things and and stuff like that
are used correctly.
660
00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:24,960
I was actually going to ask you
about your thoughts on that.
661
00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:29,880
Inspiring from from these young
people that they were thinking
662
00:37:29,880 --> 00:37:34,000
ahead along those lines like
well this, this, this technology
663
00:37:34,240 --> 00:37:38,240
could be used in some really bad
ways and and at least the folks
664
00:37:38,240 --> 00:37:41,320
that I've seen in these seminars
who talk about this are
665
00:37:41,320 --> 00:37:44,760
interested in protecting that
and I think that's awesome.
666
00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:49,360
Yeah, you know, it's an
interesting, it's an interesting
667
00:37:49,360 --> 00:37:52,120
topic, you know and and I love
talking about it.
668
00:37:52,120 --> 00:37:55,160
I actually just had a couple
pretty technical people on this
669
00:37:55,160 --> 00:37:58,480
week on the podcast that we had
fairly lengthy conversations
670
00:37:58,480 --> 00:38:00,800
about it.
One is you know, a product
671
00:38:00,880 --> 00:38:06,080
development engineer for Elation
and Richard Kadina.
672
00:38:06,080 --> 00:38:08,560
Do you know Richard Kadina?
I know elation.
673
00:38:08,560 --> 00:38:10,800
I don't know Richard.
I may have met Richard.
674
00:38:11,520 --> 00:38:14,000
Very technical guy, yeah, very
technical guy.
675
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:16,840
Worked at high end for years and
now he goes around teaching
676
00:38:16,840 --> 00:38:21,000
stage electrics and and safety
and stuff and just really,
677
00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:23,240
really super smart guy.
But we've been talking about it
678
00:38:23,240 --> 00:38:27,000
and you know it's it's an
interesting conversation because
679
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:30,760
nobody wants to see it start to
water down the business or take
680
00:38:30,760 --> 00:38:35,240
away jobs or anything like that.
But it's coming and and so you
681
00:38:35,240 --> 00:38:37,560
know, where does it fit, where
doesn't it fit?
682
00:38:37,560 --> 00:38:39,480
All of those things.
Like I was talking to somebody a
683
00:38:39,480 --> 00:38:43,960
couple days ago who was telling
me about a show that all of the
684
00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:47,520
images that were going up onto
the LED screen behind the band
685
00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:53,520
were AI generated like on the
spot, you know at the console,
686
00:38:53,520 --> 00:38:54,960
boom.
They were being sent up to the
687
00:38:54,960 --> 00:38:57,920
wall and and there it was.
And it was incredible.
688
00:38:58,440 --> 00:39:04,920
And you know, I don't know like,
I mean where, whose, whose jobs
689
00:39:05,280 --> 00:39:08,000
topple first?
Which jobs go down first?
690
00:39:08,080 --> 00:39:10,400
It's another, you know, it's
another tool.
691
00:39:10,400 --> 00:39:13,720
A friend of mine was at a a
conference and they were talking
692
00:39:13,720 --> 00:39:18,280
about AI and music and your
songwriting and whatnot and he
693
00:39:18,280 --> 00:39:21,800
was hosting the panel and he he
said that Don was was in the
694
00:39:21,800 --> 00:39:24,240
audience and he needed to steer
the thing in an interesting
695
00:39:24,240 --> 00:39:26,360
direction.
So he asked Don was to comment,
696
00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:31,840
and Don said it's a tool.
Either learn how to use it, you
697
00:39:31,840 --> 00:39:33,400
know.
Yeah.
698
00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:36,320
Behind and I think, I think
these are tools and we have to
699
00:39:36,320 --> 00:39:38,640
figure out how to use them in a
way that's practical.
700
00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:43,440
I went and saw the ABBA show in
London and what do you think of
701
00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:47,120
that person I was with was part
of the show and he turned to me
702
00:39:47,120 --> 00:39:48,680
afterwards and looks like, what
do you think?
703
00:39:48,680 --> 00:39:50,120
I said, I don't know.
I think I might have just seen
704
00:39:50,120 --> 00:39:51,640
the best concert I've ever been
at in.
705
00:39:51,640 --> 00:39:53,240
Really.
Wow.
706
00:39:53,400 --> 00:39:55,080
Yeah, that's cool.
Yeah.
707
00:39:55,080 --> 00:39:57,400
And I mean, we're in the
entertainment business, right?
708
00:39:57,600 --> 00:40:02,800
So our job is to entertain.
And and the idea is to to find
709
00:40:02,800 --> 00:40:05,560
platforms that work to do that.
I feel blessed.
710
00:40:05,560 --> 00:40:08,400
I I always say I get to work in
the best sandbox in the world
711
00:40:08,400 --> 00:40:12,480
because the four guys I work for
play as a band and we use Pro
712
00:40:12,480 --> 00:40:16,440
Tools to record.
So you know, other than obvious
713
00:40:16,800 --> 00:40:20,120
intro tapes and things like that
we use Pro Tools to record.
714
00:40:20,120 --> 00:40:22,480
And I think all of us who've
been around the guys for a long
715
00:40:22,480 --> 00:40:25,800
time love that thing, that
they're a band.
716
00:40:26,200 --> 00:40:29,040
They're a same place guys that
we're all lies on the block.
717
00:40:29,720 --> 00:40:32,680
No tracks, No tracks other than.
Intros and stuff here are
718
00:40:32,800 --> 00:40:34,120
obviously tracks.
They're.
719
00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:36,640
They're wow, that.
That are intros to the show.
720
00:40:36,640 --> 00:40:38,880
That's impressive.
That's really, really
721
00:40:38,880 --> 00:40:39,880
impressive.
By all that.
722
00:40:40,600 --> 00:40:44,440
Yeah, I certainly do.
The vocals, everything, it's all
723
00:40:44,440 --> 00:40:46,640
live.
That is, that is really.
724
00:40:46,640 --> 00:40:48,560
Interesting, including the
clunkers.
725
00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:53,000
So few bands are doing that now
as you know, like even the bands
726
00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:56,200
that we think are are doing all
live, you know there's.
727
00:40:56,200 --> 00:40:58,360
Stunning.
How many people are?
728
00:40:59,320 --> 00:41:03,000
Well, you know, I don't know if
it's rumor or what, but like the
729
00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:07,640
stuff that was coming out last
year about Mötley Crüe where the
730
00:41:07,640 --> 00:41:13,360
entire base, every bass track
was all done on track.
731
00:41:13,360 --> 00:41:16,400
It wasn't played live and stuff.
Yeah, I don't know.
732
00:41:16,480 --> 00:41:18,760
Either I don't want to know.
No, no, me neither.
733
00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:20,720
That was part of that.
I've been involved in.
734
00:41:20,720 --> 00:41:24,280
I've been involved in some shows
years ago.
735
00:41:24,560 --> 00:41:26,400
Yeah, where there was a lot of
that.
736
00:41:26,440 --> 00:41:29,200
And I always thought that's
that's wrong.
737
00:41:29,600 --> 00:41:30,960
That's just me, right?
I'm not.
738
00:41:31,120 --> 00:41:33,640
I'm not certificating to anyone.
I just felt like, oh, that's
739
00:41:33,880 --> 00:41:36,680
that's weird it.
Feels really inauthentic, you
740
00:41:36,680 --> 00:41:38,480
know, unauthentic.
I like live music.
741
00:41:38,720 --> 00:41:41,480
Yeah, but I mean, you can
understand it.
742
00:41:41,480 --> 00:41:43,840
And I'm not suggesting this is
who you were talking about, but
743
00:41:43,840 --> 00:41:47,800
you can understand when it's
Madonna or Shakira or, you know,
744
00:41:47,800 --> 00:41:51,840
somebody who really is doing
this super intense dancing and
745
00:41:51,840 --> 00:41:53,600
jumping around and all that kind
of stuff.
746
00:41:53,600 --> 00:41:56,200
Like it's hard to hit, you know?
Every.
747
00:41:56,320 --> 00:41:58,240
Absolutely.
You know, you watch Janet
748
00:41:58,240 --> 00:41:59,800
Jackson.
It's like, whoa.
749
00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:01,920
Yeah, are.
You going to sing and be able to
750
00:42:01,920 --> 00:42:05,120
breathe that?
There is some truth to that,
751
00:42:05,120 --> 00:42:06,480
right?
There is some truth to that.
752
00:42:06,480 --> 00:42:09,880
It's an entertainment thing.
You know, I saw the, I remember
753
00:42:09,880 --> 00:42:13,040
when *NSYNC was in their heyday
and and that kind of stuff.
754
00:42:13,040 --> 00:42:16,600
And I thought, you know, these
are fantastic shows.
755
00:42:16,600 --> 00:42:19,520
They're they're not Eric Clapton
playing something for you, but
756
00:42:19,520 --> 00:42:22,120
they're fantastic shows.
Yeah, yeah.
757
00:42:22,120 --> 00:42:24,480
And I kind of like the Eric
Clapton thing, you know, like
758
00:42:24,480 --> 00:42:28,560
I've always been one who loves
live music, you know, and and
759
00:42:29,400 --> 00:42:35,440
you know, I have some fairly
unpopular thoughts on the size
760
00:42:35,440 --> 00:42:39,200
of some of the shows and how
distracting they are, you know,
761
00:42:39,200 --> 00:42:44,520
to to the band.
And you know, Mark Brickman was
762
00:42:44,520 --> 00:42:48,200
saying to me one day, he had
just gone out and seen the
763
00:42:48,200 --> 00:42:51,880
Stones when he was on the
podcast and you know, the the
764
00:42:51,880 --> 00:42:55,560
one with the four iPhones behind
them, the big video screens that
765
00:42:55,560 --> 00:42:58,440
looked like iPhones.
And he said, you know, the
766
00:42:58,440 --> 00:43:03,800
problem was those big screens
made Mick Jagger look small.
767
00:43:04,800 --> 00:43:09,440
And I completely got what he was
saying, you know, like the if
768
00:43:09,440 --> 00:43:12,280
they were imag, it's one thing,
you know, but when there's a
769
00:43:12,280 --> 00:43:16,000
bunch of visual stuff going on
and it's it's why I have mixed
770
00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:19,960
feelings on the U2 thing.
The sphere, you know, it's it's
771
00:43:20,280 --> 00:43:23,600
spectacular.
But I had to, I haven't seen it
772
00:43:23,600 --> 00:43:25,920
live.
I just saw it on video and when
773
00:43:25,920 --> 00:43:29,200
I watched the first video of it,
I had to sit for like 30 seconds
774
00:43:29,200 --> 00:43:31,800
trying to find Bono.
I couldn't find him.
775
00:43:32,520 --> 00:43:35,640
You know, where is the stage?
Where is the singer, you know?
776
00:43:35,680 --> 00:43:39,480
And that to me is just that's
not seeing a band.
777
00:43:40,440 --> 00:43:42,240
Let's think.
As a designer, that's part of
778
00:43:42,240 --> 00:43:43,720
the challenge.
I think it is.
779
00:43:44,400 --> 00:43:48,320
It certainly is.
Is first and foremost in my
780
00:43:48,320 --> 00:43:50,920
thinking of stuff we do now.
That's coming from a guy who has
781
00:43:50,920 --> 00:43:56,240
a pretty big show playing
stadiums right now, backing up
782
00:43:56,240 --> 00:43:58,880
another big show that played
stadiums, backing up a big show
783
00:43:58,920 --> 00:44:03,760
that played arenas and stuff.
But I think people want to have
784
00:44:03,760 --> 00:44:11,680
a spectacular experience.
Yeah, but for that, for my core
785
00:44:11,680 --> 00:44:15,600
kind of thinking and design,
first and foremost has to be the
786
00:44:15,600 --> 00:44:18,320
band.
You know, and I would say
787
00:44:18,320 --> 00:44:19,640
that's.
Important to me.
788
00:44:20,000 --> 00:44:23,200
It's going to sound like I'm
blowing smoke, Dan, but you've
789
00:44:23,200 --> 00:44:28,160
done a tremendous job of it.
Like for you, the show is big,
790
00:44:28,640 --> 00:44:31,280
but the band is always.
You never have to look for the
791
00:44:31,280 --> 00:44:33,120
band.
You can find the band quite
792
00:44:33,120 --> 00:44:35,680
easily.
That's a huge compliment because
793
00:44:35,680 --> 00:44:39,840
that's to me.
The band is central on your big
794
00:44:39,840 --> 00:44:42,280
designs, you know, like I
remember the one where the the
795
00:44:42,280 --> 00:44:45,120
guy fell out of the Truss and
things were blowing up and all
796
00:44:45,120 --> 00:44:46,680
that stuff.
I forget what that was.
797
00:44:46,680 --> 00:44:51,400
But I'm, I'm close with John
Broderick and I was hanging out
798
00:44:51,400 --> 00:44:53,640
at front of house with him and
he didn't tell me what was going
799
00:44:53,640 --> 00:44:55,120
to happen or anything.
And I was like.
800
00:44:55,120 --> 00:44:58,160
Holy shit, John Jesus.
We got to do something, you
801
00:44:58,160 --> 00:45:01,240
know, and like looking for
radios and stuff so I can help.
802
00:45:01,680 --> 00:45:06,440
And he's like settle down, man.
But you know that show, like,
803
00:45:07,280 --> 00:45:09,720
you know, it was almost like a
rehearsal because the show
804
00:45:09,720 --> 00:45:13,240
seemed so secondary, but it was
such an incredible show, the
805
00:45:13,240 --> 00:45:15,280
lights and and video and
everything, right?
806
00:45:16,280 --> 00:45:17,800
You know it's not in the way
about.
807
00:45:18,040 --> 00:45:20,640
That show, that was a That was
the high end.
808
00:45:20,640 --> 00:45:23,640
What the heck was a studio
color?
809
00:45:23,840 --> 00:45:25,240
Yeah, yeah, lots of them.
Yeah.
810
00:45:25,280 --> 00:45:29,480
And we had. 108 of them.
Yeah, from Obi's I think, wasn't
811
00:45:29,480 --> 00:45:32,720
it?
I believe they came from Obi's.
812
00:45:33,480 --> 00:45:35,440
Yeah, I think Wiseman was at
Obi.
813
00:45:35,680 --> 00:45:37,480
'S yeah no.
Wiseman was.
814
00:45:37,480 --> 00:45:40,440
So Wiseman and I both started at
high end systems.
815
00:45:40,560 --> 00:45:45,400
We started at high end the same
day and it was it was during
816
00:45:45,400 --> 00:45:47,880
right when you were getting
ready to go out with that show.
817
00:45:48,240 --> 00:45:51,000
Right and.
That's where the that's where
818
00:45:51,160 --> 00:45:53,560
the wash color wash color wash
beam.
819
00:45:53,560 --> 00:45:56,120
What was it anyhow?
Was a John did a great job.
820
00:45:56,120 --> 00:45:58,160
Studio colors.
Yeah, yeah, Studio colors.
821
00:45:58,360 --> 00:45:59,000
Yeah, it.
Was a.
822
00:45:59,360 --> 00:46:01,800
It was a great show.
But but again, like, yeah, I
823
00:46:02,400 --> 00:46:03,760
mean every time I've seen
Metallica.
824
00:46:04,760 --> 00:46:10,560
The first review I read of of of
M72 when we opened in Amsterdam,
825
00:46:10,560 --> 00:46:13,480
The first English speaking
review I found was talked about
826
00:46:13,480 --> 00:46:16,840
the making the stadium feel
intimate and that's exactly
827
00:46:16,840 --> 00:46:19,880
that's, you know, we're trying
to make a club, but how do you
828
00:46:19,880 --> 00:46:21,960
reach 80,000 people and make it
a club?
829
00:46:21,960 --> 00:46:26,720
Well that's that that's and
that's that's the magic, right.
830
00:46:26,720 --> 00:46:29,240
I mean, I don't know if there's
magic, if I'm good at something.
831
00:46:29,240 --> 00:46:30,880
I I always love reading
intimate.
832
00:46:30,880 --> 00:46:35,600
I always love, you know, I
always love elegant and
833
00:46:35,600 --> 00:46:37,640
simplicity and and things like
that.
834
00:46:37,640 --> 00:46:39,760
And I mean there's no simplicity
in the show we're doing right
835
00:46:39,760 --> 00:46:43,960
now, but we're trying to make it
so that people can have a an
836
00:46:43,960 --> 00:46:47,000
experience with the band and not
every band is doing that, not
837
00:46:47,000 --> 00:46:48,680
every band.
That's not the goal of every
838
00:46:48,680 --> 00:46:51,960
band and you have to design in
context.
839
00:46:51,960 --> 00:46:54,640
When I'm working with a
corporate client maybe they want
840
00:46:54,640 --> 00:46:57,000
that maybe they don't what what
are we trying to do here what's
841
00:46:57,000 --> 00:47:01,080
your message and and certainly
in in my world you know that's
842
00:47:01,080 --> 00:47:03,840
why I love working in the round
because I was that kid who went
843
00:47:03,840 --> 00:47:06,480
to concert.
So the only way you can take the
844
00:47:06,480 --> 00:47:09,000
worst seats in the house and
make them twice as good as move
845
00:47:09,000 --> 00:47:12,360
the stage.
So, so let's move the stage to
846
00:47:12,360 --> 00:47:16,440
the middle and give everybody a
good shot at this thing And and
847
00:47:16,440 --> 00:47:22,000
it creates some magic that that
if if the presenter or
848
00:47:22,000 --> 00:47:25,120
entertainer can work in that
environment can create some real
849
00:47:25,120 --> 00:47:28,880
magical moments.
You know with Metallica it's an
850
00:47:28,880 --> 00:47:31,760
interesting thing because we're
working with a long term fan
851
00:47:31,760 --> 00:47:34,640
base.
You know I think we're probably
852
00:47:34,640 --> 00:47:36,560
there may be some four
generation people.
853
00:47:36,560 --> 00:47:38,600
There certainly are three
generation people in the
854
00:47:38,600 --> 00:47:43,960
audience, and.
That is incredible, really.
855
00:47:44,840 --> 00:47:47,000
You know, where did your
experience begin?
856
00:47:47,000 --> 00:47:50,360
Where did your journey with the
Metallica family start and
857
00:47:50,360 --> 00:47:53,480
what's meaningful to you?
Because the the guy who found
858
00:47:53,480 --> 00:47:59,800
Metallica on M72 isn't the same
guy who found Metallica on Ride
859
00:47:59,800 --> 00:48:02,560
the Lightning.
How do we make the show special
860
00:48:03,240 --> 00:48:06,080
for all those people so that
everybody who comes can have an
861
00:48:06,080 --> 00:48:10,160
experience and and I think we
found some great magic I work
862
00:48:10,160 --> 00:48:12,960
with.
You know, I mean we've been
863
00:48:12,960 --> 00:48:15,840
blessed with great sound people.
Currently Greg Price is just
864
00:48:15,840 --> 00:48:19,240
crushing it.
Rob Koenig is, is is my partner
865
00:48:19,240 --> 00:48:20,840
in crime.
I like to say I do the
866
00:48:20,840 --> 00:48:24,080
architecture and Rob does the
art and we've been able to
867
00:48:24,080 --> 00:48:27,640
create great things together and
and and I've hopefully given him
868
00:48:27,640 --> 00:48:30,840
that given him the layout and
the tools and the number of
869
00:48:30,840 --> 00:48:33,720
instruments and all those things
and we go through long
870
00:48:33,720 --> 00:48:37,200
processes, sweating through it.
Gene McAuliffe our our Video
871
00:48:37,200 --> 00:48:42,320
Director is stunning.
Dave the guy who puts the stuff
872
00:48:42,320 --> 00:48:45,240
on the screens in time because
we're not running the time code.
873
00:48:45,240 --> 00:48:49,120
We're not doing all of the cues
are manual so all the videos are
874
00:48:49,280 --> 00:48:51,840
cut into little tiny snips.
So if the band's playing a
875
00:48:51,840 --> 00:48:55,640
little faster, slower the cues
were and Dave Leonard is is
876
00:48:55,640 --> 00:48:59,360
stunning and and you know Joe
Cabrera and Cat W, the folks who
877
00:48:59,360 --> 00:49:03,840
programmed the show and we have
this magical team that we're
878
00:49:03,840 --> 00:49:06,600
trying to create that journey,
we're trying to create a
879
00:49:06,600 --> 00:49:08,760
narrative.
So no matter when you join the
880
00:49:08,760 --> 00:49:12,320
Metallica family to use
Hetfield's words, we have
881
00:49:12,320 --> 00:49:15,520
something there that's going to
bring you along and make you
882
00:49:15,720 --> 00:49:19,680
feel special that you're having
a one to one relationship with
883
00:49:19,680 --> 00:49:22,440
the band.
Well you're having this huge
884
00:49:22,440 --> 00:49:25,560
communal social relationship
watching something you love.
885
00:49:26,160 --> 00:49:28,360
And I'm lucky I get to work for
a great band.
886
00:49:28,680 --> 00:49:33,440
Yeah, for a long time now too.
So the where, you know I read
887
00:49:33,440 --> 00:49:36,760
somewhere that you're you're
like a big fan of of art like
888
00:49:37,440 --> 00:49:43,040
specifically Michelangelo type
of art or whatever and so does
889
00:49:43,040 --> 00:49:45,320
that.
Is that part of the inspiration?
890
00:49:46,680 --> 00:49:50,440
Absolutely.
I I think you know art
891
00:49:50,840 --> 00:49:57,200
architecture certainly drives
certainly drive a bunch of a
892
00:49:57,400 --> 00:49:59,360
bunch of what I'm doing.
I'm always looking at
893
00:49:59,360 --> 00:50:03,280
architecture.
I'm looking at things and trying
894
00:50:03,280 --> 00:50:05,800
to find a different point of
entry, if you will.
895
00:50:06,040 --> 00:50:12,720
Yeah.
You know, I don't want to do so.
896
00:50:12,720 --> 00:50:15,200
I have this picture that Jim
Marshall took, which is the
897
00:50:15,200 --> 00:50:19,840
inside gatefold of the Woodstock
event.
898
00:50:20,440 --> 00:50:23,320
It was taken upstage, center at
Woodstock, pointed out at the
899
00:50:23,320 --> 00:50:26,440
crowd.
And it's the gatefold from the
900
00:50:26,440 --> 00:50:28,320
album thing.
I actually have a a print of it
901
00:50:28,320 --> 00:50:31,480
that that Jim Marshall did and
signed and whatever, and he's a
902
00:50:31,480 --> 00:50:36,520
great photographer, a bit of a a
segment of our history and you
903
00:50:36,520 --> 00:50:40,320
have a band on stage.
There's a turntable stage, which
904
00:50:40,320 --> 00:50:41,840
I'm told didn't work at
Woodstock.
905
00:50:41,840 --> 00:50:45,240
It worked once and fell apart.
But but somebody like Chipmunk
906
00:50:45,240 --> 00:50:47,840
or someone like that had this
idea we can do these changeovers
907
00:50:47,840 --> 00:50:49,440
faster if we have this
turntable.
908
00:50:49,440 --> 00:50:52,040
It didn't work because it was
too heavy and that, whatever.
909
00:50:52,040 --> 00:50:53,600
I don't know the whole story of
that, but.
910
00:50:55,360 --> 00:50:58,480
Sounds like a good idea though.
We've got this turntable, we've
911
00:50:58,520 --> 00:51:01,600
we figured out how to do it now,
but we have this turntable and
912
00:51:01,600 --> 00:51:05,160
you've got some PA column stacks
and there's a little bit of
913
00:51:05,160 --> 00:51:07,200
lighting, but the lighting never
worked, 'cause they couldn't get
914
00:51:07,200 --> 00:51:09,720
the roof together, 'cause they
moved the site too quickly.
915
00:51:10,440 --> 00:51:12,680
And you have the spotlight
towers and you got this crowd in
916
00:51:12,680 --> 00:51:15,000
front of it.
And I look at that and I think
917
00:51:15,120 --> 00:51:19,680
that's a long time ago.
Yeah, we have to do something
918
00:51:19,680 --> 00:51:25,000
better to deliver this
relationship of band and
919
00:51:25,000 --> 00:51:27,040
audience.
Because, like with Metallica,
920
00:51:27,040 --> 00:51:30,160
the show is about the band
driving some energy, spilling
921
00:51:30,160 --> 00:51:33,400
the energy into the crowd, the
crowd amplifying it, sending it
922
00:51:33,400 --> 00:51:35,600
back to the band, giving them a
kick in the pants.
923
00:51:35,840 --> 00:51:38,960
The band then re amplifying it,
sending it back to the crowd.
924
00:51:38,960 --> 00:51:41,800
And that cycle is a Metallica
show, yeah.
925
00:51:41,880 --> 00:51:43,520
So as a designer.
Always has.
926
00:51:43,600 --> 00:51:46,520
What can I do to not get in the
way of that?
927
00:51:46,840 --> 00:51:49,080
Yeah.
It's a funny approach that I
928
00:51:49,080 --> 00:51:51,520
take.
I I I had James really confused
929
00:51:51,520 --> 00:51:53,480
explaining it.
I was like, I don't want to get
930
00:51:53,480 --> 00:51:54,880
in the way of that.
You.
931
00:51:55,560 --> 00:51:58,480
See, because they do that by
themselves, I'm trying to create
932
00:51:58,480 --> 00:52:01,880
a great platform for them to
have an to have an interaction
933
00:52:01,880 --> 00:52:04,360
with their fans.
Nobody's buying a ticket to see
934
00:52:04,360 --> 00:52:07,480
me, right?
What a great thing.
935
00:52:07,600 --> 00:52:12,280
To see James and Lars and Kirk
and Rob, OK, so how do I create
936
00:52:12,280 --> 00:52:16,840
a platform and get Rob Koenig
and Gene and and and Dave and
937
00:52:17,000 --> 00:52:19,280
and Greg Price and and our
monitor guys?
938
00:52:19,280 --> 00:52:23,000
And I'm like this whole thing.
How do we make this environment
939
00:52:23,480 --> 00:52:27,840
so the band can do what they do
at the best possible level?
940
00:52:27,840 --> 00:52:33,000
It can happen because if we do
our job well, the band will do
941
00:52:33,000 --> 00:52:34,160
theirs.
Yeah.
942
00:52:34,800 --> 00:52:37,120
And so it's a really fun
environment to work.
943
00:52:37,520 --> 00:52:40,480
In you know they're they're one
band that like you know if I had
944
00:52:40,480 --> 00:52:45,080
to to describe a live Metallica
show you know with one word it,
945
00:52:45,080 --> 00:52:48,640
it'd probably be energy you know
and and like that energy is is 2
946
00:52:48,640 --> 00:52:51,440
directions like you said it's
the fans feeding off the band.
947
00:52:51,440 --> 00:52:54,760
The band feeding off the fans
and like even and I'm sure you
948
00:52:54,760 --> 00:52:59,200
were heavily involved in this
process but the the thing that
949
00:52:59,200 --> 00:53:03,520
that you guys did during COVID
with like the I don't remember
950
00:53:03,520 --> 00:53:07,680
the number but two or three
thousand video, 22 or 3000
951
00:53:07,680 --> 00:53:12,720
little video things and you know
like Hatfield was going you
952
00:53:12,800 --> 00:53:15,840
right there, Bob in Wisconsin or
whatever.
953
00:53:15,840 --> 00:53:19,760
Right.
And I mean what a like I hated
954
00:53:19,920 --> 00:53:22,680
virtual shows.
I hated them with a passion.
955
00:53:22,920 --> 00:53:26,680
That one was incredible.
That one was so cool.
956
00:53:26,800 --> 00:53:30,400
Wiseman actually is the one who
who I think invited me into that
957
00:53:30,400 --> 00:53:31,440
or something.
I don't remember.
958
00:53:31,440 --> 00:53:33,680
How I got it We wanted to do
something different.
959
00:53:35,320 --> 00:53:38,960
My work in the corporate world
is with tech people, so I knew
960
00:53:38,960 --> 00:53:41,760
what we could do.
I found some people who could
961
00:53:41,760 --> 00:53:47,120
help me do it and and the folks
at Firefly were amazing and
962
00:53:47,160 --> 00:53:49,160
pulling it off.
I mean you know you call the
963
00:53:49,160 --> 00:53:51,280
company like can you do this?
Oh yeah, we can do that.
964
00:53:51,280 --> 00:53:53,640
We can do that.
Not everybody delivers and they
965
00:53:53,640 --> 00:53:58,320
get it out of the power and as
the band was walking into that 4
966
00:53:58,320 --> 00:54:02,960
sided video wall enclosure they
looked at me like is this going
967
00:54:02,960 --> 00:54:05,360
to work or is this going to be
whatever And I was like all you
968
00:54:05,360 --> 00:54:10,640
need to do is go play from it.
The longest time that I talked
969
00:54:10,640 --> 00:54:13,560
to Lars about this, and we
determined that the longest time
970
00:54:13,560 --> 00:54:17,200
in their history that Metallica
had not played live in front of
971
00:54:17,200 --> 00:54:21,760
their fans was between the show
prior to that and that show.
972
00:54:22,280 --> 00:54:24,120
Really.
Wow.
973
00:54:24,160 --> 00:54:28,000
So that's crazy.
I knew that the band was
974
00:54:28,520 --> 00:54:30,400
desperate to get in front of
their fans.
975
00:54:30,400 --> 00:54:33,480
I don't mean desperate, like
freaking out about it, but they
976
00:54:33,480 --> 00:54:37,440
are a live band that thrives on
their audience and having that
977
00:54:37,440 --> 00:54:40,360
communication.
You, you called it energy.
978
00:54:40,360 --> 00:54:44,800
I call it communication, OK?
They're communicating back and
979
00:54:44,800 --> 00:54:47,600
forth.
And I assumed in the middle of
980
00:54:47,600 --> 00:54:52,560
COVID that the Metallica family
was in the same place trying to
981
00:54:52,560 --> 00:54:56,040
get to Metallica.
And so I looked at the guys and
982
00:54:56,040 --> 00:54:59,360
I said just go play.
And they walked out there in 15
983
00:54:59,360 --> 00:55:01,040
seconds into it.
You could see the look on their
984
00:55:01,040 --> 00:55:03,160
faces.
We're playing live in front of
985
00:55:03,160 --> 00:55:05,640
our fans and it was a special,
special.
986
00:55:05,640 --> 00:55:07,760
It was a very special event.
Well, because let's.
987
00:55:07,840 --> 00:55:09,960
Get it?
Great, great, great technical
988
00:55:09,960 --> 00:55:12,280
team.
I am so fortunate to work with
989
00:55:12,280 --> 00:55:15,960
the people I work with.
Yeah, most of those sucks so bad
990
00:55:15,960 --> 00:55:19,240
though A roll.
Call because nobody does any of
991
00:55:19,240 --> 00:55:22,040
this stuff by themselves.
Most of those.
992
00:55:22,040 --> 00:55:25,000
Come from great, great, great
teams and I'm blessed.
993
00:55:25,000 --> 00:55:29,240
I've mentioned a couple of
minutes but I have so fortunate
994
00:55:29,240 --> 00:55:31,280
to work with the people I.
Work well, yeah.
995
00:55:31,280 --> 00:55:34,000
I mean, you know, Metallica is
the top of the food chain.
996
00:55:34,000 --> 00:55:37,360
Obviously you get to pick
whoever you want to work with at
997
00:55:37,360 --> 00:55:41,240
this point I'm guessing, but you
know that again, I can't.
998
00:55:41,240 --> 00:55:43,080
We have a lot of home.
I have to.
999
00:55:43,280 --> 00:55:44,800
I've got to compliment some of
my guys.
1000
00:55:44,800 --> 00:55:46,440
We've got a lot of homegrown
talent.
1001
00:55:46,440 --> 00:55:47,320
We've got a lot.
Of Oh yeah.
1002
00:55:47,520 --> 00:55:53,480
We we we came together and we
found a way to make 1 + 1 equal
1003
00:55:53,480 --> 00:55:59,200
3 and and then we found a way to
make 1 + 1 + 1 equal 4 and then
1004
00:55:59,200 --> 00:56:02,520
we found a way to make 1 + 1 + 1
+ 1 = 7.
1005
00:56:02,800 --> 00:56:06,520
Yeah, and I'm real proud of it.
One you keep just, you keep just
1006
00:56:06,800 --> 00:56:09,400
going like this.
Like you keep raising the bar.
1007
00:56:09,400 --> 00:56:13,600
Everything you guys do, every,
every new tour, every, whatever.
1008
00:56:13,760 --> 00:56:17,720
You know, regardless of what the
album does, the tours are
1009
00:56:17,720 --> 00:56:19,560
incredible.
You know, every single one of.
1010
00:56:19,560 --> 00:56:20,520
Them.
That's really kind.
1011
00:56:20,720 --> 00:56:23,160
Yeah, well, you know, I'm not
blowing smoke.
1012
00:56:23,160 --> 00:56:25,480
I I wish I had something to
complain about.
1013
00:56:25,480 --> 00:56:28,040
Like even your virtual show,
like I said, I can't state it
1014
00:56:28,040 --> 00:56:29,200
enough.
They all sucked.
1015
00:56:29,200 --> 00:56:32,880
I hated every virtual show I saw
because number one, there was no
1016
00:56:32,880 --> 00:56:35,440
energy and there shouldn't be
like a band is sitting there
1017
00:56:35,720 --> 00:56:38,480
playing to cameras.
It's really hard to do,
1018
00:56:38,480 --> 00:56:40,680
especially when you're a band
like Metallica.
1019
00:56:40,960 --> 00:56:44,720
You know, you're a rock band
that is like in your face rock,
1020
00:56:44,720 --> 00:56:49,120
right?
And but but you know the way
1021
00:56:49,120 --> 00:56:53,200
that you guys did that gave them
that energy because they had
1022
00:56:53,200 --> 00:56:56,400
people giving them feedback on
these screens, you know, and and
1023
00:56:56,400 --> 00:56:59,600
I saw like Tony Robbins did
that, Tony Robbins did that.
1024
00:56:59,600 --> 00:57:01,240
He created that whole studio,
right?
1025
00:57:01,360 --> 00:57:04,320
Yeah, that communication is is
the deal.
1026
00:57:04,760 --> 00:57:06,520
Yeah.
So.
1027
00:57:07,080 --> 00:57:09,600
Yeah, no that that was very
cool.
1028
00:57:09,640 --> 00:57:14,320
I I really again, it's the only
one that that I thought really
1029
00:57:14,320 --> 00:57:20,200
did it well and I told I told
the guys at at fire play that
1030
00:57:20,200 --> 00:57:23,960
and and yeah you know it was
done well.
1031
00:57:24,120 --> 00:57:26,240
Bravo.
You don't.
1032
00:57:26,240 --> 00:57:27,960
You don't actually.
So sorry.
1033
00:57:27,960 --> 00:57:29,680
Going back to the creative
process.
1034
00:57:29,680 --> 00:57:32,680
So you were saying that art and
and architecture and I'm
1035
00:57:32,680 --> 00:57:35,640
guessing architecture is like
the the shape of the trussing,
1036
00:57:35,640 --> 00:57:38,720
the lines and things like that.
That's where that comes into
1037
00:57:38,720 --> 00:57:41,040
play a lot I.
Guess a lot of it in what I'm
1038
00:57:41,040 --> 00:57:46,680
trying to do is proportions, you
know?
1039
00:57:46,680 --> 00:57:50,160
OK, so you get a clever idea.
How do we make it so it's fits
1040
00:57:50,160 --> 00:57:53,200
in the building correctly?
We had a really rough rehearsal
1041
00:57:53,200 --> 00:57:58,640
schedule on M72 and never really
got to do production rehearsals
1042
00:57:58,640 --> 00:58:03,720
the way I wish we could have.
And I was really nervous.
1043
00:58:05,280 --> 00:58:08,320
Not a little bit.
I was petrified when we were
1044
00:58:08,320 --> 00:58:14,120
starting the first night and I
was, if if you do this, you
1045
00:58:14,120 --> 00:58:18,760
understand pressure and nerves
at a different level, especially
1046
00:58:18,760 --> 00:58:21,240
something on the scale of what
what this thing was.
1047
00:58:22,080 --> 00:58:25,240
And I just was like, I don't
know if we have this and it's
1048
00:58:25,240 --> 00:58:26,960
the first time I've ever felt
like that.
1049
00:58:26,960 --> 00:58:29,760
I I I've done other things where
I didn't know till I saw it put
1050
00:58:29,760 --> 00:58:34,640
up when we did S and M2 with the
rings at at the Chase Center
1051
00:58:35,600 --> 00:58:38,200
when I walked in and I just
stuck my head, the rings were
1052
00:58:38,200 --> 00:58:39,760
all about 10 feet off the
ground.
1053
00:58:39,760 --> 00:58:42,320
They were just hanging there
with a little bit of of test
1054
00:58:42,320 --> 00:58:44,560
pattern on them.
I just poked my head around the
1055
00:58:44,560 --> 00:58:46,520
vomitory and looked them.
I went, Oh no, this is going to
1056
00:58:46,520 --> 00:58:47,840
be fantastic.
I knew.
1057
00:58:48,480 --> 00:58:52,080
I knew we had something magic
and this one I did not.
1058
00:58:52,120 --> 00:58:54,960
And right before the show
started the first night, and I
1059
00:58:54,960 --> 00:59:02,160
was, I was, I was physically
nervous and I looked at the
1060
00:59:02,160 --> 00:59:05,000
thing and I went, man, this
stadium is really small.
1061
00:59:05,720 --> 00:59:09,920
And I just went, oh, OK.
All right, we got this.
1062
00:59:10,240 --> 00:59:10,720
That's.
Cool.
1063
00:59:10,720 --> 00:59:13,920
Because it's the proportions and
and trying to get it all to fit
1064
00:59:13,920 --> 00:59:16,080
right.
Because again, nobody's coming
1065
00:59:16,080 --> 00:59:18,400
to see what I did.
Everybody's coming and everybody
1066
00:59:18,400 --> 00:59:20,800
sees what I did.
Everybody sees what the creative
1067
00:59:21,000 --> 00:59:23,040
process was.
Everybody sees what Rob does.
1068
00:59:23,040 --> 00:59:25,120
Everybody and everybody sees
what Gene does every night.
1069
00:59:25,760 --> 00:59:27,200
But they're not buying a ticket
for that.
1070
00:59:27,840 --> 00:59:29,680
We're just.
Supporting these four guys who
1071
00:59:29,680 --> 00:59:33,120
do what they do and it's about
getting the proportions right,
1072
00:59:33,160 --> 00:59:35,960
and then hopefully you come up
with something a little bit
1073
00:59:35,960 --> 00:59:38,840
clever, like how to put speakers
in a place where there's no
1074
00:59:38,840 --> 00:59:40,880
ceiling.
Yeah, how so?
1075
00:59:40,880 --> 00:59:43,520
When you're doing in the round?
This is a really dumb question
1076
00:59:43,520 --> 00:59:45,760
because I've just never been
involved in the technical
1077
00:59:45,760 --> 00:59:47,920
aspects of a system for in the
round.
1078
00:59:47,920 --> 00:59:51,480
But are you using twice as much
audio, or is it more than that?
1079
00:59:57,240 --> 00:59:59,880
Well, we did something very
unique on this show, which is
1080
00:59:59,880 --> 01:00:04,680
also you can blame on me, Greg
Price is is an incredible
1081
01:00:04,680 --> 01:00:11,560
partner to work with.
And I have for years wanted to
1082
01:00:11,560 --> 01:00:15,840
create near field monitors in an
80,000 seat stadium.
1083
01:00:17,240 --> 01:00:21,200
So the first thing we had to
figure out how to do was create
1084
01:00:21,200 --> 01:00:23,080
stereo sound throughout a
stadium.
1085
01:00:23,920 --> 01:00:30,320
So we have a very large PA
trying to create stereo images
1086
01:00:30,320 --> 01:00:34,720
and we're capturing about 84580,
eighty 5% of the seats in
1087
01:00:34,720 --> 01:00:39,240
stereo.
Wow, so is that just a lot, a
1088
01:00:39,240 --> 01:00:42,360
lot more smaller speakers?
Is that how that works?
1089
01:00:42,480 --> 01:00:45,520
Or.
It's it's something different
1090
01:00:45,520 --> 01:00:48,000
than putting up a big pile of
speakers and pointing them down
1091
01:00:48,000 --> 01:00:49,720
the field and turning them up
really loud.
1092
01:00:49,960 --> 01:00:52,600
Yeah.
And which is my reference to
1093
01:00:52,600 --> 01:00:54,320
that Woodstock picture?
Yeah.
1094
01:00:55,080 --> 01:01:00,760
And So what we've done is we've
created stereo imaging left,
1095
01:01:00,760 --> 01:01:03,320
right, left, right, left, right.
As you go around the stadium,
1096
01:01:03,320 --> 01:01:06,560
the the image might be backwards
but it's still a stereo image
1097
01:01:07,680 --> 01:01:11,000
which opens up a ton of things
because it allows Greg to do a
1098
01:01:11,000 --> 01:01:15,440
bunch of of the the the
soundscape is this big stereo
1099
01:01:15,440 --> 01:01:17,880
image instead of this mono thing
that you're trying to ram
1100
01:01:17,880 --> 01:01:26,240
everything down this pipe and
and and Greg is, you know, it's
1101
01:01:26,240 --> 01:01:28,120
been we, we've been blessed with
Metallica.
1102
01:01:28,120 --> 01:01:30,880
Mick Hughes was there forever
and a tremendous sound engineer.
1103
01:01:30,880 --> 01:01:34,960
He retired and and Greg is is
there and and he's a great
1104
01:01:34,960 --> 01:01:37,360
partner to work with and we kind
of took this thing on and
1105
01:01:37,360 --> 01:01:41,760
created this stereo image around
the around the football.
1106
01:01:41,760 --> 01:01:45,040
Stadium, yeah.
So when you, when you have, you
1107
01:01:45,040 --> 01:01:47,920
know, new album, I'm guessing
you know, you sit down with the
1108
01:01:47,920 --> 01:01:50,920
band, they tell you what the
album's all about and what vibe
1109
01:01:50,920 --> 01:01:55,440
it is or theme or whatever.
How does your whole design
1110
01:01:56,000 --> 01:01:59,520
process work?
Like, how far in advance of the
1111
01:01:59,520 --> 01:02:04,400
tour actually going out?
How much is the band involved?
1112
01:02:04,400 --> 01:02:06,400
When do you get the rest of the
team involved?
1113
01:02:06,400 --> 01:02:11,080
Like what's that look like?
That's a tough question.
1114
01:02:11,200 --> 01:02:13,360
I'm always thinking about what's
next.
1115
01:02:13,520 --> 01:02:15,760
Yeah.
You know, I'm always thinking
1116
01:02:15,760 --> 01:02:17,960
about what's next.
I've got a project that may or
1117
01:02:17,960 --> 01:02:20,560
may not happen with another
band, and I've got all sorts of
1118
01:02:21,080 --> 01:02:23,840
kind of ideas floating around
with that and what it might be.
1119
01:02:23,840 --> 01:02:31,640
And and with these guys, I kind
of know give or take some number
1120
01:02:31,640 --> 01:02:34,680
of months what the, what the
cycle of where we're going to
1121
01:02:34,680 --> 01:02:37,920
be, what we're doing, what's
when's the next recording cycle
1122
01:02:37,920 --> 01:02:41,080
this and that.
So when when you know when they
1123
01:02:41,560 --> 01:02:45,760
started M 72 recording you're
you know, I know where that
1124
01:02:45,840 --> 01:02:47,480
coming out of that is going to
be a tour.
1125
01:02:47,480 --> 01:02:51,160
So the process really starts
then it's coming up with a lot
1126
01:02:51,160 --> 01:02:56,920
of iterations, talking about
stuff, eventually getting some
1127
01:02:56,920 --> 01:03:00,960
tracks to listen to and see, you
know, what are we doing and
1128
01:03:01,000 --> 01:03:03,480
trying to think about what we've
done in the past and where we're
1129
01:03:03,480 --> 01:03:04,840
going.
This one was a pretty big
1130
01:03:04,840 --> 01:03:08,400
curveball because it came up
where we're going to go play
1131
01:03:08,400 --> 01:03:11,240
stadiums in the round.
It's like, OK, well, everybody
1132
01:03:11,240 --> 01:03:13,080
understands what the scale of
that is, right?
1133
01:03:13,080 --> 01:03:15,440
Let's not have anybody get
surprised halfway in because
1134
01:03:15,440 --> 01:03:18,640
this is going to be huge.
And and the sound thing is
1135
01:03:18,640 --> 01:03:21,360
something, you know, the stereo
sound thing is something we've
1136
01:03:21,360 --> 01:03:23,040
wanted to get to for a long
time.
1137
01:03:23,040 --> 01:03:26,280
And I think we will be, if we go
back indoors, we have a
1138
01:03:26,280 --> 01:03:29,000
masterful plan for how that's
going to be the folks at Meyer
1139
01:03:29,000 --> 01:03:32,760
Sound, starting with Helen and
John and Josh Freeman and Bob
1140
01:03:32,760 --> 01:03:35,880
McCarthy and Michael Maxim.
And I mean, you want to talk
1141
01:03:35,880 --> 01:03:37,640
about having family to work
with.
1142
01:03:37,640 --> 01:03:40,320
It's unbelievable to have people
like that to work with.
1143
01:03:40,320 --> 01:03:43,480
And so we have a plan for that.
But one of the big things on
1144
01:03:43,480 --> 01:03:47,280
this was trying to make the
audio special, you know, You
1145
01:03:47,280 --> 01:03:50,120
know, we always have bad Mick
Hughes suffered in this thing
1146
01:03:50,120 --> 01:03:52,880
where we had unbelievable
sounding shows and people would
1147
01:03:52,880 --> 01:03:55,520
say, well, they sound really
good for Metallica.
1148
01:03:55,520 --> 01:03:57,600
And.
John Broderick suffered for
1149
01:03:57,600 --> 01:03:59,960
years with this.
It's a really good show for
1150
01:03:59,960 --> 01:04:01,120
Metallica.
Yeah.
1151
01:04:01,520 --> 01:04:06,280
And and so one of my goals has
been to break that mold because
1152
01:04:06,320 --> 01:04:09,600
because the band is a great band
and I just want it to be a great
1153
01:04:09,600 --> 01:04:11,680
show.
I don't want you to say it's the
1154
01:04:11,680 --> 01:04:13,200
best Metallica show you ever
saw.
1155
01:04:13,200 --> 01:04:15,080
I want you to say it's the best
show you ever saw.
1156
01:04:15,480 --> 01:04:17,760
Yeah.
And so messing with the audio,
1157
01:04:17,760 --> 01:04:20,480
getting the lights in the right
place on this thing, getting all
1158
01:04:20,480 --> 01:04:23,240
that stuff proportionally
correct, getting the screens
1159
01:04:23,720 --> 01:04:27,400
correct and having something
that we think is special, that,
1160
01:04:27,560 --> 01:04:29,760
you know, we don't want to be
anybody else's show.
1161
01:04:29,840 --> 01:04:32,720
Yeah.
Then I take some of those ideas
1162
01:04:32,720 --> 01:04:34,400
and talk to the band a little
bit.
1163
01:04:35,000 --> 01:04:39,120
On this particular one, I got a
pretty big curveball because
1164
01:04:40,000 --> 01:04:41,840
something I'd wanted to do
forever.
1165
01:04:41,840 --> 01:04:46,160
One of the guys in the band was
willing to do and I was really
1166
01:04:46,160 --> 01:04:50,720
taken aback by I said well, if
you're willing to go for it, I
1167
01:04:50,760 --> 01:04:52,560
this is what I'd really like to
do.
1168
01:04:53,120 --> 01:04:55,320
Yeah.
And I've never pitched it to you
1169
01:04:55,320 --> 01:04:57,080
because I didn't think you would
do it.
1170
01:04:58,240 --> 01:05:01,160
Because why?
Well, it's it's working really
1171
01:05:01,160 --> 01:05:03,200
well so far.
So let's go there.
1172
01:05:03,920 --> 01:05:07,400
And I said, OK, well, rehearsals
were interesting because.
1173
01:05:07,440 --> 01:05:11,000
Because all of a sudden he'd
realized what he'd committed to
1174
01:05:11,000 --> 01:05:12,760
and realized, well, this is
going to be hard.
1175
01:05:13,240 --> 01:05:15,880
Was that because of the scale of
it or real hard?
1176
01:05:16,320 --> 01:05:16,800
What?
What?
1177
01:05:17,040 --> 01:05:20,560
What was the what was the
concern, the scale, the cost,
1178
01:05:20,560 --> 01:05:24,000
The world?
Wired to For the first time ever
1179
01:05:24,040 --> 01:05:29,280
I moved Lars and we put him at
the end of the snake pit and at
1180
01:05:29,320 --> 01:05:33,080
the end of the show we had Lars
come up and play at the end of
1181
01:05:33,080 --> 01:05:34,440
the snake bit.
We'd never moved.
1182
01:05:34,440 --> 01:05:37,840
Lars had moved a little bit of
moving drum kit back in 90 on
1183
01:05:37,840 --> 01:05:41,240
the Black Album tour, which he
really to this day we'll talk
1184
01:05:41,240 --> 01:05:44,680
about how much he hated it and
after that experience he never
1185
01:05:44,680 --> 01:05:46,680
moved.
I started with him in 94 so we'd
1186
01:05:46,680 --> 01:05:48,920
never been able to move move
liars.
1187
01:05:51,440 --> 01:05:55,760
So I moved him to the end and we
had a drum kit come up and he
1188
01:05:55,760 --> 01:05:58,320
played right next to the people
and rehearsals were very
1189
01:05:58,320 --> 01:06:03,440
difficult with it.
And Peter Mensch, my dear friend
1190
01:06:03,440 --> 01:06:06,200
from the management company who
we have a, we have a rather
1191
01:06:06,240 --> 01:06:09,240
animated relationship.
He's a great he's, he's had some
1192
01:06:09,240 --> 01:06:11,760
great design ideas himself.
Peter Mensch came up with the
1193
01:06:11,760 --> 01:06:15,360
snake pit, which I believe is
the biggest change in the stage
1194
01:06:15,360 --> 01:06:18,480
since the Romans raised the
Greek stage off the floor to put
1195
01:06:18,480 --> 01:06:22,040
it on a platform and people were
never in the stage before.
1196
01:06:22,080 --> 01:06:26,000
So the yeah, the Snake pit was
the snake pit was actually a
1197
01:06:26,000 --> 01:06:29,760
late, like a little VIP pit in
the center of the stage, right?
1198
01:06:30,080 --> 01:06:33,360
And that became, if you look at
any TV show now or anywhere
1199
01:06:33,360 --> 01:06:35,600
else, they're all full of having
people in the stage.
1200
01:06:35,960 --> 01:06:37,600
And that was Peter.
That's true.
1201
01:06:37,920 --> 01:06:41,080
And so Peter thought it was
crazy to move Lars and put him
1202
01:06:41,080 --> 01:06:43,480
down there and all this nonsense
and blah, blah, blah, blah,
1203
01:06:43,480 --> 01:06:46,240
blah.
I said just watch.
1204
01:06:46,240 --> 01:06:48,640
And Lars went down there the
first night and played, and he
1205
01:06:48,680 --> 01:06:50,760
had an experience he'd never had
before.
1206
01:06:51,360 --> 01:06:55,240
I mean, he's he's literally a
couple of feet from 80,000
1207
01:06:55,240 --> 01:06:57,640
people at Forest Soul in Mexico
City.
1208
01:06:57,920 --> 01:07:00,960
That's wild.
So that developed and then as we
1209
01:07:00,960 --> 01:07:05,560
moved into the festivals from
that cycle, he started opening
1210
01:07:05,560 --> 01:07:07,560
the showdown there.
That's how much he enjoyed it.
1211
01:07:07,920 --> 01:07:10,200
Really.
And then he kind of felt like,
1212
01:07:10,200 --> 01:07:12,960
well, after we moved, after I
moved back to the stage, the
1213
01:07:12,960 --> 01:07:15,480
energy doesn't seem the same.
I said, well, let's do this.
1214
01:07:15,480 --> 01:07:18,080
And so that came.
That's where the circle with the
1215
01:07:18,080 --> 01:07:21,040
four drum kits came up.
Is is the big challenge there
1216
01:07:21,160 --> 01:07:27,000
security or like?
I think we, you know one of the
1217
01:07:27,000 --> 01:07:29,640
other things, we're fortunate
we're very we're capable of
1218
01:07:29,640 --> 01:07:31,640
designing the show.
We keep the crowd in mind.
1219
01:07:31,640 --> 01:07:35,400
We have very, very few problems
with crowd and stuff, another
1220
01:07:35,400 --> 01:07:38,200
great part of our team.
But also the design is meant
1221
01:07:38,560 --> 01:07:44,360
when you take a stage and make
it 400 feet around, you have a
1222
01:07:44,360 --> 01:07:47,280
1200 foot diameter.
So you're able to create a lot
1223
01:07:47,280 --> 01:07:49,040
more front row seats than you
can.
1224
01:07:49,040 --> 01:07:51,800
When you take a snake bit and
stick it out into the audience
1225
01:07:52,080 --> 01:07:55,920
and you add 160 feet of front
row seats, it eliminates a lot
1226
01:07:55,920 --> 01:07:58,880
of pressure on the barricade and
those kind of problems.
1227
01:07:59,240 --> 01:08:01,560
And so some of this stuff is
practical.
1228
01:08:01,560 --> 01:08:03,720
We don't talk about this a lot,
but some of this stuff is
1229
01:08:03,720 --> 01:08:07,720
practical as well as as
theatrical staging things.
1230
01:08:08,560 --> 01:08:11,560
The reason when we do the
festivals that we go so wide and
1231
01:08:11,560 --> 01:08:15,520
create that is to make all these
front row seats and stop people
1232
01:08:15,520 --> 01:08:19,000
from pushing this incredible
pressure into the front center
1233
01:08:19,000 --> 01:08:21,800
of the stage.
And and as you are painfully
1234
01:08:21,800 --> 01:08:25,279
aware as I am, there's been
tragedies in our industry
1235
01:08:25,279 --> 01:08:29,760
because people haven't been able
to eliminate that pressure.
1236
01:08:29,920 --> 01:08:31,680
Yeah.
And so it's something always,
1237
01:08:31,680 --> 01:08:33,560
first and foremost in everything
we do.
1238
01:08:33,800 --> 01:08:37,680
Yeah, yeah, that's good.
So you know, again back to this
1239
01:08:37,680 --> 01:08:41,840
this process, because I'm just
curious, you know, show the size
1240
01:08:41,840 --> 01:08:46,399
of MMM 72, how far in advance,
how far back?
1241
01:08:46,560 --> 01:08:48,200
We took.
It like you're touring.
1242
01:08:48,200 --> 01:08:52,399
Let's say tour starts March 15th
of 2023.
1243
01:08:52,960 --> 01:08:56,760
When do you start?
You know or. 72 started in
1244
01:08:56,760 --> 01:08:59,680
earnest OK, forget about my
musings about this or that.
1245
01:08:59,680 --> 01:09:01,920
I was actually working on an
indoor show because I thought we
1246
01:09:01,920 --> 01:09:05,319
were going to go indoors and I
was playing with the cylinders
1247
01:09:05,319 --> 01:09:08,840
for an indoor show, trying to
figure out how to do something.
1248
01:09:08,840 --> 01:09:10,960
I was really going down these
rabbit hills and trying to
1249
01:09:10,960 --> 01:09:12,120
figure how am I going to make
this work.
1250
01:09:12,120 --> 01:09:16,520
Let me see, I I like shapes and
I had these cylinder things and
1251
01:09:16,520 --> 01:09:19,960
I said they were going to go in
the round and then it was like,
1252
01:09:19,960 --> 01:09:22,479
OK, well how do I take these
cylinders and make them work in
1253
01:09:22,520 --> 01:09:24,200
a stadium?
It it in earnest.
1254
01:09:24,200 --> 01:09:27,920
It took about a year and then
there was a pretty big shift in
1255
01:09:27,920 --> 01:09:32,080
the stage element.
And then, you know, we got into
1256
01:09:32,080 --> 01:09:36,000
this thing when we played the
night before the Super Bowl back
1257
01:09:36,000 --> 01:09:38,680
in San Francisco of playing
without a roof.
1258
01:09:39,840 --> 01:09:43,160
You know, I I like work with the
with this band that says, well,
1259
01:09:43,160 --> 01:09:46,760
if it's raining, the crowd gets
wet, so we'll get wet.
1260
01:09:47,640 --> 01:09:48,319
Wow.
We don't.
1261
01:09:48,319 --> 01:09:50,200
We don't need to be protected.
That's.
1262
01:09:50,359 --> 01:09:51,760
Cool.
We won with our fans, huh?
1263
01:09:52,720 --> 01:09:55,080
And so we got into this thing
and not using a roof well.
1264
01:09:55,080 --> 01:09:56,880
How do you play in a stadium
without a roof?
1265
01:09:56,880 --> 01:09:58,760
And and there's a lot of
engineering.
1266
01:09:58,760 --> 01:10:02,760
That's challenging, Yeah.
In the round, in a stadium, no
1267
01:10:02,760 --> 01:10:03,800
roof.
Yeah.
1268
01:10:03,800 --> 01:10:06,520
Where do you hang?
Lights brilliant people at
1269
01:10:06,520 --> 01:10:08,280
Stageco.
Yeah.
1270
01:10:09,040 --> 01:10:10,840
Again, I can't say enough about
the team.
1271
01:10:10,840 --> 01:10:12,840
Chad Kaler, our rigger.
Unbelievable.
1272
01:10:13,560 --> 01:10:16,360
Unbelievable.
Unbelievable.
1273
01:10:16,360 --> 01:10:18,280
So well.
What does a rigger do when it's
1274
01:10:18,280 --> 01:10:22,400
in the round in a stadium with
no lights hanging above the
1275
01:10:22,400 --> 01:10:24,920
stage?
Well, there's little towers that
1276
01:10:24,920 --> 01:10:28,440
are holding up all that light,
which kind of work with the crib
1277
01:10:28,480 --> 01:10:30,440
towers.
If you look at the album artwork
1278
01:10:30,440 --> 01:10:33,560
and stuff and you'll see that
the towers kind of work in that
1279
01:10:33,560 --> 01:10:36,240
whole thing.
And yeah, and the the circle
1280
01:10:36,240 --> 01:10:38,240
theme carries through the whole
thing.
1281
01:10:38,240 --> 01:10:41,080
But those lights and the sound
and all that stuff is rigged on
1282
01:10:41,080 --> 01:10:43,640
those towers, Yeah, of course.
And then there's a Canton Mary
1283
01:10:43,640 --> 01:10:47,000
system of cables that hangs the
speakers that cover the field.
1284
01:10:47,360 --> 01:10:49,920
Yeah.
There's a There's a whole bunch
1285
01:10:49,920 --> 01:10:52,440
for Chad and his.
Team to do Yeah, yeah.
1286
01:10:52,440 --> 01:10:56,120
It's just different, you know.
It's not like, you know, rigging
1287
01:10:56,120 --> 01:10:57,960
points in the ceiling.
It's, it's.
1288
01:10:58,240 --> 01:10:59,920
No, we're hanging stuff where
there's no.
1289
01:10:59,920 --> 01:11:02,040
Hanging.
So those those towers were quite
1290
01:11:02,080 --> 01:11:04,600
a quite a creation then, right?
Like that was quite an
1291
01:11:04,600 --> 01:11:08,040
engineering feat, I'm guessing.
The the engineering was, you
1292
01:11:08,080 --> 01:11:10,600
know, we went to Stageco and
they're like, you're crazy.
1293
01:11:10,600 --> 01:11:12,800
But they told me I was crazy
when I wanted to paint all the
1294
01:11:12,800 --> 01:11:14,920
towers white for the World Wired
Tour too.
1295
01:11:14,960 --> 01:11:17,600
Yeah, yeah.
And then then they sent me a
1296
01:11:17,600 --> 01:11:20,280
picture of Chanel doing the same
thing, 'cause they saw our show
1297
01:11:20,280 --> 01:11:24,040
and they thought it looked good.
I thought that was that was a
1298
01:11:24,040 --> 01:11:27,680
nice compliment.
But you know, the folks at
1299
01:11:27,680 --> 01:11:32,160
Stageco, just, just they're at
this level.
1300
01:11:32,160 --> 01:11:35,440
We're able to work with really,
really talented people, yeah.
1301
01:11:35,520 --> 01:11:38,840
Who?
Have worked with this enough to
1302
01:11:38,840 --> 01:11:40,280
go.
That guy's crazy.
1303
01:11:40,760 --> 01:11:42,280
Let's figure out how we're going
to do this.
1304
01:11:42,440 --> 01:11:44,400
You know, that's got to be a
really.
1305
01:11:45,080 --> 01:11:47,240
Cool thing and Adam Davis.
Yeah, of course.
1306
01:11:47,320 --> 01:11:48,840
Yeah, you.
Know.
1307
01:11:51,920 --> 01:11:53,000
I don't know.
It just it.
1308
01:11:53,000 --> 01:11:55,080
We're really fortunate.
We have a great, great team.
1309
01:11:55,120 --> 01:11:58,760
As I said, none of this happens
from any guy doing something.
1310
01:11:58,760 --> 01:12:02,880
Yeah, right.
But if I set all humility aside,
1311
01:12:02,880 --> 01:12:06,280
I can say it was a clever idea
or something like yeah, but to
1312
01:12:06,280 --> 01:12:11,240
make the clever idea sit in
Amsterdam that first night in in
1313
01:12:11,320 --> 01:12:14,560
in the stadium in Amsterdam, it
takes an enormous number of
1314
01:12:14,560 --> 01:12:17,720
people firing on all cylinders
at a really, really high level.
1315
01:12:18,080 --> 01:12:22,480
But it's still.
It's got to be really cool to be
1316
01:12:22,520 --> 01:12:25,960
Metallica, because you could go
to Intel and say, hey, we need
1317
01:12:25,960 --> 01:12:28,440
this cool technology for our
tour this year.
1318
01:12:28,640 --> 01:12:30,800
Or you could go to Apple
computers.
1319
01:12:30,800 --> 01:12:33,360
Or you could go to like whoever
you want.
1320
01:12:33,360 --> 01:12:35,600
And you're going to be able to
get a meeting at a pretty high
1321
01:12:35,600 --> 01:12:40,240
level to create something unique
for you to use on your.
1322
01:12:40,240 --> 01:12:42,600
Tour this year that we have is
that we only want one.
1323
01:12:43,280 --> 01:12:45,680
Yeah, it ain't going to be
profitable people.
1324
01:12:45,920 --> 01:12:47,600
Are in telling those people
they're like, well.
1325
01:12:47,840 --> 01:12:49,080
How many of these are we going
to sell?
1326
01:12:49,560 --> 01:12:51,360
One.
Yeah, but it goes to their
1327
01:12:51,360 --> 01:12:53,560
marketing budget.
It goes to their marketing
1328
01:12:53,560 --> 01:12:56,080
budget 'cause they'll do 1000
commercials that show.
1329
01:12:56,080 --> 01:12:58,320
Look, this is the thing on
Metallica.
1330
01:12:58,320 --> 01:13:01,120
Metallica.
Is not big with sponsorship and
1331
01:13:01,120 --> 01:13:04,000
things like that.
So we run into some some things
1332
01:13:04,000 --> 01:13:07,440
there.
But yeah, we we're it's it's a
1333
01:13:07,440 --> 01:13:09,720
great bunch.
It's a great band to be able to
1334
01:13:09,720 --> 01:13:12,080
work with and there's great
resources available and we have
1335
01:13:12,080 --> 01:13:16,400
a great management structure.
You know, people like Tony Di
1336
01:13:16,440 --> 01:13:19,400
Chacho figuring out are you out
of your mind, You understand
1337
01:13:19,400 --> 01:13:21,600
what this is going to cost.
I told you it's going to be big.
1338
01:13:21,600 --> 01:13:23,880
It's going to be expensive.
And he's got to figure out how
1339
01:13:23,880 --> 01:13:27,760
we're going to make this thing
actually, you know, how to take
1340
01:13:27,760 --> 01:13:32,000
this, this kind of crazy idea
and and hopefully make it make
1341
01:13:32,000 --> 01:13:34,000
sense or better yet, make
dollars.
1342
01:13:34,440 --> 01:13:38,320
You know, I mean, you know,
even, you know, just getting the
1343
01:13:38,320 --> 01:13:42,280
machine to be running correctly
is very challenging at the level
1344
01:13:42,280 --> 01:13:45,200
that this thing plays at.
And it takes everybody, It takes
1345
01:13:45,200 --> 01:13:48,120
the folks at Q Prime, it takes
tone, it takes Mark, it takes
1346
01:13:48,120 --> 01:13:50,040
all the people at HQ and
Metallica.
1347
01:13:50,560 --> 01:13:53,960
But you know, there's people
that never experience the joy of
1348
01:13:53,960 --> 01:13:57,160
the house lights turning off and
the roar of the crowd who are
1349
01:13:57,160 --> 01:13:59,400
such big contributors to this
thing.
1350
01:14:00,840 --> 01:14:03,920
I have to thank them because
they all make this possible.
1351
01:14:03,920 --> 01:14:06,400
Of course, yeah.
Well, and then you know as well
1352
01:14:06,400 --> 01:14:09,160
as anybody, because you've been
a production manager for a long
1353
01:14:09,160 --> 01:14:13,120
time as well, it needs to come
down and it needs to go back up
1354
01:14:13,120 --> 01:14:16,360
again tomorrow, you know.
So like you can design whatever
1355
01:14:16,360 --> 01:14:19,080
you want, but if you don't have
the budget to build it, or if
1356
01:14:19,080 --> 01:14:21,720
you don't have the ability to
get it in and out of a building,
1357
01:14:22,040 --> 01:14:24,680
you know and then you got to
start while you guys probably
1358
01:14:24,680 --> 01:14:27,000
leapfrog, steal or something,
I'm guessing right?
1359
01:14:28,280 --> 01:14:31,000
We we've actually got it.
They're not playing that much.
1360
01:14:31,000 --> 01:14:33,440
You're playing, you know,
they're doing 2 shows in a city
1361
01:14:34,240 --> 01:14:36,040
with a different set list every
night.
1362
01:14:36,040 --> 01:14:39,680
So there's no repeat songs,
there's no repeat lighting cues
1363
01:14:39,680 --> 01:14:40,840
or video cues.
It's.
1364
01:14:40,920 --> 01:14:42,920
Just it's two totally different
sets.
1365
01:14:43,280 --> 01:14:45,480
That's wild.
That's a big challenge right
1366
01:14:45,480 --> 01:14:47,200
there.
Yeah, no kidding.
1367
01:14:47,680 --> 01:14:49,400
Not just for the crew, but for
the band.
1368
01:14:50,120 --> 01:14:56,480
And so the schedule works out OK
with with we're not doubling
1369
01:14:56,480 --> 01:15:00,440
that much gear, we're able to
move the production and not
1370
01:15:00,440 --> 01:15:03,640
double that.
And you know, tower bases are
1371
01:15:03,640 --> 01:15:08,000
doubled or tripled sometimes and
the towers we've got, there's so
1372
01:15:08,000 --> 01:15:11,720
much of The thing is bespoke.
I I'd be really honest, we can't
1373
01:15:11,720 --> 01:15:13,280
afford to build two of them or
three of them.
1374
01:15:13,320 --> 01:15:15,600
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean, that stuff's all
1375
01:15:15,840 --> 01:15:19,000
expensive.
And that's where you know, the
1376
01:15:19,000 --> 01:15:21,880
team that puts the whole thing
together, even figuring it out.
1377
01:15:21,880 --> 01:15:24,200
The routing is a huge part of
making it possible.
1378
01:15:24,400 --> 01:15:28,040
Yeah, yeah.
How soon were you guys out after
1379
01:15:28,040 --> 01:15:32,360
COVID?
We did a movie theater thing
1380
01:15:32,360 --> 01:15:34,360
during COVID.
We did a there was somebody who
1381
01:15:34,360 --> 01:15:38,040
had this idea to do drive in
theaters, and we filmed the show
1382
01:15:38,040 --> 01:15:39,720
at.
They wanted us to use one of
1383
01:15:39,720 --> 01:15:43,640
these XR stages, and we looked
at some of that stuff and went
1384
01:15:43,640 --> 01:15:45,960
there that we're not.
That's not Metallica.
1385
01:15:45,960 --> 01:15:52,240
So we went up to a winery in in
Napa, in the middle of COVID and
1386
01:15:52,240 --> 01:15:56,440
at full lockdown we bought out a
wing of a hotel, a motel, and
1387
01:15:56,440 --> 01:15:58,960
you know, did the whole thing,
testing every day back when the
1388
01:15:58,960 --> 01:16:01,400
swabs went all the way to back
of your head and felt like
1389
01:16:01,400 --> 01:16:04,560
somebody was killing you.
And we tested every day, went
1390
01:16:04,560 --> 01:16:06,520
through that whole protocol.
We did that.
1391
01:16:06,520 --> 01:16:10,280
That played in drive ins.
Then the next we had done S and
1392
01:16:10,280 --> 01:16:12,560
M2 was the last time they played
live.
1393
01:16:12,880 --> 01:16:15,920
We played that show at the
winery with no people.
1394
01:16:16,520 --> 01:16:18,680
We just filmed it and I was
stunned at how the band
1395
01:16:18,680 --> 01:16:21,320
performed really.
And we talked a lot about
1396
01:16:21,320 --> 01:16:25,000
visualizing their fan base and
they were they pulled it off and
1397
01:16:25,000 --> 01:16:27,600
then we did the the show you
reference for the for the
1398
01:16:28,000 --> 01:16:31,960
fundraiser, for the Bennett, for
their foundation And that's when
1399
01:16:31,960 --> 01:16:34,200
I knew we had to have people on
screens.
1400
01:16:34,200 --> 01:16:36,280
We had to have that or they
weren't going to be able to do
1401
01:16:36,280 --> 01:16:39,320
what they did at the theater.
And then we went out I think the
1402
01:16:39,320 --> 01:16:41,040
next spring.
I don't remember the exact
1403
01:16:41,040 --> 01:16:43,600
dates, but I think the next
spring when we do live shows, so
1404
01:16:43,600 --> 01:16:49,080
probably 2021 and and very
careful and and.
1405
01:16:51,160 --> 01:16:52,720
And then it just.
Went.
1406
01:16:52,960 --> 01:16:55,560
Batshit crazy after that, you
know?
1407
01:16:55,560 --> 01:16:57,280
It's just been kind of nuts ever
since.
1408
01:16:57,440 --> 01:17:00,040
But you know at the end of the
day, it's been non-stop since I
1409
01:17:00,040 --> 01:17:03,520
got here in 94 and about two
weeks into that tour when we
1410
01:17:03,520 --> 01:17:05,360
were doing it, I looked at him.
I said, you guys, this isn't a
1411
01:17:05,360 --> 01:17:07,200
new tour.
You just took a longer break
1412
01:17:07,200 --> 01:17:10,560
since the last one.
Because that's just it's it's
1413
01:17:10,560 --> 01:17:11,840
they.
Just all blend together.
1414
01:17:11,880 --> 01:17:14,360
Ocean, you know, ours is a lot
of mind.
1415
01:17:14,360 --> 01:17:17,560
That's just it's always going
you know next year and the year
1416
01:17:17,560 --> 01:17:23,880
after that and he's thinking out
he's he's really creative and
1417
01:17:23,880 --> 01:17:29,400
has an incredibly, he's smart as
hell and he's really creative
1418
01:17:29,400 --> 01:17:34,800
and the combination is is really
dangerous because he knows where
1419
01:17:34,800 --> 01:17:38,120
he's going creatively and he can
project that out into what the
1420
01:17:38,120 --> 01:17:41,400
practicality of delivering it to
to in the future.
1421
01:17:41,440 --> 01:17:43,160
Is well, and what does that
look?
1422
01:17:43,200 --> 01:17:46,520
What does that look like?
As far as like, does the band
1423
01:17:46,520 --> 01:17:50,200
just agree whenever Lars comes
up with a wild idea?
1424
01:17:50,200 --> 01:17:52,800
You know what?
That That's their, that's their
1425
01:17:52,800 --> 01:17:54,560
world.
The four of them are very much
1426
01:17:54,560 --> 01:17:57,120
like a family, you know, I mean,
you think about it.
1427
01:17:58,040 --> 01:18:01,320
You know, Lars, James and Kirk
have been together forever.
1428
01:18:01,320 --> 01:18:03,920
And really, Rob's been there now
so long that he's been there
1429
01:18:03,920 --> 01:18:05,160
forever.
Yeah.
1430
01:18:05,160 --> 01:18:08,000
And most marriages don't last as
long as those guys have been
1431
01:18:08,000 --> 01:18:11,520
together.
So they have their process and
1432
01:18:11,520 --> 01:18:14,920
and you know it's not that Lars
dictates what's going on.
1433
01:18:15,240 --> 01:18:17,920
It's just he's got a vision hey
we can do this and we I don't
1434
01:18:19,080 --> 01:18:22,760
think that we ever really hit
the marks It's not like a it's
1435
01:18:22,760 --> 01:18:26,440
not like a a prescription of
next month this next month this
1436
01:18:26,440 --> 01:18:28,680
next month this.
He's just thinking ahead.
1437
01:18:28,680 --> 01:18:31,800
If you if you listen to an
interview with Lars and ask him
1438
01:18:31,800 --> 01:18:34,880
what his favorite album is, and
James as well, they'll always
1439
01:18:34,880 --> 01:18:37,960
tell you the next one.
They don't know what the next
1440
01:18:37,960 --> 01:18:41,000
one's going to be, but they know
there's going to be a next one.
1441
01:18:41,320 --> 01:18:43,480
And they don't know exactly when
it's going to happen.
1442
01:18:43,960 --> 01:18:46,360
But they have a kind of a thing
like, well, we're going to do
1443
01:18:46,360 --> 01:18:48,560
this.
Then we want to go play here and
1444
01:18:48,560 --> 01:18:50,960
we want to go to these places
and we want to take the show
1445
01:18:50,960 --> 01:18:53,280
here and when we get all that
done.
1446
01:18:53,280 --> 01:18:55,440
And of course, none of that ever
works on schedule because
1447
01:18:55,440 --> 01:18:57,680
availabilities and routing and
shipping, blah, blah, blah,
1448
01:18:57,880 --> 01:19:00,200
blah, blah, blah.
And then when we get through all
1449
01:19:00,200 --> 01:19:04,120
this stuff, maybe we'll we'll,
you know we'll start kind of
1450
01:19:04,120 --> 01:19:06,200
thinking about another album
cycle.
1451
01:19:06,200 --> 01:19:10,560
And it's a it's yeah, it's been
remarkable to be a part of
1452
01:19:10,560 --> 01:19:12,880
that's.
Yeah, yeah, it sounds like it.
1453
01:19:13,960 --> 01:19:17,640
Are you ever surprised by their
longevity?
1454
01:19:18,480 --> 01:19:21,960
You know, like, I guess the
problem working so long for a
1455
01:19:21,960 --> 01:19:27,160
band like Metallica is you have
to stay as fit as them.
1456
01:19:27,160 --> 01:19:29,640
Like you have to.
You have to be right there
1457
01:19:29,640 --> 01:19:32,280
alongside them, right?
Regardless of whatever your age
1458
01:19:32,280 --> 01:19:34,520
is versus their age or whatever,
like.
1459
01:19:34,520 --> 01:19:37,320
Surprised.
No, I think I'm more impressed
1460
01:19:37,320 --> 01:19:39,120
with it.
I look at the way they took care
1461
01:19:39,120 --> 01:19:41,640
of themselves.
Maybe better now than they did
1462
01:19:41,640 --> 01:19:43,880
when they were younger, out of
necessity.
1463
01:19:44,120 --> 01:19:46,640
Yeah, I think all of us.
I look at the commitment they
1464
01:19:46,640 --> 01:19:48,880
have to playing and delivering a
show.
1465
01:19:50,120 --> 01:19:57,200
And the one of the things that
is always humbled me with them
1466
01:19:57,200 --> 01:20:00,960
is it is their relationship with
the audience and the the
1467
01:20:01,240 --> 01:20:03,320
precious level they hold that
at.
1468
01:20:03,640 --> 01:20:06,960
And the fact that we don't have
AB Show to take to Bismarck.
1469
01:20:07,240 --> 01:20:09,560
I'm not picking on Bismarck.
And I noticed, I didn't say
1470
01:20:09,560 --> 01:20:11,280
which state.
There's a lot of Bismarck, Oh.
1471
01:20:11,800 --> 01:20:12,280
Are they?
We don't.
1472
01:20:12,280 --> 01:20:14,720
I only know what we don't.
Have AB show to take to
1473
01:20:14,720 --> 01:20:18,040
Bismarck.
The Bismarck show is the same
1474
01:20:18,040 --> 01:20:21,120
show that plays New York or
Chicago or wherever.
1475
01:20:21,600 --> 01:20:24,280
Now there's some logistical
things that become impractical
1476
01:20:24,280 --> 01:20:27,840
to try to You know, you can't
take that stadium show and put
1477
01:20:27,840 --> 01:20:30,440
it into a place that doesn't
have the the infrastructure to
1478
01:20:30,440 --> 01:20:32,960
deal with.
But there isn't AB show.
1479
01:20:33,200 --> 01:20:34,720
They'll put out the same energy,
though.
1480
01:20:35,120 --> 01:20:38,000
The other thing that is it's a,
it's a show.
1481
01:20:38,000 --> 01:20:41,520
It is a dramatic big Metallica
show.
1482
01:20:41,880 --> 01:20:45,960
And you know, many times ours is
like make sure it's Metallica.
1483
01:20:46,520 --> 01:20:49,560
There isn't AB show.
And the other thing is I've seen
1484
01:20:49,560 --> 01:20:53,040
them sick, I've seen them going
through personal crisis in life.
1485
01:20:53,040 --> 01:20:55,680
I've seen them with kids being
born.
1486
01:20:56,760 --> 01:21:00,920
All of the things that in 30 or
40 years you go through, I've
1487
01:21:00,920 --> 01:21:03,440
never seen them phone it in when
they get to the top step of the
1488
01:21:03,440 --> 01:21:03,720
state.
Oh.
1489
01:21:03,800 --> 01:21:05,080
Really.
That's cool.
1490
01:21:05,080 --> 01:21:08,040
I've seen them.
I've had a difficult time
1491
01:21:08,040 --> 01:21:12,120
getting them up those stairs
sometimes, but when they hit the
1492
01:21:12,120 --> 01:21:16,680
top step, it's on.
And that to me is, is.
1493
01:21:16,680 --> 01:21:19,000
That's the money.
That's the magic.
1494
01:21:19,200 --> 01:21:22,240
There's no like.
There's no end like.
1495
01:21:22,240 --> 01:21:25,600
There's no like, OK, we're going
to do this until here I.
1496
01:21:26,360 --> 01:21:28,520
Don't know how much I have.
You know I'm an old man.
1497
01:21:28,600 --> 01:21:29,200
I don't.
I don't.
1498
01:21:29,280 --> 01:21:30,800
Know I was going to ask you
that.
1499
01:21:30,800 --> 01:21:34,880
Like, do you plan a life after
Metallica or or is it?
1500
01:21:35,200 --> 01:21:37,880
Is it when Metallica stops, I
stop?
1501
01:21:37,880 --> 01:21:39,840
That's my plan, you know?
And I know.
1502
01:21:39,880 --> 01:21:42,400
That's a personal question.
I would hope, you know, I hope I
1503
01:21:42,400 --> 01:21:44,760
have the opportunity to that
they would keep me around that
1504
01:21:44,840 --> 01:21:46,200
long.
I don't take any of it for
1505
01:21:46,240 --> 01:21:47,840
granted.
I'd be very fortunate in this
1506
01:21:47,840 --> 01:21:53,800
whole thing, but I think I think
that as long as I'm enjoying
1507
01:21:53,800 --> 01:21:57,400
what I'm doing, the team we have
right now, the creative energy
1508
01:21:57,400 --> 01:22:00,520
when we're on, that's like
that's what I love.
1509
01:22:00,520 --> 01:22:02,880
Like at this point.
It's it's not that it's not
1510
01:22:02,880 --> 01:22:04,960
interesting now because we're
going to go back and redo a
1511
01:22:04,960 --> 01:22:07,080
bunch of things.
There'll be a bunch of, I'm, I'm
1512
01:22:07,080 --> 01:22:09,880
guessing Lars is going to insert
a bunch of new songs for this
1513
01:22:09,880 --> 01:22:12,760
year and then so that will start
the creative process.
1514
01:22:13,040 --> 01:22:17,320
But when we're In Sync as a
team, working together on trying
1515
01:22:17,320 --> 01:22:21,200
to create a show, that's that's
that kid who was sitting and
1516
01:22:21,200 --> 01:22:23,680
watching Pink Floyd.
When I wonder how we do this,
1517
01:22:24,360 --> 01:22:25,880
that's the.
That's.
1518
01:22:26,120 --> 01:22:28,880
Really cool.
Oh, this is how we do this.
1519
01:22:28,880 --> 01:22:32,400
Watch this.
I love when I have a design
1520
01:22:32,400 --> 01:22:34,760
together that's kind of, it's
sort of.
1521
01:22:35,040 --> 01:22:37,640
It's no longer a nebulous gas
cloud, if you will.
1522
01:22:37,640 --> 01:22:39,920
It's no longer scribbling.
It's like it is.
1523
01:22:39,920 --> 01:22:43,280
We're going to send it to Rob
and I'll send it to Gene and I
1524
01:22:43,280 --> 01:22:46,760
love that first Test text back.
You know, WTF?
1525
01:22:46,760 --> 01:22:50,000
Explanation, point explanation.
What is wrong with you?
1526
01:22:50,000 --> 01:22:52,880
What are you thinking?
Yeah, well, I think you have to
1527
01:22:52,880 --> 01:22:55,320
think big.
Oh, is that bad thinking?
1528
01:22:55,640 --> 01:22:59,560
You know those moments, that's
that's that's magic.
1529
01:22:59,560 --> 01:23:02,120
When Rob comes back to me and
goes, I want to use this slide
1530
01:23:02,120 --> 01:23:03,600
and here's why this is going to
do this.
1531
01:23:03,600 --> 01:23:05,840
And I'm like, well, I like that,
but what if we did this?
1532
01:23:06,080 --> 01:23:07,680
Oh no, we're not going to do
that.
1533
01:23:07,680 --> 01:23:12,280
We'll do this and it it.
It's that same process I talked
1534
01:23:12,280 --> 01:23:15,320
about in the Metallica show of
taking the energy, taking the
1535
01:23:15,320 --> 01:23:18,400
communication and building in a
positive way.
1536
01:23:18,400 --> 01:23:21,200
And you know, we're lucky we
have a team, and I've been on
1537
01:23:21,200 --> 01:23:24,320
teams where it's not this way,
where everybody is pushing
1538
01:23:24,320 --> 01:23:26,560
towards the good of everybody
else and for the good of the
1539
01:23:26,560 --> 01:23:30,560
show, nobody's selling.
No one's selling anyone out to
1540
01:23:30,560 --> 01:23:34,440
kind of elevate their position
at someone else's expense.
1541
01:23:35,280 --> 01:23:38,040
It's pretty special.
So we try to keep that going for
1542
01:23:38,040 --> 01:23:40,440
as long as we can.
I have a super important
1543
01:23:40,440 --> 01:23:44,000
question for you.
Did the Did the Metallica Lego
1544
01:23:44,000 --> 01:23:47,240
set ever get approved?
I don't know if it made it or
1545
01:23:47,240 --> 01:23:48,880
not.
You know, I think Gene found
1546
01:23:48,880 --> 01:23:52,000
that thing and he started
populating it and I was blown
1547
01:23:52,000 --> 01:23:53,880
away.
That guy has what we call the
1548
01:23:53,880 --> 01:23:56,800
cube show, which was the World
Wired indoor show.
1549
01:23:56,960 --> 01:23:58,640
OK.
He has the, what we call the
1550
01:23:58,640 --> 01:24:02,040
five screen show, which was the
world Wired outdoor show.
1551
01:24:02,240 --> 01:24:04,920
Yeah.
And the tower, the the M 72
1552
01:24:04,920 --> 01:24:08,680
Tour, he's got the whole thing.
He's got Mick in Legos like it's
1553
01:24:08,680 --> 01:24:10,440
unbelievable.
That's wild.
1554
01:24:11,160 --> 01:24:13,960
That's too much time in the
basement with flamin Hot Cheetos
1555
01:24:13,960 --> 01:24:15,800
in red Mountain Dew.
No kidding.
1556
01:24:15,800 --> 01:24:18,120
No kidding.
But somebody was telling me that
1557
01:24:18,120 --> 01:24:22,320
there's over 10,000 ideas that
were submitted or something.
1558
01:24:23,080 --> 01:24:26,520
Well, you have to get 10,000
likes for Lego to consider it, I
1559
01:24:26,520 --> 01:24:27,680
think.
Oh, I see.
1560
01:24:27,720 --> 01:24:31,360
And so, so Gene took this thing.
We all started reposting it
1561
01:24:31,360 --> 01:24:33,160
because we all cracked up when
we found it.
1562
01:24:33,160 --> 01:24:35,080
No kidding.
At first we're laughing about
1563
01:24:35,080 --> 01:24:36,560
it.
Then I started drilling down on
1564
01:24:36,560 --> 01:24:39,440
how much of this stuff the guy
had and I was like, this is
1565
01:24:39,440 --> 01:24:42,120
unbelievable.
So we we tried to push him over
1566
01:24:42,120 --> 01:24:44,440
the 10,000 number to get Lego to
consider it.
1567
01:24:44,800 --> 01:24:46,520
I have not heard whether we got
that'd.
1568
01:24:46,520 --> 01:24:47,880
Be really cool.
We were close.
1569
01:24:47,960 --> 01:24:49,520
We were really, really close
that.
1570
01:24:49,720 --> 01:24:53,120
'D be cool, I think.
Last I heard, we were at 9500
1571
01:24:54,760 --> 01:24:57,320
and sure, then there'd be some
logistics involved in that.
1572
01:24:57,360 --> 01:25:00,000
Yeah, there'd be some lawyers
involved in making that deal.
1573
01:25:00,360 --> 01:25:03,720
The funny thing about Metallica
is like, as popular as they've
1574
01:25:03,720 --> 01:25:07,920
gotten and the longevity and the
multiple generations and how big
1575
01:25:07,920 --> 01:25:10,960
they are, they've never really
jumped the shark.
1576
01:25:11,560 --> 01:25:14,880
You know, like they've never.
I've never seen them anyways.
1577
01:25:14,880 --> 01:25:17,160
Maybe they did, but I've never
seen them.
1578
01:25:17,320 --> 01:25:21,080
You know, go on America's Got
Talent Oregon or, you know, some
1579
01:25:21,080 --> 01:25:24,600
of the things that some bands
have done where I call it
1580
01:25:24,600 --> 01:25:26,600
jumping the shark.
So did the fawns.
1581
01:25:29,320 --> 01:25:34,040
Yeah, I think.
I think they are underrated in a
1582
01:25:34,040 --> 01:25:36,320
lot of ways.
And I'm not talking about as
1583
01:25:36,320 --> 01:25:39,200
virtuoso players.
I'm talking about as a band, as
1584
01:25:39,200 --> 01:25:43,160
a creative group of four guys.
They have taken incredible
1585
01:25:43,160 --> 01:25:47,000
risks.
They have shown their truth to
1586
01:25:47,000 --> 01:25:51,920
the world in in video
documentary form, in a place
1587
01:25:51,920 --> 01:25:55,000
that very few people would go.
They have shown their truth.
1588
01:25:55,000 --> 01:25:58,640
I don't call it vulnerability.
They have shown their truth to
1589
01:25:58,640 --> 01:26:04,520
their to the world unabashed.
They have taken on musical
1590
01:26:04,520 --> 01:26:09,160
projects like S&M and then
coming back and doing S and M2.
1591
01:26:09,840 --> 01:26:14,960
They have collaborated with Lou
Reed and done some things.
1592
01:26:14,960 --> 01:26:18,560
They took a hard turn to do
Saint Anger in the middle of
1593
01:26:18,560 --> 01:26:22,760
great turmoil and I think
eventually Saint Anger will be
1594
01:26:22,760 --> 01:26:30,200
recognized for for what?
For the passion that is insane
1595
01:26:30,200 --> 01:26:32,200
anger.
Maybe the audio quality is a
1596
01:26:32,200 --> 01:26:35,080
little rough sometimes, but I
think it will.
1597
01:26:35,160 --> 01:26:37,560
Will will stand the test of time
over that.
1598
01:26:37,680 --> 01:26:41,360
Over over time, yeah.
And they've taken incredible
1599
01:26:41,360 --> 01:26:45,080
risks to turn things.
But what they haven't done, what
1600
01:26:45,080 --> 01:26:48,880
I have never seen them do, is be
untrue to themselves.
1601
01:26:50,120 --> 01:26:53,080
And that's that thing about
never phoning it in when they're
1602
01:26:53,080 --> 01:26:55,960
on stage.
Yeah, When you're talking to a
1603
01:26:55,960 --> 01:27:00,360
band member and you know they're
sick and that they go out and
1604
01:27:00,360 --> 01:27:02,600
they do an incredible job and
you're talking to them after
1605
01:27:02,600 --> 01:27:04,600
showing you like Matt, how did
you do that?
1606
01:27:05,120 --> 01:27:07,600
And they look you straight in
the eye, and from their heart
1607
01:27:07,600 --> 01:27:10,200
they tell you I was really dying
up there.
1608
01:27:10,360 --> 01:27:13,200
And I looked down in the front
row and I saw this young kid
1609
01:27:13,200 --> 01:27:14,720
there.
He was there with his dad,
1610
01:27:14,800 --> 01:27:16,920
obviously, because he was too
young to be there alone.
1611
01:27:17,200 --> 01:27:19,280
And he was just rocking his ass
off.
1612
01:27:19,720 --> 01:27:22,320
And I figured, if that kid can
rock, I can rock.
1613
01:27:22,520 --> 01:27:25,360
That is awesome.
OK, when you hear that, it's
1614
01:27:25,400 --> 01:27:27,400
pretty easy to go run through a
wall for him.
1615
01:27:27,600 --> 01:27:30,560
Yeah, you know, it's funny
because I I'm probably the
1616
01:27:30,560 --> 01:27:34,680
person who original Metallica
fans hate because I jumped on
1617
01:27:34,680 --> 01:27:39,000
the bandwagon on Black Album.
I wasn't a fan before that.
1618
01:27:39,040 --> 01:27:43,440
They were, yeah, they they were
a little too heavy.
1619
01:27:43,920 --> 01:27:45,960
Like, I loved, I loved Judas
Priest.
1620
01:27:45,960 --> 01:27:48,960
I loved a lot of the heavy
bands, but Metallica was just a
1621
01:27:48,960 --> 01:27:51,400
little too garagi for me before
that, right?
1622
01:27:51,960 --> 01:27:54,720
And it just wasn't the genre
that I was into.
1623
01:27:54,720 --> 01:27:58,400
But Black Album, I just went,
wow, this is good.
1624
01:27:58,400 --> 01:28:01,800
Like because of the production
quality on it and not because it
1625
01:28:01,800 --> 01:28:03,520
was his probably.
I hit it well.
1626
01:28:03,520 --> 01:28:05,400
And I'm Canadian.
I'm Canadian, he hit.
1627
01:28:05,480 --> 01:28:07,400
It out of the.
Park so.
1628
01:28:07,400 --> 01:28:10,120
And the guys hit it out of the
park with some songwriting that.
1629
01:28:10,840 --> 01:28:12,840
Yeah, Dan.
Again, I think we'll we stand
1630
01:28:12,880 --> 01:28:15,960
the test in.
Time my cousin was Bruce
1631
01:28:15,960 --> 01:28:19,360
Fairburn and so my name is
Marcel Fairbairn.
1632
01:28:19,360 --> 01:28:22,400
My cousin is Bruce Fairbairn was
he's he's passed away.
1633
01:28:22,800 --> 01:28:27,720
But so you know Bruce Fairbairn,
Bob Rock had a very good thing
1634
01:28:27,720 --> 01:28:34,000
going on there in in Vancouver
and and so yeah, I mean I just
1635
01:28:34,000 --> 01:28:38,200
thought that album had the sound
it it had it you know and and
1636
01:28:38,200 --> 01:28:42,480
plus a ballad, you know like
wow, a Metallica ballad that
1637
01:28:42,640 --> 01:28:45,000
became like a huge hit and stuff
too.
1638
01:28:45,360 --> 01:28:49,960
So so yeah, I mean but I I love
that they've reinvented
1639
01:28:49,960 --> 01:28:52,480
themselves like that.
Like they went from being like
1640
01:28:52,480 --> 01:28:56,360
this sort of garage metal band
to being top of the charts.
1641
01:28:56,360 --> 01:28:59,800
You know the most successful
rock band, one of the most.
1642
01:28:59,800 --> 01:29:04,560
Well now the most ever probably.
But you know just incredible and
1643
01:29:04,560 --> 01:29:06,560
and to have the career that
they've had, it's it's
1644
01:29:06,560 --> 01:29:08,400
incredible.
It's just mind blowing.
1645
01:29:08,760 --> 01:29:10,720
So it's.
Been a great journey, you know,
1646
01:29:10,720 --> 01:29:14,560
I think, I think that they were
always more musical than some of
1647
01:29:14,560 --> 01:29:21,200
the folks that they that they're
they're you know associated
1648
01:29:21,240 --> 01:29:21,880
with.
Yeah.
1649
01:29:21,880 --> 01:29:23,960
I take, I have so many people
come to the show.
1650
01:29:23,960 --> 01:29:27,560
You know I'm 66, right?
So And this, my friends are like
1651
01:29:28,760 --> 01:29:31,200
Metallica.
You come see the show, I'll give
1652
01:29:31,200 --> 01:29:32,840
you some earplugs.
Just watch your show.
1653
01:29:33,360 --> 01:29:36,000
And almost to a person they come
to me after the show, they're
1654
01:29:36,000 --> 01:29:41,280
like, I had no idea.
Yeah, they're unbelievable.
1655
01:29:41,440 --> 01:29:44,840
Yeah, they were probably tired
and worn out by the end of the
1656
01:29:45,080 --> 01:29:47,280
show, right?
It's like a it's like a workout.
1657
01:29:48,120 --> 01:29:50,000
What just?
Happened this on the road with
1658
01:29:50,000 --> 01:29:51,480
them.
Not for luxury for.
1659
01:29:51,760 --> 01:29:53,840
Necessity.
No, I meant your friends.
1660
01:29:53,880 --> 01:29:55,800
I meant the fans that were there
watching.
1661
01:29:55,800 --> 01:29:57,680
My friends.
They were probably worn out at
1662
01:29:57,680 --> 01:29:58,920
the.
End they're just, they're like,
1663
01:29:58,920 --> 01:30:02,120
I had no idea that it would,
that it's this good that there's
1664
01:30:02,120 --> 01:30:04,080
this level of passion.
Yeah.
1665
01:30:04,960 --> 01:30:07,040
You know they're like, man, I
the only thing I can compare
1666
01:30:07,040 --> 01:30:09,640
that to is Springsteen.
And I'm like, yeah, because it's
1667
01:30:09,640 --> 01:30:11,000
from the heart.
Yeah.
1668
01:30:11,400 --> 01:30:15,480
Do you still tour?
I go out to a lot of shows.
1669
01:30:17,080 --> 01:30:19,600
If I have work to do with the
shows, if I if there's something
1670
01:30:19,600 --> 01:30:22,640
for me to do, yeah, I'm there.
I'm we're in.
1671
01:30:22,680 --> 01:30:27,120
We're at the point now in the in
the cycle where if there's
1672
01:30:27,120 --> 01:30:28,680
nothing for me to do, to be
there.
1673
01:30:29,960 --> 01:30:31,680
You don't know.
I don't.
1674
01:30:31,680 --> 01:30:34,360
I don't need to be there and
take up space and be another
1675
01:30:34,360 --> 01:30:36,480
person to move around and hotel
and all.
1676
01:30:36,480 --> 01:30:38,600
That.
Stuff and I got stuff I'm
1677
01:30:38,600 --> 01:30:43,240
working on for you know, we're
going to be with the foundation
1678
01:30:43,240 --> 01:30:46,880
will be doing another benefit
coming up and you know the the
1679
01:30:46,880 --> 01:30:49,600
machine doesn't stop working.
The stuff on my plate doesn't
1680
01:30:49,600 --> 01:30:51,800
stop.
So that's that's a great
1681
01:30:51,800 --> 01:30:54,240
blessing.
Yeah, that's very cool.
1682
01:30:54,760 --> 01:30:58,160
I, I appreciate you taking so
much time today out of your your
1683
01:30:58,160 --> 01:31:00,080
schedule.
I know you got a lot going on.
1684
01:31:00,080 --> 01:31:04,400
You're going back to Europe soon
and it's been very interesting
1685
01:31:04,400 --> 01:31:06,800
for sure.
Like, I I love it.
1686
01:31:06,800 --> 01:31:09,960
I love, you know, everybody I
meet from your camp are just
1687
01:31:09,960 --> 01:31:15,960
amazing people and and such a
successful machine, you know,
1688
01:31:17,160 --> 01:31:19,040
it's great.
It's it's been a great journey.
1689
01:31:19,080 --> 01:31:20,560
I'm very fortunate to be part of
it.
1690
01:31:20,560 --> 01:31:23,680
I've enjoyed the time with you.
I'm glad we got to know you got
1691
01:31:23,680 --> 01:31:25,080
me an e-mail and the other
stuff.
1692
01:31:25,320 --> 01:31:27,320
I will, yeah.
I'll e-mail you as soon as we're
1693
01:31:27,320 --> 01:31:32,360
done here and and if I can help
you with that, great, and maybe
1694
01:31:32,360 --> 01:31:35,920
I'll catch you somewhere with.
Us on the road absolutely show,
1695
01:31:35,920 --> 01:31:38,440
but if you want to do this again
sometime and get into specifics,
1696
01:31:38,440 --> 01:31:41,120
we can talk about.
Absolutely would.
1697
01:31:41,120 --> 01:31:43,800
Love to and and stuff like that
and would love to.
1698
01:31:44,080 --> 01:31:46,400
You know, no thanks for your
interest in our show.
1699
01:31:46,600 --> 01:31:48,080
Thanks for your interest in what
I do.
1700
01:31:48,360 --> 01:31:51,040
Yeah, I'm very interested and
I'd love to do it again.
1701
01:31:51,040 --> 01:31:54,080
I'd like to get into some of the
the specifics on the gear that
1702
01:31:54,080 --> 01:31:56,520
we were even talking about
before we started recording.
1703
01:31:56,520 --> 01:31:58,880
So yeah, that would be fun too.
Cool.
1704
01:31:59,080 --> 01:32:01,280
Well, thank you so much, Dan.
I appreciate you.
1705
01:32:01,320 --> 01:32:07,360
And you know, again, if I can
ever do anything for you or you
1706
01:32:07,360 --> 01:32:09,480
know, whatever, just reach out
to me.
1707
01:32:09,480 --> 01:32:11,720
You've, you've got my.
Info Now I've enjoyed the time
1708
01:32:11,720 --> 01:32:14,360
and it's nice getting perfect
for you a little bit and let's
1709
01:32:14,360 --> 01:32:15,440
keep going.
Thanks.
00:00:02,120 --> 00:00:07,520
Hello there and thank you for
coming on board again here today
2
00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:13,760
for Episode #236.
Today's podcast, as you can see,
3
00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:16,160
is brought to you by ACT
Entertainment.
4
00:00:16,520 --> 00:00:21,240
ACT is North America's leading
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professionals across six
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and lighting control equipment,
audio, video, fiber and Power
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connectivity, metalwork, custom
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manufacturing and design.
With ACT Entertainment, you get
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the industry's top performance
products as well as service,
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education and engineering
support.
12
00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:54,520
To bring every entertainment
professional concept to reality,
13
00:00:55,120 --> 00:01:02,240
visit Act's website at
www.actentertainment.com and
14
00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:06,120
today's podcast is also brought
to you by Gearsource.
15
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Gearsource was founded in 2002
with a mission to help global
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live event businesses to move
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Since that time, the company has
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moves, and so much more.
Visit gearsource.com today and
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expand your access to global
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gear for your markets.
Some days my job is more fun
27
00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:26,480
than other days.
Today is one of those days.
28
00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:28,800
I'm really looking forward today
and I'll tell you why in a
29
00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:31,520
couple of minutes.
But first I wanted to just
30
00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:35,520
mention if you haven't seen them
already and you're watching this
31
00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:40,240
live right now.
This week we launched both Josh
32
00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:43,680
Allen who's an incredible
designer who's created a really
33
00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:47,560
cool firm.
We've launched his Episode #233
34
00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:54,480
and also the brilliant Swami
Richard Kadena on episode 234.
35
00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:58,280
Both of those were really fun,
both were very informative as
36
00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:01,600
well, and we're starting to get
some smarter people in, I guess.
37
00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:05,320
What's going on here?
And challenging me for sure,
38
00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:09,040
asking or answering questions
that I don't always understand.
39
00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:13,200
But no, it's been amazing.
I'm super proud and and grateful
40
00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:16,720
to have the quality of people
that we've got.
41
00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:22,240
Yesterday I recorded #235, which
will be out probably.
42
00:03:22,640 --> 00:03:25,760
I think it's next week, next
Wednesday, probably April,
43
00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:30,440
whatever that is 10th, maybe
that's an excellent 1.
44
00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:36,760
Matthias Henricks who is the
head of I believe lighting
45
00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:40,760
engineering or product design or
whatever adulation.
46
00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:44,280
Super smart dude.
Spent a lot of time at Martin
47
00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:50,280
running their console console
division and now is adulation
48
00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:53,440
and has been bringing out all
these incredible new elation
49
00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:58,200
products and also has had his
hand in Obsidian of course.
50
00:03:58,520 --> 00:04:01,120
And so yeah, really great
episode.
51
00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:04,280
I hope you like it.
But for this week, listen to
52
00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:10,240
2:33 and 2:34 both really good
and yeah, I'm grateful.
53
00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:13,960
Like I said so as I said, some
days are better than others.
54
00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:21,640
Today is a superb day.
Today's guest is has a resume.
55
00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:24,360
I don't even want to get into
his resume because it's crazy.
56
00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:30,040
But I'm going to name a few
bands or acts or clients.
57
00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:33,160
Poison, Robert Palmer.
Queens Reich.
58
00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:34,520
Tesla.
Luis.
59
00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:36,400
Miguel.
Bruce Hornsby.
60
00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:39,080
Andrea Bocelli.
Madonna.
61
00:04:39,960 --> 00:04:44,040
Rush.
The Allman Brothers Band.
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MI Don't even know who that is.
Shania Twain?
63
00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:50,080
Josh Groban?
Desert Disturbed.
64
00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:52,560
NFL.
Salesforce.
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00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:54,360
Throw that one in there.
That's a weird one.
66
00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:59,360
And yes, Metallica.
So talk about career spans.
67
00:04:59,480 --> 00:05:03,800
Dan Brown started his legendary
career path more than 45 years
68
00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:07,000
ago.
In fact, this year marks Dan's
69
00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:12,680
30th year working with the mega
act Metallica, where he remains
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their show director today while
delivering the best show he can
71
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to their massive audiences
around the world.
72
00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:23,720
Longevity in this industry isn't
by accident, And I tell people
73
00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:25,560
this all the time.
You know, if you've been here
74
00:05:25,560 --> 00:05:27,080
that long, you're doing
something right.
75
00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:32,120
Dan is no exception.
So please join me and welcome
76
00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:36,120
Dan Brown.
Hey, Dan, how are you today?
77
00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:38,880
I'm doing very very well.
Thanks very much.
78
00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:40,560
And good to see you.
You look well.
79
00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:43,680
You look well.
You look rested.
80
00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:46,600
You're in between massive
stadium shows, I think, aren't
81
00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:48,600
you?
Or legs.
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00:05:48,840 --> 00:05:53,760
Big, big legs, yeah.
That part of my life starts back
83
00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:55,640
up at the end of May over in
Europe.
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So, gearing.
Up a lot of work going on to get
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00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:01,880
ready for that, and I have some
corporate clients and doing some
86
00:06:01,880 --> 00:06:04,560
work with them, but a lot of
that's on Zoom, so I've been at
87
00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:06,600
home and able to enjoy a little
bit of downtime.
88
00:06:06,760 --> 00:06:08,120
Very cool.
And you're in.
89
00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:09,520
You're in Washington somewhere,
aren't you?
90
00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:12,840
Cameras, Washington, The hotbed
of the entertainment industry.
91
00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:16,800
So I'm from Calgary, Canada,
just across the border there and
92
00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:22,880
and so yeah, I've spent a whole
bunch of time in my youth in in
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00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:25,080
Washington, but I live in South
Florida.
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00:06:25,400 --> 00:06:29,920
I have a house up there in in
Alberta where I go for the warm
95
00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:31,600
months.
Now I finally got smart and I
96
00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:34,160
just go up for the warm months.
I don't even ski much anymore.
97
00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:37,240
So but yeah, I'm not that far
away.
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00:06:38,280 --> 00:06:41,720
I used to get your TV channels.
Little transitioning away from
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00:06:41,720 --> 00:06:44,400
the skiing thing, too, just.
You know.
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00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:47,600
Getting older and I've had a
great run with it, so it's.
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00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:50,320
Me too.
It was like I started when I was
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00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:54,000
probably 9 or 10 years old, You
know, growing up in in Western
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00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:56,560
Canada, it's just one of the
things You did that in hockey
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00:06:57,960 --> 00:07:03,560
and I ski very well.
But now that I'm turning 60 this
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00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:08,080
year, like my legs just don't do
the same stuff for the the same
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00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:12,040
length of time.
And so now I find myself nearing
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00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:16,040
epic wrecks, you know, because
I'm just, I'm doing the stuff I
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know how to do and my legs are
given out, you know?
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00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:22,200
So I didn't, I didn't, I didn't
start early.
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I I firmly believe you should
start anything, any kind of a
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00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:27,600
risk thing like that before you
understand the word mortgage.
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00:07:28,040 --> 00:07:30,400
I did not.
I started in my 30s and I've had
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00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:33,000
a a great time with it and I
too, I've got a couple of years
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00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:36,040
on you and I'm crossing into a
time where it's like well.
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00:07:36,640 --> 00:07:38,920
Yeah.
What do we want to do here?
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00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:39,760
So.
Kind of.
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00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:43,720
Well, you know, I I still have
lots of friends up there who are
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00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:48,560
in their late 60s, even 70s who
still ski 100 days a year.
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00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:51,200
And if you're doing that, it's
OK.
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00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:55,120
But for me to go up there like
in November or December for a
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00:07:55,120 --> 00:07:58,880
week and try and do three or
four days of skiing by the 4th
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00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:01,760
day, my legs are just kind of
starting to feel normal.
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00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:04,760
But you know, it's just
dangerous.
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00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:07,200
It's it's dangerous at some
point, right?
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00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:11,040
It's why so many of these, so
many of these people my age and
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00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:14,240
older, you know, get injured or
die skiing.
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00:08:14,240 --> 00:08:18,160
You know, it's because we forget
that we're not 30 anymore and we
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00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:21,400
can't do the same stuff.
And in my case, I was never as
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00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:24,960
good as I thought I was anyhow.
Well, is any of us, you know, I
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00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:28,160
thought I was a world champion,
you know, Olympic skier or
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whatever, but not so much.
Yeah, I'm, I'm decent.
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00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:35,880
But again, even though I live
right there, like my house is
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00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:38,919
right there, where all the great
ski areas are very close to Lake
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00:08:38,919 --> 00:08:40,280
Louise and all that stuff,
there's.
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00:08:40,559 --> 00:08:43,200
Some beautiful skiing up there.
That's where Elvis has barbecues
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00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:46,640
with God.
That's a pretty place, that.
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00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:48,800
Is a pretty place in here.
I'm gonna have to village.
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00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:50,520
I think it is.
That's a beautiful.
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00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:54,280
Place Yeah, I spent loads of
time at Sunshine Village.
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00:08:54,560 --> 00:08:58,240
I actually, I broke my leg one
time skiing and it was at
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00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:01,760
Sunshine Village and I was about
15.
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00:09:01,760 --> 00:09:05,000
So it's a long time ago.
I was probably 13 or 14 actually
143
00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:10,600
and I think I had just
discovered marijuana and
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00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:16,200
combining marijuana with skiing
and so I was pretty wasted.
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00:09:16,280 --> 00:09:21,000
And I, they had just that week
opened a run called Teepee Town.
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00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:25,640
And so me and my friend who was
also wasted, decide we're gonna
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00:09:25,640 --> 00:09:27,520
go for it.
And, you know, I had just gotten
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00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:30,960
brand new skis.
And so I always just get the
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00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:35,080
bindings, you know, pretty much
wound up as tight as they can go
150
00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:40,520
so that the skis don't come off.
And and so, you know, I went
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00:09:40,520 --> 00:09:43,240
through one of these things.
It was blizzarding, too.
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00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:45,840
It was a full whiteout when we
got off the lift.
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00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:48,960
And I went through one of these
things going probably 45 miles
154
00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:52,520
an hour or something, hit some
rocks, started tumbling.
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00:09:52,520 --> 00:09:56,080
Of course, my skis stayed on.
So I broke my leg and then my
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00:09:56,080 --> 00:09:59,200
knee started twisting, you know,
because the skis were still on.
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00:09:59,680 --> 00:10:02,440
So I was a mess.
I was in a cast for, I don't
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00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:05,240
know, six months or something.
I've never really been the same
159
00:10:05,240 --> 00:10:07,760
since then.
Still my leg, you can tell that
160
00:10:07,760 --> 00:10:09,360
it's been broken badly and
stuff.
161
00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:13,720
But so yeah, I, number one, I
never skied wasted again, I
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00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:16,480
don't think.
And even though I stopped doing
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00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:21,280
that when I was like 20 anyways.
But but yeah, I I just learned
164
00:10:21,280 --> 00:10:23,760
some things, you know, slow down
a little bit perhaps.
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00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:28,360
I probably didn't do that then,
but certainly now, yeah.
166
00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:31,960
So we've got a lot of stuff to
talk about and I can't keep you
167
00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:35,000
until, you know May when you go
back out with Metallica.
168
00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:38,440
So let me dive into it a little
bit since I've never had you on
169
00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:43,400
I, I, I like to, you know, I
like to talk about really kind
170
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of how you got into the business
a little bit.
171
00:10:45,160 --> 00:10:48,360
That's kind of important to me
because, you know, obviously our
172
00:10:48,360 --> 00:10:50,600
industry's looking for new
people all the time.
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00:10:50,600 --> 00:10:54,640
And people love to hear these
stories of, you know, back in
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00:10:54,640 --> 00:10:58,440
the day when we didn't go to
school for production management
175
00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:01,440
or lighting design or sound
engineering, we it just kind of
176
00:11:01,440 --> 00:11:04,240
happened, right?
Like some of the stories are
177
00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:06,160
hilarious.
Jake Berry's probably one of the
178
00:11:06,160 --> 00:11:10,360
funniest, but you know, lots of
funny ones.
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00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:12,800
Chaz Harrington, I think he was
sitting on his front step
180
00:11:12,800 --> 00:11:15,400
drinking beer or something and
somebody drove up in a pickup
181
00:11:15,400 --> 00:11:18,080
truck and said, hey, jump in, I
got a gig for you.
182
00:11:18,080 --> 00:11:22,320
Come work at the studio and next
thing you know he's a recording
183
00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:26,960
engineer in a studio.
So how'd you get into it?
184
00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:33,040
I I That's a interesting
question.
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00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:35,600
I was a kid.
I I used to go to concerts.
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00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:37,640
It's what I did.
I went to concerts.
187
00:11:37,640 --> 00:11:39,800
The group of people I hung out
with went to concerts.
188
00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:44,120
It's what we did.
We went to concerts and saw
189
00:11:45,520 --> 00:11:48,880
incredible shows.
It was really kind of I I think
190
00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:51,880
of it as sort of a a a whole
different time in the business
191
00:11:51,880 --> 00:11:54,120
when it was a lot about music
and stuff and.
192
00:11:54,280 --> 00:11:55,960
Yeah.
And, you know, went to see
193
00:11:55,960 --> 00:12:04,280
everything from Yes to King
Crimson to to Cat Stevens or or.
194
00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:07,400
This is the 70s I'm guessing
then yeah.
195
00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:11,040
Yeah, yeah, this is.
Back in the 70s, so back in 75,
196
00:12:12,720 --> 00:12:16,200
I was in a place that no longer
exists, called Milwaukee County
197
00:12:16,200 --> 00:12:19,040
Stadium.
OK, and Pink Floyd was playing,
198
00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:23,160
and I'll try to keep the story a
little bit abbreviated 'cause
199
00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:25,840
it's pretty long story anyhow.
That's the real Pink Floyd, too,
200
00:12:25,840 --> 00:12:26,320
right?
When?
201
00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:29,360
When it was still Roger Waters.
And yeah, all of them, yeah.
202
00:12:29,520 --> 00:12:33,680
There's 100% humidity, 100, you
know, 90 degrees, 100% humidity
203
00:12:33,680 --> 00:12:35,760
day.
Everybody's getting baked.
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00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:39,840
It's the old days when crowd
management was sort of a we'll
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00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:42,440
put some plywood up and that'll
keep them contained and
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00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:44,320
everybody's lined up to go in
the stadium.
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00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:46,200
They open the gates to the
stadium.
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00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:51,400
The Milwaukee County Sheriff's
decided going to a a rock show
209
00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:54,040
was was cause for search and
seizure.
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00:12:54,640 --> 00:12:57,120
So there were tons of arrests.
They went through all this stuff
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with people that all got thrown.
I went to the Supreme Court and
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00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:03,800
got thrown out.
Anyhow, there's a huge
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00:13:03,800 --> 00:13:06,080
thunderstorm coming in.
They try to start the show
214
00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:08,160
early, so the band wanted to get
the show in.
215
00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:10,560
They started playing the stuff
that would become the Wish You
216
00:13:10,560 --> 00:13:13,800
Were Here album and that This
storm is coming.
217
00:13:13,800 --> 00:13:15,840
You can.
It's a Midwest thunderstorm.
218
00:13:15,840 --> 00:13:20,640
You know the drops are a size of
silver dollars and and so
219
00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:26,040
they're playing and people start
pulling Visqueen over the stage,
220
00:13:26,040 --> 00:13:29,720
right PA stack.
And I'm watching all this go on
221
00:13:29,720 --> 00:13:33,040
with my keen mind and I'm
thinking, who does this?
222
00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:35,640
How do they decide this that
looks like a really cool job and
223
00:13:35,640 --> 00:13:39,400
this guy's got no shirt on
shorts and cowboy boots and you
224
00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:42,760
know, hair down his back.
And this is 1975 and I'm like,
225
00:13:43,800 --> 00:13:46,480
how do you, how would you what
do you how do you work in this
226
00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:48,240
stuff?
What Who decides where all this
227
00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:51,000
goes Like who?
How do they do this?
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00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:55,600
And anyhow, the thunderstorm
hits, they stop playing.
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00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:58,880
The thunderstorm clears as as it
happens in the Midwest.
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00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:02,080
After an hour, or whatever it
is, the band comes out, plays
231
00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:06,040
the entire Dark Side of the Moon
album in its entirety, and as
232
00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:08,920
they sing the line, I'll see you
on the Dark side of the Moon,
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00:14:08,920 --> 00:14:10,600
the Clouds Part, and There's a
full moon.
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00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:13,480
So perfect.
Goodness wow.
235
00:14:13,880 --> 00:14:17,440
So perfect that I couldn't
figure out how they projected
236
00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:18,840
the moon up there.
And.
237
00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:22,840
It took me a minute to.
Realize this was just a bizarre
238
00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:25,840
phenomenon.
That is wild.
239
00:14:26,360 --> 00:14:28,680
That is why.
Anybody who is there will tell
240
00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:31,320
you that story, if they were
capable of remembering it.
241
00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:34,120
So she's 75.
South.
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00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:37,160
Here's a funny story.
One of my first ever concerts
243
00:14:37,160 --> 00:14:45,160
was Super Tramp Crime of the
Century in in Calgary, Calgary
244
00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:49,800
at the McMahon Stadium.
And my sisters took me, I think,
245
00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:51,640
or my sister and her boyfriend
or something.
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00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:56,320
And there was a band on Atlanta,
Rhythm Section I think was on,
247
00:14:56,720 --> 00:15:02,000
and the skies opened up.
And so that Visqueen, instead of
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00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:06,040
going over the PA or whatever,
was coming up off the ground and
249
00:15:06,040 --> 00:15:10,880
became trampolines and became an
umbrella and then became fire to
250
00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:14,680
warm people up at one point.
And I mean, I'm watching all of
251
00:15:14,680 --> 00:15:18,320
this along with the clouds of
weed and everything else flying
252
00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:20,160
around.
And I was like, whoa, I like
253
00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:21,480
concerts.
This is cool.
254
00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:30,840
So then a Canadian band came on
called Trooper and and they do
255
00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:32,720
this song.
We're here for a good time, not
256
00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:36,480
a long time.
And it's something about the sun
257
00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:39,320
is shining.
And so the sun came out and
258
00:15:39,320 --> 00:15:43,320
everybody went, whoa, this is so
cool, you know, So it was a
259
00:15:43,320 --> 00:15:46,360
similar story during a similar
time.
260
00:15:46,360 --> 00:15:51,360
It had to be probably 7677 I
guess when?
261
00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:53,480
That so yeah that would have
been the time period for that
262
00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:57,280
for that show.
So anyhow I I had this thing
263
00:15:57,280 --> 00:16:00,640
where I went to school and and
in my home and any of those
264
00:16:00,640 --> 00:16:03,760
things you know I I grew up in a
home where you know turn the
265
00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:07,040
turn the stereo down was a was a
a regular cry.
266
00:16:07,480 --> 00:16:11,120
I played my my stereo too loud.
My dad would go in the break in
267
00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:13,400
the basement and turn the
breaker off to my bedroom.
268
00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:16,080
He had no.
No use for any of it.
269
00:16:16,080 --> 00:16:19,800
Thought I was crazy and none of
the no one ever said, well, if
270
00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:22,680
you're interested in that you
should do this or do that or
271
00:16:22,680 --> 00:16:25,880
anything like that.
Yeah, little did he know, You
272
00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:28,920
know, you'd end up with in a
career with Metallica, you know.
273
00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:33,240
That's he shuffled off to do a
little bit of time at school,
274
00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:35,360
didn't have any money, couldn't
afford that.
275
00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:37,960
Had to find something to do.
And I got involved doing
276
00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:41,120
concerts at school.
Had a little bit of success and
277
00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:43,600
I said, well, I'll go be a
concert promoter now.
278
00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:46,120
I'm 18 years old, nineteen years
old.
279
00:16:46,120 --> 00:16:51,040
I know nothing about business,
money, leverage, finance.
280
00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:55,800
I have no nothing.
I just decided I'd be a concert
281
00:16:55,800 --> 00:16:57,440
promoter.
Well, you know, that didn't work
282
00:16:57,440 --> 00:17:00,960
out very well.
Went home, started working any I
283
00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:04,760
I worked in a factory so that I
could eat and started hanging
284
00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:07,000
out and I'd already been hanging
out.
285
00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:09,520
I knew how to help people move
gear around and stuff from
286
00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:11,720
working.
Hang out at free concert sites
287
00:17:12,359 --> 00:17:16,720
and got involved in the club and
ran the music end of that club.
288
00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:19,079
I was just basically a glorified
bar.
289
00:17:19,079 --> 00:17:22,480
It was a 1000 seat kind of old
theater place with the seats
290
00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:26,000
removed and a dance floor put in
and which then became the floor
291
00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:29,040
for the the rock shows.
About the same size as the
292
00:17:29,040 --> 00:17:33,160
Fillmore is now in San Fran.
Yeah, 800,000 seats.
293
00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:36,720
And this was the halcyon days of
clubs.
294
00:17:36,840 --> 00:17:39,520
Like everybody played clubs.
The police played for us three
295
00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:41,840
times.
Dire Straits, Flock of Seagulls,
296
00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:44,480
Boomtown Rats.
I Faye McMahon was there.
297
00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:47,040
He was probably the oldest guy
in there who still works in the
298
00:17:47,040 --> 00:17:48,880
business.
And Faye was doing lights for
299
00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:52,680
the rats at the time.
And I did the club and worked my
300
00:17:52,680 --> 00:17:55,480
way through the club and then
got a job at a small sound
301
00:17:55,480 --> 00:17:59,200
company and that led to doing
some tours with some pretty big
302
00:17:59,200 --> 00:18:00,880
acts.
And I was just a kid kind of,
303
00:18:00,880 --> 00:18:04,520
you know, moving gear, doing
this, mixing monitors, mix in
304
00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:08,160
front of house, building
distros, figuring out how to
305
00:18:08,160 --> 00:18:11,720
build the PA, doing those
things.
306
00:18:11,720 --> 00:18:15,160
And and then because of my work
at the club, I got to know one
307
00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:17,800
of the local promoters and
started doing when they had two
308
00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:19,800
shows booked.
I did the second show and
309
00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:22,000
backing things up and one thing
led to the next.
310
00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:27,280
Eventually I worked for that
promoter and I don't think you
311
00:18:27,280 --> 00:18:30,680
could take that path.
I mean, I I look at it and it's
312
00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:33,560
like I stuck my fingers in the
wall, in the cracks in the wall
313
00:18:33,560 --> 00:18:37,840
and started clawing my way up.
Even at the club, I was always
314
00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:40,800
trying to make our show special.
We had, you know, favorite bands
315
00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:44,480
that came in, tried to make
their show special, ended up
316
00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:46,800
going on the road for a little
while with one of those bands
317
00:18:46,800 --> 00:18:49,040
that got signed to RCA
Millennium Records.
318
00:18:49,040 --> 00:18:51,480
Drove the truck, set up the
gear, ran the lights or the
319
00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:54,200
sound, put the gear back in the
truck, drove.
320
00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:57,640
We opened for Foreigner and
Cheap Trick and South Side
321
00:18:57,640 --> 00:19:00,920
Johnny and things like that.
But after two albums, they got
322
00:19:00,920 --> 00:19:04,040
dropped and and as happened back
then, when that occurred, you
323
00:19:04,120 --> 00:19:07,120
the band broke up.
Yeah, and just kept following
324
00:19:07,120 --> 00:19:09,360
the path.
Wherever it LED did. 10 years at
325
00:19:09,360 --> 00:19:12,680
Summerfest in Milwaukee, which?
Which band was that, that, that
326
00:19:12,680 --> 00:19:13,720
first one that you?
Were talking was.
327
00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:16,440
Called Yipes, they were on RCA
Records.
328
00:19:16,560 --> 00:19:19,320
There was a band called Yipes
out of Milwaukee that got signed
329
00:19:19,320 --> 00:19:21,280
to Jimmy Einer's label.
Our.
330
00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:23,360
Our record Rep on the road with
us.
331
00:19:23,360 --> 00:19:25,480
Our promo guy was Donnie Einer.
She has.
332
00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:26,600
His.
Name.
333
00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:27,520
That's.
Wild.
334
00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:31,680
Chicago had a band called Off
Broadway right in the same time
335
00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:34,840
period, kind of a power pop take
off on a Cheap Trick sort of
336
00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:37,840
thing.
And Detroit had a band called
337
00:19:37,840 --> 00:19:41,640
The Romantics, and the Romantics
got signed, did the best of
338
00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:43,320
those three acts.
It was a little band out of
339
00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:46,240
Madison, WI, which is 90 miles
from where I grew up.
340
00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:48,640
And certainly we knew all those
guys and crossed paths.
341
00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:51,480
They had a drummer in the band
named Butch Vig.
342
00:19:51,960 --> 00:19:55,720
So the music, the the music
world was pretty ripe and
343
00:19:55,720 --> 00:19:59,160
pretty, pretty awesome in that
time period.
344
00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:03,240
I didn't know Butch came from
that area and I didn't actually
345
00:20:03,240 --> 00:20:05,440
even really know that he started
as a drummer.
346
00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:10,640
I I knew him first as a producer
and then as a drummer and yeah,
347
00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:14,720
you know, funny Side Story.
So, you know, I'm pretty close
348
00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:18,360
with with the boys at upstaging
and I get a call.
349
00:20:18,360 --> 00:20:21,080
I can't remember if it was HUD
or Donnie called me up and said,
350
00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:24,520
hey, we're doing this corporate
show in Grand Cayman.
351
00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:28,720
Do you want to come diving?
And I said, sure, you know, I'll
352
00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:32,960
be part of the pretend crew.
And it was a gig for like
353
00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:36,680
Gillette or something.
And it was 100 contest winners
354
00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:40,040
for the band Garbage.
So 100 contest winners were
355
00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:42,760
being flown onto the island.
And it was just a concert for
356
00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:46,240
100 people on the beach.
And with full production and
357
00:20:46,240 --> 00:20:47,920
everything, Gillette spent a
fortune.
358
00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:52,720
And so they would finish, you
know, working as much as as
359
00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:54,520
Huddleston and Don Caron were
doing.
360
00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:58,520
And we would walk around the
back of the stage, jump in the
361
00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:02,560
water and walk out a little ways
and and you'd end up in 4050
362
00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:05,000
feet of water, you know, dive in
a wall or something.
363
00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:07,200
It was just beautiful.
It was unbelievable.
364
00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:11,240
But I got to know Butch there,
you know, we went to went
365
00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:14,600
snorkeling and stuff with him
and Shirley, whatever her name
366
00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:15,960
is.
And yeah.
367
00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:19,120
I'm very close with with.
Don and and Robert.
368
00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:21,480
Yeah, yeah.
I knew Robert before he was
369
00:21:21,480 --> 00:21:24,080
Robert.
And such nice people.
370
00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:26,720
They were always wonderful to me
and I've always.
371
00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:28,720
I'm very loyal to them.
They.
372
00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:29,880
Were really.
Wonderful to me.
373
00:21:29,880 --> 00:21:33,920
When I was really, really a dumb
kid, you know, doing, doing the
374
00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:37,080
thing with yipes opening for
Cheap Trick and and that whole
375
00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:38,080
thing.
Yeah.
376
00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:40,320
Well, I'll tell you quickly
because I don't want to keep
377
00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:45,880
talking, but so I moved to South
Florida to work for Martin
378
00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:48,440
Lighting in the very early days
of Martin Lighting.
379
00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:53,000
And I remember the first time I
went to visit Upstaging, I
380
00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:57,440
called Huddleston and made an
appointment, and this is 1991 or
381
00:21:57,440 --> 00:21:59,720
something.
And I called him and made an
382
00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:03,280
appointment and I got there and
I was so nervous, 'cause this is
383
00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:06,440
like a real rock'n'roll touring
company, you know, And I'm some
384
00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:08,760
schmuck with a little disco
lighting company.
385
00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:15,240
And I get into John's office in
Mundelein and and John says you
386
00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:18,440
want to go shopping.
And I said sure.
387
00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:22,200
And he goes, cool, let's go.
And so we go to some like outlet
388
00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:25,560
mall, and he convinces me to buy
this real piece of crap thing
389
00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:28,320
that was kind of like an Apple
Newton, but not really like a
390
00:22:28,320 --> 00:22:30,240
Casio version of an Apple
Newton.
391
00:22:30,680 --> 00:22:34,000
He convinces me to buy that.
So I buy that thing and then we
392
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:37,200
go play golf or something.
I mean, we had a whole day of
393
00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:40,200
just screwing off, doing
nothing, and then ended up
394
00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:43,400
meeting Donnie and Robert, I
think later that day for dinner
395
00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:46,120
or whatever.
It was one of the coolest days
396
00:22:46,120 --> 00:22:49,760
ever, You know, It was just like
such a they, they just put me
397
00:22:49,760 --> 00:22:52,680
under their wing and said you're
one of us now, you know?
398
00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:55,200
Really good people.
Yeah, I've been friends with
399
00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:58,720
them ever since.
So I just kept following that
400
00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:02,520
path at around 1990.
The I I was working for a
401
00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:10,760
promoter doing a lot of shows.
I was very fortunate that I did
402
00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:14,440
a series of dates and the
accountant I was working with
403
00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:18,200
sort of explained the facts of
life to me in terms of my skill
404
00:23:18,200 --> 00:23:20,080
set and how much money I wasn't
making.
405
00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:27,640
And it altered my life very much
So and I ended up there was
406
00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:29,520
nothing more for me to do in
Milwaukee.
407
00:23:29,520 --> 00:23:32,320
I couldn't couldn't really get
to where I wanted to get to work
408
00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:35,200
Wise ended up going on the road.
Scotty Ross.
409
00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:38,280
I had a good relationship as a
promoter with Poison.
410
00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:40,680
Did tons of shows with them.
Did their rehearsals.
411
00:23:41,280 --> 00:23:44,560
Dale left to go do Guns and
Roses and Scotty called me up
412
00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:46,640
and said I want, you know, we
love you, why don't you come do
413
00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:49,360
this thing.
And at that point, I was looking
414
00:23:49,360 --> 00:23:52,440
to get out the door anyhow, and
that led to about 10 years of
415
00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:54,080
touring.
So what?
416
00:23:54,080 --> 00:23:56,160
What was the role though, in
that First?
417
00:23:56,760 --> 00:23:59,440
Was it poison you said?
Yeah, I was production manager
418
00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:01,200
with Poison.
Wow, Straight in, huh?
419
00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:04,360
Nice.
Scotty obviously trusted you.
420
00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:08,680
Yeah, Scotty said.
I could never say enough good
421
00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:10,520
things about Scottie.
Ross He's a cool dude.
422
00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:13,760
So we did that and did a couple
of those things and one thing
423
00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:17,960
led to the next.
And a great relationship with Q
424
00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:21,080
Prime over the years doing all
tons of their bands.
425
00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:24,000
The only ones I didn't do were
once I either had a scheduling
426
00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:29,200
conflict or turned down and and
it just was a great, it was a
427
00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:31,200
great thing.
It did about 10 years straight.
428
00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:34,400
I think for the 90s every year I
was 300 days away from home on
429
00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:35,280
my taxes.
Wow.
430
00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:38,560
Jesus.
And then I tried being in a
431
00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:42,320
building for a little while and
did very I was very successful
432
00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:44,640
at it.
But that's way too much work for
433
00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:46,600
not enough money.
I thought the hours on the road
434
00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:48,680
were bad.
But you worked.
435
00:24:48,680 --> 00:24:51,560
The same hours in a building, at
least I did at the level I was
436
00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:53,680
at and you have to drive home at
night.
437
00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:57,240
And boy, that bus is, is that
that bus that you didn't like
438
00:24:57,240 --> 00:24:59,320
Seems pretty attractive.
When you're driving home.
439
00:24:59,960 --> 00:25:02,200
After a 20 hour day.
No kidding.
440
00:25:02,360 --> 00:25:05,280
And then I just kept going and
finally got to a point where I
441
00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:07,880
could do what I always wanted to
do, which was really design
442
00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:12,120
shows and and find great
production partners to help me
443
00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:19,440
kind of help help artists.
Have the a vision of the artist
444
00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:22,880
come to life in real time and
and do that whole thing along
445
00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:24,800
the way.
Picked up some corporate clients
446
00:25:25,360 --> 00:25:28,280
and did some fun things figuring
out I could translate some
447
00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:29,840
skills I have into a different
world.
448
00:25:30,120 --> 00:25:32,920
Yeah, that's interesting.
So.
449
00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:36,560
I wouldn't recommend the path I
took to anyone.
450
00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:40,040
I tell all my friends, children,
when they say you have a really
451
00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:43,360
cool job, I say yeah, go to law
school, get your law degree.
452
00:25:43,360 --> 00:25:46,360
You don't have to practice law,
but then people work for you and
453
00:25:46,360 --> 00:25:47,680
you can do anything you.
Want.
454
00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:52,320
You know what though I don't
know that I completely agree
455
00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:56,040
with you because every lawyer I
know wants my job or or you know
456
00:25:56,240 --> 00:25:59,680
they hate their jobs right.
So I think regardless of what
457
00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:03,040
your job is you got to take the
bad with the good and I think
458
00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:07,120
there's more good in most of
what you do and and I'll say we
459
00:26:07,120 --> 00:26:10,320
I mean we the collective
industry you know I'm.
460
00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:13,320
On my path, I got to do exactly
what I wanted to do.
461
00:26:13,320 --> 00:26:17,400
I took a very difficult path to
get there, worked with great
462
00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:22,440
people almost almost to.
There's very few exceptions to
463
00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:24,400
that comment.
There's very few places.
464
00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:26,080
I wouldn't say we're just
incredible.
465
00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:28,880
People.
And and had a great run.
466
00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:32,160
I got to do what I wanted to do
and I got to see the world and I
467
00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:34,880
got to, you know, I learned how
to do things.
468
00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:37,040
I didn't even know I would be
ever be capable of doing.
469
00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:40,720
So fantastic.
You know, I I spend a lot of
470
00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:44,120
time talking with with people in
our industry, either on the
471
00:26:44,120 --> 00:26:47,560
podcast or in different groups
or whatever, about bringing in
472
00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:51,000
new young talent.
You know, 'cause obviously, I'm,
473
00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:53,440
I'm sure you have the same
problem everybody else does,
474
00:26:53,440 --> 00:26:58,640
getting people.
And one of the one of the first
475
00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:02,000
problems is people think that
it's a gypsy lifestyle.
476
00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:05,160
You know, people think that you
know you.
477
00:27:05,520 --> 00:27:07,680
I mean, some of it's true.
You know, you do live out of a
478
00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:09,600
suitcase.
You are on the road 300 days a
479
00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:15,680
year sometimes, but you can make
$100,000 a year very quickly,
480
00:27:15,880 --> 00:27:19,960
you know, especially now when
when people are being paid a lot
481
00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:22,520
more money than they were being
paid 5-6 years ago.
482
00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:29,040
And so, you know, I think for
young people who are undecided
483
00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:32,920
on what they want to do in their
life, it's not necessarily a bad
484
00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:34,840
direction.
Like, I know a lot of kids going
485
00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:38,320
to law school who hate lawyers,
hate the law, don't want to be a
486
00:27:38,320 --> 00:27:40,080
lawyer.
But it's just what they're
487
00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:42,200
doing, you know?
I don't think it's a bad
488
00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:43,800
direction if you're willing to
work.
489
00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:50,600
I think the I don't want to I
don't want to pontificate here
490
00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:54,000
but I think the thing that I see
that has shifted in the business
491
00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:58,880
when we collectively we kind of
that you know I don't know what
492
00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:02,720
a third generation group of
people who who I'm sort of part
493
00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:06,400
of that that you know late 70s
thing maybe that's 3rd or 4th
494
00:28:06,400 --> 00:28:12,760
generation whatever the heck it
is people there was an an
495
00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:17,320
unstoppable attitude nothing was
was and and we didn't order more
496
00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:21,640
equipment we learned how to make
things work and and we died
497
00:28:21,640 --> 00:28:23,320
doing it.
You know, I have a lot of
498
00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:26,440
friends who have limps and
injuries and you know all sorts
499
00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:31,400
of of things from doing that
work and it and you know the the
500
00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:36,040
life on the road is first work.
And if you're willing to adopt
501
00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:39,520
that attitude you can you can be
very, very successful.
502
00:28:40,360 --> 00:28:42,560
But it is, you know, it's not
easy.
503
00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:45,640
You know, they show that
Metallica is doing right now is
504
00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:48,920
this massive construction
project that goes on and it's a
505
00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:51,560
lot of work.
Yeah, you know, it's it's funny.
506
00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:54,440
My girlfriend always says she's
British and from the same
507
00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:58,520
generation and and she says, you
know, part of the problem is
508
00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:01,200
we've wrapped our kids in.
I forget what she says, bubble
509
00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:06,200
wrap and whatever.
And you know, they they all grow
510
00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:09,080
up thinking they're special and
thinking they're going to be
511
00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:11,480
taken care of forever and all of
that.
512
00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:16,360
And unfortunately that creates a
little bit of softness to where,
513
00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:18,800
you know, we come from a
background like you said, where
514
00:29:18,800 --> 00:29:20,000
we just find a way to get it
done.
515
00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:23,320
You know the equipment has
changed dramatically too and
516
00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:26,800
ordering equipment has become a
has become a skill for a road
517
00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:30,240
person to have.
And and you know I remember the
518
00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:33,080
day when somebody explained to
me how digital audio was going
519
00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:35,400
to work.
I remember exactly where I was
520
00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:37,720
and that, you know, wow, that's
going to be unbelievable.
521
00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:41,960
And and the advent of the Lin
Drum machine and polyphonic
522
00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:43,320
synthesizers.
Right.
523
00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:47,720
And and now all of that stuff is
like a cornucopia of things you
524
00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:51,680
can order and maybe you know how
to use them and maybe you don't
525
00:29:51,680 --> 00:29:54,480
but you saw that your friend
Billy on some other tours got
526
00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:56,080
two of those.
So you need. 4.
527
00:29:56,600 --> 00:30:00,680
And I find that that's an odd
thing in in our business.
528
00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:05,720
It is.
Is is work and excellence and
529
00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:09,760
striving for excellence, just
striving to be as good as you
530
00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:14,040
can be.
I think that is the the people
531
00:30:14,040 --> 00:30:17,440
of my generation when I think of
Jake or Charlie or Dale.
532
00:30:17,800 --> 00:30:22,680
A lot of guys who were striving
for excellence you know and and
533
00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:25,960
and you know the list is is
endless whether it's Benny or
534
00:30:25,960 --> 00:30:30,480
whether it's Chris Lamb or
whether it's Jerry Stickles or
535
00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:34,280
or and and people passed down
that passion for excellence that
536
00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:40,760
that that thing just trying to
be as good as you could possibly
537
00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:44,520
be and always taking care of the
show and making sure that that
538
00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:49,920
that what what you did prepared
the best environment possible
539
00:30:49,920 --> 00:30:53,240
for the artist on stage to
present the best possible that
540
00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:54,920
showed that they could to their
audience.
541
00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:56,040
Yeah.
Yeah.
542
00:30:56,040 --> 00:31:00,240
That makes sense.
That that was a passion at a
543
00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:01,920
level that made no sense.
What?
544
00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:06,560
Why else would you work 22 hours
a day and and do all the other
545
00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:10,640
crazy things and and there were
tons of, you know, nobody knew
546
00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:12,520
how to do a lot of the stuff
that was going on.
547
00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:14,520
The guys who were doing the
rigging, the guys who were
548
00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:16,920
putting the boxes together, the
guys who were putting the lights
549
00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:18,880
together were like, well how are
we going to do this?
550
00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:20,880
I don't know.
We'll we'll we'll figure it out.
551
00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:24,680
And you know the the, the roll
call of names is tremendous.
552
00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:28,800
And I was fortunate as a
promoter from 80 to 90 to work
553
00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:33,040
with all of these different
folks and watch what they were
554
00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:37,480
doing and be inspired by that
passion and that the show, the
555
00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:40,560
show, the show, this has to be
correct there.
556
00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:43,760
There has to be a rabbit in the
hat when the magician puts his
557
00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:50,240
hand in to pull it out and and
nothing can stop that and
558
00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:54,600
inspired by that.
Yeah, I mean even down to the,
559
00:31:54,840 --> 00:31:59,320
to the, like, I love the early
days of audio where, you know,
560
00:31:59,320 --> 00:32:02,120
we need more sound and they
built bigger boxes.
561
00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:05,280
You know, somebody went back to
the shop and built bigger boxes
562
00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:08,760
that had four eighteens in them
instead of two eighteens or
563
00:32:08,760 --> 00:32:11,360
whatever, you know, And I loved
that.
564
00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:15,840
Like it was just, it was not
only, you know, ingenuity or or
565
00:32:15,840 --> 00:32:19,240
whatever you want to call it,
but it was just like, let's get
566
00:32:19,240 --> 00:32:21,320
this done.
You know, we got to do this.
567
00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:25,800
And I think they were, you know,
I'm very fortunate to work with,
568
00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:28,160
you know, with a great
management company that was
569
00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:30,680
inspired to figure out how to
make those things work.
570
00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:35,040
You know, kind of Jake and that
whole tribe of people figured
571
00:32:35,040 --> 00:32:38,800
out Michael Tate and and you
know, the guys at Clarin that
572
00:32:38,800 --> 00:32:41,080
figured out how to make it.
You know, they put the roll in
573
00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:44,440
rock'n'roll, You know, You know,
the wheel was invented a long
574
00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:46,200
time ago.
Michael Tate figured out how we
575
00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:53,800
could use it in rock'n'roll and
and you know it's just it's what
576
00:32:53,800 --> 00:32:57,480
an awesome inspiring thing that
that whole story of how it came
577
00:32:57,480 --> 00:32:59,040
together because nobody had a
book.
578
00:32:59,600 --> 00:33:02,000
You know what I mean?
There was no book telling anyone
579
00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:04,200
how to do this so well We'll try
this so that doesn't work.
580
00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:07,520
Let's do this and and and I
watched that from 80 to 90 and
581
00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:09,520
then when I went out I was able
to do that.
582
00:33:09,520 --> 00:33:12,680
And I've always been inspired
with photography and
583
00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:15,720
architecture and and other
things and finding the way
584
00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:18,680
people like Marc Fisher married
those things together in the
585
00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:21,560
shows.
I just think that passion and
586
00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:23,200
inspiration.
I don't know.
587
00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:27,360
I I hope it still exists in our
business.
588
00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:31,840
It's all very different.
People coming up feel the burn
589
00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:34,840
of the music.
I think, you know, we'll get old
590
00:33:34,840 --> 00:33:39,720
and you get kind of a little
jaded, maybe a little cynical,
591
00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:43,520
right?
And and I try not to, you know,
592
00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:46,560
I I beg.
To be reminded why I started
593
00:33:46,560 --> 00:33:50,920
doing this, you know, we we just
did a show in DC.
594
00:33:50,920 --> 00:33:54,800
The guys just played a show, the
Gershwin Awards, with Elton John
595
00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:56,040
and Bernie Top.
And being.
596
00:33:56,840 --> 00:33:58,920
Honored.
And we were there at the show
597
00:33:58,920 --> 00:34:01,200
and I just, I walked out of
there and Oh yeah, that's why I
598
00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:01,760
do.
This.
599
00:34:01,800 --> 00:34:04,720
No kidding, huh?
Yeah, that's and that's cool.
600
00:34:05,320 --> 00:34:08,719
And I know if the young people
find that hook in the music that
601
00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:11,880
that it's not about the check,
it's not about the 100 grand you
602
00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:13,960
can make.
It's not about the bus, it's not
603
00:34:13,960 --> 00:34:16,760
about the party.
It's all about those things.
604
00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:20,639
I'm quoting a line from the
Journey, The old Journey video
605
00:34:20,639 --> 00:34:23,080
Frontiers, you know.
Yeah, it's about all.
606
00:34:23,080 --> 00:34:25,480
Those things.
But it's about the show and the
607
00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:28,719
music and and and creating
something magical.
608
00:34:28,719 --> 00:34:31,639
When people go see it, they
remember that you're talking
609
00:34:31,639 --> 00:34:35,280
about a Supertramp concert you
saw X number years ago, and I'm
610
00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:38,239
talking about a Floyd show that
I saw in 1975.
611
00:34:38,239 --> 00:34:41,280
That's almost just about 50
years ago.
612
00:34:41,600 --> 00:34:43,840
I have a friend who his name is
Randy.
613
00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:47,920
He's 65 now, I think he's one of
my best friends.
614
00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:52,199
And he still goes to almost
every single concert that comes
615
00:34:52,199 --> 00:34:57,280
through and he's got every
ticket back to like Poplar Creek
616
00:34:57,280 --> 00:35:00,600
and 'cause he grew up in Chicago
and he's got, he's got every
617
00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:03,280
ticket from every concert he's
ever been to.
618
00:35:03,560 --> 00:35:07,160
And you know, like he's seen
Aerosmith like 30 times.
619
00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:10,480
And like every band, he's seen
them from their earliest days
620
00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:12,160
till now.
I love that passion.
621
00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:13,520
I hope that the young people
come.
622
00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:15,480
It's incredible business.
Have that fire.
623
00:35:16,080 --> 00:35:18,240
And I worry about that.
And, you know, I know people
624
00:35:18,240 --> 00:35:20,640
think that I beg on young people
all the time, and I don't
625
00:35:20,640 --> 00:35:23,800
because, you know, we're
counting on you guys and girls.
626
00:35:23,800 --> 00:35:25,200
Like we're really counting on
you.
627
00:35:25,560 --> 00:35:28,960
But, you know, I think you lose
something.
628
00:35:29,240 --> 00:35:32,200
Like you got into this because
of that Pink Floyd show.
629
00:35:32,880 --> 00:35:37,320
You know, I'm in this because in
my early days I was a musician
630
00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:40,640
and then I met this guy named
Bear from Brimstone Productions
631
00:35:40,640 --> 00:35:42,600
in Calgary.
I don't know if you ever met
632
00:35:42,600 --> 00:35:46,560
Bear but Bear was like the
promoter in in Calgary at the
633
00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:49,880
time.
Big, huge guy like you'd call a
634
00:35:49,880 --> 00:35:52,240
guy Bear, you know, furry face
and stuff.
635
00:35:52,680 --> 00:35:57,400
And somehow I was working
security for him at at the arena
636
00:35:57,400 --> 00:35:59,240
shows there at the Calgary
Corral.
637
00:35:59,640 --> 00:36:04,000
And you know, I was a scrawny
little guy with hair halfway
638
00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:06,680
down my back.
And I have no idea how I was
639
00:36:06,680 --> 00:36:09,480
security, but I was and I just,
I loved it.
640
00:36:09,480 --> 00:36:11,680
I was like, this needs to be my
future.
641
00:36:11,680 --> 00:36:14,720
I want to be in this business.
And I never toured, but you
642
00:36:14,720 --> 00:36:18,000
know, I've I've always been
around either as a musician or
643
00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:22,640
supplier of some sort, just love
it, you know, It's just it.
644
00:36:22,840 --> 00:36:26,760
So I wonder, like us, we came
into it because of a passion for
645
00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:30,680
the music and the show.
I just wonder if people who went
646
00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:34,240
to school and for, you know,
technical arts or whatever it's
647
00:36:34,240 --> 00:36:37,040
called these days.
And I wonder if you come in with
648
00:36:37,040 --> 00:36:39,120
the same sort of passion.
I just don't know.
649
00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:41,480
Like, maybe they do.
Like, I know theater people
650
00:36:41,480 --> 00:36:44,600
still seem to have that same
passion for the show and for the
651
00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:48,320
art and all of that stuff.
But I don't know, It's hard.
652
00:36:48,360 --> 00:36:50,320
To say it seems to exist in
theater.
653
00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:53,800
I've been fortunate to speak at
at some seminars at universities
654
00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:59,720
and and that group of people
seems to have the fire for for
655
00:36:59,720 --> 00:37:06,560
not only figuring out how we did
things and how it came about and
656
00:37:06,600 --> 00:37:08,560
and what the vision of the
future is.
657
00:37:08,840 --> 00:37:14,680
I also have a a interestingly
and ethical sense of of duty to
658
00:37:14,680 --> 00:37:18,880
make sure that all of these kind
of video manipulations and AI
659
00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:22,280
things and and stuff like that
are used correctly.
660
00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:24,960
I was actually going to ask you
about your thoughts on that.
661
00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:29,880
Inspiring from from these young
people that they were thinking
662
00:37:29,880 --> 00:37:34,000
ahead along those lines like
well this, this, this technology
663
00:37:34,240 --> 00:37:38,240
could be used in some really bad
ways and and at least the folks
664
00:37:38,240 --> 00:37:41,320
that I've seen in these seminars
who talk about this are
665
00:37:41,320 --> 00:37:44,760
interested in protecting that
and I think that's awesome.
666
00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:49,360
Yeah, you know, it's an
interesting, it's an interesting
667
00:37:49,360 --> 00:37:52,120
topic, you know and and I love
talking about it.
668
00:37:52,120 --> 00:37:55,160
I actually just had a couple
pretty technical people on this
669
00:37:55,160 --> 00:37:58,480
week on the podcast that we had
fairly lengthy conversations
670
00:37:58,480 --> 00:38:00,800
about it.
One is you know, a product
671
00:38:00,880 --> 00:38:06,080
development engineer for Elation
and Richard Kadina.
672
00:38:06,080 --> 00:38:08,560
Do you know Richard Kadina?
I know elation.
673
00:38:08,560 --> 00:38:10,800
I don't know Richard.
I may have met Richard.
674
00:38:11,520 --> 00:38:14,000
Very technical guy, yeah, very
technical guy.
675
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:16,840
Worked at high end for years and
now he goes around teaching
676
00:38:16,840 --> 00:38:21,000
stage electrics and and safety
and stuff and just really,
677
00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:23,240
really super smart guy.
But we've been talking about it
678
00:38:23,240 --> 00:38:27,000
and you know it's it's an
interesting conversation because
679
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:30,760
nobody wants to see it start to
water down the business or take
680
00:38:30,760 --> 00:38:35,240
away jobs or anything like that.
But it's coming and and so you
681
00:38:35,240 --> 00:38:37,560
know, where does it fit, where
doesn't it fit?
682
00:38:37,560 --> 00:38:39,480
All of those things.
Like I was talking to somebody a
683
00:38:39,480 --> 00:38:43,960
couple days ago who was telling
me about a show that all of the
684
00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:47,520
images that were going up onto
the LED screen behind the band
685
00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:53,520
were AI generated like on the
spot, you know at the console,
686
00:38:53,520 --> 00:38:54,960
boom.
They were being sent up to the
687
00:38:54,960 --> 00:38:57,920
wall and and there it was.
And it was incredible.
688
00:38:58,440 --> 00:39:04,920
And you know, I don't know like,
I mean where, whose, whose jobs
689
00:39:05,280 --> 00:39:08,000
topple first?
Which jobs go down first?
690
00:39:08,080 --> 00:39:10,400
It's another, you know, it's
another tool.
691
00:39:10,400 --> 00:39:13,720
A friend of mine was at a a
conference and they were talking
692
00:39:13,720 --> 00:39:18,280
about AI and music and your
songwriting and whatnot and he
693
00:39:18,280 --> 00:39:21,800
was hosting the panel and he he
said that Don was was in the
694
00:39:21,800 --> 00:39:24,240
audience and he needed to steer
the thing in an interesting
695
00:39:24,240 --> 00:39:26,360
direction.
So he asked Don was to comment,
696
00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:31,840
and Don said it's a tool.
Either learn how to use it, you
697
00:39:31,840 --> 00:39:33,400
know.
Yeah.
698
00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:36,320
Behind and I think, I think
these are tools and we have to
699
00:39:36,320 --> 00:39:38,640
figure out how to use them in a
way that's practical.
700
00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:43,440
I went and saw the ABBA show in
London and what do you think of
701
00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:47,120
that person I was with was part
of the show and he turned to me
702
00:39:47,120 --> 00:39:48,680
afterwards and looks like, what
do you think?
703
00:39:48,680 --> 00:39:50,120
I said, I don't know.
I think I might have just seen
704
00:39:50,120 --> 00:39:51,640
the best concert I've ever been
at in.
705
00:39:51,640 --> 00:39:53,240
Really.
Wow.
706
00:39:53,400 --> 00:39:55,080
Yeah, that's cool.
Yeah.
707
00:39:55,080 --> 00:39:57,400
And I mean, we're in the
entertainment business, right?
708
00:39:57,600 --> 00:40:02,800
So our job is to entertain.
And and the idea is to to find
709
00:40:02,800 --> 00:40:05,560
platforms that work to do that.
I feel blessed.
710
00:40:05,560 --> 00:40:08,400
I I always say I get to work in
the best sandbox in the world
711
00:40:08,400 --> 00:40:12,480
because the four guys I work for
play as a band and we use Pro
712
00:40:12,480 --> 00:40:16,440
Tools to record.
So you know, other than obvious
713
00:40:16,800 --> 00:40:20,120
intro tapes and things like that
we use Pro Tools to record.
714
00:40:20,120 --> 00:40:22,480
And I think all of us who've
been around the guys for a long
715
00:40:22,480 --> 00:40:25,800
time love that thing, that
they're a band.
716
00:40:26,200 --> 00:40:29,040
They're a same place guys that
we're all lies on the block.
717
00:40:29,720 --> 00:40:32,680
No tracks, No tracks other than.
Intros and stuff here are
718
00:40:32,800 --> 00:40:34,120
obviously tracks.
They're.
719
00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:36,640
They're wow, that.
That are intros to the show.
720
00:40:36,640 --> 00:40:38,880
That's impressive.
That's really, really
721
00:40:38,880 --> 00:40:39,880
impressive.
By all that.
722
00:40:40,600 --> 00:40:44,440
Yeah, I certainly do.
The vocals, everything, it's all
723
00:40:44,440 --> 00:40:46,640
live.
That is, that is really.
724
00:40:46,640 --> 00:40:48,560
Interesting, including the
clunkers.
725
00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:53,000
So few bands are doing that now
as you know, like even the bands
726
00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:56,200
that we think are are doing all
live, you know there's.
727
00:40:56,200 --> 00:40:58,360
Stunning.
How many people are?
728
00:40:59,320 --> 00:41:03,000
Well, you know, I don't know if
it's rumor or what, but like the
729
00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:07,640
stuff that was coming out last
year about Mötley Crüe where the
730
00:41:07,640 --> 00:41:13,360
entire base, every bass track
was all done on track.
731
00:41:13,360 --> 00:41:16,400
It wasn't played live and stuff.
Yeah, I don't know.
732
00:41:16,480 --> 00:41:18,760
Either I don't want to know.
No, no, me neither.
733
00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:20,720
That was part of that.
I've been involved in.
734
00:41:20,720 --> 00:41:24,280
I've been involved in some shows
years ago.
735
00:41:24,560 --> 00:41:26,400
Yeah, where there was a lot of
that.
736
00:41:26,440 --> 00:41:29,200
And I always thought that's
that's wrong.
737
00:41:29,600 --> 00:41:30,960
That's just me, right?
I'm not.
738
00:41:31,120 --> 00:41:33,640
I'm not certificating to anyone.
I just felt like, oh, that's
739
00:41:33,880 --> 00:41:36,680
that's weird it.
Feels really inauthentic, you
740
00:41:36,680 --> 00:41:38,480
know, unauthentic.
I like live music.
741
00:41:38,720 --> 00:41:41,480
Yeah, but I mean, you can
understand it.
742
00:41:41,480 --> 00:41:43,840
And I'm not suggesting this is
who you were talking about, but
743
00:41:43,840 --> 00:41:47,800
you can understand when it's
Madonna or Shakira or, you know,
744
00:41:47,800 --> 00:41:51,840
somebody who really is doing
this super intense dancing and
745
00:41:51,840 --> 00:41:53,600
jumping around and all that kind
of stuff.
746
00:41:53,600 --> 00:41:56,200
Like it's hard to hit, you know?
Every.
747
00:41:56,320 --> 00:41:58,240
Absolutely.
You know, you watch Janet
748
00:41:58,240 --> 00:41:59,800
Jackson.
It's like, whoa.
749
00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:01,920
Yeah, are.
You going to sing and be able to
750
00:42:01,920 --> 00:42:05,120
breathe that?
There is some truth to that,
751
00:42:05,120 --> 00:42:06,480
right?
There is some truth to that.
752
00:42:06,480 --> 00:42:09,880
It's an entertainment thing.
You know, I saw the, I remember
753
00:42:09,880 --> 00:42:13,040
when *NSYNC was in their heyday
and and that kind of stuff.
754
00:42:13,040 --> 00:42:16,600
And I thought, you know, these
are fantastic shows.
755
00:42:16,600 --> 00:42:19,520
They're they're not Eric Clapton
playing something for you, but
756
00:42:19,520 --> 00:42:22,120
they're fantastic shows.
Yeah, yeah.
757
00:42:22,120 --> 00:42:24,480
And I kind of like the Eric
Clapton thing, you know, like
758
00:42:24,480 --> 00:42:28,560
I've always been one who loves
live music, you know, and and
759
00:42:29,400 --> 00:42:35,440
you know, I have some fairly
unpopular thoughts on the size
760
00:42:35,440 --> 00:42:39,200
of some of the shows and how
distracting they are, you know,
761
00:42:39,200 --> 00:42:44,520
to to the band.
And you know, Mark Brickman was
762
00:42:44,520 --> 00:42:48,200
saying to me one day, he had
just gone out and seen the
763
00:42:48,200 --> 00:42:51,880
Stones when he was on the
podcast and you know, the the
764
00:42:51,880 --> 00:42:55,560
one with the four iPhones behind
them, the big video screens that
765
00:42:55,560 --> 00:42:58,440
looked like iPhones.
And he said, you know, the
766
00:42:58,440 --> 00:43:03,800
problem was those big screens
made Mick Jagger look small.
767
00:43:04,800 --> 00:43:09,440
And I completely got what he was
saying, you know, like the if
768
00:43:09,440 --> 00:43:12,280
they were imag, it's one thing,
you know, but when there's a
769
00:43:12,280 --> 00:43:16,000
bunch of visual stuff going on
and it's it's why I have mixed
770
00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:19,960
feelings on the U2 thing.
The sphere, you know, it's it's
771
00:43:20,280 --> 00:43:23,600
spectacular.
But I had to, I haven't seen it
772
00:43:23,600 --> 00:43:25,920
live.
I just saw it on video and when
773
00:43:25,920 --> 00:43:29,200
I watched the first video of it,
I had to sit for like 30 seconds
774
00:43:29,200 --> 00:43:31,800
trying to find Bono.
I couldn't find him.
775
00:43:32,520 --> 00:43:35,640
You know, where is the stage?
Where is the singer, you know?
776
00:43:35,680 --> 00:43:39,480
And that to me is just that's
not seeing a band.
777
00:43:40,440 --> 00:43:42,240
Let's think.
As a designer, that's part of
778
00:43:42,240 --> 00:43:43,720
the challenge.
I think it is.
779
00:43:44,400 --> 00:43:48,320
It certainly is.
Is first and foremost in my
780
00:43:48,320 --> 00:43:50,920
thinking of stuff we do now.
That's coming from a guy who has
781
00:43:50,920 --> 00:43:56,240
a pretty big show playing
stadiums right now, backing up
782
00:43:56,240 --> 00:43:58,880
another big show that played
stadiums, backing up a big show
783
00:43:58,920 --> 00:44:03,760
that played arenas and stuff.
But I think people want to have
784
00:44:03,760 --> 00:44:11,680
a spectacular experience.
Yeah, but for that, for my core
785
00:44:11,680 --> 00:44:15,600
kind of thinking and design,
first and foremost has to be the
786
00:44:15,600 --> 00:44:18,320
band.
You know, and I would say
787
00:44:18,320 --> 00:44:19,640
that's.
Important to me.
788
00:44:20,000 --> 00:44:23,200
It's going to sound like I'm
blowing smoke, Dan, but you've
789
00:44:23,200 --> 00:44:28,160
done a tremendous job of it.
Like for you, the show is big,
790
00:44:28,640 --> 00:44:31,280
but the band is always.
You never have to look for the
791
00:44:31,280 --> 00:44:33,120
band.
You can find the band quite
792
00:44:33,120 --> 00:44:35,680
easily.
That's a huge compliment because
793
00:44:35,680 --> 00:44:39,840
that's to me.
The band is central on your big
794
00:44:39,840 --> 00:44:42,280
designs, you know, like I
remember the one where the the
795
00:44:42,280 --> 00:44:45,120
guy fell out of the Truss and
things were blowing up and all
796
00:44:45,120 --> 00:44:46,680
that stuff.
I forget what that was.
797
00:44:46,680 --> 00:44:51,400
But I'm, I'm close with John
Broderick and I was hanging out
798
00:44:51,400 --> 00:44:53,640
at front of house with him and
he didn't tell me what was going
799
00:44:53,640 --> 00:44:55,120
to happen or anything.
And I was like.
800
00:44:55,120 --> 00:44:58,160
Holy shit, John Jesus.
We got to do something, you
801
00:44:58,160 --> 00:45:01,240
know, and like looking for
radios and stuff so I can help.
802
00:45:01,680 --> 00:45:06,440
And he's like settle down, man.
But you know that show, like,
803
00:45:07,280 --> 00:45:09,720
you know, it was almost like a
rehearsal because the show
804
00:45:09,720 --> 00:45:13,240
seemed so secondary, but it was
such an incredible show, the
805
00:45:13,240 --> 00:45:15,280
lights and and video and
everything, right?
806
00:45:16,280 --> 00:45:17,800
You know it's not in the way
about.
807
00:45:18,040 --> 00:45:20,640
That show, that was a That was
the high end.
808
00:45:20,640 --> 00:45:23,640
What the heck was a studio
color?
809
00:45:23,840 --> 00:45:25,240
Yeah, yeah, lots of them.
Yeah.
810
00:45:25,280 --> 00:45:29,480
And we had. 108 of them.
Yeah, from Obi's I think, wasn't
811
00:45:29,480 --> 00:45:32,720
it?
I believe they came from Obi's.
812
00:45:33,480 --> 00:45:35,440
Yeah, I think Wiseman was at
Obi.
813
00:45:35,680 --> 00:45:37,480
'S yeah no.
Wiseman was.
814
00:45:37,480 --> 00:45:40,440
So Wiseman and I both started at
high end systems.
815
00:45:40,560 --> 00:45:45,400
We started at high end the same
day and it was it was during
816
00:45:45,400 --> 00:45:47,880
right when you were getting
ready to go out with that show.
817
00:45:48,240 --> 00:45:51,000
Right and.
That's where the that's where
818
00:45:51,160 --> 00:45:53,560
the wash color wash color wash
beam.
819
00:45:53,560 --> 00:45:56,120
What was it anyhow?
Was a John did a great job.
820
00:45:56,120 --> 00:45:58,160
Studio colors.
Yeah, yeah, Studio colors.
821
00:45:58,360 --> 00:45:59,000
Yeah, it.
Was a.
822
00:45:59,360 --> 00:46:01,800
It was a great show.
But but again, like, yeah, I
823
00:46:02,400 --> 00:46:03,760
mean every time I've seen
Metallica.
824
00:46:04,760 --> 00:46:10,560
The first review I read of of of
M72 when we opened in Amsterdam,
825
00:46:10,560 --> 00:46:13,480
The first English speaking
review I found was talked about
826
00:46:13,480 --> 00:46:16,840
the making the stadium feel
intimate and that's exactly
827
00:46:16,840 --> 00:46:19,880
that's, you know, we're trying
to make a club, but how do you
828
00:46:19,880 --> 00:46:21,960
reach 80,000 people and make it
a club?
829
00:46:21,960 --> 00:46:26,720
Well that's that that's and
that's that's the magic, right.
830
00:46:26,720 --> 00:46:29,240
I mean, I don't know if there's
magic, if I'm good at something.
831
00:46:29,240 --> 00:46:30,880
I I always love reading
intimate.
832
00:46:30,880 --> 00:46:35,600
I always love, you know, I
always love elegant and
833
00:46:35,600 --> 00:46:37,640
simplicity and and things like
that.
834
00:46:37,640 --> 00:46:39,760
And I mean there's no simplicity
in the show we're doing right
835
00:46:39,760 --> 00:46:43,960
now, but we're trying to make it
so that people can have a an
836
00:46:43,960 --> 00:46:47,000
experience with the band and not
every band is doing that, not
837
00:46:47,000 --> 00:46:48,680
every band.
That's not the goal of every
838
00:46:48,680 --> 00:46:51,960
band and you have to design in
context.
839
00:46:51,960 --> 00:46:54,640
When I'm working with a
corporate client maybe they want
840
00:46:54,640 --> 00:46:57,000
that maybe they don't what what
are we trying to do here what's
841
00:46:57,000 --> 00:47:01,080
your message and and certainly
in in my world you know that's
842
00:47:01,080 --> 00:47:03,840
why I love working in the round
because I was that kid who went
843
00:47:03,840 --> 00:47:06,480
to concert.
So the only way you can take the
844
00:47:06,480 --> 00:47:09,000
worst seats in the house and
make them twice as good as move
845
00:47:09,000 --> 00:47:12,360
the stage.
So, so let's move the stage to
846
00:47:12,360 --> 00:47:16,440
the middle and give everybody a
good shot at this thing And and
847
00:47:16,440 --> 00:47:22,000
it creates some magic that that
if if the presenter or
848
00:47:22,000 --> 00:47:25,120
entertainer can work in that
environment can create some real
849
00:47:25,120 --> 00:47:28,880
magical moments.
You know with Metallica it's an
850
00:47:28,880 --> 00:47:31,760
interesting thing because we're
working with a long term fan
851
00:47:31,760 --> 00:47:34,640
base.
You know I think we're probably
852
00:47:34,640 --> 00:47:36,560
there may be some four
generation people.
853
00:47:36,560 --> 00:47:38,600
There certainly are three
generation people in the
854
00:47:38,600 --> 00:47:43,960
audience, and.
That is incredible, really.
855
00:47:44,840 --> 00:47:47,000
You know, where did your
experience begin?
856
00:47:47,000 --> 00:47:50,360
Where did your journey with the
Metallica family start and
857
00:47:50,360 --> 00:47:53,480
what's meaningful to you?
Because the the guy who found
858
00:47:53,480 --> 00:47:59,800
Metallica on M72 isn't the same
guy who found Metallica on Ride
859
00:47:59,800 --> 00:48:02,560
the Lightning.
How do we make the show special
860
00:48:03,240 --> 00:48:06,080
for all those people so that
everybody who comes can have an
861
00:48:06,080 --> 00:48:10,160
experience and and I think we
found some great magic I work
862
00:48:10,160 --> 00:48:12,960
with.
You know, I mean we've been
863
00:48:12,960 --> 00:48:15,840
blessed with great sound people.
Currently Greg Price is just
864
00:48:15,840 --> 00:48:19,240
crushing it.
Rob Koenig is, is is my partner
865
00:48:19,240 --> 00:48:20,840
in crime.
I like to say I do the
866
00:48:20,840 --> 00:48:24,080
architecture and Rob does the
art and we've been able to
867
00:48:24,080 --> 00:48:27,640
create great things together and
and and I've hopefully given him
868
00:48:27,640 --> 00:48:30,840
that given him the layout and
the tools and the number of
869
00:48:30,840 --> 00:48:33,720
instruments and all those things
and we go through long
870
00:48:33,720 --> 00:48:37,200
processes, sweating through it.
Gene McAuliffe our our Video
871
00:48:37,200 --> 00:48:42,320
Director is stunning.
Dave the guy who puts the stuff
872
00:48:42,320 --> 00:48:45,240
on the screens in time because
we're not running the time code.
873
00:48:45,240 --> 00:48:49,120
We're not doing all of the cues
are manual so all the videos are
874
00:48:49,280 --> 00:48:51,840
cut into little tiny snips.
So if the band's playing a
875
00:48:51,840 --> 00:48:55,640
little faster, slower the cues
were and Dave Leonard is is
876
00:48:55,640 --> 00:48:59,360
stunning and and you know Joe
Cabrera and Cat W, the folks who
877
00:48:59,360 --> 00:49:03,840
programmed the show and we have
this magical team that we're
878
00:49:03,840 --> 00:49:06,600
trying to create that journey,
we're trying to create a
879
00:49:06,600 --> 00:49:08,760
narrative.
So no matter when you join the
880
00:49:08,760 --> 00:49:12,320
Metallica family to use
Hetfield's words, we have
881
00:49:12,320 --> 00:49:15,520
something there that's going to
bring you along and make you
882
00:49:15,720 --> 00:49:19,680
feel special that you're having
a one to one relationship with
883
00:49:19,680 --> 00:49:22,440
the band.
Well you're having this huge
884
00:49:22,440 --> 00:49:25,560
communal social relationship
watching something you love.
885
00:49:26,160 --> 00:49:28,360
And I'm lucky I get to work for
a great band.
886
00:49:28,680 --> 00:49:33,440
Yeah, for a long time now too.
So the where, you know I read
887
00:49:33,440 --> 00:49:36,760
somewhere that you're you're
like a big fan of of art like
888
00:49:37,440 --> 00:49:43,040
specifically Michelangelo type
of art or whatever and so does
889
00:49:43,040 --> 00:49:45,320
that.
Is that part of the inspiration?
890
00:49:46,680 --> 00:49:50,440
Absolutely.
I I think you know art
891
00:49:50,840 --> 00:49:57,200
architecture certainly drives
certainly drive a bunch of a
892
00:49:57,400 --> 00:49:59,360
bunch of what I'm doing.
I'm always looking at
893
00:49:59,360 --> 00:50:03,280
architecture.
I'm looking at things and trying
894
00:50:03,280 --> 00:50:05,800
to find a different point of
entry, if you will.
895
00:50:06,040 --> 00:50:12,720
Yeah.
You know, I don't want to do so.
896
00:50:12,720 --> 00:50:15,200
I have this picture that Jim
Marshall took, which is the
897
00:50:15,200 --> 00:50:19,840
inside gatefold of the Woodstock
event.
898
00:50:20,440 --> 00:50:23,320
It was taken upstage, center at
Woodstock, pointed out at the
899
00:50:23,320 --> 00:50:26,440
crowd.
And it's the gatefold from the
900
00:50:26,440 --> 00:50:28,320
album thing.
I actually have a a print of it
901
00:50:28,320 --> 00:50:31,480
that that Jim Marshall did and
signed and whatever, and he's a
902
00:50:31,480 --> 00:50:36,520
great photographer, a bit of a a
segment of our history and you
903
00:50:36,520 --> 00:50:40,320
have a band on stage.
There's a turntable stage, which
904
00:50:40,320 --> 00:50:41,840
I'm told didn't work at
Woodstock.
905
00:50:41,840 --> 00:50:45,240
It worked once and fell apart.
But but somebody like Chipmunk
906
00:50:45,240 --> 00:50:47,840
or someone like that had this
idea we can do these changeovers
907
00:50:47,840 --> 00:50:49,440
faster if we have this
turntable.
908
00:50:49,440 --> 00:50:52,040
It didn't work because it was
too heavy and that, whatever.
909
00:50:52,040 --> 00:50:53,600
I don't know the whole story of
that, but.
910
00:50:55,360 --> 00:50:58,480
Sounds like a good idea though.
We've got this turntable, we've
911
00:50:58,520 --> 00:51:01,600
we figured out how to do it now,
but we have this turntable and
912
00:51:01,600 --> 00:51:05,160
you've got some PA column stacks
and there's a little bit of
913
00:51:05,160 --> 00:51:07,200
lighting, but the lighting never
worked, 'cause they couldn't get
914
00:51:07,200 --> 00:51:09,720
the roof together, 'cause they
moved the site too quickly.
915
00:51:10,440 --> 00:51:12,680
And you have the spotlight
towers and you got this crowd in
916
00:51:12,680 --> 00:51:15,000
front of it.
And I look at that and I think
917
00:51:15,120 --> 00:51:19,680
that's a long time ago.
Yeah, we have to do something
918
00:51:19,680 --> 00:51:25,000
better to deliver this
relationship of band and
919
00:51:25,000 --> 00:51:27,040
audience.
Because, like with Metallica,
920
00:51:27,040 --> 00:51:30,160
the show is about the band
driving some energy, spilling
921
00:51:30,160 --> 00:51:33,400
the energy into the crowd, the
crowd amplifying it, sending it
922
00:51:33,400 --> 00:51:35,600
back to the band, giving them a
kick in the pants.
923
00:51:35,840 --> 00:51:38,960
The band then re amplifying it,
sending it back to the crowd.
924
00:51:38,960 --> 00:51:41,800
And that cycle is a Metallica
show, yeah.
925
00:51:41,880 --> 00:51:43,520
So as a designer.
Always has.
926
00:51:43,600 --> 00:51:46,520
What can I do to not get in the
way of that?
927
00:51:46,840 --> 00:51:49,080
Yeah.
It's a funny approach that I
928
00:51:49,080 --> 00:51:51,520
take.
I I I had James really confused
929
00:51:51,520 --> 00:51:53,480
explaining it.
I was like, I don't want to get
930
00:51:53,480 --> 00:51:54,880
in the way of that.
You.
931
00:51:55,560 --> 00:51:58,480
See, because they do that by
themselves, I'm trying to create
932
00:51:58,480 --> 00:52:01,880
a great platform for them to
have an to have an interaction
933
00:52:01,880 --> 00:52:04,360
with their fans.
Nobody's buying a ticket to see
934
00:52:04,360 --> 00:52:07,480
me, right?
What a great thing.
935
00:52:07,600 --> 00:52:12,280
To see James and Lars and Kirk
and Rob, OK, so how do I create
936
00:52:12,280 --> 00:52:16,840
a platform and get Rob Koenig
and Gene and and and Dave and
937
00:52:17,000 --> 00:52:19,280
and Greg Price and and our
monitor guys?
938
00:52:19,280 --> 00:52:23,000
And I'm like this whole thing.
How do we make this environment
939
00:52:23,480 --> 00:52:27,840
so the band can do what they do
at the best possible level?
940
00:52:27,840 --> 00:52:33,000
It can happen because if we do
our job well, the band will do
941
00:52:33,000 --> 00:52:34,160
theirs.
Yeah.
942
00:52:34,800 --> 00:52:37,120
And so it's a really fun
environment to work.
943
00:52:37,520 --> 00:52:40,480
In you know they're they're one
band that like you know if I had
944
00:52:40,480 --> 00:52:45,080
to to describe a live Metallica
show you know with one word it,
945
00:52:45,080 --> 00:52:48,640
it'd probably be energy you know
and and like that energy is is 2
946
00:52:48,640 --> 00:52:51,440
directions like you said it's
the fans feeding off the band.
947
00:52:51,440 --> 00:52:54,760
The band feeding off the fans
and like even and I'm sure you
948
00:52:54,760 --> 00:52:59,200
were heavily involved in this
process but the the thing that
949
00:52:59,200 --> 00:53:03,520
that you guys did during COVID
with like the I don't remember
950
00:53:03,520 --> 00:53:07,680
the number but two or three
thousand video, 22 or 3000
951
00:53:07,680 --> 00:53:12,720
little video things and you know
like Hatfield was going you
952
00:53:12,800 --> 00:53:15,840
right there, Bob in Wisconsin or
whatever.
953
00:53:15,840 --> 00:53:19,760
Right.
And I mean what a like I hated
954
00:53:19,920 --> 00:53:22,680
virtual shows.
I hated them with a passion.
955
00:53:22,920 --> 00:53:26,680
That one was incredible.
That one was so cool.
956
00:53:26,800 --> 00:53:30,400
Wiseman actually is the one who
who I think invited me into that
957
00:53:30,400 --> 00:53:31,440
or something.
I don't remember.
958
00:53:31,440 --> 00:53:33,680
How I got it We wanted to do
something different.
959
00:53:35,320 --> 00:53:38,960
My work in the corporate world
is with tech people, so I knew
960
00:53:38,960 --> 00:53:41,760
what we could do.
I found some people who could
961
00:53:41,760 --> 00:53:47,120
help me do it and and the folks
at Firefly were amazing and
962
00:53:47,160 --> 00:53:49,160
pulling it off.
I mean you know you call the
963
00:53:49,160 --> 00:53:51,280
company like can you do this?
Oh yeah, we can do that.
964
00:53:51,280 --> 00:53:53,640
We can do that.
Not everybody delivers and they
965
00:53:53,640 --> 00:53:58,320
get it out of the power and as
the band was walking into that 4
966
00:53:58,320 --> 00:54:02,960
sided video wall enclosure they
looked at me like is this going
967
00:54:02,960 --> 00:54:05,360
to work or is this going to be
whatever And I was like all you
968
00:54:05,360 --> 00:54:10,640
need to do is go play from it.
The longest time that I talked
969
00:54:10,640 --> 00:54:13,560
to Lars about this, and we
determined that the longest time
970
00:54:13,560 --> 00:54:17,200
in their history that Metallica
had not played live in front of
971
00:54:17,200 --> 00:54:21,760
their fans was between the show
prior to that and that show.
972
00:54:22,280 --> 00:54:24,120
Really.
Wow.
973
00:54:24,160 --> 00:54:28,000
So that's crazy.
I knew that the band was
974
00:54:28,520 --> 00:54:30,400
desperate to get in front of
their fans.
975
00:54:30,400 --> 00:54:33,480
I don't mean desperate, like
freaking out about it, but they
976
00:54:33,480 --> 00:54:37,440
are a live band that thrives on
their audience and having that
977
00:54:37,440 --> 00:54:40,360
communication.
You, you called it energy.
978
00:54:40,360 --> 00:54:44,800
I call it communication, OK?
They're communicating back and
979
00:54:44,800 --> 00:54:47,600
forth.
And I assumed in the middle of
980
00:54:47,600 --> 00:54:52,560
COVID that the Metallica family
was in the same place trying to
981
00:54:52,560 --> 00:54:56,040
get to Metallica.
And so I looked at the guys and
982
00:54:56,040 --> 00:54:59,360
I said just go play.
And they walked out there in 15
983
00:54:59,360 --> 00:55:01,040
seconds into it.
You could see the look on their
984
00:55:01,040 --> 00:55:03,160
faces.
We're playing live in front of
985
00:55:03,160 --> 00:55:05,640
our fans and it was a special,
special.
986
00:55:05,640 --> 00:55:07,760
It was a very special event.
Well, because let's.
987
00:55:07,840 --> 00:55:09,960
Get it?
Great, great, great technical
988
00:55:09,960 --> 00:55:12,280
team.
I am so fortunate to work with
989
00:55:12,280 --> 00:55:15,960
the people I work with.
Yeah, most of those sucks so bad
990
00:55:15,960 --> 00:55:19,240
though A roll.
Call because nobody does any of
991
00:55:19,240 --> 00:55:22,040
this stuff by themselves.
Most of those.
992
00:55:22,040 --> 00:55:25,000
Come from great, great, great
teams and I'm blessed.
993
00:55:25,000 --> 00:55:29,240
I've mentioned a couple of
minutes but I have so fortunate
994
00:55:29,240 --> 00:55:31,280
to work with the people I.
Work well, yeah.
995
00:55:31,280 --> 00:55:34,000
I mean, you know, Metallica is
the top of the food chain.
996
00:55:34,000 --> 00:55:37,360
Obviously you get to pick
whoever you want to work with at
997
00:55:37,360 --> 00:55:41,240
this point I'm guessing, but you
know that again, I can't.
998
00:55:41,240 --> 00:55:43,080
We have a lot of home.
I have to.
999
00:55:43,280 --> 00:55:44,800
I've got to compliment some of
my guys.
1000
00:55:44,800 --> 00:55:46,440
We've got a lot of homegrown
talent.
1001
00:55:46,440 --> 00:55:47,320
We've got a lot.
Of Oh yeah.
1002
00:55:47,520 --> 00:55:53,480
We we we came together and we
found a way to make 1 + 1 equal
1003
00:55:53,480 --> 00:55:59,200
3 and and then we found a way to
make 1 + 1 + 1 equal 4 and then
1004
00:55:59,200 --> 00:56:02,520
we found a way to make 1 + 1 + 1
+ 1 = 7.
1005
00:56:02,800 --> 00:56:06,520
Yeah, and I'm real proud of it.
One you keep just, you keep just
1006
00:56:06,800 --> 00:56:09,400
going like this.
Like you keep raising the bar.
1007
00:56:09,400 --> 00:56:13,600
Everything you guys do, every,
every new tour, every, whatever.
1008
00:56:13,760 --> 00:56:17,720
You know, regardless of what the
album does, the tours are
1009
00:56:17,720 --> 00:56:19,560
incredible.
You know, every single one of.
1010
00:56:19,560 --> 00:56:20,520
Them.
That's really kind.
1011
00:56:20,720 --> 00:56:23,160
Yeah, well, you know, I'm not
blowing smoke.
1012
00:56:23,160 --> 00:56:25,480
I I wish I had something to
complain about.
1013
00:56:25,480 --> 00:56:28,040
Like even your virtual show,
like I said, I can't state it
1014
00:56:28,040 --> 00:56:29,200
enough.
They all sucked.
1015
00:56:29,200 --> 00:56:32,880
I hated every virtual show I saw
because number one, there was no
1016
00:56:32,880 --> 00:56:35,440
energy and there shouldn't be
like a band is sitting there
1017
00:56:35,720 --> 00:56:38,480
playing to cameras.
It's really hard to do,
1018
00:56:38,480 --> 00:56:40,680
especially when you're a band
like Metallica.
1019
00:56:40,960 --> 00:56:44,720
You know, you're a rock band
that is like in your face rock,
1020
00:56:44,720 --> 00:56:49,120
right?
And but but you know the way
1021
00:56:49,120 --> 00:56:53,200
that you guys did that gave them
that energy because they had
1022
00:56:53,200 --> 00:56:56,400
people giving them feedback on
these screens, you know, and and
1023
00:56:56,400 --> 00:56:59,600
I saw like Tony Robbins did
that, Tony Robbins did that.
1024
00:56:59,600 --> 00:57:01,240
He created that whole studio,
right?
1025
00:57:01,360 --> 00:57:04,320
Yeah, that communication is is
the deal.
1026
00:57:04,760 --> 00:57:06,520
Yeah.
So.
1027
00:57:07,080 --> 00:57:09,600
Yeah, no that that was very
cool.
1028
00:57:09,640 --> 00:57:14,320
I I really again, it's the only
one that that I thought really
1029
00:57:14,320 --> 00:57:20,200
did it well and I told I told
the guys at at fire play that
1030
00:57:20,200 --> 00:57:23,960
and and yeah you know it was
done well.
1031
00:57:24,120 --> 00:57:26,240
Bravo.
You don't.
1032
00:57:26,240 --> 00:57:27,960
You don't actually.
So sorry.
1033
00:57:27,960 --> 00:57:29,680
Going back to the creative
process.
1034
00:57:29,680 --> 00:57:32,680
So you were saying that art and
and architecture and I'm
1035
00:57:32,680 --> 00:57:35,640
guessing architecture is like
the the shape of the trussing,
1036
00:57:35,640 --> 00:57:38,720
the lines and things like that.
That's where that comes into
1037
00:57:38,720 --> 00:57:41,040
play a lot I.
Guess a lot of it in what I'm
1038
00:57:41,040 --> 00:57:46,680
trying to do is proportions, you
know?
1039
00:57:46,680 --> 00:57:50,160
OK, so you get a clever idea.
How do we make it so it's fits
1040
00:57:50,160 --> 00:57:53,200
in the building correctly?
We had a really rough rehearsal
1041
00:57:53,200 --> 00:57:58,640
schedule on M72 and never really
got to do production rehearsals
1042
00:57:58,640 --> 00:58:03,720
the way I wish we could have.
And I was really nervous.
1043
00:58:05,280 --> 00:58:08,320
Not a little bit.
I was petrified when we were
1044
00:58:08,320 --> 00:58:14,120
starting the first night and I
was, if if you do this, you
1045
00:58:14,120 --> 00:58:18,760
understand pressure and nerves
at a different level, especially
1046
00:58:18,760 --> 00:58:21,240
something on the scale of what
what this thing was.
1047
00:58:22,080 --> 00:58:25,240
And I just was like, I don't
know if we have this and it's
1048
00:58:25,240 --> 00:58:26,960
the first time I've ever felt
like that.
1049
00:58:26,960 --> 00:58:29,760
I I I've done other things where
I didn't know till I saw it put
1050
00:58:29,760 --> 00:58:34,640
up when we did S and M2 with the
rings at at the Chase Center
1051
00:58:35,600 --> 00:58:38,200
when I walked in and I just
stuck my head, the rings were
1052
00:58:38,200 --> 00:58:39,760
all about 10 feet off the
ground.
1053
00:58:39,760 --> 00:58:42,320
They were just hanging there
with a little bit of of test
1054
00:58:42,320 --> 00:58:44,560
pattern on them.
I just poked my head around the
1055
00:58:44,560 --> 00:58:46,520
vomitory and looked them.
I went, Oh no, this is going to
1056
00:58:46,520 --> 00:58:47,840
be fantastic.
I knew.
1057
00:58:48,480 --> 00:58:52,080
I knew we had something magic
and this one I did not.
1058
00:58:52,120 --> 00:58:54,960
And right before the show
started the first night, and I
1059
00:58:54,960 --> 00:59:02,160
was, I was, I was physically
nervous and I looked at the
1060
00:59:02,160 --> 00:59:05,000
thing and I went, man, this
stadium is really small.
1061
00:59:05,720 --> 00:59:09,920
And I just went, oh, OK.
All right, we got this.
1062
00:59:10,240 --> 00:59:10,720
That's.
Cool.
1063
00:59:10,720 --> 00:59:13,920
Because it's the proportions and
and trying to get it all to fit
1064
00:59:13,920 --> 00:59:16,080
right.
Because again, nobody's coming
1065
00:59:16,080 --> 00:59:18,400
to see what I did.
Everybody's coming and everybody
1066
00:59:18,400 --> 00:59:20,800
sees what I did.
Everybody sees what the creative
1067
00:59:21,000 --> 00:59:23,040
process was.
Everybody sees what Rob does.
1068
00:59:23,040 --> 00:59:25,120
Everybody and everybody sees
what Gene does every night.
1069
00:59:25,760 --> 00:59:27,200
But they're not buying a ticket
for that.
1070
00:59:27,840 --> 00:59:29,680
We're just.
Supporting these four guys who
1071
00:59:29,680 --> 00:59:33,120
do what they do and it's about
getting the proportions right,
1072
00:59:33,160 --> 00:59:35,960
and then hopefully you come up
with something a little bit
1073
00:59:35,960 --> 00:59:38,840
clever, like how to put speakers
in a place where there's no
1074
00:59:38,840 --> 00:59:40,880
ceiling.
Yeah, how so?
1075
00:59:40,880 --> 00:59:43,520
When you're doing in the round?
This is a really dumb question
1076
00:59:43,520 --> 00:59:45,760
because I've just never been
involved in the technical
1077
00:59:45,760 --> 00:59:47,920
aspects of a system for in the
round.
1078
00:59:47,920 --> 00:59:51,480
But are you using twice as much
audio, or is it more than that?
1079
00:59:57,240 --> 00:59:59,880
Well, we did something very
unique on this show, which is
1080
00:59:59,880 --> 01:00:04,680
also you can blame on me, Greg
Price is is an incredible
1081
01:00:04,680 --> 01:00:11,560
partner to work with.
And I have for years wanted to
1082
01:00:11,560 --> 01:00:15,840
create near field monitors in an
80,000 seat stadium.
1083
01:00:17,240 --> 01:00:21,200
So the first thing we had to
figure out how to do was create
1084
01:00:21,200 --> 01:00:23,080
stereo sound throughout a
stadium.
1085
01:00:23,920 --> 01:00:30,320
So we have a very large PA
trying to create stereo images
1086
01:00:30,320 --> 01:00:34,720
and we're capturing about 84580,
eighty 5% of the seats in
1087
01:00:34,720 --> 01:00:39,240
stereo.
Wow, so is that just a lot, a
1088
01:00:39,240 --> 01:00:42,360
lot more smaller speakers?
Is that how that works?
1089
01:00:42,480 --> 01:00:45,520
Or.
It's it's something different
1090
01:00:45,520 --> 01:00:48,000
than putting up a big pile of
speakers and pointing them down
1091
01:00:48,000 --> 01:00:49,720
the field and turning them up
really loud.
1092
01:00:49,960 --> 01:00:52,600
Yeah.
And which is my reference to
1093
01:00:52,600 --> 01:00:54,320
that Woodstock picture?
Yeah.
1094
01:00:55,080 --> 01:01:00,760
And So what we've done is we've
created stereo imaging left,
1095
01:01:00,760 --> 01:01:03,320
right, left, right, left, right.
As you go around the stadium,
1096
01:01:03,320 --> 01:01:06,560
the the image might be backwards
but it's still a stereo image
1097
01:01:07,680 --> 01:01:11,000
which opens up a ton of things
because it allows Greg to do a
1098
01:01:11,000 --> 01:01:15,440
bunch of of the the the
soundscape is this big stereo
1099
01:01:15,440 --> 01:01:17,880
image instead of this mono thing
that you're trying to ram
1100
01:01:17,880 --> 01:01:26,240
everything down this pipe and
and and Greg is, you know, it's
1101
01:01:26,240 --> 01:01:28,120
been we, we've been blessed with
Metallica.
1102
01:01:28,120 --> 01:01:30,880
Mick Hughes was there forever
and a tremendous sound engineer.
1103
01:01:30,880 --> 01:01:34,960
He retired and and Greg is is
there and and he's a great
1104
01:01:34,960 --> 01:01:37,360
partner to work with and we kind
of took this thing on and
1105
01:01:37,360 --> 01:01:41,760
created this stereo image around
the around the football.
1106
01:01:41,760 --> 01:01:45,040
Stadium, yeah.
So when you, when you have, you
1107
01:01:45,040 --> 01:01:47,920
know, new album, I'm guessing
you know, you sit down with the
1108
01:01:47,920 --> 01:01:50,920
band, they tell you what the
album's all about and what vibe
1109
01:01:50,920 --> 01:01:55,440
it is or theme or whatever.
How does your whole design
1110
01:01:56,000 --> 01:01:59,520
process work?
Like, how far in advance of the
1111
01:01:59,520 --> 01:02:04,400
tour actually going out?
How much is the band involved?
1112
01:02:04,400 --> 01:02:06,400
When do you get the rest of the
team involved?
1113
01:02:06,400 --> 01:02:11,080
Like what's that look like?
That's a tough question.
1114
01:02:11,200 --> 01:02:13,360
I'm always thinking about what's
next.
1115
01:02:13,520 --> 01:02:15,760
Yeah.
You know, I'm always thinking
1116
01:02:15,760 --> 01:02:17,960
about what's next.
I've got a project that may or
1117
01:02:17,960 --> 01:02:20,560
may not happen with another
band, and I've got all sorts of
1118
01:02:21,080 --> 01:02:23,840
kind of ideas floating around
with that and what it might be.
1119
01:02:23,840 --> 01:02:31,640
And and with these guys, I kind
of know give or take some number
1120
01:02:31,640 --> 01:02:34,680
of months what the, what the
cycle of where we're going to
1121
01:02:34,680 --> 01:02:37,920
be, what we're doing, what's
when's the next recording cycle
1122
01:02:37,920 --> 01:02:41,080
this and that.
So when when you know when they
1123
01:02:41,560 --> 01:02:45,760
started M 72 recording you're
you know, I know where that
1124
01:02:45,840 --> 01:02:47,480
coming out of that is going to
be a tour.
1125
01:02:47,480 --> 01:02:51,160
So the process really starts
then it's coming up with a lot
1126
01:02:51,160 --> 01:02:56,920
of iterations, talking about
stuff, eventually getting some
1127
01:02:56,920 --> 01:03:00,960
tracks to listen to and see, you
know, what are we doing and
1128
01:03:01,000 --> 01:03:03,480
trying to think about what we've
done in the past and where we're
1129
01:03:03,480 --> 01:03:04,840
going.
This one was a pretty big
1130
01:03:04,840 --> 01:03:08,400
curveball because it came up
where we're going to go play
1131
01:03:08,400 --> 01:03:11,240
stadiums in the round.
It's like, OK, well, everybody
1132
01:03:11,240 --> 01:03:13,080
understands what the scale of
that is, right?
1133
01:03:13,080 --> 01:03:15,440
Let's not have anybody get
surprised halfway in because
1134
01:03:15,440 --> 01:03:18,640
this is going to be huge.
And and the sound thing is
1135
01:03:18,640 --> 01:03:21,360
something, you know, the stereo
sound thing is something we've
1136
01:03:21,360 --> 01:03:23,040
wanted to get to for a long
time.
1137
01:03:23,040 --> 01:03:26,280
And I think we will be, if we go
back indoors, we have a
1138
01:03:26,280 --> 01:03:29,000
masterful plan for how that's
going to be the folks at Meyer
1139
01:03:29,000 --> 01:03:32,760
Sound, starting with Helen and
John and Josh Freeman and Bob
1140
01:03:32,760 --> 01:03:35,880
McCarthy and Michael Maxim.
And I mean, you want to talk
1141
01:03:35,880 --> 01:03:37,640
about having family to work
with.
1142
01:03:37,640 --> 01:03:40,320
It's unbelievable to have people
like that to work with.
1143
01:03:40,320 --> 01:03:43,480
And so we have a plan for that.
But one of the big things on
1144
01:03:43,480 --> 01:03:47,280
this was trying to make the
audio special, you know, You
1145
01:03:47,280 --> 01:03:50,120
know, we always have bad Mick
Hughes suffered in this thing
1146
01:03:50,120 --> 01:03:52,880
where we had unbelievable
sounding shows and people would
1147
01:03:52,880 --> 01:03:55,520
say, well, they sound really
good for Metallica.
1148
01:03:55,520 --> 01:03:57,600
And.
John Broderick suffered for
1149
01:03:57,600 --> 01:03:59,960
years with this.
It's a really good show for
1150
01:03:59,960 --> 01:04:01,120
Metallica.
Yeah.
1151
01:04:01,520 --> 01:04:06,280
And and so one of my goals has
been to break that mold because
1152
01:04:06,320 --> 01:04:09,600
because the band is a great band
and I just want it to be a great
1153
01:04:09,600 --> 01:04:11,680
show.
I don't want you to say it's the
1154
01:04:11,680 --> 01:04:13,200
best Metallica show you ever
saw.
1155
01:04:13,200 --> 01:04:15,080
I want you to say it's the best
show you ever saw.
1156
01:04:15,480 --> 01:04:17,760
Yeah.
And so messing with the audio,
1157
01:04:17,760 --> 01:04:20,480
getting the lights in the right
place on this thing, getting all
1158
01:04:20,480 --> 01:04:23,240
that stuff proportionally
correct, getting the screens
1159
01:04:23,720 --> 01:04:27,400
correct and having something
that we think is special, that,
1160
01:04:27,560 --> 01:04:29,760
you know, we don't want to be
anybody else's show.
1161
01:04:29,840 --> 01:04:32,720
Yeah.
Then I take some of those ideas
1162
01:04:32,720 --> 01:04:34,400
and talk to the band a little
bit.
1163
01:04:35,000 --> 01:04:39,120
On this particular one, I got a
pretty big curveball because
1164
01:04:40,000 --> 01:04:41,840
something I'd wanted to do
forever.
1165
01:04:41,840 --> 01:04:46,160
One of the guys in the band was
willing to do and I was really
1166
01:04:46,160 --> 01:04:50,720
taken aback by I said well, if
you're willing to go for it, I
1167
01:04:50,760 --> 01:04:52,560
this is what I'd really like to
do.
1168
01:04:53,120 --> 01:04:55,320
Yeah.
And I've never pitched it to you
1169
01:04:55,320 --> 01:04:57,080
because I didn't think you would
do it.
1170
01:04:58,240 --> 01:05:01,160
Because why?
Well, it's it's working really
1171
01:05:01,160 --> 01:05:03,200
well so far.
So let's go there.
1172
01:05:03,920 --> 01:05:07,400
And I said, OK, well, rehearsals
were interesting because.
1173
01:05:07,440 --> 01:05:11,000
Because all of a sudden he'd
realized what he'd committed to
1174
01:05:11,000 --> 01:05:12,760
and realized, well, this is
going to be hard.
1175
01:05:13,240 --> 01:05:15,880
Was that because of the scale of
it or real hard?
1176
01:05:16,320 --> 01:05:16,800
What?
What?
1177
01:05:17,040 --> 01:05:20,560
What was the what was the
concern, the scale, the cost,
1178
01:05:20,560 --> 01:05:24,000
The world?
Wired to For the first time ever
1179
01:05:24,040 --> 01:05:29,280
I moved Lars and we put him at
the end of the snake pit and at
1180
01:05:29,320 --> 01:05:33,080
the end of the show we had Lars
come up and play at the end of
1181
01:05:33,080 --> 01:05:34,440
the snake bit.
We'd never moved.
1182
01:05:34,440 --> 01:05:37,840
Lars had moved a little bit of
moving drum kit back in 90 on
1183
01:05:37,840 --> 01:05:41,240
the Black Album tour, which he
really to this day we'll talk
1184
01:05:41,240 --> 01:05:44,680
about how much he hated it and
after that experience he never
1185
01:05:44,680 --> 01:05:46,680
moved.
I started with him in 94 so we'd
1186
01:05:46,680 --> 01:05:48,920
never been able to move move
liars.
1187
01:05:51,440 --> 01:05:55,760
So I moved him to the end and we
had a drum kit come up and he
1188
01:05:55,760 --> 01:05:58,320
played right next to the people
and rehearsals were very
1189
01:05:58,320 --> 01:06:03,440
difficult with it.
And Peter Mensch, my dear friend
1190
01:06:03,440 --> 01:06:06,200
from the management company who
we have a, we have a rather
1191
01:06:06,240 --> 01:06:09,240
animated relationship.
He's a great he's, he's had some
1192
01:06:09,240 --> 01:06:11,760
great design ideas himself.
Peter Mensch came up with the
1193
01:06:11,760 --> 01:06:15,360
snake pit, which I believe is
the biggest change in the stage
1194
01:06:15,360 --> 01:06:18,480
since the Romans raised the
Greek stage off the floor to put
1195
01:06:18,480 --> 01:06:22,040
it on a platform and people were
never in the stage before.
1196
01:06:22,080 --> 01:06:26,000
So the yeah, the Snake pit was
the snake pit was actually a
1197
01:06:26,000 --> 01:06:29,760
late, like a little VIP pit in
the center of the stage, right?
1198
01:06:30,080 --> 01:06:33,360
And that became, if you look at
any TV show now or anywhere
1199
01:06:33,360 --> 01:06:35,600
else, they're all full of having
people in the stage.
1200
01:06:35,960 --> 01:06:37,600
And that was Peter.
That's true.
1201
01:06:37,920 --> 01:06:41,080
And so Peter thought it was
crazy to move Lars and put him
1202
01:06:41,080 --> 01:06:43,480
down there and all this nonsense
and blah, blah, blah, blah,
1203
01:06:43,480 --> 01:06:46,240
blah.
I said just watch.
1204
01:06:46,240 --> 01:06:48,640
And Lars went down there the
first night and played, and he
1205
01:06:48,680 --> 01:06:50,760
had an experience he'd never had
before.
1206
01:06:51,360 --> 01:06:55,240
I mean, he's he's literally a
couple of feet from 80,000
1207
01:06:55,240 --> 01:06:57,640
people at Forest Soul in Mexico
City.
1208
01:06:57,920 --> 01:07:00,960
That's wild.
So that developed and then as we
1209
01:07:00,960 --> 01:07:05,560
moved into the festivals from
that cycle, he started opening
1210
01:07:05,560 --> 01:07:07,560
the showdown there.
That's how much he enjoyed it.
1211
01:07:07,920 --> 01:07:10,200
Really.
And then he kind of felt like,
1212
01:07:10,200 --> 01:07:12,960
well, after we moved, after I
moved back to the stage, the
1213
01:07:12,960 --> 01:07:15,480
energy doesn't seem the same.
I said, well, let's do this.
1214
01:07:15,480 --> 01:07:18,080
And so that came.
That's where the circle with the
1215
01:07:18,080 --> 01:07:21,040
four drum kits came up.
Is is the big challenge there
1216
01:07:21,160 --> 01:07:27,000
security or like?
I think we, you know one of the
1217
01:07:27,000 --> 01:07:29,640
other things, we're fortunate
we're very we're capable of
1218
01:07:29,640 --> 01:07:31,640
designing the show.
We keep the crowd in mind.
1219
01:07:31,640 --> 01:07:35,400
We have very, very few problems
with crowd and stuff, another
1220
01:07:35,400 --> 01:07:38,200
great part of our team.
But also the design is meant
1221
01:07:38,560 --> 01:07:44,360
when you take a stage and make
it 400 feet around, you have a
1222
01:07:44,360 --> 01:07:47,280
1200 foot diameter.
So you're able to create a lot
1223
01:07:47,280 --> 01:07:49,040
more front row seats than you
can.
1224
01:07:49,040 --> 01:07:51,800
When you take a snake bit and
stick it out into the audience
1225
01:07:52,080 --> 01:07:55,920
and you add 160 feet of front
row seats, it eliminates a lot
1226
01:07:55,920 --> 01:07:58,880
of pressure on the barricade and
those kind of problems.
1227
01:07:59,240 --> 01:08:01,560
And so some of this stuff is
practical.
1228
01:08:01,560 --> 01:08:03,720
We don't talk about this a lot,
but some of this stuff is
1229
01:08:03,720 --> 01:08:07,720
practical as well as as
theatrical staging things.
1230
01:08:08,560 --> 01:08:11,560
The reason when we do the
festivals that we go so wide and
1231
01:08:11,560 --> 01:08:15,520
create that is to make all these
front row seats and stop people
1232
01:08:15,520 --> 01:08:19,000
from pushing this incredible
pressure into the front center
1233
01:08:19,000 --> 01:08:21,800
of the stage.
And and as you are painfully
1234
01:08:21,800 --> 01:08:25,279
aware as I am, there's been
tragedies in our industry
1235
01:08:25,279 --> 01:08:29,760
because people haven't been able
to eliminate that pressure.
1236
01:08:29,920 --> 01:08:31,680
Yeah.
And so it's something always,
1237
01:08:31,680 --> 01:08:33,560
first and foremost in everything
we do.
1238
01:08:33,800 --> 01:08:37,680
Yeah, yeah, that's good.
So you know, again back to this
1239
01:08:37,680 --> 01:08:41,840
this process, because I'm just
curious, you know, show the size
1240
01:08:41,840 --> 01:08:46,399
of MMM 72, how far in advance,
how far back?
1241
01:08:46,560 --> 01:08:48,200
We took.
It like you're touring.
1242
01:08:48,200 --> 01:08:52,399
Let's say tour starts March 15th
of 2023.
1243
01:08:52,960 --> 01:08:56,760
When do you start?
You know or. 72 started in
1244
01:08:56,760 --> 01:08:59,680
earnest OK, forget about my
musings about this or that.
1245
01:08:59,680 --> 01:09:01,920
I was actually working on an
indoor show because I thought we
1246
01:09:01,920 --> 01:09:05,319
were going to go indoors and I
was playing with the cylinders
1247
01:09:05,319 --> 01:09:08,840
for an indoor show, trying to
figure out how to do something.
1248
01:09:08,840 --> 01:09:10,960
I was really going down these
rabbit hills and trying to
1249
01:09:10,960 --> 01:09:12,120
figure how am I going to make
this work.
1250
01:09:12,120 --> 01:09:16,520
Let me see, I I like shapes and
I had these cylinder things and
1251
01:09:16,520 --> 01:09:19,960
I said they were going to go in
the round and then it was like,
1252
01:09:19,960 --> 01:09:22,479
OK, well how do I take these
cylinders and make them work in
1253
01:09:22,520 --> 01:09:24,200
a stadium?
It it in earnest.
1254
01:09:24,200 --> 01:09:27,920
It took about a year and then
there was a pretty big shift in
1255
01:09:27,920 --> 01:09:32,080
the stage element.
And then, you know, we got into
1256
01:09:32,080 --> 01:09:36,000
this thing when we played the
night before the Super Bowl back
1257
01:09:36,000 --> 01:09:38,680
in San Francisco of playing
without a roof.
1258
01:09:39,840 --> 01:09:43,160
You know, I I like work with the
with this band that says, well,
1259
01:09:43,160 --> 01:09:46,760
if it's raining, the crowd gets
wet, so we'll get wet.
1260
01:09:47,640 --> 01:09:48,319
Wow.
We don't.
1261
01:09:48,319 --> 01:09:50,200
We don't need to be protected.
That's.
1262
01:09:50,359 --> 01:09:51,760
Cool.
We won with our fans, huh?
1263
01:09:52,720 --> 01:09:55,080
And so we got into this thing
and not using a roof well.
1264
01:09:55,080 --> 01:09:56,880
How do you play in a stadium
without a roof?
1265
01:09:56,880 --> 01:09:58,760
And and there's a lot of
engineering.
1266
01:09:58,760 --> 01:10:02,760
That's challenging, Yeah.
In the round, in a stadium, no
1267
01:10:02,760 --> 01:10:03,800
roof.
Yeah.
1268
01:10:03,800 --> 01:10:06,520
Where do you hang?
Lights brilliant people at
1269
01:10:06,520 --> 01:10:08,280
Stageco.
Yeah.
1270
01:10:09,040 --> 01:10:10,840
Again, I can't say enough about
the team.
1271
01:10:10,840 --> 01:10:12,840
Chad Kaler, our rigger.
Unbelievable.
1272
01:10:13,560 --> 01:10:16,360
Unbelievable.
Unbelievable.
1273
01:10:16,360 --> 01:10:18,280
So well.
What does a rigger do when it's
1274
01:10:18,280 --> 01:10:22,400
in the round in a stadium with
no lights hanging above the
1275
01:10:22,400 --> 01:10:24,920
stage?
Well, there's little towers that
1276
01:10:24,920 --> 01:10:28,440
are holding up all that light,
which kind of work with the crib
1277
01:10:28,480 --> 01:10:30,440
towers.
If you look at the album artwork
1278
01:10:30,440 --> 01:10:33,560
and stuff and you'll see that
the towers kind of work in that
1279
01:10:33,560 --> 01:10:36,240
whole thing.
And yeah, and the the circle
1280
01:10:36,240 --> 01:10:38,240
theme carries through the whole
thing.
1281
01:10:38,240 --> 01:10:41,080
But those lights and the sound
and all that stuff is rigged on
1282
01:10:41,080 --> 01:10:43,640
those towers, Yeah, of course.
And then there's a Canton Mary
1283
01:10:43,640 --> 01:10:47,000
system of cables that hangs the
speakers that cover the field.
1284
01:10:47,360 --> 01:10:49,920
Yeah.
There's a There's a whole bunch
1285
01:10:49,920 --> 01:10:52,440
for Chad and his.
Team to do Yeah, yeah.
1286
01:10:52,440 --> 01:10:56,120
It's just different, you know.
It's not like, you know, rigging
1287
01:10:56,120 --> 01:10:57,960
points in the ceiling.
It's, it's.
1288
01:10:58,240 --> 01:10:59,920
No, we're hanging stuff where
there's no.
1289
01:10:59,920 --> 01:11:02,040
Hanging.
So those those towers were quite
1290
01:11:02,080 --> 01:11:04,600
a quite a creation then, right?
Like that was quite an
1291
01:11:04,600 --> 01:11:08,040
engineering feat, I'm guessing.
The the engineering was, you
1292
01:11:08,080 --> 01:11:10,600
know, we went to Stageco and
they're like, you're crazy.
1293
01:11:10,600 --> 01:11:12,800
But they told me I was crazy
when I wanted to paint all the
1294
01:11:12,800 --> 01:11:14,920
towers white for the World Wired
Tour too.
1295
01:11:14,960 --> 01:11:17,600
Yeah, yeah.
And then then they sent me a
1296
01:11:17,600 --> 01:11:20,280
picture of Chanel doing the same
thing, 'cause they saw our show
1297
01:11:20,280 --> 01:11:24,040
and they thought it looked good.
I thought that was that was a
1298
01:11:24,040 --> 01:11:27,680
nice compliment.
But you know, the folks at
1299
01:11:27,680 --> 01:11:32,160
Stageco, just, just they're at
this level.
1300
01:11:32,160 --> 01:11:35,440
We're able to work with really,
really talented people, yeah.
1301
01:11:35,520 --> 01:11:38,840
Who?
Have worked with this enough to
1302
01:11:38,840 --> 01:11:40,280
go.
That guy's crazy.
1303
01:11:40,760 --> 01:11:42,280
Let's figure out how we're going
to do this.
1304
01:11:42,440 --> 01:11:44,400
You know, that's got to be a
really.
1305
01:11:45,080 --> 01:11:47,240
Cool thing and Adam Davis.
Yeah, of course.
1306
01:11:47,320 --> 01:11:48,840
Yeah, you.
Know.
1307
01:11:51,920 --> 01:11:53,000
I don't know.
It just it.
1308
01:11:53,000 --> 01:11:55,080
We're really fortunate.
We have a great, great team.
1309
01:11:55,120 --> 01:11:58,760
As I said, none of this happens
from any guy doing something.
1310
01:11:58,760 --> 01:12:02,880
Yeah, right.
But if I set all humility aside,
1311
01:12:02,880 --> 01:12:06,280
I can say it was a clever idea
or something like yeah, but to
1312
01:12:06,280 --> 01:12:11,240
make the clever idea sit in
Amsterdam that first night in in
1313
01:12:11,320 --> 01:12:14,560
in the stadium in Amsterdam, it
takes an enormous number of
1314
01:12:14,560 --> 01:12:17,720
people firing on all cylinders
at a really, really high level.
1315
01:12:18,080 --> 01:12:22,480
But it's still.
It's got to be really cool to be
1316
01:12:22,520 --> 01:12:25,960
Metallica, because you could go
to Intel and say, hey, we need
1317
01:12:25,960 --> 01:12:28,440
this cool technology for our
tour this year.
1318
01:12:28,640 --> 01:12:30,800
Or you could go to Apple
computers.
1319
01:12:30,800 --> 01:12:33,360
Or you could go to like whoever
you want.
1320
01:12:33,360 --> 01:12:35,600
And you're going to be able to
get a meeting at a pretty high
1321
01:12:35,600 --> 01:12:40,240
level to create something unique
for you to use on your.
1322
01:12:40,240 --> 01:12:42,600
Tour this year that we have is
that we only want one.
1323
01:12:43,280 --> 01:12:45,680
Yeah, it ain't going to be
profitable people.
1324
01:12:45,920 --> 01:12:47,600
Are in telling those people
they're like, well.
1325
01:12:47,840 --> 01:12:49,080
How many of these are we going
to sell?
1326
01:12:49,560 --> 01:12:51,360
One.
Yeah, but it goes to their
1327
01:12:51,360 --> 01:12:53,560
marketing budget.
It goes to their marketing
1328
01:12:53,560 --> 01:12:56,080
budget 'cause they'll do 1000
commercials that show.
1329
01:12:56,080 --> 01:12:58,320
Look, this is the thing on
Metallica.
1330
01:12:58,320 --> 01:13:01,120
Metallica.
Is not big with sponsorship and
1331
01:13:01,120 --> 01:13:04,000
things like that.
So we run into some some things
1332
01:13:04,000 --> 01:13:07,440
there.
But yeah, we we're it's it's a
1333
01:13:07,440 --> 01:13:09,720
great bunch.
It's a great band to be able to
1334
01:13:09,720 --> 01:13:12,080
work with and there's great
resources available and we have
1335
01:13:12,080 --> 01:13:16,400
a great management structure.
You know, people like Tony Di
1336
01:13:16,440 --> 01:13:19,400
Chacho figuring out are you out
of your mind, You understand
1337
01:13:19,400 --> 01:13:21,600
what this is going to cost.
I told you it's going to be big.
1338
01:13:21,600 --> 01:13:23,880
It's going to be expensive.
And he's got to figure out how
1339
01:13:23,880 --> 01:13:27,760
we're going to make this thing
actually, you know, how to take
1340
01:13:27,760 --> 01:13:32,000
this, this kind of crazy idea
and and hopefully make it make
1341
01:13:32,000 --> 01:13:34,000
sense or better yet, make
dollars.
1342
01:13:34,440 --> 01:13:38,320
You know, I mean, you know,
even, you know, just getting the
1343
01:13:38,320 --> 01:13:42,280
machine to be running correctly
is very challenging at the level
1344
01:13:42,280 --> 01:13:45,200
that this thing plays at.
And it takes everybody, It takes
1345
01:13:45,200 --> 01:13:48,120
the folks at Q Prime, it takes
tone, it takes Mark, it takes
1346
01:13:48,120 --> 01:13:50,040
all the people at HQ and
Metallica.
1347
01:13:50,560 --> 01:13:53,960
But you know, there's people
that never experience the joy of
1348
01:13:53,960 --> 01:13:57,160
the house lights turning off and
the roar of the crowd who are
1349
01:13:57,160 --> 01:13:59,400
such big contributors to this
thing.
1350
01:14:00,840 --> 01:14:03,920
I have to thank them because
they all make this possible.
1351
01:14:03,920 --> 01:14:06,400
Of course, yeah.
Well, and then you know as well
1352
01:14:06,400 --> 01:14:09,160
as anybody, because you've been
a production manager for a long
1353
01:14:09,160 --> 01:14:13,120
time as well, it needs to come
down and it needs to go back up
1354
01:14:13,120 --> 01:14:16,360
again tomorrow, you know.
So like you can design whatever
1355
01:14:16,360 --> 01:14:19,080
you want, but if you don't have
the budget to build it, or if
1356
01:14:19,080 --> 01:14:21,720
you don't have the ability to
get it in and out of a building,
1357
01:14:22,040 --> 01:14:24,680
you know and then you got to
start while you guys probably
1358
01:14:24,680 --> 01:14:27,000
leapfrog, steal or something,
I'm guessing right?
1359
01:14:28,280 --> 01:14:31,000
We we've actually got it.
They're not playing that much.
1360
01:14:31,000 --> 01:14:33,440
You're playing, you know,
they're doing 2 shows in a city
1361
01:14:34,240 --> 01:14:36,040
with a different set list every
night.
1362
01:14:36,040 --> 01:14:39,680
So there's no repeat songs,
there's no repeat lighting cues
1363
01:14:39,680 --> 01:14:40,840
or video cues.
It's.
1364
01:14:40,920 --> 01:14:42,920
Just it's two totally different
sets.
1365
01:14:43,280 --> 01:14:45,480
That's wild.
That's a big challenge right
1366
01:14:45,480 --> 01:14:47,200
there.
Yeah, no kidding.
1367
01:14:47,680 --> 01:14:49,400
Not just for the crew, but for
the band.
1368
01:14:50,120 --> 01:14:56,480
And so the schedule works out OK
with with we're not doubling
1369
01:14:56,480 --> 01:15:00,440
that much gear, we're able to
move the production and not
1370
01:15:00,440 --> 01:15:03,640
double that.
And you know, tower bases are
1371
01:15:03,640 --> 01:15:08,000
doubled or tripled sometimes and
the towers we've got, there's so
1372
01:15:08,000 --> 01:15:11,720
much of The thing is bespoke.
I I'd be really honest, we can't
1373
01:15:11,720 --> 01:15:13,280
afford to build two of them or
three of them.
1374
01:15:13,320 --> 01:15:15,600
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean, that stuff's all
1375
01:15:15,840 --> 01:15:19,000
expensive.
And that's where you know, the
1376
01:15:19,000 --> 01:15:21,880
team that puts the whole thing
together, even figuring it out.
1377
01:15:21,880 --> 01:15:24,200
The routing is a huge part of
making it possible.
1378
01:15:24,400 --> 01:15:28,040
Yeah, yeah.
How soon were you guys out after
1379
01:15:28,040 --> 01:15:32,360
COVID?
We did a movie theater thing
1380
01:15:32,360 --> 01:15:34,360
during COVID.
We did a there was somebody who
1381
01:15:34,360 --> 01:15:38,040
had this idea to do drive in
theaters, and we filmed the show
1382
01:15:38,040 --> 01:15:39,720
at.
They wanted us to use one of
1383
01:15:39,720 --> 01:15:43,640
these XR stages, and we looked
at some of that stuff and went
1384
01:15:43,640 --> 01:15:45,960
there that we're not.
That's not Metallica.
1385
01:15:45,960 --> 01:15:52,240
So we went up to a winery in in
Napa, in the middle of COVID and
1386
01:15:52,240 --> 01:15:56,440
at full lockdown we bought out a
wing of a hotel, a motel, and
1387
01:15:56,440 --> 01:15:58,960
you know, did the whole thing,
testing every day back when the
1388
01:15:58,960 --> 01:16:01,400
swabs went all the way to back
of your head and felt like
1389
01:16:01,400 --> 01:16:04,560
somebody was killing you.
And we tested every day, went
1390
01:16:04,560 --> 01:16:06,520
through that whole protocol.
We did that.
1391
01:16:06,520 --> 01:16:10,280
That played in drive ins.
Then the next we had done S and
1392
01:16:10,280 --> 01:16:12,560
M2 was the last time they played
live.
1393
01:16:12,880 --> 01:16:15,920
We played that show at the
winery with no people.
1394
01:16:16,520 --> 01:16:18,680
We just filmed it and I was
stunned at how the band
1395
01:16:18,680 --> 01:16:21,320
performed really.
And we talked a lot about
1396
01:16:21,320 --> 01:16:25,000
visualizing their fan base and
they were they pulled it off and
1397
01:16:25,000 --> 01:16:27,600
then we did the the show you
reference for the for the
1398
01:16:28,000 --> 01:16:31,960
fundraiser, for the Bennett, for
their foundation And that's when
1399
01:16:31,960 --> 01:16:34,200
I knew we had to have people on
screens.
1400
01:16:34,200 --> 01:16:36,280
We had to have that or they
weren't going to be able to do
1401
01:16:36,280 --> 01:16:39,320
what they did at the theater.
And then we went out I think the
1402
01:16:39,320 --> 01:16:41,040
next spring.
I don't remember the exact
1403
01:16:41,040 --> 01:16:43,600
dates, but I think the next
spring when we do live shows, so
1404
01:16:43,600 --> 01:16:49,080
probably 2021 and and very
careful and and.
1405
01:16:51,160 --> 01:16:52,720
And then it just.
Went.
1406
01:16:52,960 --> 01:16:55,560
Batshit crazy after that, you
know?
1407
01:16:55,560 --> 01:16:57,280
It's just been kind of nuts ever
since.
1408
01:16:57,440 --> 01:17:00,040
But you know at the end of the
day, it's been non-stop since I
1409
01:17:00,040 --> 01:17:03,520
got here in 94 and about two
weeks into that tour when we
1410
01:17:03,520 --> 01:17:05,360
were doing it, I looked at him.
I said, you guys, this isn't a
1411
01:17:05,360 --> 01:17:07,200
new tour.
You just took a longer break
1412
01:17:07,200 --> 01:17:10,560
since the last one.
Because that's just it's it's
1413
01:17:10,560 --> 01:17:11,840
they.
Just all blend together.
1414
01:17:11,880 --> 01:17:14,360
Ocean, you know, ours is a lot
of mind.
1415
01:17:14,360 --> 01:17:17,560
That's just it's always going
you know next year and the year
1416
01:17:17,560 --> 01:17:23,880
after that and he's thinking out
he's he's really creative and
1417
01:17:23,880 --> 01:17:29,400
has an incredibly, he's smart as
hell and he's really creative
1418
01:17:29,400 --> 01:17:34,800
and the combination is is really
dangerous because he knows where
1419
01:17:34,800 --> 01:17:38,120
he's going creatively and he can
project that out into what the
1420
01:17:38,120 --> 01:17:41,400
practicality of delivering it to
to in the future.
1421
01:17:41,440 --> 01:17:43,160
Is well, and what does that
look?
1422
01:17:43,200 --> 01:17:46,520
What does that look like?
As far as like, does the band
1423
01:17:46,520 --> 01:17:50,200
just agree whenever Lars comes
up with a wild idea?
1424
01:17:50,200 --> 01:17:52,800
You know what?
That That's their, that's their
1425
01:17:52,800 --> 01:17:54,560
world.
The four of them are very much
1426
01:17:54,560 --> 01:17:57,120
like a family, you know, I mean,
you think about it.
1427
01:17:58,040 --> 01:18:01,320
You know, Lars, James and Kirk
have been together forever.
1428
01:18:01,320 --> 01:18:03,920
And really, Rob's been there now
so long that he's been there
1429
01:18:03,920 --> 01:18:05,160
forever.
Yeah.
1430
01:18:05,160 --> 01:18:08,000
And most marriages don't last as
long as those guys have been
1431
01:18:08,000 --> 01:18:11,520
together.
So they have their process and
1432
01:18:11,520 --> 01:18:14,920
and you know it's not that Lars
dictates what's going on.
1433
01:18:15,240 --> 01:18:17,920
It's just he's got a vision hey
we can do this and we I don't
1434
01:18:19,080 --> 01:18:22,760
think that we ever really hit
the marks It's not like a it's
1435
01:18:22,760 --> 01:18:26,440
not like a a prescription of
next month this next month this
1436
01:18:26,440 --> 01:18:28,680
next month this.
He's just thinking ahead.
1437
01:18:28,680 --> 01:18:31,800
If you if you listen to an
interview with Lars and ask him
1438
01:18:31,800 --> 01:18:34,880
what his favorite album is, and
James as well, they'll always
1439
01:18:34,880 --> 01:18:37,960
tell you the next one.
They don't know what the next
1440
01:18:37,960 --> 01:18:41,000
one's going to be, but they know
there's going to be a next one.
1441
01:18:41,320 --> 01:18:43,480
And they don't know exactly when
it's going to happen.
1442
01:18:43,960 --> 01:18:46,360
But they have a kind of a thing
like, well, we're going to do
1443
01:18:46,360 --> 01:18:48,560
this.
Then we want to go play here and
1444
01:18:48,560 --> 01:18:50,960
we want to go to these places
and we want to take the show
1445
01:18:50,960 --> 01:18:53,280
here and when we get all that
done.
1446
01:18:53,280 --> 01:18:55,440
And of course, none of that ever
works on schedule because
1447
01:18:55,440 --> 01:18:57,680
availabilities and routing and
shipping, blah, blah, blah,
1448
01:18:57,880 --> 01:19:00,200
blah, blah, blah.
And then when we get through all
1449
01:19:00,200 --> 01:19:04,120
this stuff, maybe we'll we'll,
you know we'll start kind of
1450
01:19:04,120 --> 01:19:06,200
thinking about another album
cycle.
1451
01:19:06,200 --> 01:19:10,560
And it's a it's yeah, it's been
remarkable to be a part of
1452
01:19:10,560 --> 01:19:12,880
that's.
Yeah, yeah, it sounds like it.
1453
01:19:13,960 --> 01:19:17,640
Are you ever surprised by their
longevity?
1454
01:19:18,480 --> 01:19:21,960
You know, like, I guess the
problem working so long for a
1455
01:19:21,960 --> 01:19:27,160
band like Metallica is you have
to stay as fit as them.
1456
01:19:27,160 --> 01:19:29,640
Like you have to.
You have to be right there
1457
01:19:29,640 --> 01:19:32,280
alongside them, right?
Regardless of whatever your age
1458
01:19:32,280 --> 01:19:34,520
is versus their age or whatever,
like.
1459
01:19:34,520 --> 01:19:37,320
Surprised.
No, I think I'm more impressed
1460
01:19:37,320 --> 01:19:39,120
with it.
I look at the way they took care
1461
01:19:39,120 --> 01:19:41,640
of themselves.
Maybe better now than they did
1462
01:19:41,640 --> 01:19:43,880
when they were younger, out of
necessity.
1463
01:19:44,120 --> 01:19:46,640
Yeah, I think all of us.
I look at the commitment they
1464
01:19:46,640 --> 01:19:48,880
have to playing and delivering a
show.
1465
01:19:50,120 --> 01:19:57,200
And the one of the things that
is always humbled me with them
1466
01:19:57,200 --> 01:20:00,960
is it is their relationship with
the audience and the the
1467
01:20:01,240 --> 01:20:03,320
precious level they hold that
at.
1468
01:20:03,640 --> 01:20:06,960
And the fact that we don't have
AB Show to take to Bismarck.
1469
01:20:07,240 --> 01:20:09,560
I'm not picking on Bismarck.
And I noticed, I didn't say
1470
01:20:09,560 --> 01:20:11,280
which state.
There's a lot of Bismarck, Oh.
1471
01:20:11,800 --> 01:20:12,280
Are they?
We don't.
1472
01:20:12,280 --> 01:20:14,720
I only know what we don't.
Have AB show to take to
1473
01:20:14,720 --> 01:20:18,040
Bismarck.
The Bismarck show is the same
1474
01:20:18,040 --> 01:20:21,120
show that plays New York or
Chicago or wherever.
1475
01:20:21,600 --> 01:20:24,280
Now there's some logistical
things that become impractical
1476
01:20:24,280 --> 01:20:27,840
to try to You know, you can't
take that stadium show and put
1477
01:20:27,840 --> 01:20:30,440
it into a place that doesn't
have the the infrastructure to
1478
01:20:30,440 --> 01:20:32,960
deal with.
But there isn't AB show.
1479
01:20:33,200 --> 01:20:34,720
They'll put out the same energy,
though.
1480
01:20:35,120 --> 01:20:38,000
The other thing that is it's a,
it's a show.
1481
01:20:38,000 --> 01:20:41,520
It is a dramatic big Metallica
show.
1482
01:20:41,880 --> 01:20:45,960
And you know, many times ours is
like make sure it's Metallica.
1483
01:20:46,520 --> 01:20:49,560
There isn't AB show.
And the other thing is I've seen
1484
01:20:49,560 --> 01:20:53,040
them sick, I've seen them going
through personal crisis in life.
1485
01:20:53,040 --> 01:20:55,680
I've seen them with kids being
born.
1486
01:20:56,760 --> 01:21:00,920
All of the things that in 30 or
40 years you go through, I've
1487
01:21:00,920 --> 01:21:03,440
never seen them phone it in when
they get to the top step of the
1488
01:21:03,440 --> 01:21:03,720
state.
Oh.
1489
01:21:03,800 --> 01:21:05,080
Really.
That's cool.
1490
01:21:05,080 --> 01:21:08,040
I've seen them.
I've had a difficult time
1491
01:21:08,040 --> 01:21:12,120
getting them up those stairs
sometimes, but when they hit the
1492
01:21:12,120 --> 01:21:16,680
top step, it's on.
And that to me is, is.
1493
01:21:16,680 --> 01:21:19,000
That's the money.
That's the magic.
1494
01:21:19,200 --> 01:21:22,240
There's no like.
There's no end like.
1495
01:21:22,240 --> 01:21:25,600
There's no like, OK, we're going
to do this until here I.
1496
01:21:26,360 --> 01:21:28,520
Don't know how much I have.
You know I'm an old man.
1497
01:21:28,600 --> 01:21:29,200
I don't.
I don't.
1498
01:21:29,280 --> 01:21:30,800
Know I was going to ask you
that.
1499
01:21:30,800 --> 01:21:34,880
Like, do you plan a life after
Metallica or or is it?
1500
01:21:35,200 --> 01:21:37,880
Is it when Metallica stops, I
stop?
1501
01:21:37,880 --> 01:21:39,840
That's my plan, you know?
And I know.
1502
01:21:39,880 --> 01:21:42,400
That's a personal question.
I would hope, you know, I hope I
1503
01:21:42,400 --> 01:21:44,760
have the opportunity to that
they would keep me around that
1504
01:21:44,840 --> 01:21:46,200
long.
I don't take any of it for
1505
01:21:46,240 --> 01:21:47,840
granted.
I'd be very fortunate in this
1506
01:21:47,840 --> 01:21:53,800
whole thing, but I think I think
that as long as I'm enjoying
1507
01:21:53,800 --> 01:21:57,400
what I'm doing, the team we have
right now, the creative energy
1508
01:21:57,400 --> 01:22:00,520
when we're on, that's like
that's what I love.
1509
01:22:00,520 --> 01:22:02,880
Like at this point.
It's it's not that it's not
1510
01:22:02,880 --> 01:22:04,960
interesting now because we're
going to go back and redo a
1511
01:22:04,960 --> 01:22:07,080
bunch of things.
There'll be a bunch of, I'm, I'm
1512
01:22:07,080 --> 01:22:09,880
guessing Lars is going to insert
a bunch of new songs for this
1513
01:22:09,880 --> 01:22:12,760
year and then so that will start
the creative process.
1514
01:22:13,040 --> 01:22:17,320
But when we're In Sync as a
team, working together on trying
1515
01:22:17,320 --> 01:22:21,200
to create a show, that's that's
that kid who was sitting and
1516
01:22:21,200 --> 01:22:23,680
watching Pink Floyd.
When I wonder how we do this,
1517
01:22:24,360 --> 01:22:25,880
that's the.
That's.
1518
01:22:26,120 --> 01:22:28,880
Really cool.
Oh, this is how we do this.
1519
01:22:28,880 --> 01:22:32,400
Watch this.
I love when I have a design
1520
01:22:32,400 --> 01:22:34,760
together that's kind of, it's
sort of.
1521
01:22:35,040 --> 01:22:37,640
It's no longer a nebulous gas
cloud, if you will.
1522
01:22:37,640 --> 01:22:39,920
It's no longer scribbling.
It's like it is.
1523
01:22:39,920 --> 01:22:43,280
We're going to send it to Rob
and I'll send it to Gene and I
1524
01:22:43,280 --> 01:22:46,760
love that first Test text back.
You know, WTF?
1525
01:22:46,760 --> 01:22:50,000
Explanation, point explanation.
What is wrong with you?
1526
01:22:50,000 --> 01:22:52,880
What are you thinking?
Yeah, well, I think you have to
1527
01:22:52,880 --> 01:22:55,320
think big.
Oh, is that bad thinking?
1528
01:22:55,640 --> 01:22:59,560
You know those moments, that's
that's that's magic.
1529
01:22:59,560 --> 01:23:02,120
When Rob comes back to me and
goes, I want to use this slide
1530
01:23:02,120 --> 01:23:03,600
and here's why this is going to
do this.
1531
01:23:03,600 --> 01:23:05,840
And I'm like, well, I like that,
but what if we did this?
1532
01:23:06,080 --> 01:23:07,680
Oh no, we're not going to do
that.
1533
01:23:07,680 --> 01:23:12,280
We'll do this and it it.
It's that same process I talked
1534
01:23:12,280 --> 01:23:15,320
about in the Metallica show of
taking the energy, taking the
1535
01:23:15,320 --> 01:23:18,400
communication and building in a
positive way.
1536
01:23:18,400 --> 01:23:21,200
And you know, we're lucky we
have a team, and I've been on
1537
01:23:21,200 --> 01:23:24,320
teams where it's not this way,
where everybody is pushing
1538
01:23:24,320 --> 01:23:26,560
towards the good of everybody
else and for the good of the
1539
01:23:26,560 --> 01:23:30,560
show, nobody's selling.
No one's selling anyone out to
1540
01:23:30,560 --> 01:23:34,440
kind of elevate their position
at someone else's expense.
1541
01:23:35,280 --> 01:23:38,040
It's pretty special.
So we try to keep that going for
1542
01:23:38,040 --> 01:23:40,440
as long as we can.
I have a super important
1543
01:23:40,440 --> 01:23:44,000
question for you.
Did the Did the Metallica Lego
1544
01:23:44,000 --> 01:23:47,240
set ever get approved?
I don't know if it made it or
1545
01:23:47,240 --> 01:23:48,880
not.
You know, I think Gene found
1546
01:23:48,880 --> 01:23:52,000
that thing and he started
populating it and I was blown
1547
01:23:52,000 --> 01:23:53,880
away.
That guy has what we call the
1548
01:23:53,880 --> 01:23:56,800
cube show, which was the World
Wired indoor show.
1549
01:23:56,960 --> 01:23:58,640
OK.
He has the, what we call the
1550
01:23:58,640 --> 01:24:02,040
five screen show, which was the
world Wired outdoor show.
1551
01:24:02,240 --> 01:24:04,920
Yeah.
And the tower, the the M 72
1552
01:24:04,920 --> 01:24:08,680
Tour, he's got the whole thing.
He's got Mick in Legos like it's
1553
01:24:08,680 --> 01:24:10,440
unbelievable.
That's wild.
1554
01:24:11,160 --> 01:24:13,960
That's too much time in the
basement with flamin Hot Cheetos
1555
01:24:13,960 --> 01:24:15,800
in red Mountain Dew.
No kidding.
1556
01:24:15,800 --> 01:24:18,120
No kidding.
But somebody was telling me that
1557
01:24:18,120 --> 01:24:22,320
there's over 10,000 ideas that
were submitted or something.
1558
01:24:23,080 --> 01:24:26,520
Well, you have to get 10,000
likes for Lego to consider it, I
1559
01:24:26,520 --> 01:24:27,680
think.
Oh, I see.
1560
01:24:27,720 --> 01:24:31,360
And so, so Gene took this thing.
We all started reposting it
1561
01:24:31,360 --> 01:24:33,160
because we all cracked up when
we found it.
1562
01:24:33,160 --> 01:24:35,080
No kidding.
At first we're laughing about
1563
01:24:35,080 --> 01:24:36,560
it.
Then I started drilling down on
1564
01:24:36,560 --> 01:24:39,440
how much of this stuff the guy
had and I was like, this is
1565
01:24:39,440 --> 01:24:42,120
unbelievable.
So we we tried to push him over
1566
01:24:42,120 --> 01:24:44,440
the 10,000 number to get Lego to
consider it.
1567
01:24:44,800 --> 01:24:46,520
I have not heard whether we got
that'd.
1568
01:24:46,520 --> 01:24:47,880
Be really cool.
We were close.
1569
01:24:47,960 --> 01:24:49,520
We were really, really close
that.
1570
01:24:49,720 --> 01:24:53,120
'D be cool, I think.
Last I heard, we were at 9500
1571
01:24:54,760 --> 01:24:57,320
and sure, then there'd be some
logistics involved in that.
1572
01:24:57,360 --> 01:25:00,000
Yeah, there'd be some lawyers
involved in making that deal.
1573
01:25:00,360 --> 01:25:03,720
The funny thing about Metallica
is like, as popular as they've
1574
01:25:03,720 --> 01:25:07,920
gotten and the longevity and the
multiple generations and how big
1575
01:25:07,920 --> 01:25:10,960
they are, they've never really
jumped the shark.
1576
01:25:11,560 --> 01:25:14,880
You know, like they've never.
I've never seen them anyways.
1577
01:25:14,880 --> 01:25:17,160
Maybe they did, but I've never
seen them.
1578
01:25:17,320 --> 01:25:21,080
You know, go on America's Got
Talent Oregon or, you know, some
1579
01:25:21,080 --> 01:25:24,600
of the things that some bands
have done where I call it
1580
01:25:24,600 --> 01:25:26,600
jumping the shark.
So did the fawns.
1581
01:25:29,320 --> 01:25:34,040
Yeah, I think.
I think they are underrated in a
1582
01:25:34,040 --> 01:25:36,320
lot of ways.
And I'm not talking about as
1583
01:25:36,320 --> 01:25:39,200
virtuoso players.
I'm talking about as a band, as
1584
01:25:39,200 --> 01:25:43,160
a creative group of four guys.
They have taken incredible
1585
01:25:43,160 --> 01:25:47,000
risks.
They have shown their truth to
1586
01:25:47,000 --> 01:25:51,920
the world in in video
documentary form, in a place
1587
01:25:51,920 --> 01:25:55,000
that very few people would go.
They have shown their truth.
1588
01:25:55,000 --> 01:25:58,640
I don't call it vulnerability.
They have shown their truth to
1589
01:25:58,640 --> 01:26:04,520
their to the world unabashed.
They have taken on musical
1590
01:26:04,520 --> 01:26:09,160
projects like S&M and then
coming back and doing S and M2.
1591
01:26:09,840 --> 01:26:14,960
They have collaborated with Lou
Reed and done some things.
1592
01:26:14,960 --> 01:26:18,560
They took a hard turn to do
Saint Anger in the middle of
1593
01:26:18,560 --> 01:26:22,760
great turmoil and I think
eventually Saint Anger will be
1594
01:26:22,760 --> 01:26:30,200
recognized for for what?
For the passion that is insane
1595
01:26:30,200 --> 01:26:32,200
anger.
Maybe the audio quality is a
1596
01:26:32,200 --> 01:26:35,080
little rough sometimes, but I
think it will.
1597
01:26:35,160 --> 01:26:37,560
Will will stand the test of time
over that.
1598
01:26:37,680 --> 01:26:41,360
Over over time, yeah.
And they've taken incredible
1599
01:26:41,360 --> 01:26:45,080
risks to turn things.
But what they haven't done, what
1600
01:26:45,080 --> 01:26:48,880
I have never seen them do, is be
untrue to themselves.
1601
01:26:50,120 --> 01:26:53,080
And that's that thing about
never phoning it in when they're
1602
01:26:53,080 --> 01:26:55,960
on stage.
Yeah, When you're talking to a
1603
01:26:55,960 --> 01:27:00,360
band member and you know they're
sick and that they go out and
1604
01:27:00,360 --> 01:27:02,600
they do an incredible job and
you're talking to them after
1605
01:27:02,600 --> 01:27:04,600
showing you like Matt, how did
you do that?
1606
01:27:05,120 --> 01:27:07,600
And they look you straight in
the eye, and from their heart
1607
01:27:07,600 --> 01:27:10,200
they tell you I was really dying
up there.
1608
01:27:10,360 --> 01:27:13,200
And I looked down in the front
row and I saw this young kid
1609
01:27:13,200 --> 01:27:14,720
there.
He was there with his dad,
1610
01:27:14,800 --> 01:27:16,920
obviously, because he was too
young to be there alone.
1611
01:27:17,200 --> 01:27:19,280
And he was just rocking his ass
off.
1612
01:27:19,720 --> 01:27:22,320
And I figured, if that kid can
rock, I can rock.
1613
01:27:22,520 --> 01:27:25,360
That is awesome.
OK, when you hear that, it's
1614
01:27:25,400 --> 01:27:27,400
pretty easy to go run through a
wall for him.
1615
01:27:27,600 --> 01:27:30,560
Yeah, you know, it's funny
because I I'm probably the
1616
01:27:30,560 --> 01:27:34,680
person who original Metallica
fans hate because I jumped on
1617
01:27:34,680 --> 01:27:39,000
the bandwagon on Black Album.
I wasn't a fan before that.
1618
01:27:39,040 --> 01:27:43,440
They were, yeah, they they were
a little too heavy.
1619
01:27:43,920 --> 01:27:45,960
Like, I loved, I loved Judas
Priest.
1620
01:27:45,960 --> 01:27:48,960
I loved a lot of the heavy
bands, but Metallica was just a
1621
01:27:48,960 --> 01:27:51,400
little too garagi for me before
that, right?
1622
01:27:51,960 --> 01:27:54,720
And it just wasn't the genre
that I was into.
1623
01:27:54,720 --> 01:27:58,400
But Black Album, I just went,
wow, this is good.
1624
01:27:58,400 --> 01:28:01,800
Like because of the production
quality on it and not because it
1625
01:28:01,800 --> 01:28:03,520
was his probably.
I hit it well.
1626
01:28:03,520 --> 01:28:05,400
And I'm Canadian.
I'm Canadian, he hit.
1627
01:28:05,480 --> 01:28:07,400
It out of the.
Park so.
1628
01:28:07,400 --> 01:28:10,120
And the guys hit it out of the
park with some songwriting that.
1629
01:28:10,840 --> 01:28:12,840
Yeah, Dan.
Again, I think we'll we stand
1630
01:28:12,880 --> 01:28:15,960
the test in.
Time my cousin was Bruce
1631
01:28:15,960 --> 01:28:19,360
Fairburn and so my name is
Marcel Fairbairn.
1632
01:28:19,360 --> 01:28:22,400
My cousin is Bruce Fairbairn was
he's he's passed away.
1633
01:28:22,800 --> 01:28:27,720
But so you know Bruce Fairbairn,
Bob Rock had a very good thing
1634
01:28:27,720 --> 01:28:34,000
going on there in in Vancouver
and and so yeah, I mean I just
1635
01:28:34,000 --> 01:28:38,200
thought that album had the sound
it it had it you know and and
1636
01:28:38,200 --> 01:28:42,480
plus a ballad, you know like
wow, a Metallica ballad that
1637
01:28:42,640 --> 01:28:45,000
became like a huge hit and stuff
too.
1638
01:28:45,360 --> 01:28:49,960
So so yeah, I mean but I I love
that they've reinvented
1639
01:28:49,960 --> 01:28:52,480
themselves like that.
Like they went from being like
1640
01:28:52,480 --> 01:28:56,360
this sort of garage metal band
to being top of the charts.
1641
01:28:56,360 --> 01:28:59,800
You know the most successful
rock band, one of the most.
1642
01:28:59,800 --> 01:29:04,560
Well now the most ever probably.
But you know just incredible and
1643
01:29:04,560 --> 01:29:06,560
and to have the career that
they've had, it's it's
1644
01:29:06,560 --> 01:29:08,400
incredible.
It's just mind blowing.
1645
01:29:08,760 --> 01:29:10,720
So it's.
Been a great journey, you know,
1646
01:29:10,720 --> 01:29:14,560
I think, I think that they were
always more musical than some of
1647
01:29:14,560 --> 01:29:21,200
the folks that they that they're
they're you know associated
1648
01:29:21,240 --> 01:29:21,880
with.
Yeah.
1649
01:29:21,880 --> 01:29:23,960
I take, I have so many people
come to the show.
1650
01:29:23,960 --> 01:29:27,560
You know I'm 66, right?
So And this, my friends are like
1651
01:29:28,760 --> 01:29:31,200
Metallica.
You come see the show, I'll give
1652
01:29:31,200 --> 01:29:32,840
you some earplugs.
Just watch your show.
1653
01:29:33,360 --> 01:29:36,000
And almost to a person they come
to me after the show, they're
1654
01:29:36,000 --> 01:29:41,280
like, I had no idea.
Yeah, they're unbelievable.
1655
01:29:41,440 --> 01:29:44,840
Yeah, they were probably tired
and worn out by the end of the
1656
01:29:45,080 --> 01:29:47,280
show, right?
It's like a it's like a workout.
1657
01:29:48,120 --> 01:29:50,000
What just?
Happened this on the road with
1658
01:29:50,000 --> 01:29:51,480
them.
Not for luxury for.
1659
01:29:51,760 --> 01:29:53,840
Necessity.
No, I meant your friends.
1660
01:29:53,880 --> 01:29:55,800
I meant the fans that were there
watching.
1661
01:29:55,800 --> 01:29:57,680
My friends.
They were probably worn out at
1662
01:29:57,680 --> 01:29:58,920
the.
End they're just, they're like,
1663
01:29:58,920 --> 01:30:02,120
I had no idea that it would,
that it's this good that there's
1664
01:30:02,120 --> 01:30:04,080
this level of passion.
Yeah.
1665
01:30:04,960 --> 01:30:07,040
You know they're like, man, I
the only thing I can compare
1666
01:30:07,040 --> 01:30:09,640
that to is Springsteen.
And I'm like, yeah, because it's
1667
01:30:09,640 --> 01:30:11,000
from the heart.
Yeah.
1668
01:30:11,400 --> 01:30:15,480
Do you still tour?
I go out to a lot of shows.
1669
01:30:17,080 --> 01:30:19,600
If I have work to do with the
shows, if I if there's something
1670
01:30:19,600 --> 01:30:22,640
for me to do, yeah, I'm there.
I'm we're in.
1671
01:30:22,680 --> 01:30:27,120
We're at the point now in the in
the cycle where if there's
1672
01:30:27,120 --> 01:30:28,680
nothing for me to do, to be
there.
1673
01:30:29,960 --> 01:30:31,680
You don't know.
I don't.
1674
01:30:31,680 --> 01:30:34,360
I don't need to be there and
take up space and be another
1675
01:30:34,360 --> 01:30:36,480
person to move around and hotel
and all.
1676
01:30:36,480 --> 01:30:38,600
That.
Stuff and I got stuff I'm
1677
01:30:38,600 --> 01:30:43,240
working on for you know, we're
going to be with the foundation
1678
01:30:43,240 --> 01:30:46,880
will be doing another benefit
coming up and you know the the
1679
01:30:46,880 --> 01:30:49,600
machine doesn't stop working.
The stuff on my plate doesn't
1680
01:30:49,600 --> 01:30:51,800
stop.
So that's that's a great
1681
01:30:51,800 --> 01:30:54,240
blessing.
Yeah, that's very cool.
1682
01:30:54,760 --> 01:30:58,160
I, I appreciate you taking so
much time today out of your your
1683
01:30:58,160 --> 01:31:00,080
schedule.
I know you got a lot going on.
1684
01:31:00,080 --> 01:31:04,400
You're going back to Europe soon
and it's been very interesting
1685
01:31:04,400 --> 01:31:06,800
for sure.
Like, I I love it.
1686
01:31:06,800 --> 01:31:09,960
I love, you know, everybody I
meet from your camp are just
1687
01:31:09,960 --> 01:31:15,960
amazing people and and such a
successful machine, you know,
1688
01:31:17,160 --> 01:31:19,040
it's great.
It's it's been a great journey.
1689
01:31:19,080 --> 01:31:20,560
I'm very fortunate to be part of
it.
1690
01:31:20,560 --> 01:31:23,680
I've enjoyed the time with you.
I'm glad we got to know you got
1691
01:31:23,680 --> 01:31:25,080
me an e-mail and the other
stuff.
1692
01:31:25,320 --> 01:31:27,320
I will, yeah.
I'll e-mail you as soon as we're
1693
01:31:27,320 --> 01:31:32,360
done here and and if I can help
you with that, great, and maybe
1694
01:31:32,360 --> 01:31:35,920
I'll catch you somewhere with.
Us on the road absolutely show,
1695
01:31:35,920 --> 01:31:38,440
but if you want to do this again
sometime and get into specifics,
1696
01:31:38,440 --> 01:31:41,120
we can talk about.
Absolutely would.
1697
01:31:41,120 --> 01:31:43,800
Love to and and stuff like that
and would love to.
1698
01:31:44,080 --> 01:31:46,400
You know, no thanks for your
interest in our show.
1699
01:31:46,600 --> 01:31:48,080
Thanks for your interest in what
I do.
1700
01:31:48,360 --> 01:31:51,040
Yeah, I'm very interested and
I'd love to do it again.
1701
01:31:51,040 --> 01:31:54,080
I'd like to get into some of the
the specifics on the gear that
1702
01:31:54,080 --> 01:31:56,520
we were even talking about
before we started recording.
1703
01:31:56,520 --> 01:31:58,880
So yeah, that would be fun too.
Cool.
1704
01:31:59,080 --> 01:32:01,280
Well, thank you so much, Dan.
I appreciate you.
1705
01:32:01,320 --> 01:32:07,360
And you know, again, if I can
ever do anything for you or you
1706
01:32:07,360 --> 01:32:09,480
know, whatever, just reach out
to me.
1707
01:32:09,480 --> 01:32:11,720
You've, you've got my.
Info Now I've enjoyed the time
1708
01:32:11,720 --> 01:32:14,360
and it's nice getting perfect
for you a little bit and let's
1709
01:32:14,360 --> 01:32:15,440
keep going.
Thanks.