#290 - David Davidian

0:00 Episode #290 with David Davidian, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Stones, Alice Cooper, Who else? Van Halen, Hollywood vampires, and lots and lots of others. Super guy, been working since the 70s in this industry. Everyone loves him. Nice guy. He's been a video director, he's been a lighting director, lighting designer, he's been a production manager and is still a tour manager as well. So very successful career in the industry. Nice guy, fun to talk to and I hope you enjoy it.

0:40 I did. Today's podcast is also brought to you by Elation Lighting. Elation is a privately held corporation established in 1992 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA. All products are developed and engineered in the USA with sales and support offices located in the US, Mexico and Europe, plus distribution via a worldwide dealer network. Elation will also be the subject of our very first Future Tech podcast. Please join me in watching Elation's recently released Pulse series. Video. Inspire your audience's imagination with Elation's Pulse Strobe series. Designed to bolster creativity and deliver breathtaking kinetic intensity, the Pulse series empowers designers to create dynamic lighting experiences that captivate any audience. The Pulse series synthesizes mesmerizing lighting experiences with power and precision, allowing designers to create rhythmic, heart pounding lighting effects with effortless control.

1:46 Elation's Pulse series. Hello and welcome to Geese of Gear episode #290 Today's podcast is brought to you by Main Light, your go to dry hire rental provider bringing you the latest in lighting and stage equipment. From moving lights and control consoles to Truss LE DS and rugged IP65 rated fixtures built for outdoor venues, they have everything you need to make your productions shine.

2:32 Whether it be a small theater venue, an outdoor stadium event, or a television production set, Main Light is the partner you trust with the gear you want. In addition to rentals, Main Light offers new equipment sales from all of your favorite brands as well as used sales on equipment pulled directly from their rental inventory. All used equipment is meticulously maintained and backed by a sixty day depot warranty, ensuring you can have confidence in every purchase. With four strategically located facilities in Teterboro, NJ, Wilmington, DE. Nashville, TN and Las Vegas, NV you get the reach of a national company with the personalized service of a local provider. Visit mainlight.com today to explore their rental options and request a quote direct through their easy to use online ordering platform and.

3:54 Hello, hello, hello. And so we are booking up like crazy for the next couple of months. Sarah has gone mad, people, I'm telling you, Sarah's gone crazy. And so we have a lot of really great guests coming up. I'm pretty excited about where she's going with these new guests that she's booking and not that the old ones are bad, certainly we love all of our guests, but really I'm noticing not only are we reaching out to some really great people, but they're reaching out to us as well. So I appreciate you all. I appreciate folks who have either been on the podcast or listened to the podcast and constantly recommend people to come on it. I don't know if you know this, but a lot of our guests are referrals either through other guests or through people who listen to the podcast every week and we appreciate that very much. We love, we love meeting new people. I don't want to just keep going into my sort of name bag of, of all my old friends and stuff.

4:53 We love to have all kinds of different people on. And I think you notice, but I get pretty excited and interested in all conversations, you know, whether we're talking about lighting, sound, video, whatever. I, we tend to try to gravitate to things that are interesting and sorry for you, but a lot of times that ends up being racing related conversations, but hopefully we get into some pretty interesting stuff as well. So yes, we are pretty booked over the next couple of months. But if you'd like to come on the podcast, just shoot an e-mail to the lovely Sarah, our producer. Her e-mail is producer@geezersofgear.com and Sarah will vet you a little bit.

5:37 Really, the bar isn't that high, folks. It's are you interesting? Are you not interesting? And as long as you have a great story or stories to tell, you've got an interesting past, an interesting career, and we think people will be interested in our conversation, then we'd love to have you on the podcast. So again, e-mail producer@gearsofgear.com. Sarah, I'll get you scheduled and get you in the loop and get you booked. And so I don't know if you've seen this yet, but we've been pushing out some marketing on a new podcast, which I've also mentioned here in the intro, which is called Future Tech. So now Giza Gear has three podcasts now, this one, the main one, and then there is Leading ladies, which Sarah does, which has been going very well actually, you know, really, really well. We're pretty excited about where that's going. Obviously there's a lot of women in the industry who are not only interested in working in the industry, but they're interested in listening to other folks who work in the industry and how they've navigated those waters and, and what their stories are and stuff because it is interesting. You know, it's, I find a lot of really cool thoughts and ideas when I listen to these podcasts from these wonderful ladies who are talking about how, you know, let's face it, this has been a man's world for 50 or 60 years or whatever it's been. And so these wonderful ladies are, are very strong and are very brave and they're

7:08 navigating these, these sometimes vicious waters and coming out on top and coming out very successfully. And there's some really successful careers by women in this incredible industry. So I can't wait to see where this goes with Sarah doing this podcast. She's enjoying it and I think the guests are enjoying it. And from what I've seen so far, the the listeners are certainly enjoying it. So thank you to everyone. And of course, thank you to John Featherstone and and Light Switch who have so graciously sponsored that podcast for us. I know you guys all think that I buy new Ferraris every time we launch a new podcast, but just remember, not everyone makes Joe Rogan money in podcasting. In fact, I don't make a dime from podcasting. I do this because I love doing it. And the money that we are paid by our sponsors pays for what it costs to run this podcast, which I don't even know that it covers the cost yet.

8:05 So if you'd like to sponsor Geese of Gear, sign up here. And so, yeah, again, I'm very grateful to John and to Light Switch for sponsoring leading ladies. But what I was getting at is we do have a new podcast launching right now, which will promote live events, product releases, basically new product releases. And at least initially, it's going to be specifically for, I should say, exclusively for our sponsors. So it's another perk that goes to our sponsors. So again, if you're interested in sponsoring, reach out to producer at gearsofgear.com and Sarah will be happy to discuss sponsorship with you. I think it's a lot less money than you might think it is.

8:47 And so this is a podcast that's going to come out on Fridays. I won't say every Friday because it depends on content. When there is content, when there are new product releases from our sponsors for our hosts to discuss, then they'll discuss it. If there's nothing to talk about, there won't be an episode. So it will be concerning Elation products, and I hope you'll listen to it. It's a very, very new spin. And there are some secrets behind this one too. So I'll tell you more later. And hopefully you'll love Future Tech as much as we've enjoyed creating it, dreaming it up, and launching this first episode. And please, please, please, one last thing, don't forget to like, share and subscribe to our podcast. It really is the only way that we continue to grow is if you help us get the podcast out to more people. And you know, I'd love to have those massive budgets that the Joe Rogans of the world have and go out and market this so that no matter where you go, you see geezer of gear. But that isn't going to happen.

9:56 So we need you to share our podcast. If you like the episode, please share it with people. Please say, hey Bob, have you heard this? Hey John, have you heard this? And send it out to other people. That helps us tremendously. Everybody's interested in bigger numbers, and bigger numbers attract bigger sponsors. And then those sponsors are really happy because they got a pretty big audience who are seeing their information, their branding, their product, etcetera. So thank you very much for liking, sharing and subscribing wherever it is you watch or listen to our podcast. By the way, I've become a real fan of watching podcasts and listening on Spotify. It's this isn't a promo for Spotify by any stretch. We certainly don't earn any money from Spotify. But personally, I just find that it's a very cool medium for podcasts because you can listen when you feel like listening, You can watch when you feel like watching there. Are.

10:52 No boundaries, there's nothing that stops you from doing either, and it's just a very easy product to use from your phone, from your computer, whatever. So check it out. If you haven't tried podcasting on Spotify yet, try it, I think you'll like it. And of course you want to look at this funny looking head, so you want to see some podcasts on video, so nuff, said today's guest David Davidian. With a career spanning nearly five decades, David has been a key figure in live entertainment, working with iconic artists such as The Stones, Van Halen, Night Ranger, Alice Cooper, so many more. His multi faceted expertise include includes roles as a lighting designer, production manager, tour manager and video director, showcasing his versatility and dedication to excellence. Currently serving as Tour Manager for Alice Cooper and the Hollywood Vampires, David overseas everything from travel logistics to show settlements and production design. His recent contributions include designing the lighting, video and stage effects for the Hollywood Vampires 2023 tour and creating the visual elements for Jackson Browne's global tours in 2021 and 22.

12:07 David's ethos is simple. Behave like you want someone to behave. This philosophy, combined with his professionalism and creative talent, has made him an invaluable asset to the entertainment industry. As he awaits the next chapter with Alice Cooper and the Hollywood Vampires, David continues to push boundaries and deliver unforgettable live experiences. He was on the podcast in 2020 with me. I enjoyed it very much. You can go back there and listen to that. It's episode #104 again, available anywhere you get our podcast. Just search for either David Davinian or search for episode #104 or by the way, you can just go to Google and type in David Davinian Gears of Gear or episode one O 4 Geez of gear and Google will bring you there as well.

12:52 So please join me and welcome Mr. David Davidian back to the podcast. Mr. Davidian, how are you? I'm. Well, thanks. It's fantastic to see you. Same here buddy. I'm well, it's such a good answer, do you know that? Yeah. I'm well is a good answer because. It is, I like to say, right side of the dirt. That's another good answer because unfortunately not everyone is. You know, it's, it's been a rough few years for our industry, that's for sure. It has been a rough few years. Every year, I mean, certainly my generation, which is more and more and more of, let's call it the founding fathers of. Hell yeah. Of this, of this industry.

13:34 And let's not leave out Los Angeles, man. Oh. My God, Jesus, what a mess. You know, it's, it's Sarah was asking me earlier today because she's she's in Crete, an island off of Greece. And for whatever reason, she doesn't watch a lot of news and stuff. So she was asking me this morning, what's going on with these fires? Is it bad? And I said, Oh my God, like half the city's gone. You know, it literally is just completely wiping Southern California off the map. And, you know, people are losing not only their possessions, but they're losing their lives and. No, they're losing. Yeah, it's, I mean, your possessions, everybody, you know, we all want to not be defined. I mean, it's a, it's a terrible thing in our industry as well.

14:17 So many people in this business are defined by their job. In other words, if they don't feel like they have a tour, they, they feel like they're less than a person. What a what a that's a scary thing for me to think. And and you know my certainly whatever I would say to anybody who feels that is do not you are much more than any tour or any lighting design job or video director job. Such a huge, huge point you make because I remember having so many of those conversations during COVID where people literally were just like losing their minds, you know, because they didn't have a gig. So that you weren't, you know, Alice Cooper's guy. You were just David, the guy down the block with no gig, you know?

15:04 And you know you got to be more than just your job, I think. You do you, you need to really be able to look at yourself everyday and just say that I you have self worth unto yourself, whether you know whether even if you're a single guy or woman alone living by yourself. I mean, you have value and stuff that you can input into the community, the Ethernet, even into your own life. I mean, even studying, going to school or whatever. I mean, all of this is valued, but I've heard. Some of the awful. Stories about. The extreme of that, David, is, is like when you're sort of at the end of your career, like so many people in our industry are getting there, you know?

15:46 Yeah, but you you're still relevant as long as your artists stay alive. You're good. There you go. You're good, Alice. Ain't stopping anytime soon and and you're. His guy, he's a machine. Yeah, he is. Well, you know what? He quit drinking soon enough. He quit drugs, he quit drinking, he quit all of that stuff early enough in life where he was able to become a healthy guy and now he's a healthy whatever. He is 727375. 7778 But he's, he's one of the yeah, he's one of the loveliest human beings on the planet, without a doubt. So I was just saying that Fort Lauderdale, I was backstage for Alice and I had just read Golf Monster. I don't know if you've ever read it, but it's a great book. Yeah, I, I, well, I haven't read it, but I know it. Yeah, so I mean it.

16:33 It's a cool book because it's sort of half about golf and half about I'm a rock star and this is my crazy life. And so it's part biography and part golf lessons, you know, right. And so I had just read it and I, I told him that and he said, Oh, you're a golfer, yap, yap. And he said, you know, how's your game? And I said, you know, I'm really struggling with putting. So next thing you know, I've got Alice with his arms around me holding my hands and going, you need to hold it like this and you need to do this more. And, and I'm standing there and finally, I think because, you know, he was also my first concert, which I've I've shared with him. It was the, IT was either Welcome to My Nightmare or the Alice Cooper show, but it was in the 70s.

17:17 And and so I'm, I'm standing there thinking I'm getting golf lessons right now from Alice Cooper. This is wild. I mean, you know, all these years I've still not played around with him and I don't, I mean, I don't keep score or anything. I'm one of those guys. I just hit the ball, had fun. You can't do it worth a damn, which is why I'm never really gone out with him because. He takes it pretty seriously. But I hope to I it's one of those things, kind of a bucket list thing, so that I play around with them I. Had a chance to and it got cancelled for some reason because my friend in in South Florida was the Callaway Rep and he was a. Callaway in Dorsey, we're there in February. Oh, are you? Yeah, we're in venue. And well, what are we?

18:00 No, we're just we're not playing down there closest with Saint Augustine, but we're doing or Orlando, St. Augustine, Clearwater. Well, I'm, I might come up for one of those shows. That'd be fun. I'd like to see you. And I always like seeing Sarah. We also have an Athens show, so. Oh, really? Yeah, in July, fun, but yes, so, so absolutely, you should definitely come visit. And I will, I will. I, I like seeing Alice. I, you know, Alice is one of those guys that I could see him 100 times and I'd still go to the 101st 1:00 because yeah, he's puts on the show. He's great and the whole band is good. Yes. Absolutely. But I forget what we were talking. Oh yeah. We were saying, you know, your artists as long as they keep touring and stay alive.

18:41 But what I was getting at is, you know, when I had this conversation recently with with Mark Brickman and with other people where it's just like, you know, there's there's sort of a trend when people are getting a little older in our industry that artists are hiring younger designers, younger production managers younger this, younger that. And so then what do people do? And this is when I start seeing, you know, just a really sad thing happening. And I don't. Do you know Candace Brightman? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, she's been having a really hard time. Like, there's been some Gofundmes for her and stuff. Like she's fairly down and out right now. And you know, this is the Grateful Dead's wonderful, amazing designer for so long.

19:27 You know, really special things. I mean, that's part of the reason why I also, well, I'm lucky I didn't really do it intentionally, but with me having tour manager and production manager skills, those are the jobs that the older wise, you know, they need that is. Oh, that's funny. You got the balloons. That's. A Mac thing, you know, if you do like a heart, it'll put hearts up on the screen. It does all kinds of crazy. Things. No idea. Yeah, the older, why? You know that you can get away with being older and still have a position. This is why that unfortunately, I've moved more into the tour manager, production manager that. Yeah, light of things because that's right, Everybody wants the older, younger thing.

20:13 In fact, I was thrilled with the vampires in 23 to be able to. Design the entire show. When I got to do it, I didn't know. You did that. I read that in the notes and I didn't know you had done that. Yeah, it came out so great. I mean, I did it. It wasn't all alone, but it turned out really beautiful. And I'm so proud of those damn fangs. I really am. I really. What's what's the story with the fangs? And what I was going to say, it wasn't just me. Yeah, it was 2023. You know a lot of people who thank God, people like Dizzy Gosnell, it Bandit and. Dizzy's the man. And were a massive, massive helps and I couldn't have done it without their input and thoughts and and all that. But I I was very happy.

20:58 I hadn't actually designed to show myself in many, many years. Because another problem with this industry is that once you're go from being a lighting guy to a video guy, all of a sudden you get all these people say, oh, you, you don't do lights anymore. It's like nothing. They do lights. But I needed a job. The job was video guy. So, you know, here you are. Yeah. Yeah, the only reason. I don't do lights or I don't do videos because nobody asked me. Yeah. So I guess this is what you were just talking about. So yeah, the. Inflatable fangs. The inflatable. Yeah. What? What are what are we looking at here? We're looking. At actually, everybody, everybody in the band except the poor bass player Chris Weiss and and they are it's an inflatable. It's an A beautiful.

21:47 It's an inflatable. Yeah, made by the people air works up in Belgium. They did an amazing job. Wow came out terrific. I think you have a wide shot, someone that's got the whole the thing and it, but how does that? Get done like how? How do you just show them a picture and they create an inflatable based on that picture it well. That's how it starts. I mean, actually these all started as stage extensions, Barricade as ego ramps give you a yeah, that was my first thought of it, to put ego ramps on in front of the stage. And I did bunches of drawings with the ego fangs, ego ramps, etcetera, etcetera. And of course, I ran into tons of problems because shows typically go on sale before the design is finished. Yeah.

22:35 And so when I started sending pictures of these fangs, every promoter and all the promoter reps saying they couldn't barricade them, they couldn't do anything with them. And, you know, Dizzy does all of the renderings for me. Yeah, Dizzy does. Great job. So he's so good at that. Yeah, he's so. Great, I love his. Renderings and you're looking at it and I'm. Like, man, I want these things. I like them. And then honestly, it was like, well, why don't we try them above and I'll be damned. He threw them up there and they look great. That looks. Amazing, that looks so cool. Wow. And then So what happened is we took those. I mean, if we were all set up, I could show you the earlier renderings. But we took those renderings and and sent them to airworks in Belgium. And then they did first of all a 3D drawing and then they did a graphics drawing.

23:26 I mean, you know, they did great work, but for instance, like the see how they look in that and see how they look all gnarly and everything, Yeah. Yeah, the first one that. They sent me looked like perfect manicured white teeth with like super, you know, perfect. You didn't want that. Yeah, that's what I You don't want veneers, You want nasty old man teeth. That's right. I want blood stained the blood spatter on them. And yeah, I wanted, you know, so that's, you know, but they can't, you know, they took what was a very 2D drawing, but it still had the color and the blood things and the like off white thing. And then it, it was really a series of exchanges. And I would check with Dizzy because Dizzy is was involved in all that.

24:11 And that's how they came to be. And I remember struggling over the, the dimensions want they, they turned out to be 52 feet wide. So I struggle with because of course the vampires aren't really that big. We they do such a mix of arenas and smaller places and all that. Oh, should I go 48? Should I go 40, etcetera, etcetera. But then I looked at those and they had to mock them up and I'm like, no, yeah, you don't. You don't. Want it to end up looking like Spinal Tap, Stonehenge, you know, where it's a tiny little thing, they said. All of these things do that. All of these Yeah, I got rid of that. All of these things are that, you know, they're not they're not Spinal Tap. They're that, but I mean, they they're Spinal Tap. Ash, let me let's face it.

24:56 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 54 foot by 20 foot fangs there, you know, but nonetheless they do look they they came out looking so are those. Light. Are they lighted from inside or are they just lit from No, just outside? Lit from the outside. I actually made sure that we had a Truss out there that would that would absolutely be nothing but dedicated to to the lighting of those fangs, Right. Yeah. So that was the. Truss in front of them and they were lit by the by those fixtures, but we didn't do any inside lights too much. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah.

25:36 Oh, that looks great. I I love that look. That's really cool. Yeah. So. It came out terrific, yeah. Very proud of. Those things, I mean, they're now like a brand thing now. Like they, they, you know, they want them. It's like you're stuck with them now. Yeah, yeah. It's like the. Circle screen with Pink Floyd or you know, things like how hard is that? To to deploy. Not bad I. Mean they're what they are is there's a diaper on them they're wrapped with a Velcro with a black thing and then the actual inflation of the fangs is what tears the Velcro and they come down and they and they so it's actually. In effect during the show, Yeah, we don't. Do it, Yeah. I didn't want to do it right from the get go, right. You know you don't want the curtains to. Open with fangs up right?

26:22 Yeah, yeah, something that changes things, you know, part way through. Yeah. And but yeah, I mean, I was so happy to design something again and so when? When was the last show you had had been LD4 prior to this one? Oh, prior. To that 1A. While it would have been a. While I would have to, well, Jackson Browne actually did actually, yeah, I did Jackson Browne right after the pandemic, but I did more of the. I did the lighting consultation, but I didn't operate. They wanted video, so I did the actual video directing. Because in the lighting world, man, I can't handle those goddamn new consoles.

27:04 I can't do it. Rough, isn't it? So. If I I have to have a programmer who I can program the show with me and then teach me, I can operate, you know, once they program, I can do H to do on each song to run the song. But I am honestly so far behind lighting programming. So I designed the the lighting with Jackson Browne, but the the operator, Greg Flash, and he operated it and yeah, that was that was that was the last time. But before that it would have been yeah, Fogarty, Fogarty and a while ago, yeah, 2010 or yeah. Wow.

27:45 So that had to be. Fun coming back to to designing a a decent sized show like this and and I was. Very, very happy to do it and very excited. And, you know, it just came kind of necessity that they've been doing the same thing for a while and I'm, you know, they're going out and I'm like, no, but you just can't do that again. And I just said, you know, let me have the opportunity. And Shep was gracious enough to do it. And it's still. Shep, huh? Shep is the Empires guy as well as Alice. That's wild and. He's been with Alice how long? Like since the beginning of the age 60. 9 Jesus. Yeah, what a success story that is, is a partnership, you know, all on a handshake. That is just wild.

28:28 I love that Everybody that, you know, I've never met Shep, but everybody talks about how he's, you know, yeah. He's a wonderful guy, sweet. He's a man kind, you know, appreciative and very, very smart when it comes to show design and, you know, the way a show should run and pacing and ideas and all that, you know, very creative. Yeah. Yeah. So. Does Alice? Like basically go out one year as Alice Cooper, the next year as Hollywood vampires, in the next year as Alice Cooper. No, it's. Not every other year, because with Joe and Johnny and all that, the scheduling is such that it usually turns out to be every two or three years, yeah.

29:12 Depending on when. The schedules can align, yeah. I think Joe's a little more available now. Things have changed there a bit. Yes, they have. Changed, sadly. Unfortunately. That was to go off, but the big heartbreak for me, you know, Aerosmith was the first band I ever did long term touring with. If you read I forgot. About that and. I started with them six months before the 1st record came out and I did every show they did, mostly up until I did like 2 legs of Toys in the Attic. And then I went to do my own design work because I was Richard Ocean was the designer. And right, I forgot. About that, you told us that story on the 1st The Only Guy. On the crew, crew chief kind of thing like that. But yeah, you know, of course.

30:00 So I have a, an emotional attachment to them and it really, it hurts me right now to know that they've never got their final bow there, a proper final bow. I I still hold out hope that Stephen will get to the point where he they can entertain, hold it together. For a tour? Yeah, even. Not even even if they were to do like a, you know, LA, New York, Chicago, Miami, Dallas type thing and do a London, Paris like what? ACD. CS doing right now, you know, kind. Of thing would be and not it's just I mean they they worked so hard then back in the day, those guys I mean it was well, it was very close back then, but they worked their asses off.

30:46 You know, they they had to claw their way into acceptability. They were so dismissed as a, you know, second hand Rolling Stones and all that kind of thing. Yeah. Really worked hard and truly clawed their way into the position that they had and really didn't any real respect until Toys in the Attic. Yeah, you know why it's such an. Incredible band. I mean, really like it. Wrongfully dismissed, if you might say it that way. You know, just just an incredible band. Incredible talent, great songwriting, great production.

31:26 Just, you know, there's not. I can't really think of a really bad Aerosmith album, except maybe the bootleg live one. That one was pretty lousy. Just bad sound quality. Because it was not meant to be an album, but night in the ruts. And all that, you know? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, there was. There was some weird stuff, but you know, it's. That's not really the point though. I mean, yeah, you're talking about a 40 or 50 year career who hasn't had good, good years and bad years. Yeah, Well, my. Old My old friend Craig Burris one time said to me about a product that High End had released, and he said, you know what? Every once in a while, everyone's going to kick out a turd.

32:06 That's right. And he said. It right, you know, I mean, it's true. You can't have only number one hits. You got to, you got to and in. Particular with a band when you're dealing with a real close family situation that has all of the pitfalls that close relationships have in addition to the actual creative process and the production process and all that. So right now they they have earned a final, they have earned a once around the block, take a bow and and exit gently into the night. Yeah. You know, I don't know why, but I always associate you with Van Halen and. You. Know you didn't work for them their entire career or your entire career.

32:50 I think you did what, 10-15 years or something with them? Which? Is a long time. Close to that. I let me see. I did. I did like 86 until what was it like 93? Oh, so whatever that is 7 years, six or seven years. And of course, I first entered into him on this. We did this tour my my first tour with Journey for their the Infinity record, right? So the lineup was Van Halen, Ronnie Montrose and Journey, right? Right. And that was the. First time that That slot was the first time they had done shows out of the Starwood, out of the LA scene. And so I met them then and they did about two months of that, maybe 2 1/2 months before they then went to go open for Black Sabbath, yeah, and and so forth and so on. But so I met them then.

33:42 I never worked with them until. They didn't work with Will until. Until Dave left and yeah, Pete went with Dave. It was always Pete with them. And yeah, amazing job with them. Wonderful job, right? And so you were there just for the. Sammy Hagar years, correct? Yeah, I would screw the many would argue worth the best years. You know, there's always an argument on which was the best version of Van Halen. That's right. But. To me, it's two different bands. It is. It is totally. Two different bands and you you either like and you can. I mean, I always totally loved and respected the Dave what Dave did and name with Sam, you know? I mean I.

34:23 You. Had one that was a great singer and one was a great showman and very different styles. There's lots of. Singers have limited range in this. Dave was a great singer too, within within the range and within his style. I mean, Dave, Dave was a a a style and a lifestyle as much as he was as much as he was a a vocalist, if you will. Yeah, well, his skills were maybe not as as his, his range and all this technical singing skills may not have been the the same as Sam's. He, you know, he was right for the attitude, right for the message.

35:04 And he was very inventive as far as being able to put together words and and the whole, you know, double entendre thing and all that. So, you know, I mean, it was two different bands, two different bands. Yeah, I was going to say I. Remember, because I was hired, you know, I was hired, OK? Came with myself and Ed Leffler, who was Sam's manager, came with that was the Ed was kind enough to bring me in because Pete, you know, Pete went with Dave, Dave's manager. And of course I was nervous. I mean, you wonder, you wonder when you haven't heard anything. I remember the night that they asked me to come up to the studio to listen to a couple of the first rough tracks.

35:45 Eddie Studio. 5150 Wow. And I remember going up there and what did they play? They played Good Enough Dreams and Best of Both Worlds and I can remember myself going up there going, I wonder what this is going to be all about. Everything. And about halfway through the 1st song I'm like, Oh yeah, this will be just fine. Yeah, no kidding. Those songs were huge to worry about. Yeah, nothing to worry. About, you know. Again, I for some reason, I've always associated you in my head with Van Halen. Like if anyone asked me, hey, what is what did Dave do? I mean, now I would say, you know, Alice Cooper, probably because that's the most recent stuff Bon Jovi for. 15 years too. Yeah, I know.

36:26 I. Forget that as well, But I think the Van Halen thing is because you were there for I think arguably their biggest years. Like, you know, the biggest shows they were doing was with Sammy. I think, you know, 8484 was big. Yeah, 84 was. Big. And that was a fantastic record. Yeah, yeah, it sure was. That was a classic. It was a hit machine. Yeah, he's 84. But I mean, look, even. I mean, look, the first record, I mean, come on. When I I remember it was the Hollywood Sportatorium. It's called the Snortatorium. Yes. Yeah. That was the first show that they did with us. Yeah. And even then, what was it, 7879? I was six or seven years and I was already probably jaded and they plugged in and like, yeah, everybody, you know, I turned around and said, what the fucking? What am I hearing?

37:16 Yeah. This. Yeah. And you just know, you know, you just knew. Yeah, from the first time that they that they hit a note and was special. There. Yeah, for sure. I mean. One of Ed's real things, and I say it you know, was somebody. I mean, Ed was such a natural. Everything flowed every night from the head down to through the heart out of the hands. And it's like they played every night. They played the same set list. You knew every song and you recognize that and all that. But every night Ed would play a little different. Every night he would instinctively would that feel that he had play a solo differently or add intonations or moments to a solo that we're different every night.

38:05 Eddie Van Halen. To me, I guess some would argue Jimi Hendrix, but Eddie Van Halen to me was like what Wayne Gretzky was in hockey, what Michael Jordan was in basketball, You know, arguably, I guess Brady in football, like he changed the game. He he literally changed the game. He reinvented the game, as did. As did Clapton and Page in the 60s and 70s in a sense. Yeah, but I mean, they were still really in that Blues. They were in the in the rails between the rails like he just had and and some people say he didn't change anything. Blackmore did it before him, the hammer ONS and stuff but.

38:46 Not like that, but even if it if that's the really not relevant at the end of the day, I don't know if it's super important to be like the very first from dot, but what he did with it and the way that he used it change the game. I mean, Will Chamberlain. And and Larry Bird and whoever, they played basketball before Michael Jordan did. That's right. But but Michael Jordan changed the game. Tiger Woods changed the game. You know, like these guys, literally there's before that person and after that person. Something changed when that person started, right? Absolutely. And and. I've, I've always felt like Eddie was that guy again. I've had arguments with people who say it was Jimi Hendrix, but I was never a big Hendrix fan it Jimmy was. In 1960, you know, 6867 and yeah, changed it again, of course.

39:37 Yeah. In 78, yeah, you know, have you have. You seen or heard the the book? I think it's called Brothers. I have it but I forget what it's called. AL's book, No. No, yeah, it's. It's it's interesting because it's only the DLR years. It's not the Sammy years and you know, he kind of says some some pretty controversial stuff where he says Van Halen was those four members and you know, there's a lot of die hard Van Halen fans that would say the same that it was David Lee Roth and but. It's, you know, I we'd have to go off off the record, Yeah. So.

40:23 No, that's all right. I love Al I, I actually my ex-wife and I lived with Al and his wife for a year when I oh wow. Like I shared his house with him for a year. I buried his father with him. Oh my. Goodness and all that. And Al is a, he's a, he's a, he's a good man and interesting personality. And it doesn't surprise me they are mercurial personalities and now houses reasons. And none of us are there to to say whether or not it's founded or not founded it. Doesn't matter.

41:05 Everyone has their own feelings and their rights to them and everything else right. I think that it's. Just I think that that band is there to be enjoyed by everybody, the ways each person enjoys it. And absolutely I loved. I loved both versions of Van Halen. Like, you know, the first Van Halen. I thought, there's no way. I was never a Sammy Hagar, big Sammy Hagar fan. I thought, there's no way this guy's going to step into David's shoes. This is a joke. Forget it. And I went the David Lee Roth way. I followed him for a while until I went, wait a SEC, This is pretty good. This stuff over here, like, wow, you know, I mean, you know. And and nothing wrong with skyscraper either. And no. No smile and all that. So, yeah, but, well, bringing in Billy.

41:48 Sheehan and and Greg Bissonnette and Steve Vai, like, you're not going to have too terrible a music out of those guys, you know? Do you really even need a singer? And and Al, just like everybody else has his personal opinion. I yes, he was certainly there and a part of it. And whether it is, I mean, but validity, you know, validity of opinions just lie with the person who owns them. Really, it's a good book. Though it's it's, you know, again they loved. Each other man they long time. Van Halen fan since the very first note of the first album I ever heard, I was like, I'm sold this this is my band. I like these guys and and I was a musician, you know, so it was like, what am I hearing right now? This is crazy and but you know, the book is fun. It it's just really nice to hear some of those really super sentimental, super heartfelt stories straight from the the horse's mouth or however you say that they loved. Each other, man, they, that family was beyond tight. They loved each other.

42:57 Yeah. Al is very devastated by his father's passing, as was dead. And they are hyper, you know, hyper, close, emotional family. Yeah. Yeah, I know. I can't even begin to imagine AL's response when Ed passed. Yeah. So yeah. Brutal. It's no. Surprise that that book is very personal and very hard. Because. They both loved each other. Yeah, very much. Do you know? Do you know Wolfgang? No. He was just born when I was there. I mean, I, I was gone in, like I say, like 93 and Oh yeah, I think he was born in like 89 or yeah, yeah. Saw him as a.

43:43 What a talent though, huh? I said. Huh. He's a talent. He is a super. Talent, and I mean. I just saw him on a drumming channel. I saw him on a drum channel on YouTube doing this drum thing, and I was like, man, you know, he's a good drummer. Like he whips off Eddie's solos like nothing. Yeah, which is incredible. He's a good bass player. He's a great singer. Yeah, it's his. Father's legacy and, and God bless that. And I just hope, you know, like everything, you know, you want him to be doing it because he loves it also, which I, I'm hoping I don't because I have no dialogue with the Wolfie. But I want to hope that he's doing it because he loves it, not because he feels an obligation to do it.

44:27 Yeah. And he has so much to offer. I just want it to be my. My only wish for him is that it's because with the right motivation and inspiration so that he lives his life happily and without any kind of baggage. Yeah. From his parents. I only met him one. Time I it was actually in Edmonton, I was there with Rob Koenig going to see Metallica and as we were walking in, I practically tripped over Wolfie on his way to I think he was getting back in the van to go to the hotel. I missed their set.

45:07 But talk to him for 20 seconds and super nice, super humble like, you know, he could have been a massive douchebag. He's Eddie Van Halen's son, but doesn't seem that way at least. Wait, he. Wouldn't have learned that from his old man. His old man was very humble. Sweet guy. Yeah. Wonderful art He he would have never I would never expect that of Wolfie because he's not like that Al isn't like that Al is is tougher yeah. Easier yeah, Al is more he's more gout steely and being the business the you know is AL's band Yeah. You know, I met Al once that like. Malcolm. With ACDC, you know, yeah. I think it was Willow, Willow Springs racetrack in California. But you know, when he was into, I don't think he is anymore, but when he was into racing, right, I met him there. I was there racing and and he was there racing and it was just hey, how you doing?

46:04 He was just another driver in the drivers meeting. You know, it was kind of funny. Very nice guy. Overall, yeah. You know, very cordial, funny, Eddie. Eddie, the first time I met him was at Nam. Maybe it wasn't the first time, but one of the times was at Nam and we were setting up, I was with Martin Lighting and we were setting up our booth and he comes up and he goes, hey, what's this stuff, you know, And we were just programming the booth, right? And he goes, what's this stuff? These are cool. And like, he had about 50 questions about these light fixtures, right? And he was like, well, how's that? How's that work? How do you change the color of that thing? Like, whoa, this is cool, you know?

46:46 And I don't know if he was just wasted out of his brains or if he was genuinely interested. Oh, he he couldn't. I I'm not going to speak to his state of mind, but that is genuinely, that is the genuine guy. Yeah. Yeah, he is always, you know, curious. He's. Always been curious. Always kind. Always, Yeah, Enthusiastic and, yeah, exciting. Much like Tommy Lee. You know Manchild? Yeah. Tommy still to this day and he's what, 65 or something? And he's still the same, yes. He is still the same. You'd like to see the guy slow down a little bit. Like, you know, every video I see with him, he's still smoking. Stuff that can kill him. But yeah, you never want to see people. I mean, I used to.

47:26 I envied I always, because, you know, I certainly didn't grow up that way. But, you know, I envy those people who have that childlike innocence and can study sincerely excited by something they've seen 100 times. Yeah. Yeah, times that. Edward's seen the lights, you know, even yeah stuff. But he is, he seemed. Genuinely, he was probably in our booth for like, I don't know, 20 minutes, 1520 minutes. And like whoever, I don't know if it was a manager or whoever was with him was like, Eddie, we got to go, Eddie, we got to go. And he's like, hang on, you know, I'm talking to these guys about these cool lights. Yeah. Yeah, it was pretty fun. And that's very. Much, Tommy, That was actually Michael Jackson was like that as well. Yeah.

48:09 Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Did you work with Michael? Yeah, I did. The The 81 Not Triumph Tour OK. Yeah, I did the I. Did the commercial where his hair got caught on fire all right? Yeah, I remember that story as well. Yeah, somebody else told me. Recently that they were there when Michael Jackson's hair caught on fire. Who was that? Well, it was a full. You know, it was a full event shot with an audience. Yeah. Yeah, somebody else just told me that recently production. Manager. Yeah, right. All right. Steve Stanford was the designer. I was the board operator. Right. Huh. Yeah.

48:50 So when are you back out again? End of the month, end of January. And you go where? Start in Augusta, GA Oh, so it's. Down here. Oh, right. Yeah. You said you're in Florida. And in February it ends up with a. Cruise, he's doing one of those cruises, OK. That's Alice. That's not probably like vampires. No vampires. Johnny's got a movie to do this year, so what's he doing? Is it? It's not a Pirates of the Caribbean? He's not back in that thing, is he? Something about I. Heard something about some movie with Penélope Cruz again, but oh, fun, I didn't. I don't know much about it. I've always been a. Johnny Depp fan version of. This year. But yeah, I think that, yeah, postponed, yeah. So you know.

49:39 Last time you were on here, 2020, obviously some things have changed since then and last time I physically saw you in person, it was still a a masks thing. I remember everyone had to wear masks and. And, you know, I was looking for you and I couldn't find you because you had a mascot. And I'm like, does anybody know where Davidian is? And he's like, yeah, he's right there. He's standing right here. I'm like, damn it. Yeah. So. I hated, I hated not being able to see people's faces because me too, I. I did. I hated the whole. The only thing I liked about it though is the fucking guest list went away. Oh hell. Yeah, yeah. No and no after show things and yeah.

50:21 Yeah, that's what peaceful, less hectic working environment, right? But I've had this. Habit, probably because I lost half of my hearing when I was a musician, but I've always had this habit of lip reading and so it it it off puts some people because when you're talking to me I'm looking at your mouth, not at your eyes and it's purely by accident. It it just happened over time and and I read lips as I'm as I'm talking to people nice. And so with masks, I was always saying excuse me, excuse me what what huh. What'd? You say you know. Right, because I genuinely, yeah, couldn't hear them, you know? Well, that's just. That's a. Super cool skill. So that you're the guy that those all those football guys are putting the paper up in front of them. No, I'm not that.

51:08 Good. I'm not that good. You know, I I'd like to think of it. You have the. Skill to decode right? But I'm not that good. I, I can't, yeah, I can't just look at somebody's mouth from 20 feet away and go person's talking about this because. Oh, OK, OK. Like Obama? And Trump were talking the other day at the funeral of that thing, and I was trying to, I was trying to find someone on the Internet who had already figured out what they were saying. Oh, yeah. And then I ran out of time. I just didn't have time to go down that rabbit hole. But you know, it'd be a good skill to have to be able to, to read lips from a long distance like that signing, you know? Like the signing thing. Yeah, yeah, my my ex. Wife, her sister is deaf. And so I learned signing, I'd say very slowly, like I'd have to go, you know, the, you know, it'd take me like a minute to tell you something you could say out loud in 10 seconds. So, right.

52:03 So I wasn't good at it by any stretch, that's for sure. But I did know all the letters and some of the words. I'm awful. I bet my wife is Mexican. I've been married to her for 27 years and I still haven't learned Spanish. Really. She learned English before I learned Spanish, so oh wow. So she was she, she was a relatively new American. Like she came over still. Speaking just Spanish. Wow, actually never wanted to speak English really, but that would. Have made for a rough marriage. It would have you not speaking Spanish, her not speaking English. Yeah. Although maybe that's where that's how you stay friendly. Yeah. Maybe that works?

52:44 Even better when nobody knows what anybody's saying on the day, right? Yeah, yeah. I mean, you might starve to death and. But yeah, so. Great skills in multiple languages. My son is bilingual and that's he doesn't really understand what a gift that is. Yeah. You have a daughter too, don't you? I have a daughter. Who's in the business Works for Danny O'Brien, right? Yeah, I. Thought so, yeah. Very happy, proud of her and you know she's the best. That's cool. What was I going to ask you? So you know, again, going back to like touring post COVID, right? What are what are some of the challenges that you still deal with today in 2025?

53:25 You're going out in January, going to tell you I'm. Still dealing with COVID. I had four COVID cases last last summer and spring and fall in Europe. Yeah, COVID is still out there. Yeah, nobody's masking and everything, but we had and I still, I mean, we with Alice as a policy, we quarantine. Oh. Really. Oh, absolutely. We still quarantine now if anybody gets it, they go into a hotel, whatever it is for a week until they're testing negative, But it that can be a real problem. I really when your monitor guy gets it or you know so for the musician gets it, you know need our guitar player.

54:08 She got it had to put her in a hotel. Wow, you know. So what did he do bring? In a different guitar player for a week, the other guys. The other guys came in and covered, you know, the other guys covered. Oh wow. So they were just missing. Her. Yeah, we're just we're. Just missing her for those, she'd be one that people had. Noticed missing too, yeah. They all notice anybody, any one of them, that's missing. But we can't. I mean, I'm not going to, you know, and nobody wants to infect a whole, you know, group of people on the road. Yeah, you know, So what? What else can you do that's interesting? Because you're probably the first person who I've spoken to in the last, I don't know, year and a half or so who said that you're still dealing with stuff like that, like quarantining, Like people get sick, obviously. But yeah, I don't even know anyone testing right now. Like, well, we don't test.

54:59 Until that people present we don't test. But if someone catches a cold, I carry the stuff still and if someone starts coughing or anything I shove a test in front of them and say yeah interesting. And if they? Test positive, then we get them out of there because it's not fair to the other people on the road to like, constantly expose them to something that that's that infectious and, yeah, irritable and all that. So we with Alice, we still quarantine. Interesting. With could Alice? Never get it. No, Alice has gotten it. He's gotten it a couple of times, but he hasn't gotten it on the road. He gets, he got it last time, right before we left. We left the tour, you know.

55:42 So did you have to cancel dates or anything? No, he he got. Over it. Like, yeah. OK, just in time to. To make it interesting. So luckily. No, I mean, he's the only one that, you know, that would cause cancellations. Yeah. That's cool that you can cover everybody else out there, including the band we have it to. Be tough to, I guess the drummer. It'd be a bit bit tough, we do, but there. Are people we've, we've over the years have a couple of people we can go to that we've actually sent the show to and they in their back, you know, kind of do a, you've got a bench. Here. Right. Yeah, you've got a bench. We have a. We have. A bass player and we have a a drum guy that who could fill in and all that and then with there being 3 guitar players would play in the odds.

56:25 Yeah, you usually. Have coverage, yeah, if two of them get it, you could still kind of cover it. Yeah, it. Would get pretty tough that. Yeah, it'd get tough. You'd miss some parts for sure. Yeah, have. To. Alice and and vampires are the only two acts you're working with now. Then yes, they take up. Pretty much most of my time, I'm certainly open to do anything else. But yeah, breaks are usually only about a month, give or take month, month and a half. So it's pretty hard to find another tour that slots into that, yeah. Can you do any video stuff anymore or I I haven't? Recently I did all the video for the Vampires tour. Yeah, content I later. So I did all the lighting, did all the video content, design the products at the State of whole thing, soup the nuts, which is very cool. It it got pretty hectic, though, being the tour manager and doing all that at the same time.

57:14 Yeah. But again, thank God for Cosmo. Thank God for, you know, the companies. Thank God for Dizzy. Yeah, Joel Reef and all the people who kind of helped motivate it through. Yeah. Joel as well. Yeah, well, I, I. Went with to Joel and Cosmo both because they're both friend and I want because I hadn't done a lighting design per SE. I'm very out of touch with gear. I know what I wanted, but like I didn't have yeah, numbers and and brands that were better than others and all that. So first of all, I I treat you know, I created like the layout that I thought was great and I just put like a, you know, bar shaped instrument with the multi lights in it and the regular you know, yeah, that and the other thing, and I sent it off to them and say OK, AD alike. What are?

58:00 The fixtures that. You populate it with what are your, you know, choices? And then we kicked it around back and forth and then and then populated it. Yeah. Wait, you know who's your vendor? Is it bandit being that it's dizzy? Either Bandit. With Alice with the Vampires it it's it has been Bandit, but it was also AD when the States we use DCR, but in Europe we used actually in the UK we used this company called Zigzag that was worked out. I'm familiar with them. Actually, Blair Brothers is the. Audio vendor for the vampires and video was a company called Pixel, which now has been purchased by LMG. Oh wow, interesting.

58:43 The big guys are buying all the guys out there. Yeah, yeah, Claire owns everyone in the audio world. And yeah, pretty. Much it's getting pretty. Wild and four walls buying all the lighting companies comes. Yeah, yeah. But Claire does a great job. Yeah. Yeah, they do. Claire does a. Great job. They're the gold standard for a reason. Yes, they are. Yeah, it's true, you know. Yeah. What else you got going on? Anything personally? Anything fun you're doing? Did you just take up guitar or? Snowboarding. Or something. No, I've never. Been a creature, unfortunately of hobbies and all that. No, you know I have an old car that I may play around with the keys. We occupied a what is it?

59:23 1968 Triumph TR250O Fun. I love triumphs. Yeah, I was just with a friend of mine. I went over to Naples for a few days this past weekend. A friend of mine from Canada is probably the most knowledgeable classic car guy I've ever known in my life. Right. American muscle cars, mostly. Yeah, but like if you told him, you know, Mustang just drove by, he'd say what did it look like? It was blue and white and had windows shaped like this. He'd be like, Oh yeah, that's a 67 fastback, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, it'd have all the. You know it had this. Engine. There were only so many made and blah, blah blah. Like, I mean, this guy's an encyclopedia on these cars and he buys and sells them constantly. So he's going to the Mecum auction in Orlando. I don't have too.

1:00:09 Many too many habits. I mean, of course, I've been kind of tied up doing the advance for these shows. And of course, we have Alice's birthday on this leg and the Super Bowl, so I oh, fun you. Got to work out both parties, both of those. Events. Yeah, that's right. So what will you do? For the Super Bowl. We're going to, we're going to, we're going to do a private room in a, in a restaurant bar and then I'll bring in some big TV's and get it, make sure it's catered and all that. Oh, that's cool. And. That'll be the band and the crew. Or just the band or animal. The crew? No, no. No, we do. I I try and do everything with everybody as much as we can also, that's cool. Inner is all about whatever we do for special events. We're always That's super. Cool, I like that all.

1:00:51 Inclusive different hotels. Though, right? Dan and crew. Dan and crew stay in the same place financially. That's crazy. Yeah, but no, no. We're in the same hotel. That's cool. Most times I I like. I like tours like that. That's. You know when? When? The band's in The Four Seasons and the cruise in the Holiday Inn down the road. It's yeah. It's got bad optics. Sometimes. It it's it's put on the tour manager hat sometimes it's just when especially when you get into large scale cruise. Yeah, just financially, you know, unmanageable. Yeah, but. What you don't do is. That's the thing. You don't put them in the Holiday Inn or the Motel 6. You instead of having them in The Four Seasons, you put them in a Hilton, Hyatt or Marion.

1:01:36 Yeah, yeah. That makes sense. That's where I don't. Like it where, when it goes from, you know, where there's such a discrepancy? Yeah. Do you get involved in Alice's golf at all? Like does he get you involved in working out logistics on that? On what? On just golf, like the golf's done by. Callaway, we do every day. I mean, I, I get golf, you know, every day he plays every single day that the weather hits. Yeah. And like we get feedback from our Callaway Rep and they yeah, send it to me and then I put it in the day sheet every day. Oh, really? So you do put it in the day sheet? That's interesting. Yeah, in the day sheet. Every day. That's cool. What a what a fun gig so. Yeah, I mean I.

1:02:20 Don't, I don't, I don't have anything else to talk about really. I just, you know, challenges today. So you mentioned COVID, what about like gear and people? Are you still struggling with that? Gear and people, you know, it is busy. I mean, after COVID, you know, everything came back with like a double whammy of busyness. And I keep kind of waiting for it to kind of normalize, if you will, a little bit. But I, it's still going strong. So we, there is a struggle for competent people, you know what I mean? For, for people because everybody is really gets booked up. You know, we've managed to manage it. And of course Alice not being a, you know, a level budget, kind of, you know, he's not arenas in stadiums.

1:03:07 He's playing theatres and arenas and festivals and things like that. It's it, it becomes a little bit of a challenge, but you know, we've managed to be, we've managed to work it, the longevity. Is is in insane with how it just really is cool. You know, you were mentioning earlier just a few minutes ago about the the logistics and the hotels getting too pricey sometimes for everybody to be in the same one. I was listening to a podcast today yesterday. Are you familiar with Mr. Beast? Oh, the TV show guy? Well, he's the. Podcast guy. But now he just did a very successful game show. Yeah, right. And I haven't. Seen the game show but I know all about it and but it.

1:03:50 Starts out with 1000 people. Yeah, I've seen the. Game show. My kid had me watch the game so he. Was talking on this podcast about the logistics of doing this, this show and just how expensive it is. You know, because they've got like just the set is so expensive and the pieces in the set are so expensive and the, the, the tricks are expensive. All of it's expensive. But he said just imagine putting up 1000 people in hotel rooms and transporting 1000 people to venues and, you know, feeding 1000 people every day, plus all the crews and stuff. You know, he said everything is just like scaled up to a point where it's just so brutally expensive. You know, if if rooms are $200 a night, that's $200,000 just for just for the contestants hotel rooms per night. Yeah, right.

1:04:41 So it was like, wow, that the scale of that thing is just crazy. No, yeah. Tour touring has gotten very expensive. I mean trucks I can imagine. In particular. Got substantially everything hotels. And hotels, like, I mean, I, I, I was in Vegas for LDI recently and I decided to extend my my stay one more day beforehand, come in a day earlier because I had a meeting that I needed to be at my hotel wasn't available. So I go looking for a hotel room and everything was like $1000 a night because it was Friday night. And I ended up staying at a Holiday Inn Express, I think near the airport for one night.

1:05:25 And it was, it was 300 and change. Yeah, I know. It's it's crazy and like when you tour Europe, you we have to book hotels. We have, you have to book buses and hotels almost a year in advance. Wow. Because. The demand is so big yeah, the hotels in Europe, man, they don't give a shit. They have like what it's like 4 month cancellation fee. Not not 24 hours, not 26 hours, four months. If you don't, if you have a change or you need to cancel something, if you don't do it four to six months before your stay, Yeah, out the whole thing. So how? Does the timing like when you're you're the tour manager when you're booking a tour like this? So the venue dates are set by the promoter, I would guess, and those or the agent?

1:06:14 Yeah. So the agent says we're going to do these dates and then does that come to you and you have to go start dealing with the logistics. That's well. It goes well and Alice, there's a tour director in the office, Toby Namos, that helps. That does a lot of that and the early stuff. But with the vampires, it's all me. So yes, when it when it does, it comes from the agent. Well, actually, of course it goes to Shep first. Shep signed off on the dates. And then what happens is with the the vampires is that Shep asked me to put together a budget while he's deciding a rough budget so that he can basically see, you know what, whether it's going to be a net profit or a net loss and what the net profit's going to be the decide on accepting the dates. But then then after all that, Shep accepts the dates. And then from there, yes, I get with our travel agent, Nick Gold, and we start in right away with, you know, Nick doesn't do trucks and buses, but hotels, charter flights. Talk about expensive stuff, man.

1:07:17 When you're chartering. Yeah, very expensive, yeah. But yes it. Goes on from there. Then I I work with the different vendors, whether it be travel agent or myself or the lighting sound. You start taking bids and farming out bids, Yeah. You know and. Of course, then there's the design side, whether or not you're going to go out with the show you did last time or whether you're going to redo it, redesign it. And all of that kind of happens right after, right after you have a schedule that's been agreed to, which is typically eight months to a year out from when you do your first date. Oh, OK. Interesting. Yeah, I've, I've never really gotten into the details of how that works out on a tour the size of an Alice Cooper tour. You know, I guess it just scales up or down from there depending on what you're doing.

1:08:06 Yeah. And. You know, it's very like you say, you know, the larger stadium tours much more, much many more moving parts. Yeah. But if you're doing like a European Tour and then festival dates, can festival dates still pop up in between? Like do you leave openings not real? I mean, they don't try and leave openings because they don't want to take the chance of yeah, being a no play date. Yeah, yes. I mean, there's always a chance for an odd one off that comes up early around, you know, earlier towards the start time that would be brought to our attention. But because otherwise. How do you get festival dates? Like, is it when you're not touring or how does that work out? I mean, like I say, the festival start booking there next year, right after the one, yeah.

1:08:54 Yeah, yeah. So it just all comes together. That's what the agents are doing you. Know done at least a year in advance, right. Those schedules for the big festivals, whether it's pink pop grass pop elfest, all of those, any Donnington when it happened they would start download whatever and of course Glastonbury and all that. Yeah, yeah. Fun many, many months previous to the actual execution of the date. Yeah. Well, I'll tell you what. David, I appreciate you taking some time. It's been fun talking to you and and we finally got through some weird little tech problems at the beginning there. And. No, no, it's all good. It happens virtually every podcast I'm on. Trust me, we're all old.

1:09:40 So technology just keeps, you know, changing and we're not. So. Yeah, but. But no, I appreciate it. I always love catching up with you. And I will get to one of the Florida shows. I'll look at the schedule and. And I'll just shoot you an e-mail. Yeah, shoot me an. E-mail I'll perfect, perfect man. We'll be cool. No, I look forward to it. All right, my friend. All right, buddy. I'll see you soon. You bet. Thanks. Cheers having me, I appreciate it, absolutely.