#309 - Chris “Smoother” Smyth - Navigating the Music Industry: Insights from Smoother

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Supertramp One O 1, OK, I toured
in Australia with Spy Matthews

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as production manager.
Spy, really, really good guy.

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I'm back at task, I get a phone
call, it's Spy Matthews.

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Hi, I'm out with Supertramp, OK?
He said.

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These guys have bought their own
arena sound system and they're

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not really proficient in
handling a unique crew.

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They've basically been in
theatres prior to this.

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So can I come on board now?
I've got background.

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I've worked with Tasco with
flown PAS and so I was happy to

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go out there when we finished
the Breakfast in America tour in

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1979.
The band we're now talking about

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two or three-year break.
So I'm looking at this I go wow,

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you know what's the the deal
here where they've got their own

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sound system.
So I, I went to management said,

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how about if I start a
production company and your guys

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can be partners and you don't
pay retainers, you don't pay for

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warehouse and you don't pay for
equipment insurance.

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What's the, what's your
thoughts?

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And they went for it.
Well, hey there and welcome to

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Geese of Gear and happy to have
you here today.

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We got a good one for you.
So I'll tell you more about that

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in a minute.
A couple of things.

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So one, I've been having some
conversations with some of the

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large companies in Europe right
now.

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And I don't know if it's because
of tariffs like in the US as

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well, we're seeing used gear
market really picking up like in

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a big, big way.
It's it's getting kind of crazy

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actually.
And So what can that be

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attributed to?
You know, again, I think it's

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got something to do with tariffs
in particular some of the items

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that we're seeing getting really
hot audio gear of all kinds,

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lots of line array, certainly
some lighting fixtures as well,

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like certain lines I think are
getting really hot right now.

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And it's mostly Chinese product
I guess on the on the lighting

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stuff.
But yeah, it's just something is

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happening.
And I don't know if it's because

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like here in the US, maybe
companies can't afford new gear

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right now because it is Chinese
and it's got 100 and something

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percent tariffs on it, which,
you know, if you're buying used

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gear from within the United
States, you're not paying any

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tariffs.
So if you're buying used Chinese

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gear from outside the United
States, you pay tariffs just

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like you do on new.
So yeah, it's an interesting

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market right now.
Couple other things where

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there's shortages of certain
products.

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A lot of the digital audio
consoles, for example, in Europe

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right now are in short supply
for summer.

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So people are just scavenging
for them right now.

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And we're selling a lot of used
consoles in Europe.

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And so, yeah, the markets
picking up happy for me 'cause

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it's been weird.
So And in AII think I already

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mentioned to you that we're
building a new platform right

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now on top of Gearsource.
And I've been having some

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incredible meetings.
We have an AI developer and a

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team developing some stuff for
us right now on that platform.

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And I will tell you, it's been
really, really educational and

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really interesting what you can
do with AI.

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It really is like, wait a SEC,
we don't have to do that.

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We can have AI do that.
So there is a lot of stuff that

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we're building that our users
are not going to have to do

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anymore.
Some complicated things that

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they've had to do in the past
and some really simple things

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that they'll just go, oh, this
is much easier now.

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And so we're really looking
forward to showing that to our

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customers very soon.
That's gear source, of course,

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and I do believe we are going to
quickly change the way that

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people are looking for gear.
So I'm confident about that.

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Pretty excited about today's
guest.

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I've been trying to get him on
for a while, waiting for him to

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be ready.
He's finally ready.

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And so I have Smoother, founder
and CFO at Delicate Productions,

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but so much more of a story
around Smoother Chris.

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Smoother Smythe is his name and
Smoother is the founder and CFO

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of Delicate Productions with
over 45 years of live event

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production.
His career began in the early

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70s with a spontaneous leap onto
AUS tour, eventually working

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with artists like Genesis, Leo
Sayre, Patti Smith and Kiss.

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A pivotal tour with Supertramp
led to the founding of Delicate

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in 1980, whose first show was
The Clash at the Santa Monica

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Civic.
Smoother has since supported

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acts like Dire Straits in
Excess, Tool and Yanni and built

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long lasting relationships
across the industry.

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Known for his calm leadership
and commitment to learning by

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doing, he remains A respected
figure in the field.

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I still don't consider this a
job, he says, Just a passion

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that became a legacy.
And he really is a legacy.

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And I'm looking forward to this
conversation.

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I hope you like it.
Here you go.

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Smoother Smythe.
Smoother.

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Good morning.
Good afternoon.

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I don't know where you are.
So good evening.

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Where are you?
Are you in California?

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Los Angeles.
OK, I've actually.

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Decided the quietest place for
me is my office at at Delicate.

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Yeah, so.
Nope, nobody bothers you there.

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Well, shit, the wife, I don't
need a cup of coffee.

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I need to get to the drug store.
I need, you know, it's like.

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Yes.
Don Yeah.

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The honey do list.
Yeah, yeah.

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I get my piece.
I get left alone here pretty

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much so.
So you were just mentioning

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Marshall because Marshall, God
bless him, he he convinced you

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to come and do the podcast and,
and or at least connected you to

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Sarah to, to come and do the
podcast and so.

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We appreciate you, Marshall,
because I know you'll Today's

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episode is brought to you by
Elation Lighting.

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Elation is a privately held
corporation established in 1992

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and headquartered in Los
Angeles.

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All products are developed and
engineered in the USA with sales

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and support office locations in
the US, Mexico and Europe and

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distribution via a worldwide
dealer network.

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What defines excellence?
Is it found in form, function,

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or sheer strength?
Perhaps it calls for more.

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It's unconventional, searching
beyond what can be seen.

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It moves with grace, intent and
versatility.

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While others are content to
remain unchanged, a true hero

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rejects the ordinary and
embraces transformation.

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They ascend and become the
paragon.

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Listen.
But then we got into fishing.

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Yeah, I, we, we were over here
in America and I knew that

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Marshall and his partner Colin
were big on, on, on fishing.

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So I, I, I bought a bass boat.
And then I approached him and

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said, hey, man, we've got to go
do it.

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And he was reluctant and I
couldn't quite figure it out.

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They, they did tournaments.
I mean, they were the bass

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kings.
I.

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Was over in England and a couple
of my friends said, hey look,

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we're going to do some fly
fishing.

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And I was a bit confused.
They said, well, we'll show you

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how it's done.
So that went well.

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I came back to to America and
and I mentioned it to Marshall.

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I said, all right, it's some fly
fishing.

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Fly fishing.
You're into fly fishing.

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Let's go, let's go.
He was just fly fishing snob.

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You know, really I.
Thought yeah, he'd given up the

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bass thing and he was into the
fly fishing so.

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Oh, that's amazing.
Yeah, but he made-up for it.

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I think he bought me my first
rod for my birthday.

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Oh, that's nice.
And we're immediately off on

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trips.
And I was, I, I loved it.

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I loved getting outs out there.
Put it, you know, it's if you

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put a rod in my hand, I can walk
for miles and miles.

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We don't take a, a sort of
fishing box or anything.

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Everything's on us.
We're mobile.

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So we, we wade upstream.
So we climb over rocks, we, we

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skirt around mountains.
I mean, we just keep going.

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That's amazing.
It's it's a whole, it's a rush,

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just being there.
You're not like nuts about it

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where you do all your own flies
and stuff though, right?

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Oh, you do.
Oh, absolutely.

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Wow.
Different aspects to fly

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fishing.
There's some who are all about

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the casting and I have I
actually have casting clubs, not

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that you beat people with the
clubs you have membership to.

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And and then there's the fly
tying, there's the rod building.

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I mean, there's all sorts of
deviations to this sport.

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There's there's, there's, well,
Fisher puddle, OK, It's the

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challenge.
It's there.

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We'll fish ponds, we'll fish the
surf down on the beach.

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We'll go deep sea fishing.
We're everywhere and anywhere.

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We're lakes, we're on float
tubes.

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You name it, we're careening
down a river in a drift boat.

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So fly fishing is not just
sitting on a lazy bank.

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Yeah.
England, it's it, it can be you

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put yourself in danger in many
situations.

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Yeah, do you?
Do you do the Florida trips with

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them too?
No, I, I going back, no, I think

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about 1213 years ago, I, I did
the first one down to Ascension

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Bay, which is addictive.
That's incredible.

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Down there.
Yeah, sort of up from Belize and

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down from Cancun.
Yeah, that's nice.

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The.
Fly fishing is more more than a

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sport.
Yeah.

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And then there's the
camaraderie.

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Yeah.
It's.

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Good.
And we'll, we'll have to get you

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guys up.
I have a house in Banff in

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Canada and we'll have to get you
up there someday because some of

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the fly fishing up there in the
Bow River and stuff is pretty

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incredible.
Supposedly I don't do it, but I

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know people who are guides and
all that kind of stuff.

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I.
Fish Banff like.

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Really.
Yeah, yeah, I was on tour with

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Supertramp.
We were going to fly from

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Moncton to Frederickston and
there was a death threat on one

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of the keyboard players.
They cancelled the show and the

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next one was Calgary.
So we got the Calgary.

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That's where I'm from.
We had days off there and there

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was a van for us to run around
in so I grabbed that, went to a

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store, bought a fly fishing rod
of frying pans, some vegetables.

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Couple of the guys caught me
heading out and said where you

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going?
I said I'm going into the

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mountains, so I'm going fishing
for a few days.

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That's amazing.
We're.

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We're staying at The Four
Seasons Quatre Saison up in

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France there.
And I gave up that room and we

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we slept in the van and fished
up in Banff and.

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That's amazing.
That's awesome.

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Terrific.
Yeah.

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Yeah.
Again, I mean, this, the

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fishing's supposed to be
incredible.

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But I I don't know, because I'm
not really a fisherman.

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I'm.
I'm too a type or whatever you

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want to call it.
I can't relax.

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I can't go.
OK, let's just slow everything

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down and wade through the water
and do this little thing into

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the I can't do it.
It's here's your rod, here's

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your flies.
Follow Marshall and yeah, up to

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about four hours of constantly
wading and walking and hiking

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and falling.
Your it's can be extremely

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physical.
Do you do you ever catch

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anything?
Because I.

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We catch everything and
anything.

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I never see fly fishermen catch
anything.

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Like, you know, if you go to a
dock in Florida or if you just

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watch people in a fishing boat
or whatever, you're going to see

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people catching fish.
And whenever I see people fly

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fishing, even by my house in in
Banff, I never see anybody catch

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anything.
Well, it's it's, I don't get

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into it too much, but 95% of the
time they're on the bottom.

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So I get.
Putting something on the top and

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in the colder months they don't
move to to.

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Yeah.
To, to pick anything up.

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So it's it, it, it.
And then you've got to match the

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Hatch.
They, they key in on a certain

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insect at a certain stage of the
Hatch and you, you, you, you've

227
00:13:53,560 --> 00:13:56,040
got to replicate it because
they're, they're definitely

228
00:13:56,040 --> 00:14:01,080
focused on that one particular
flight at that particular stage.

229
00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:05,280
And so when you figure that out,
then you're you're off and

230
00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:07,240
running.
Yeah, Yeah.

231
00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:08,800
That's, that's wild.
Yeah.

232
00:14:08,800 --> 00:14:11,200
I don't know anything about it.
There's a there's a guy who

233
00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:15,520
lives next to me where I have my
house, who is a former

234
00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:20,120
professional football player
called Anderson.

235
00:14:20,120 --> 00:14:23,960
What's his first name?
I forget his first name, but he

236
00:14:23,960 --> 00:14:27,560
he's like the winningest or the
highest points he ever anyone

237
00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:30,760
ever got in the NFL.
Maybe it's different now because

238
00:14:30,760 --> 00:14:36,200
of Tom Brady or something, but
he, he started a fishing guide

239
00:14:36,200 --> 00:14:39,280
business.
He, he found this area and just

240
00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:41,640
went, this is God's country.
It's the best place in the

241
00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:43,160
world.
And he moved in.

242
00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:46,160
He had lived all over the world
and stuff, but he decided this

243
00:14:46,160 --> 00:14:50,240
was, this was it.
And he was a big time fly

244
00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:52,720
fisherman and, and then started
a guide business.

245
00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:54,800
And now I think he just guides
for his friends and stuff.

246
00:14:54,800 --> 00:14:57,840
He doesn't.
He doesn't do it as a business

247
00:14:57,840 --> 00:14:59,960
or anything.
One of the things that draws you

248
00:14:59,960 --> 00:15:05,840
to fly fishing is you have to
replicate the fly.

249
00:15:06,040 --> 00:15:08,600
You're not putting a worm on,
you're putting a fly on there.

250
00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:12,160
We call it a fly, but it may be
an emerge or something that

251
00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:15,280
would typically live under a
rock under at the bottom of the

252
00:15:15,280 --> 00:15:18,680
river.
So you, you, you're going to tie

253
00:15:18,680 --> 00:15:20,680
that, replicate it.
Now you're going to fool the

254
00:15:20,680 --> 00:15:25,560
fish, if you can fool him then
to take in the fly that you tie

255
00:15:25,960 --> 00:15:28,560
to replicate that which he is
eating at that time.

256
00:15:28,960 --> 00:15:30,200
Then that's an.
Achievement.

257
00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:35,880
And that's kind of our goal.
So it's a lot of searching and

258
00:15:36,040 --> 00:15:37,760
and lot of effort can.
Go.

259
00:15:37,760 --> 00:15:40,160
Well, you got to understand what
kind of flies they're eating

260
00:15:40,160 --> 00:15:42,640
there, I guess, right, in
whatever area you're in.

261
00:15:42,640 --> 00:15:44,400
Yeah.
And try and replicate.

262
00:15:44,440 --> 00:15:48,080
Kick, kick some rocks with a
little sign net and see what

263
00:15:48,160 --> 00:15:50,400
what goes into.
Or look up in the shrubbery and

264
00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:52,000
see what's climbed out of the
water.

265
00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:55,320
That's about back on the water
with lay eggs.

266
00:15:56,840 --> 00:16:00,280
This is about fly fishing.
Yeah, that's wild.

267
00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:02,680
That is wild.
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287
00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:14,079
So.
Yeah.

288
00:17:14,839 --> 00:17:18,040
You mentioned the Supertramp
tour that you went to Banff.

289
00:17:18,640 --> 00:17:20,160
Do you remember which tour it
was of?

290
00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:22,920
Which there was the 19.
Which tour?

291
00:17:23,520 --> 00:17:26,400
79.
So would that have been crime of

292
00:17:26,400 --> 00:17:30,680
the Century 83 Were you with
them before that?

293
00:17:30,680 --> 00:17:35,720
Or was is that when you started?
Were you with them before that?

294
00:17:37,080 --> 00:17:40,920
79 I I joined the Breakfast in
America tour.

295
00:17:41,760 --> 00:17:45,760
OK, yeah, I think the one before
that, which was like crime of

296
00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:49,480
the century, I think in 76 or
yeah, the.

297
00:17:50,480 --> 00:17:54,840
Quietest moment 77 Yeah, I.
Didn't one of those, but I, I

298
00:17:54,840 --> 00:17:56,920
think it was the Crime of the
Century tour, if I remember

299
00:17:56,920 --> 00:17:58,840
correctly, was actually my
first.

300
00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:01,720
It was, I think my second
concert, but it was my first big

301
00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:05,040
one 'cause it was in, in the
terrible stadium in Calgary,

302
00:18:05,040 --> 00:18:09,520
McMahon Stadium.
And, and I, I'll never forget

303
00:18:09,520 --> 00:18:11,080
it.
It was a crazy, crazy night.

304
00:18:11,080 --> 00:18:15,080
I think it was Atlanta Rhythm
Section who opened for them and

305
00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:20,080
it rained like crazy the whole
time And, and it was just a

306
00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:22,160
crazy night.
It was a fun night, but I was

307
00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:24,640
just like, wow, this is amazing.
And I became a massive

308
00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:28,080
Supertramp fan for a long time
because of that show.

309
00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:31,400
So, So yeah, it was cool.
Well, I want to go, I want to go

310
00:18:31,400 --> 00:18:34,160
back even further than that.
I cause you have such a

311
00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:37,360
remarkable, interesting career
and obviously Supertramp played

312
00:18:37,360 --> 00:18:40,200
a big role in it.
So we'll talk about that if

313
00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:42,880
that's OK.
But you know, even before that,

314
00:18:42,880 --> 00:18:45,600
I think you started like you
were one of the really early

315
00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:48,440
guys in our industry.
You started in the early 70s,

316
00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:50,560
right when we were just becoming
an industry.

317
00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:57,440
Yeah.
I started in 72 and I was, I

318
00:18:57,440 --> 00:19:01,000
thought I was a bit of a late
entry actually, because by the

319
00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:07,160
72 I'd done three years in the
Air Force, 4 1/2 years with Pan

320
00:19:07,160 --> 00:19:11,280
American at Heathrow Airport,
and then I dropped out.

321
00:19:12,440 --> 00:19:14,280
I'll give you a background on
that if you like.

322
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:22,680
Yeah, please.
Paul Newman Numo as we know him,

323
00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:25,280
he's currently with, with Claire
brothers.

324
00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:30,520
But he, he was in the RAF with
me and he came down to London,

325
00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:33,960
He got a job down in the city.
He dropped out.

326
00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:35,840
Next thing he was working for a
band.

327
00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:39,840
We, we were always close and
good friends.

328
00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:45,160
And he was working for a bank
called Flash, Peter Banks and

329
00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:51,200
yes, and a four piece and they
were doing well in America.

330
00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:53,560
And he said he would go and they
were going back over there.

331
00:19:53,560 --> 00:19:56,360
And I said, who's your Rd. crew?
And he says, just me, you're

332
00:19:56,360 --> 00:20:00,120
going to pick up a drum roadie
in in New York.

333
00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:05,400
And I'm with Pan Am.
I'm thinking I'm not the

334
00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:12,520
sharpest knife in the jaw here.
OK, Paul, what if I get a ticket

335
00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:17,560
from Pan Am and I'm your roadie?
And he agreed.

336
00:20:17,560 --> 00:20:20,080
He kind of had to agree because
the drummer was sleeping on my

337
00:20:20,080 --> 00:20:25,800
sofa.
So I got my ticket from Pan Am

338
00:20:25,800 --> 00:20:28,400
nice and cheap.
And then I gave notice and my

339
00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:34,360
first gig was September 1972,
fairly Dickinson College, New

340
00:20:34,360 --> 00:20:35,800
Jersey.
Wow.

341
00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:39,960
I had no idea what I was getting
into.

342
00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:45,440
I had no, no background in hey,
if if I knew the drummer, you

343
00:20:45,440 --> 00:20:47,320
know, it's sleeping on my soap.
Where?

344
00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:49,960
So, yeah.
Hey, show me how this goes, you

345
00:20:49,960 --> 00:20:54,240
know, bit of gaffer tape.
Mark a carpet and away you go.

346
00:20:54,680 --> 00:20:56,760
Yeah.
So I I was.

347
00:20:57,160 --> 00:20:59,000
So that was your first gig.
You were a drum tech.

348
00:20:59,360 --> 00:21:00,880
Yeah.
For flash.

349
00:21:01,680 --> 00:21:04,040
Drum roadies.
What's the difference?

350
00:21:04,120 --> 00:21:06,640
We did.
The difference is the elevated

351
00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:11,920
the Roadie became sort of like a
circus name, you know, drum

352
00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:13,360
tech.
Yeah, yeah.

353
00:21:13,360 --> 00:21:16,080
Probably get another 500 a week
for being a tech.

354
00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:20,320
But is the difference just the
name or is it a different type

355
00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:21,280
of work?
Exactly that.

356
00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:24,520
Yeah, that's hilarious.
That's so funny.

357
00:21:24,520 --> 00:21:25,880
And.
You're figuring out how to put

358
00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:28,480
the symbols on?
I'm not sure.

359
00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:31,800
Well, maybe if you're a tech,
you can actually tune one of the

360
00:21:31,800 --> 00:21:35,640
drums, you know?
Yeah, you're allowed to tune it.

361
00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:38,920
That's funny.
So that was my early start.

362
00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:43,640
And you did the whole tour, the
whole U.S. tour with with them.

363
00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:48,520
Yeah, we, we were.
We started with 17 shows

364
00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:51,520
back-to-back.
We flew every day.

365
00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:56,680
This was an incredible trial by
fire with 13 pieces of musical

366
00:21:56,680 --> 00:22:04,760
instruments and we convinced the
airline people that this was the

367
00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:07,720
band's baggage when in fact the
band hadn't arrived.

368
00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:10,560
It was their back lines gear.
Oh my God.

369
00:22:11,120 --> 00:22:14,920
Guitars and stuff.
So we had to get that on the

370
00:22:14,920 --> 00:22:21,000
airplane.
We'd have a rent A truck and

371
00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:25,840
we'd often pull around to
actually to the gate, round the

372
00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:30,560
perimeter track to the gate and
I'll and offload the gear next

373
00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:33,160
to the plane.
That was all done.

374
00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:38,560
But Numo did that.
He used the $20 bills to to and

375
00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:40,040
and.
Does usually work right?

376
00:22:40,760 --> 00:22:44,160
We pulled that off 17 in a row.
It was crazy.

377
00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:47,680
That's hilarious.
But I loved every minute.

378
00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:52,760
Yeah, yeah, I know.
I mean, it, it's an amazing way

379
00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:55,080
to start just like toss you
right in there, right?

380
00:22:55,080 --> 00:22:57,840
And the the gig prior to it was
sort of a corporate gig.

381
00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:04,360
Yeah, we were opening for The
James Gang Quicksilver Messenger

382
00:23:04,360 --> 00:23:07,360
Service.
Steve Miller.

383
00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:10,720
It was.
It was fun.

384
00:23:11,520 --> 00:23:14,960
Yeah.
And I, I was big on music.

385
00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:17,000
Being there was just
unbelievable.

386
00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:21,480
So you were hooked.
I got hooked.

387
00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:25,240
I was in the Air Force and I did
night shifts.

388
00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:33,160
This is 1967 and the BBC didn't
play records.

389
00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:38,120
The Musicians Union dictated
that they had to have live

390
00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:41,560
musicians doing cover, cover
certain songs and such.

391
00:23:42,360 --> 00:23:44,520
But they.
Played maybe one single every

392
00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:47,720
hour and one guy had a feature
in his show.

393
00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:51,040
It was called the Daily Double
and they played within that

394
00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:53,120
hour.
They played two records.

395
00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:58,680
So I'm working night shift and
I'm able to tune in to the

396
00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:01,560
pirate radio ships.
And.

397
00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:05,440
This is 1967.
This is the summer of love and

398
00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:09,480
I'm listening to The Doors,
Love, Mothers of Invention, just

399
00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:14,200
all all this great music and
that I was caught.

400
00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:17,440
Next thing I'm off down to
London to these all night shows

401
00:24:17,440 --> 00:24:19,360
and getting into the music big
time.

402
00:24:21,120 --> 00:24:25,960
Trouble was I got back to base
and I'd find, you know, my

403
00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:31,560
locker had been opened and that
this suit had gone missing and I

404
00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:34,360
was in there with 11 other guys
and they were all drinkers.

405
00:24:34,360 --> 00:24:39,160
So writing was on the wall.
I, I eventually got out of there

406
00:24:39,160 --> 00:24:42,880
and managed to get a job with
Pan American down in London, but

407
00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:47,680
I stayed close to the music
scene, went to Ronnie Scott's

408
00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:49,920
every Wednesday to try and
broaden my mind.

409
00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:54,520
I was a jazz club, went there
one Wednesday, didn't know who I

410
00:24:54,520 --> 00:24:57,320
was going to see.
And it was Eric Burdon and War.

411
00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:04,200
And it was, they were dynamic.
And then Eric says, hey Jimmy,

412
00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:07,080
come on up.
So Jimmy Hendrix comes up and

413
00:25:07,080 --> 00:25:09,680
he's.
Playing with the fans and.

414
00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:13,320
It was electrifying.
In fact, Eric Burton sat next to

415
00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:17,680
me at the front row and he
actually kicked the little table

416
00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:19,720
over.
He was just digging it so much.

417
00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:24,360
That was on a Wednesday night.
On Thursday night, Jimi Hendrix

418
00:25:24,360 --> 00:25:27,360
dies.
Oh my goodness.

419
00:25:27,360 --> 00:25:28,160
Wow.
So.

420
00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:32,160
Sad, so sad, and I can't believe
how many people say they were at

421
00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:35,400
that concept when it wouldn't
hold more than 200 people.

422
00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:41,200
Wow, that is incredible.
So we, I was always going trying

423
00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:47,240
to check out different music,
different venues, different

424
00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:52,080
styles, because we weren't all
focused on one thing at the, the

425
00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:56,240
Top of the Pops, you know, would
have the singing postman at #1

426
00:25:56,600 --> 00:26:01,760
you know, Pink Floyd at #2.
So we were very open to all

427
00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:06,760
kinds of engineers and music.
Well, I mean, what a time to be

428
00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:11,160
in England, you know, with, with
that massive explosion of music

429
00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:14,840
coming in and The Beatles and
obviously Led Zeppelin shortly

430
00:26:14,840 --> 00:26:18,520
after and all of that stuff.
It was just, yeah, wild.

431
00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:21,960
Yeah, it was a good place to be
London in the late 60s.

432
00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:26,560
Yeah.
Sort of Led Zeppelin at the in a

433
00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:30,760
pub Seven Sisters Rd. in London.
No, that was.

434
00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:33,320
Communication break there, you
know.

435
00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:35,080
That.
Oh my goodness, that.

436
00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:38,880
Was that was electric Writing
was on the wall right away with

437
00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:41,960
them.
Yeah, have you seen the new

438
00:26:41,960 --> 00:26:44,240
movie about them?
The the documentary.

439
00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:46,640
No, I never get time for that
sort.

440
00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:48,840
Of thing it's quite good it's
quite good.

441
00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:52,240
I think it might even be on like
streaming on TV now or

442
00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:53,560
something.
But it's quite good.

443
00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:57,000
It's it's just a lot of early
stuff in them telling stories

444
00:26:57,000 --> 00:26:59,280
and it's pretty cool.
I liked it.

445
00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:01,480
I enjoyed it.
Yeah, yeah.

446
00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:06,040
I, I, I, I'll tell you what, I
just in my drawer, I keep my

447
00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:11,160
Diaries.
This is 1975.

448
00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:19,440
This is wow. 50 years ago and I
look it up, I was in Medford OR

449
00:27:20,360 --> 00:27:26,520
opening for that was with Leo
Sayer Golden Earring.

450
00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:30,560
Wow.
Yeah, at the Armory in Medford,

451
00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:33,440
yeah.
So you've kept a diary your

452
00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:34,960
entire career?
Sorry.

453
00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:37,720
You've kept Diaries your entire
career.

454
00:27:38,040 --> 00:27:39,880
Yeah, I, I did, yeah, all
through.

455
00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:42,680
The that's incredible.
That is incredible.

456
00:27:42,680 --> 00:27:45,960
Because we didn't have
itineraries, so you had to know

457
00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:48,040
where you were going.
Yeah, you.

458
00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:51,160
You had cash, you didn't have a
credit card, you didn't have a

459
00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:52,640
phone.
Yeah.

460
00:27:53,120 --> 00:27:55,920
So you put in your diary where
you had to be on what day.

461
00:27:56,520 --> 00:27:58,400
Yeah.
You might have a phone number

462
00:27:58,400 --> 00:28:03,120
for the venue, you might not.
You, you turn up, do your show,

463
00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:06,520
you know, and then the tour
manager would pick up the cash

464
00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:10,400
and run off with the band.
So great.

465
00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:13,400
It was.
But what was nice about that was

466
00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:20,160
when say you, you, you finish in
the Midwest somewhere and your

467
00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:23,480
next show is like Charles,
Louisiana down on the coast,

468
00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:26,680
down the Gulf Coast.
And it's up to you how you get

469
00:28:26,680 --> 00:28:28,120
there.
You've got two days to get

470
00:28:28,120 --> 00:28:29,840
there.
And so you figure out where you

471
00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:31,720
want to go on route.
Do you want to swing into

472
00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:33,280
Memphis?
Do you want to stay in

473
00:28:33,280 --> 00:28:38,360
Nashville?
I just, for me, being English

474
00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:43,800
and coming up, living in a small
island, driving across America

475
00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:48,560
was breathtaking.
Yeah, yeah, Canada would have

476
00:28:48,560 --> 00:28:51,760
been so breathtaking had the
city had been a little closer to

477
00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:54,720
each other.
That's true, there's no quick

478
00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:58,400
trips in in Canada.
We've always gone left to right

479
00:28:58,480 --> 00:28:59,920
on Canada.
You.

480
00:28:59,920 --> 00:29:01,720
Always started.
Off in Vancouver.

481
00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:04,280
If you're lucky, you ended up in
Lethbridge.

482
00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:07,040
You know.
Yeah, kind of Jesus left bridge

483
00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:09,400
your.
Way up to Edmonton, down to

484
00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:11,160
Calgary and.
And and.

485
00:29:11,640 --> 00:29:15,920
Then across with China as in and
such Thunder Bay.

486
00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:21,680
You know, it's interesting
because Calgary used to be like

487
00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:25,920
the place in sort of the central
provinces to go to for bands.

488
00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:29,440
But over the years the, the
building there, the saddle Dome

489
00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:33,080
got a little long in the tooth
and, and you couldn't hold the

490
00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:37,800
weight on the ceiling with all
these new LED screens and heavy

491
00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:41,240
line array systems and stuff.
When everything started flying,

492
00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:44,880
they started losing shows
because bands couldn't bring

493
00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:47,400
their rig there, that they just
couldn't get it, you know,

494
00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:49,280
approved by the engineers or
whatever.

495
00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:53,200
The weight was just too much and
so bands started skipping

496
00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:55,280
Calgary and going to Edmonton
because they had a newer

497
00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:59,960
building with with better specs.
And it's just weird because

498
00:29:59,960 --> 00:30:02,360
bands never used to go to
Edmonton, they'd go to Calgary

499
00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:05,000
instead.
And now it's the opposite, sort

500
00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:05,880
of.
But they're building a new

501
00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:07,040
building now.
Yeah, I.

502
00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:12,440
Took in Canada.
I was surprised how many bands

503
00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:20,440
that that music broke in Canada
first before the US Supertramp

504
00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:25,480
is a good example.
But when I started Delegate we

505
00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:30,840
we we're doing tours in Canada
and next to no dates in the US.

506
00:30:30,840 --> 00:30:36,160
The bands, I don't know if you
go back as far as let's see

507
00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:39,640
split ends.
Of course, yeah.

508
00:30:40,200 --> 00:30:42,920
Forerunners to Crowded House
split ends were going up.

509
00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:44,480
In Canada.
Didn't they do that song?

510
00:30:44,480 --> 00:30:48,360
I don't know, but sometimes I.
Is that them?

511
00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:51,200
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I remember them.

512
00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:55,400
Was another Canada 1 band called
Angel City.

513
00:30:56,120 --> 00:30:58,400
I remember them.
Yeah, I know all those bands.

514
00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:00,280
Then it worked.
Canada first.

515
00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:02,760
Really.
I didn't know that.

516
00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:04,280
Yeah, yeah.
Huh.

517
00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:07,480
Yeah.
Christaberg.

518
00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:10,280
Canada only.
Just kidding.

519
00:31:10,280 --> 00:31:14,080
I didn't know that either.
Yeah, lady in red.

520
00:31:15,840 --> 00:31:21,480
Canada and and in in the US,
Cleveland was the Mecca

521
00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:24,480
Cleveland was.
Didn't matter who you were with,

522
00:31:25,400 --> 00:31:27,760
Cleveland was on the itinerary.
Really.

523
00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:30,960
Yeah, I think it was KMMS or
something.

524
00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:37,280
The kid, the radio station.
Great promotion tool.

525
00:31:37,640 --> 00:31:41,480
He, he, he, he, I, I think he
was responsible for a lot of

526
00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:43,800
that large market share they
had.

527
00:31:44,760 --> 00:31:47,680
Isn't the music business so
different today, like how how

528
00:31:47,680 --> 00:31:50,880
bands broke back then compared
to how they break now?

529
00:31:50,880 --> 00:31:54,800
And it was really, you know,
like I was talking with Gilmore

530
00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:56,640
from Triumph.
The drummer in Triumph is a

531
00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:59,000
friend of mine.
He has a a sound and lighting

532
00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:02,520
company in Canada, Metalworks,
and I was talking to him about

533
00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:05,360
it and he told me the whole
story of how Triumph broke.

534
00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:10,040
I think it was a Texas small
market, Texas radio station that

535
00:32:10,560 --> 00:32:14,120
really was instrumental in
breaking Triumph in the United

536
00:32:14,120 --> 00:32:17,280
States.
And it's just totally different

537
00:32:17,280 --> 00:32:20,400
now.
Well, the big difference now is

538
00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:23,440
we don't have records, so we
don't have record companies, so

539
00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:29,000
we don't have record company
funds to to back a tour.

540
00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:34,520
Or to pay off radio DJs and.
That was, you know, that was

541
00:32:34,560 --> 00:32:39,280
that that covered our budgets
for sound and lights with, with

542
00:32:39,360 --> 00:32:42,320
record company support.
Yeah.

543
00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:47,240
And we'll the, the, you know,
things are very different now.

544
00:32:47,360 --> 00:32:48,800
Yeah.
You're not going to live off

545
00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:51,760
your royalty so much as you got
to get out there and perform.

546
00:32:51,960 --> 00:32:56,920
That's good for us, but I miss
those the the 2, the variables.

547
00:32:56,920 --> 00:33:01,440
There was record company support
and there was so many theatres

548
00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:04,320
where we do theatre tours, sound
and lights.

549
00:33:04,720 --> 00:33:11,560
One, maybe 2 trucks if.
And it was incredibly good fun

550
00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:14,840
because you're playing venues
downtown.

551
00:33:15,080 --> 00:33:17,880
So when you stepped out at
lunchtime, you could nip next

552
00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:21,760
door into the the pharmacy or
across the street to the sushi

553
00:33:21,760 --> 00:33:24,440
bar.
You felt you were in the city.

554
00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:29,280
Now you're in a in a bus.
You pull up at the arena.

555
00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:35,000
If you've got a day off, they
put you in a hotel where 22

556
00:33:35,200 --> 00:33:38,760
interstates set cross each other
just close to the arena.

557
00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:42,760
You don't see it downtown.
You just see concrete all the

558
00:33:42,760 --> 00:33:46,040
time.
And I, I loved touring.

559
00:33:46,040 --> 00:33:49,640
I loved all these cities with
the theaters right smack in the

560
00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:54,160
middle of the city.
That doesn't happen for US

561
00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:57,840
production companies anymore.
It's in house, sound, lights,

562
00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:00,640
Big difference.
We had.

563
00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:06,760
We had a lot of fun then and and
and it was much more intimate

564
00:34:06,760 --> 00:34:09,480
because you're also closer to
the band.

565
00:34:10,199 --> 00:34:15,120
Yeah, I'm not going to be too
nostalgic.

566
00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:16,840
All this change had to come
about.

567
00:34:17,520 --> 00:34:20,600
Yeah, well, everything evolves,
of course.

568
00:34:21,239 --> 00:34:25,880
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
There's a, there's the

569
00:34:26,239 --> 00:34:33,800
difference with touring now.
And what it was is chalk and

570
00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:36,159
cheese.
Chalk and cheese.

571
00:34:36,639 --> 00:34:39,120
Yeah.
In fact, when you think back

572
00:34:39,120 --> 00:34:42,320
when you the arenas, right, the
arenas come out of the

573
00:34:42,679 --> 00:34:49,040
basketball and ice skating
leagues And and when the arenas

574
00:34:49,040 --> 00:34:51,639
came about, then it was like,
well, we want to put a concert

575
00:34:51,639 --> 00:34:55,840
here, but we didn't really have
the, the, the, the, the, the

576
00:34:56,120 --> 00:34:58,320
technology.
Yeah, we didn't have the sound

577
00:34:58,320 --> 00:35:01,240
and lighting we had now.
It was so sort of very

578
00:35:01,240 --> 00:35:05,480
primitive.
But you see, there was something

579
00:35:05,480 --> 00:35:08,440
necessary, the something of
invention, mother of invention.

580
00:35:08,440 --> 00:35:09,200
I don't.
Know, but I think.

581
00:35:09,520 --> 00:35:13,840
I had something to play with it.
So it was interesting for me who

582
00:35:13,920 --> 00:35:20,840
started in 72 when sound systems
were so crude, looking back and

583
00:35:20,840 --> 00:35:25,800
how they developed and the
people who developed them, hats

584
00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:31,120
off to them with that, that
those cottage industries just

585
00:35:31,320 --> 00:35:37,120
absolutely grew out of nothing.
I, I love that part of our

586
00:35:37,120 --> 00:35:40,440
business though, like I love
that, you know, people were kind

587
00:35:40,440 --> 00:35:43,920
of going back to their shop or
their garage or whatever it was

588
00:35:43,920 --> 00:35:46,000
and they were.
I got to build a bigger box.

589
00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:49,240
You know, and they would just
build a bigger box and put 215

590
00:35:49,240 --> 00:35:52,000
inch speakers in it and then
they'd go, well, it's still not

591
00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:53,200
loud enough.
We need more bass.

592
00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:56,840
They'd put 218 inch speakers in
it, you know, and it was just

593
00:35:56,840 --> 00:36:01,600
very primitive and very just
need driven, you know, like, oh,

594
00:36:01,600 --> 00:36:03,280
we need it louder.
It's a bigger venue.

595
00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:06,400
Let's just stack a few more
boxes on each side, you know?

596
00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:07,280
Exactly.
Right.

597
00:36:07,720 --> 00:36:12,600
Yeah.
We got to say, you know, hats

598
00:36:12,600 --> 00:36:15,880
off the Claire brothers, they
had their S4 early in the game,

599
00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:22,400
and that was incredibly slick.
That was the design that held

600
00:36:22,520 --> 00:36:26,000
it, you know, up for such a long
time.

601
00:36:27,560 --> 00:36:34,680
So yeah, that that that was a
really good example of a clean

602
00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:37,080
PA.
And it was more about number of

603
00:36:37,080 --> 00:36:40,720
boxes.
Yeah, very, very well put

604
00:36:40,720 --> 00:36:42,240
together.
Yeah.

605
00:36:42,840 --> 00:36:51,400
You know, we, yeah, I've, I've
seen it, saw a lot that that

606
00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:55,040
that those developments.
Yeah.

607
00:36:55,040 --> 00:36:58,120
I want to get into that a little
bit here too, because you've

608
00:36:58,120 --> 00:37:01,320
been, you know, in the lighting
business for me.

609
00:37:01,840 --> 00:37:07,080
I'm 60 now, but I've seen the
the sort of growth from, you

610
00:37:07,080 --> 00:37:11,280
know, just park hand rigs to,
you know, verilite, very early

611
00:37:11,280 --> 00:37:15,240
stage verilites to hey, there's
these intellibim things that are

612
00:37:15,240 --> 00:37:18,160
available to, you know, every
stage of that.

613
00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:21,160
And I worked in the moving light
business for a lot of my career

614
00:37:21,600 --> 00:37:25,440
and but you've done that like
since the beginning of sound

615
00:37:25,440 --> 00:37:27,840
systems practically, right.
So I like.

616
00:37:28,160 --> 00:37:34,240
I like that you touched on on
lighting myself because before

617
00:37:36,080 --> 00:37:43,120
the Genesis funded very OK that
that was we call it a

618
00:37:43,240 --> 00:37:48,200
metamorphosis.
I don't know, show lights Eric

619
00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:52,600
Pierce in the 70s.
I was working with Tasco back

620
00:37:52,600 --> 00:37:56,080
then, formerly MEH.
Marshall equipment hire.

621
00:37:56,080 --> 00:38:00,320
There's another story.
And they'd put together the

622
00:38:00,320 --> 00:38:04,680
lighting rig for the ELO tour
and there was the spaceship.

623
00:38:04,880 --> 00:38:08,600
And the spaceship, the trust
configuration was it's all

624
00:38:08,600 --> 00:38:11,400
Telestage trust.
It was aluminium trust, sort of

625
00:38:11,400 --> 00:38:15,840
triangular trust aluminium.
That was the where we first saw

626
00:38:15,840 --> 00:38:19,280
the six lamp bars with the
soccer pecks on them.

627
00:38:21,040 --> 00:38:27,360
That that innovation right there
had made a huge change.

628
00:38:27,520 --> 00:38:34,200
In fact, I bought my my
Supertramp rig was Show lights,

629
00:38:35,800 --> 00:38:40,640
Eric Pierce, and he had these
great, these dimmers, Oldham

630
00:38:40,640 --> 00:38:44,120
dimmers.
We even had to keep it

631
00:38:44,120 --> 00:38:48,480
lightweight.
We had aluminium foil, which was

632
00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:53,520
later outlawed, but that caused
such a stir here in the US that

633
00:38:53,520 --> 00:38:58,080
when Tasco came over here, I've
got delicate together.

634
00:38:58,560 --> 00:39:02,320
LSD came out of the the back of
Tasco.

635
00:39:02,640 --> 00:39:05,080
We're all in use.
Oh, I know you've got show

636
00:39:05,080 --> 00:39:08,040
lights and I know you've got, I
think it's Super Mick and some

637
00:39:08,040 --> 00:39:11,720
others.
And we were cleaning up and

638
00:39:11,720 --> 00:39:16,520
there was, perhaps it was called
the Professional Entertainment

639
00:39:16,520 --> 00:39:20,040
Production Society was formed.
And I caught wind of this

640
00:39:20,040 --> 00:39:22,320
convention that was going on in
Santa Monica.

641
00:39:23,160 --> 00:39:25,080
And so I thought, well, that'd
be fun to attend.

642
00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:29,760
So I put the word out.
So all those Brits and such go

643
00:39:29,760 --> 00:39:32,160
down there.
And but the schedule kept

644
00:39:32,160 --> 00:39:37,120
changing and we were in the bar
kind of bit puzzled as to why

645
00:39:37,120 --> 00:39:41,080
they were, they were changing
this seminar to something else.

646
00:39:41,080 --> 00:39:45,800
And Patrick Stansfield came in
and said, OK, I'm going to let

647
00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:50,840
the cat out of the bag guys.
This convention is all about how

648
00:39:50,840 --> 00:39:53,560
do we get our business back from
the tea bags.

649
00:39:54,360 --> 00:40:04,200
The principles there was Obie,
Bob C, Jim Moody from Sundance

650
00:40:04,200 --> 00:40:08,120
Lighting.
It was it was McManus from the

651
00:40:08,120 --> 00:40:09,760
East Coast.
Now.

652
00:40:09,880 --> 00:40:12,360
Trying to figure out how they're
going to get their business back

653
00:40:12,360 --> 00:40:15,120
from the tea bags.
That innovation there was

654
00:40:15,120 --> 00:40:18,360
tremendous.
Everybody got on it late in

655
00:40:18,360 --> 00:40:22,960
Marshall.
You know, as as left Electrotech

656
00:40:22,960 --> 00:40:26,840
with Colin, one of the first
things he did, I think it was

657
00:40:26,880 --> 00:40:32,480
what he went to Korea and and
had them making power cans and

658
00:40:32,680 --> 00:40:39,720
he was bringing them in in the
container and they sold like hot

659
00:40:39,720 --> 00:40:41,720
cakes.
And then he came up with the the

660
00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:46,080
six lamp bar with the centre
soccer pics all wired up for you

661
00:40:47,640 --> 00:40:53,200
and that got TMB off the ground.
So all that happened before we

662
00:40:53,200 --> 00:40:57,080
saw the very light and and.
Crazy.

663
00:40:57,520 --> 00:41:00,320
Myself.
Now here's one that puzzles me a

664
00:41:00,320 --> 00:41:03,640
bit.
Early on with the moving light

665
00:41:03,640 --> 00:41:07,680
business, you go to LDI and it
was Jack Kelly was the

666
00:41:07,680 --> 00:41:10,640
distributor and he had Clay
Paki.

667
00:41:11,280 --> 00:41:13,320
Right Group One look.
At this stuff and it was

668
00:41:13,320 --> 00:41:17,360
amazing, but it nobody used it
it.

669
00:41:17,360 --> 00:41:18,960
Was.
Yeah, it was discos only.

670
00:41:18,960 --> 00:41:23,680
Sharpies came out that anybody
gave a damn about Clay Paki, and

671
00:41:23,680 --> 00:41:26,800
yet years and years and years
before, I always thought Clay

672
00:41:26,800 --> 00:41:31,320
Paki had this fantastic.
It did package yeah.

673
00:41:31,320 --> 00:41:33,360
If I'm.
Not mistaken, High end were

674
00:41:33,800 --> 00:41:35,840
involved with clay, Paki decided
they were.

675
00:41:35,840 --> 00:41:37,040
Going to do their.
Own thing.

676
00:41:37,600 --> 00:41:39,280
Yeah, they were, one of the
distributors told.

677
00:41:39,560 --> 00:41:40,360
You.
That one I don't know.

678
00:41:40,920 --> 00:41:42,240
Yeah.
No, of course he did.

679
00:41:42,280 --> 00:41:45,520
Yeah.
No, he, I mean, they, they were

680
00:41:45,520 --> 00:41:49,040
one of the, they were the
distributor for Clay Paki at one

681
00:41:49,040 --> 00:41:53,320
point.
And they pretty much just, you

682
00:41:53,320 --> 00:41:56,000
know, fixed some of the things
that Clay Paki needed to, and

683
00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:57,720
they made it a lot less
expensive.

684
00:41:58,040 --> 00:42:01,680
And, you know, they came out
with the Intela Beam 400 and and

685
00:42:01,680 --> 00:42:05,600
then the 700 after that.
And, you know, again, great

686
00:42:05,600 --> 00:42:07,600
stories.
Because at the time, nobody

687
00:42:07,600 --> 00:42:11,440
would ever use a moving mirror
light on a rock'n'roll show,

688
00:42:11,440 --> 00:42:14,320
right?
And it was actually Chaz,

689
00:42:14,320 --> 00:42:18,280
another fellow countryman for
you, Chaz Harrington, who put

690
00:42:18,280 --> 00:42:21,600
him out on on Dire Straits and
changed everything.

691
00:42:21,880 --> 00:42:25,360
You know, it was like it became
suddenly very acceptable to put

692
00:42:25,360 --> 00:42:27,360
in tela beams on a rock'n'roll
rig.

693
00:42:29,080 --> 00:42:34,240
Yeah, I, I, I remember that
whole, the high end thing I had

694
00:42:34,640 --> 00:42:39,720
Yanni was my client and he was
about to embark on his tour.

695
00:42:40,080 --> 00:42:44,200
He was doing shows at the Taj
Mahal and the the Palace

696
00:42:44,200 --> 00:42:51,760
whatever in China and he was
looking for a high end rig

697
00:42:53,160 --> 00:42:58,760
studio spot studio Wash and
Marshall was was a distributor

698
00:42:59,040 --> 00:43:03,920
locally and he would he actually
stepped back and allowed us to

699
00:43:03,920 --> 00:43:06,840
become a dealer.
And.

700
00:43:08,720 --> 00:43:16,640
And and so that that high end
product really kick started us,

701
00:43:16,640 --> 00:43:19,640
you know, we had the turbo race
and we had the cyber lots to

702
00:43:19,640 --> 00:43:22,080
follow.
But by then it was everyone's

703
00:43:22,080 --> 00:43:26,280
game, wasn't it?
I mean, buying coma fixtures and

704
00:43:26,640 --> 00:43:30,040
a big nice moving lights, but
there was no service, you know,

705
00:43:30,120 --> 00:43:33,000
so that yeah, they they
disappeared you.

706
00:43:33,080 --> 00:43:35,280
Yeah.
You, you know all those stories.

707
00:43:35,680 --> 00:43:37,080
I I do.
Yeah, I do.

708
00:43:37,080 --> 00:43:40,840
I was involved in many of those
stories, so I know them all too

709
00:43:40,840 --> 00:43:41,200
well.
This.

710
00:43:41,680 --> 00:43:46,760
Big disappointment for me was I
bought a a high end.

711
00:43:47,360 --> 00:43:49,600
Jeez, I'm trying to remember
what the fixture was called now

712
00:43:49,800 --> 00:43:51,000
the.
X Spot.

713
00:43:53,000 --> 00:43:56,600
Export, Yeah, yeah, OK.
It was right after the studio

714
00:43:56,600 --> 00:43:58,600
spot in Studio Color and Studio
Beam You.

715
00:43:58,600 --> 00:44:03,400
Only had it like 3 months, 3
three months exports and then

716
00:44:03,400 --> 00:44:08,600
the Mac 2000 came out.
I just crushed it, killed the X

717
00:44:08,600 --> 00:44:11,520
spot.
The X spot was big and ugly and

718
00:44:11,520 --> 00:44:15,840
not very bright and it was just,
it was a flop.

719
00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:18,760
It was such a flop.
That taught me a lesson.

720
00:44:19,040 --> 00:44:21,680
Don't buy what you think.
You've got to wait and see which

721
00:44:21,680 --> 00:44:23,640
way the market goes.
Yeah.

722
00:44:24,560 --> 00:44:26,760
Sticking your neck out if you're
just going to just.

723
00:44:26,760 --> 00:44:28,920
Jump in.
I don't know that anybody saw

724
00:44:28,920 --> 00:44:32,000
that Mac 2000 coming, though.
I remember when they launched it

725
00:44:32,000 --> 00:44:35,000
at LDI and I was just like,
whoa, this thing's going to do

726
00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:36,440
some damage.
And it really did.

727
00:44:36,440 --> 00:44:38,720
I mean, it just completely took
over the market.

728
00:44:39,160 --> 00:44:41,720
It had it had companies
scrambling pretty good.

729
00:44:42,240 --> 00:44:45,680
Yeah, so I had the wrong one.
Yeah, yeah, I.

730
00:44:45,760 --> 00:44:50,960
Know but high end for me I mean
when we became dealers fact you

731
00:44:50,960 --> 00:44:56,440
know you had to go to Austin and
and I spent three or three days

732
00:44:56,440 --> 00:45:01,560
there or something at school.
You know I'm I had to learn

733
00:45:01,800 --> 00:45:04,680
because I represented the
product my company.

734
00:45:04,760 --> 00:45:06,520
I had to know everything about
it.

735
00:45:06,760 --> 00:45:10,680
So I'm learning about rare earth
and oh, God knows what you.

736
00:45:12,520 --> 00:45:14,560
Know because I really need to
know this, right?

737
00:45:14,600 --> 00:45:17,840
Yeah.
Yeah, 1 funny thing happened

738
00:45:17,840 --> 00:45:20,240
there, Robert Mockery.
You know Robert I.

739
00:45:20,320 --> 00:45:23,480
Think, of course, very well.
Like he was the go song with the

740
00:45:23,480 --> 00:45:29,760
comas.
Robert's there with high end and

741
00:45:29,760 --> 00:45:31,680
he says, have you got a minute?
I said, yeah.

742
00:45:31,680 --> 00:45:33,640
He says, follow me.
So we go around this little

743
00:45:33,640 --> 00:45:36,760
warehouse.
He says, I, I, I developed a new

744
00:45:36,760 --> 00:45:40,600
product and I thought, OK, well,
let's see what Robert's got to

745
00:45:40,600 --> 00:45:43,040
offer here.
We walk in, he fires it out.

746
00:45:43,240 --> 00:45:46,800
He says, get a load of that.
So he's got a smoke machine and

747
00:45:46,800 --> 00:45:50,920
it's putting out what smells
like absolute pure marijuana.

748
00:45:52,280 --> 00:45:54,360
That's Robert.
Or that was Robert.

749
00:45:54,600 --> 00:45:57,160
Yeah, Yeah.
Big big on festivals.

750
00:45:57,760 --> 00:46:00,560
Oh my God, that's hilarious up
in.

751
00:46:00,960 --> 00:46:02,560
Prison.
Yeah.

752
00:46:02,880 --> 00:46:07,400
Yeah, they were.
I'm not going to keep going are

753
00:46:07,400 --> 00:46:08,440
they were fun.
Robert.

754
00:46:08,440 --> 00:46:11,120
Robert used to like his weed.
He definitely did.

755
00:46:11,120 --> 00:46:13,400
You know he quit.
He quit a few years ago, right?

756
00:46:14,240 --> 00:46:17,440
He completely quit smoking weed.
He's off of it completely.

757
00:46:17,440 --> 00:46:20,120
I don't even think he drinks
anymore either, he's gone

758
00:46:20,120 --> 00:46:24,320
healthy.
Head strike now I'm at a kid and

759
00:46:24,320 --> 00:46:29,800
who's a Robin's a one of those
luminary figures for me.

760
00:46:30,400 --> 00:46:33,360
Yeah, he's a good dude.
Robert's a good guy.

761
00:46:33,360 --> 00:46:37,200
We lost Craig recently, and that
was a bummer because they were

762
00:46:37,200 --> 00:46:41,360
sort of the partners in crime
when you visited High End, Craig

763
00:46:41,360 --> 00:46:45,200
and Robert.
So you know that that Wiseman

764
00:46:45,200 --> 00:46:52,840
and I started working for High
End the same day in 1996 or 7, I

765
00:46:52,840 --> 00:47:00,240
think 1997 he and I, I met.
Wiseman I think when he was

766
00:47:01,080 --> 00:47:04,640
pushing Coma out of Obie's.
Yeah, yeah.

767
00:47:05,680 --> 00:47:09,160
Obie's had the exclusive back
then and you had to go through

768
00:47:09,160 --> 00:47:11,920
Wiseman to get a rental.
Yeah.

769
00:47:12,160 --> 00:47:15,200
Yeah, yeah, that's a, that's a
flashback.

770
00:47:15,240 --> 00:47:16,640
But sorry, I interrupted you
there.

771
00:47:17,160 --> 00:47:19,840
Yeah, no, it's, it's funny.
Everybody's got a Wiseman

772
00:47:19,840 --> 00:47:22,640
flashback because it you got to
kind of shake your head a little

773
00:47:22,640 --> 00:47:25,440
bit to try and remember it
because you might have been

774
00:47:25,640 --> 00:47:29,680
under some sort of influence at
that moment, you know, kidding.

775
00:47:30,680 --> 00:47:32,000
I don't know.
I don't.

776
00:47:32,080 --> 00:47:37,000
Know he, he, he, he was, how do
we put it with if it was an

777
00:47:37,000 --> 00:47:40,760
industry gathering like we used
to have the performance magazine

778
00:47:40,760 --> 00:47:48,720
thing and everybody would know
when he arrived back in the

779
00:47:48,720 --> 00:47:51,880
hotel.
Yeah, yeah, that's funny.

780
00:47:52,040 --> 00:47:56,920
A cloud followed him.
Yeah, well, he, I talked to him

781
00:47:56,920 --> 00:48:00,000
almost daily at this point and
he's healthy and happy and

782
00:48:00,000 --> 00:48:03,320
really doing super well.
You know, he, he quit at the

783
00:48:03,320 --> 00:48:05,760
right time because I don't, he
wouldn't be with us today if he

784
00:48:05,760 --> 00:48:09,520
didn't, you know, and he, he
actually told some really good

785
00:48:09,520 --> 00:48:13,120
stories on, on the podcast where
he hit bottom and had to borrow

786
00:48:13,120 --> 00:48:16,680
money from his parents to, to go
to rehab, you know, and, and

787
00:48:16,680 --> 00:48:21,520
thank God he did because I think
that was 2027 or 28 years ago or

788
00:48:21,520 --> 00:48:23,400
something.
And he wouldn't be with us today

789
00:48:23,400 --> 00:48:27,560
if he didn't do it.
So So what was do you remember

790
00:48:27,560 --> 00:48:30,960
your second tour after the after
that one where you were the drum

791
00:48:30,960 --> 00:48:32,840
tech?
Yeah, yeah, I was back.

792
00:48:32,920 --> 00:48:38,680
I was in the Marquee Club in
London on Wardour St. and a guy

793
00:48:38,680 --> 00:48:41,160
comes up to me and he says
you're Roadie.

794
00:48:43,240 --> 00:48:46,440
I said yes and he said.
Can.

795
00:48:46,440 --> 00:48:52,080
Well, yes, I am and.
I said yes, and I said who's the

796
00:48:52,080 --> 00:48:56,680
band?
And he said it's Genesis and

797
00:48:56,680 --> 00:49:02,600
this is with Peter Gabriel.
So this is 73 and I so I was off

798
00:49:02,600 --> 00:49:05,960
on a European run with with
Genesis setting up.

799
00:49:06,680 --> 00:49:08,640
Trump's.
With Phil.

800
00:49:09,680 --> 00:49:11,960
And wow.
And carrying a lot of junk.

801
00:49:12,240 --> 00:49:17,040
They had a lot of scenic
elements and you didn't have too

802
00:49:17,040 --> 00:49:19,080
much Rd.
You didn't have stage hands.

803
00:49:19,080 --> 00:49:21,680
Then you had to lug it in
yourself and set it up so it was

804
00:49:21,680 --> 00:49:23,440
an.
Experience but I.

805
00:49:24,280 --> 00:49:30,600
Absolutely love that.
I love Phil and he, he, he was

806
00:49:30,600 --> 00:49:33,840
one of these musicians who
couldn't sit still between

807
00:49:33,840 --> 00:49:37,880
tours.
He and Peter Banks with flashing

808
00:49:38,480 --> 00:49:42,600
and so they formed.
There were bands like there was

809
00:49:42,840 --> 00:49:46,240
Brand X was his and he was, he
played with another band called

810
00:49:46,240 --> 00:49:49,480
Zucks and the Radar Boys.
And I'd, I'd pick them up.

811
00:49:49,480 --> 00:49:53,600
Then we'd go off to the, the
venue and they were unannounced.

812
00:49:53,600 --> 00:49:58,080
They were like a super group and
they would go on first.

813
00:49:58,440 --> 00:50:00,800
They just wanted to play.
So.

814
00:50:00,880 --> 00:50:04,280
The people next door in the pub
and is suddenly you won't

815
00:50:04,280 --> 00:50:09,440
believe he's on stage, you know,
And that was that was Phil.

816
00:50:09,440 --> 00:50:11,640
He just wanted to to keep
working.

817
00:50:11,640 --> 00:50:15,520
He loved playing.
That's awesome.

818
00:50:16,360 --> 00:50:22,040
Smashing guy all all the the
Genesis guys were were nice

819
00:50:22,040 --> 00:50:24,720
people.
Yeah, yeah.

820
00:50:24,720 --> 00:50:26,760
I mean I.
Didn't stick with them too long.

821
00:50:29,640 --> 00:50:34,840
I I was living in South London
over Hammersmith Bridge place

822
00:50:34,840 --> 00:50:40,160
called Barnes and my Greengrove.
So Willie Fife was a good friend

823
00:50:40,160 --> 00:50:43,400
of John Lord and John Lord just
been very successful with big

824
00:50:43,400 --> 00:50:47,880
Purple and he'd now bought a
nice big country house out in

825
00:50:47,880 --> 00:50:53,320
the in, in in Berkshire and and
was wanted to hand moving.

826
00:50:53,320 --> 00:50:58,040
So Willie and I helped John move
out to to to Sonning in

827
00:50:58,040 --> 00:51:00,120
Berkshire.
And while I was there one of

828
00:51:00,120 --> 00:51:05,240
John's friends came up to me and
he said, are you eroding?

829
00:51:06,160 --> 00:51:07,960
Yes, I am.
It's a theme.

830
00:51:08,120 --> 00:51:13,480
It's a bit of a theme.
And yeah, I said, who's who's

831
00:51:13,480 --> 00:51:14,800
the artist?
What are you looking for?

832
00:51:14,800 --> 00:51:17,880
He said, well, only two guys
want to take care of the band

833
00:51:18,600 --> 00:51:20,200
and want to take care of the
artist.

834
00:51:21,160 --> 00:51:26,600
I said, who is this?
He said Gentleman Leo Sayer so I

835
00:51:26,600 --> 00:51:32,560
know I pulled 1 so I called Numo
Hey Numo got a tour for us What

836
00:51:32,560 --> 00:51:34,120
do you want to do?
Front of house?

837
00:51:34,120 --> 00:51:36,160
I beg your pardon You want to
take care of the band or you

838
00:51:36,160 --> 00:51:39,000
want to take care of the artist?
No brainer.

839
00:51:39,200 --> 00:51:39,760
So he.
Was.

840
00:51:40,320 --> 00:51:45,320
Leo Sayers personal and so we we
did quite a few tours with Leo

841
00:51:45,320 --> 00:51:47,480
Sayer.
Interesting.

842
00:51:47,840 --> 00:51:54,480
Yeah, and.
What was fun was in 74, I think

843
00:51:54,480 --> 00:52:00,960
75, we did a lot of one week in
in a in a city.

844
00:52:01,240 --> 00:52:02,960
We did a week at the bottom
line.

845
00:52:02,960 --> 00:52:07,120
We did a Denver's, oddly enough.
Oddly enough, it's called

846
00:52:07,120 --> 00:52:11,480
Ebbetsfield, the boarding house
in San Francisco, the Troubadour

847
00:52:11,480 --> 00:52:16,240
in LA, Paul's Mall in Boston and
I really enjoyed that.

848
00:52:16,240 --> 00:52:19,480
You can imagine, Oh, we would be
in, we were in Memphis for a

849
00:52:19,480 --> 00:52:22,440
week at Lafayette.
It's a club and if you walk

850
00:52:22,440 --> 00:52:25,200
through their kitchen, you'd be
kept walked into the kitchen of

851
00:52:25,200 --> 00:52:29,280
the tgi Friday's, right in the
early days when it was a more of

852
00:52:29,480 --> 00:52:34,400
a sawdust type burger joint.
So that was fun because all the

853
00:52:34,400 --> 00:52:37,400
bar people were ready to go and
have fun after work.

854
00:52:37,400 --> 00:52:40,360
So I loved that for a week, and
then the same thing happened in

855
00:52:40,800 --> 00:52:45,340
Nashville.
The exit in was next door to tgi

856
00:52:45,340 --> 00:52:48,920
Friday's.
So touring was a lot of fun.

857
00:52:49,200 --> 00:52:52,200
Touring was a lot of fun.
Hard work good.

858
00:52:52,200 --> 00:52:53,080
Fun.
Yeah.

859
00:52:54,760 --> 00:52:57,720
So was that all luck?
Like was that all just, were you

860
00:52:57,720 --> 00:53:00,800
just a really good worker and
people came looking for you or

861
00:53:00,800 --> 00:53:03,880
was it just luck you were always
in the right pub when somebody

862
00:53:03,880 --> 00:53:09,400
was looking for a roadie?
Maybe it was my big Afro.

863
00:53:11,200 --> 00:53:16,200
You think?
No, I was, I, I was hanging out

864
00:53:16,200 --> 00:53:19,160
the place.
Well, it's, it's no good sitting

865
00:53:19,160 --> 00:53:20,680
at home waiting for the phone to
ring.

866
00:53:21,160 --> 00:53:24,920
You know, we didn't have e-mail
or anything.

867
00:53:24,920 --> 00:53:27,720
You can just put it out there.
If you wanted a road, you'd go

868
00:53:27,760 --> 00:53:31,280
see where they went drinking.
So they went drinking at the

869
00:53:31,280 --> 00:53:33,920
ship, the shafts, the Marquis
and the speak.

870
00:53:34,320 --> 00:53:37,520
And if you did four of those in
a row, you probably should be

871
00:53:37,520 --> 00:53:42,000
arrested because the the the
Speakeasy went till the early,

872
00:53:42,000 --> 00:53:46,640
early hours of the morning.
In fact, the Speakeasy was it's

873
00:53:46,640 --> 00:53:50,960
in a song by The Who.
Drink.

874
00:53:50,960 --> 00:53:55,160
Easy, pull, easy, speak easy.
Keep your bands together with

875
00:53:55,160 --> 00:53:57,800
Rhoda sound strings.
That was The Who sell out.

876
00:53:57,960 --> 00:54:00,920
They mentioned the Speakeasy
because that was where all the

877
00:54:00,920 --> 00:54:04,280
bands went after the shows.
So it was a big thing with us

878
00:54:04,280 --> 00:54:07,400
Rhodies that when you finished
your show, if you were in,

879
00:54:08,080 --> 00:54:10,720
everybody knew where where the
other guys were playing.

880
00:54:11,120 --> 00:54:13,880
So you it was always a race back
to the Speakeasy.

881
00:54:14,240 --> 00:54:16,680
So if you're playing in
Birmingham, you want to get

882
00:54:16,680 --> 00:54:20,040
there before the guys who were
playing in Leicester or if the

883
00:54:20,040 --> 00:54:23,320
guys from Manchester be you, you
know, you're most embarrassed.

884
00:54:24,480 --> 00:54:27,280
So everybody would go and have a
drink at the Speakeasy before

885
00:54:27,280 --> 00:54:29,920
they went home to bed, to get up
again the next morning to go

886
00:54:29,920 --> 00:54:33,240
back almost to the same place
they were the day before.

887
00:54:33,960 --> 00:54:35,920
We.
Didn't get hotels.

888
00:54:35,920 --> 00:54:42,360
There was never far enough
different today, so Speakeasy

889
00:54:42,360 --> 00:54:45,440
was a big, big place there.
So it's just basically right

890
00:54:45,440 --> 00:54:47,680
place, right time.
Like if you wanted the gigs you

891
00:54:47,760 --> 00:54:51,040
you hung out at those places.
Yeah, that's, that's where we,

892
00:54:51,120 --> 00:54:53,360
we that, that was the drinking
hole.

893
00:54:54,080 --> 00:54:55,720
Yeah.
You wanted, if you wanted to

894
00:54:55,800 --> 00:54:57,560
find crew, that's where you
went.

895
00:54:58,240 --> 00:55:00,720
Yeah.
And so by now you decided that

896
00:55:00,720 --> 00:55:03,360
this is my life, I'm a roadie,
this is what I'm going to do.

897
00:55:03,360 --> 00:55:10,240
Or or where you just.
Yeah, there's a whole heck of a

898
00:55:10,240 --> 00:55:17,960
lot of trial by fire because
what happened, like with Flash,

899
00:55:17,960 --> 00:55:21,800
was Paul took care of the NUMA,
took care of the back line, I

900
00:55:21,800 --> 00:55:26,440
took care of the drums.
Paul left because the band

901
00:55:26,440 --> 00:55:28,400
weren't going to pay him more
than what they're paying

902
00:55:28,400 --> 00:55:31,840
themselves.
So he left and I'm left.

903
00:55:31,840 --> 00:55:36,560
Now I'm the guitar roadie as
well and I haven't got a clue so

904
00:55:38,240 --> 00:55:41,160
quickly.
Yeah, I've got this pedal board

905
00:55:41,160 --> 00:55:45,600
as well that was custom built by
Pete Cornish in on Wardour St.

906
00:55:46,000 --> 00:55:48,400
and it needs servicing from time
to time.

907
00:55:48,680 --> 00:55:52,080
So it's, it's crazy.
I'm in the Yellow Pages trying

908
00:55:52,080 --> 00:55:55,240
to find a place where you can
look at a custom built pedal

909
00:55:55,240 --> 00:55:59,480
board that this electrician guy
has never heard of in his life.

910
00:55:59,960 --> 00:56:05,840
There were there was crazy
demands on you when I went to

911
00:56:05,840 --> 00:56:13,680
Leo Saya I I I now meet the
infamous B3, the Hammond B3 and

912
00:56:13,680 --> 00:56:14,040
the.
Lesson.

913
00:56:14,040 --> 00:56:15,640
Oh boy.
Yeah.

914
00:56:15,840 --> 00:56:17,480
This game?
What the hell is this?

915
00:56:17,680 --> 00:56:21,760
Yeah, it's a monster.
In the D bed, you know, so I

916
00:56:21,760 --> 00:56:28,720
was, I was heavy into doing all
the back line and I was down in

917
00:56:28,720 --> 00:56:31,840
Australia and the monitor guy
wasn't getting it together and

918
00:56:31,840 --> 00:56:35,560
I'd made a foolish mistake of
stepping up and made some

919
00:56:35,560 --> 00:56:39,720
adjustment to which suddenly I
was now the Leo, says monitor

920
00:56:39,720 --> 00:56:41,000
engineer.
Oh, Jesus.

921
00:56:42,520 --> 00:56:45,080
Yeah.
That's well, you know, again,

922
00:56:45,080 --> 00:56:48,000
like that's a theme though.
Like a lot of people who come on

923
00:56:48,000 --> 00:56:51,040
my podcast, it's a theme.
It's like just say yes and

924
00:56:51,040 --> 00:56:53,080
figure it out, you know?
Yeah, I know how to do.

925
00:56:53,080 --> 00:56:57,120
Of course I know how to do that,
you know, and you figure it out.

926
00:56:57,440 --> 00:57:00,240
It's not like there was a lot of
experts back then, you know?

927
00:57:00,240 --> 00:57:02,440
Yeah.
Yeah, I, I was fortunate that I,

928
00:57:02,440 --> 00:57:09,320
I had, I worked with some great
people, great engineers who who,

929
00:57:09,640 --> 00:57:11,560
as I say, were very, very
helpful.

930
00:57:12,040 --> 00:57:14,000
I think I got on well with
musicians.

931
00:57:14,000 --> 00:57:18,280
I made a point of being
attentive, especially with

932
00:57:18,280 --> 00:57:22,440
monitors, stand behind the lead
saying oh, listen to what he's

933
00:57:22,440 --> 00:57:26,040
listening to, check what's
coming off the stage, try and

934
00:57:26,280 --> 00:57:28,280
figure, you know, try and work
it out for him.

935
00:57:30,440 --> 00:57:34,720
That it was only when I'd got
into delicate going that I had a

936
00:57:34,720 --> 00:57:40,440
more of a free hand and I was
like touring with Heart in 83,

937
00:57:40,440 --> 00:57:44,120
four and five.
But I just realised that trying

938
00:57:44,120 --> 00:57:49,440
to get the vocal levels out of
the floor monitors that we had

939
00:57:49,440 --> 00:57:53,640
at that time was kind of
hopeless and you couldn't pump

940
00:57:53,640 --> 00:57:56,120
the side feels too hard.
You were annoying other band

941
00:57:56,120 --> 00:57:59,080
members.
So I developed the box that I

942
00:57:59,080 --> 00:58:01,560
flew because you couldn't find
out.

943
00:58:01,560 --> 00:58:03,360
All there was was full range
boxes.

944
00:58:03,360 --> 00:58:07,800
I didn't have a box I could buy
that I could hang out there from

945
00:58:07,800 --> 00:58:11,760
a trust, so I had to build it.
I used a Mart and fill a shave

946
00:58:11,760 --> 00:58:17,240
which is a 2 by 12 that had a
phase bung horn loaded that and

947
00:58:17,240 --> 00:58:19,880
a couple big 2 inch drivers next
to it.

948
00:58:20,120 --> 00:58:26,600
Hung those boxes, focused down
on the artist and I was home

949
00:58:26,600 --> 00:58:27,000
and.
Driving.

950
00:58:27,000 --> 00:58:30,080
Oh interesting.
I I've never seen anybody do

951
00:58:30,080 --> 00:58:31,680
that.
I don't think like flown

952
00:58:31,680 --> 00:58:33,160
monitors like that at the front
I.

953
00:58:33,400 --> 00:58:36,960
Did something similar.
I did two different designs over

954
00:58:36,960 --> 00:58:39,400
the years that I was mixing
monitors.

955
00:58:40,880 --> 00:58:44,160
You just take a 12 inch Truss,
make sure your your hang is not

956
00:58:44,160 --> 00:58:49,520
interfering with the downstage
lighting Truss and and and fly

957
00:58:49,680 --> 00:58:53,800
these cabinets where where
you're downstage where you're

958
00:58:53,880 --> 00:58:56,240
the vocalists are.
And.

959
00:58:56,320 --> 00:59:00,160
You you can crack the hell out
of it without any feedback and

960
00:59:00,160 --> 00:59:04,800
you're not just covering that
area directly by the mic stand.

961
00:59:04,800 --> 00:59:07,120
You're getting a little bit of
spread out onto the stage.

962
00:59:07,640 --> 00:59:10,000
But this is all now it's in here
monitors so.

963
00:59:10,760 --> 00:59:12,800
That's the interesting.
Yeah.

964
00:59:13,000 --> 00:59:15,680
Well, I mean, there's still a
lot of people who use floor

965
00:59:15,680 --> 00:59:18,360
monitors who don't like in ear
monitors, as you know.

966
00:59:18,760 --> 00:59:24,720
But so tell me how, how did the
Supertramp thing happen?

967
00:59:24,720 --> 00:59:28,080
Like I I've heard, I've heard
stories, or I should say the the

968
00:59:28,080 --> 00:59:30,200
delicate thing.
How did the delicate thing

969
00:59:30,200 --> 00:59:31,240
happen?
Yeah.

970
00:59:31,800 --> 00:59:36,760
Supertramp 101 OK yeah, I I
toured in Australia with Spy

971
00:59:36,760 --> 00:59:43,000
Matthews as production manager.
SPY really, really good guy,

972
00:59:43,920 --> 00:59:51,080
very good at this job.
And God, it's hard not to go off

973
00:59:51,080 --> 00:59:53,720
at a tangent here.
I'll try and stay focused on.

974
00:59:53,840 --> 00:59:55,800
Go for it, go for it.
We got time so.

975
00:59:56,320 --> 01:00:01,560
I'm working.
I'm back at Tasco Sound Company

976
01:00:01,720 --> 01:00:05,960
and which funny enough is about
quarter of a mile from where I'm

977
01:00:05,960 --> 01:00:10,640
sitting now.
I moved them out here in 19. 78,

978
01:00:10,720 --> 01:00:14,720
but we'll pick up on that in the
next hour or two.

979
01:00:15,760 --> 01:00:19,040
Just kidding.
So I'm I'm at task.

980
01:00:19,040 --> 01:00:21,200
I'll get a phone call.
It's by Matthews.

981
01:00:21,200 --> 01:00:24,880
Hi, I'm out with Supertramp, OK,
he said.

982
01:00:25,600 --> 01:00:32,520
These guys have bought their own
arena sound system and they're

983
01:00:32,520 --> 01:00:36,400
not really proficient in
handling a uni crew.

984
01:00:37,320 --> 01:00:39,680
They've basically been in
theaters prior to this.

985
01:00:40,240 --> 01:00:43,520
So can I come on board now?
I've got background.

986
01:00:43,520 --> 01:00:46,840
I've worked with Tasco with
Flown PAS.

987
01:00:47,800 --> 01:00:52,960
I just basically, I long
finished the 7778 tour with Kiss

988
01:00:54,240 --> 01:00:56,960
and so I was happy to go out
there.

989
01:00:56,960 --> 01:00:59,200
I was the new boy.
They weren't exactly enthralled

990
01:00:59,200 --> 01:01:02,600
that oh, he's spies boy, but
they got down quickly with

991
01:01:02,600 --> 01:01:05,280
everybody got them often they
were in good shape.

992
01:01:05,920 --> 01:01:10,120
And when we finished the
breakfast in America tour in

993
01:01:10,120 --> 01:01:17,120
1979, the band we're now
millionaires and they're talking

994
01:01:17,120 --> 01:01:22,320
about two or three-year break.
So I'm looking at this.

995
01:01:22,320 --> 01:01:25,720
I go wow, you know, what's the
the deal here where they've got

996
01:01:25,720 --> 01:01:30,600
their own sound system.
So I, I went to management said,

997
01:01:30,600 --> 01:01:34,800
how about if, if I start a
production company and your guys

998
01:01:34,800 --> 01:01:44,280
can be partners and you don't
pay retainers, you don't pay for

999
01:01:44,280 --> 01:01:47,080
warehouse and you don't pay for
equipment insurance.

1000
01:01:47,080 --> 01:01:48,600
What's the, what's your
thoughts?

1001
01:01:49,200 --> 01:01:51,280
And they went for it.
So.

1002
01:01:51,400 --> 01:01:54,480
What an interesting idea.
Now what what was happening with

1003
01:01:54,480 --> 01:01:59,360
Supertramp was everybody started
at 8 O clock in the morning or

1004
01:01:59,360 --> 01:02:02,240
whatever.
No, nobody got to stay on the

1005
01:02:02,240 --> 01:02:05,840
bus or sit in the in the crew
room or whatever catering.

1006
01:02:06,600 --> 01:02:09,640
So the the drum Rd. he's still a
drum roadie.

1007
01:02:09,640 --> 01:02:14,760
Then would do audio until the
stage was ready for him.

1008
01:02:14,760 --> 01:02:19,920
Lights were up.
Patrick Ampie was the guitar

1009
01:02:19,920 --> 01:02:23,320
roadie.
He worked lights and so all

1010
01:02:23,320 --> 01:02:26,560
these back line guys were
working sound and lighting.

1011
01:02:28,800 --> 01:02:35,120
And so when we, when I started
the, the company, the guys who

1012
01:02:35,360 --> 01:02:38,480
weren't going to go off and work
with Rodger in the studio.

1013
01:02:38,480 --> 01:02:40,400
I'm working with Rick in his
studio.

1014
01:02:40,560 --> 01:02:43,280
I'm going with John Elliwell to
build his studio.

1015
01:02:43,600 --> 01:02:47,400
You know, all, all the old guys
decided they were, they were

1016
01:02:47,400 --> 01:02:50,000
going to stick with the
musicians and that.

1017
01:02:51,240 --> 01:02:55,800
And Spy said this, you'll never
get this off the ground, mate.

1018
01:02:56,240 --> 01:03:02,280
So he took off to Australia.
So I found a warehouse in

1019
01:03:02,280 --> 01:03:05,920
Beverly Hills, the old
Wanderloaf factory, and I was

1020
01:03:05,920 --> 01:03:08,000
able to rent that, that
premises.

1021
01:03:08,360 --> 01:03:11,800
And so when the gear came back
at the beginning of January 19,

1022
01:03:11,800 --> 01:03:18,720
8045 years ago last January, we
offloaded the container straight

1023
01:03:18,720 --> 01:03:24,880
into the warehouse there and
that it was now up to me so.

1024
01:03:25,720 --> 01:03:28,360
So Supertramp owned owned the
gear.

1025
01:03:28,480 --> 01:03:31,240
Yeah, and and you bet.
It's better than that.

1026
01:03:31,480 --> 01:03:36,680
It's better than that myself.
During the tour payments to Eric

1027
01:03:36,680 --> 01:03:39,920
Pierce's show, lights were
getting a little bit behind.

1028
01:03:40,200 --> 01:03:44,280
So the manager did a deal with
Eric and said I'll pay you extra

1029
01:03:44,280 --> 01:03:49,760
money on top of what I owe you.
And we own half the gear, half

1030
01:03:49,760 --> 01:03:54,280
the lighting rig.
OK, so I've now got a lighting

1031
01:03:54,280 --> 01:03:57,720
rig that's the bandown half.
Nobody's not sure.

1032
01:03:57,720 --> 01:04:02,880
Which half?
OK, well, right away Jim Moody

1033
01:04:03,680 --> 01:04:08,760
calls me from Sundance.
He wants lights for John Denver

1034
01:04:10,240 --> 01:04:11,560
Electrotech.
Call me.

1035
01:04:12,440 --> 01:04:16,080
They've got George Benson.
They need lighting.

1036
01:04:17,600 --> 01:04:20,200
Obie's calling.
He wants dimmers and others,

1037
01:04:20,240 --> 01:04:22,440
cabling and stuff for The Beach
Boys.

1038
01:04:23,840 --> 01:04:26,480
I've got Tasco now who are my
allies.

1039
01:04:27,280 --> 01:04:30,880
They're looking for gear.
So Eric calls and says I've got

1040
01:04:30,880 --> 01:04:33,840
to come and pick up my plant.
That was his term for the gear.

1041
01:04:34,240 --> 01:04:36,800
I say, well, hang on, mate,
we've got it in bits at the

1042
01:04:36,800 --> 01:04:38,000
moment.
We're sorting it out.

1043
01:04:38,960 --> 01:04:42,160
Another month goes by and after
a while he calls up.

1044
01:04:42,160 --> 01:04:44,800
He says, all right, I'm sending
the truck.

1045
01:04:44,800 --> 01:04:47,560
And I said, Eric, don't send a
truck.

1046
01:04:47,560 --> 01:04:51,760
I've got a check for you about
the skin of my teeth.

1047
01:04:51,760 --> 01:04:55,200
I had enough money to buy the
rest of the lighting.

1048
01:04:55,200 --> 01:04:58,720
Wow, that's amazing.
What a story first.

1049
01:04:58,960 --> 01:05:06,360
Thing that went out the door
that that's really answers the

1050
01:05:06,360 --> 01:05:09,840
question.
I think of that transition from

1051
01:05:10,440 --> 01:05:15,680
oh, by the way, March, end of
March, Spy calls up.

1052
01:05:15,840 --> 01:05:17,320
He said, I've had second
thoughts.

1053
01:05:17,320 --> 01:05:19,760
You seem to have cut this thing
off the ground.

1054
01:05:20,280 --> 01:05:23,160
I said, yeah.
He said, I want in.

1055
01:05:23,160 --> 01:05:26,520
I said, let me think about this.
He said, what if I bring you

1056
01:05:26,520 --> 01:05:29,360
Little River Band sound and
lights?

1057
01:05:29,720 --> 01:05:34,480
And I said, come on in.
And Little River Band were very

1058
01:05:34,480 --> 01:05:40,240
hot at the time and they that we
went off, we were, we were

1059
01:05:40,240 --> 01:05:44,560
playing, sometimes we were
playing college football

1060
01:05:44,560 --> 01:05:46,480
stadiums and.
All the.

1061
01:05:46,480 --> 01:05:50,880
Venues so it's a great start to
for the for the audio.

1062
01:05:50,880 --> 01:05:53,120
We've already been doing a few
shows.

1063
01:05:53,120 --> 01:05:59,600
I my first show shows were with
the Clash in 1980 at the

1064
01:05:59,880 --> 01:06:05,080
beginning of the year.
And it it was odd because we're

1065
01:06:05,080 --> 01:06:07,640
totally different cultures.
You know, this was supposedly

1066
01:06:07,640 --> 01:06:12,240
the punk period and and I got
the best accolade there.

1067
01:06:12,240 --> 01:06:15,160
I got Joe Strummer, the singer
came up to me at the end of the

1068
01:06:15,160 --> 01:06:20,160
last show and he said not bad
for a bunch of hippies.

1069
01:06:22,880 --> 01:06:25,760
That was good.
And then shall I carry on here,

1070
01:06:26,400 --> 01:06:29,880
Marcel, because it.
Yes please, I love this story.

1071
01:06:30,560 --> 01:06:34,320
OK, Segways into a call I get
from England.

1072
01:06:36,360 --> 01:06:41,440
The NAC are going on tour.
My Sharona and the tour

1073
01:06:41,440 --> 01:06:45,440
engineers are are from concert
sound in in England.

1074
01:06:46,520 --> 01:06:50,640
So they come over, we do, we do
the tour and everything's great.

1075
01:06:51,360 --> 01:06:56,000
And then I get a phone call from
Barry Marshall.

1076
01:06:57,200 --> 01:07:02,280
Barry Marshall in martial arts,
big promoter in England, but he

1077
01:07:02,280 --> 01:07:06,760
was formerly the manager for the
band, the Man Band in Wales.

1078
01:07:07,480 --> 01:07:11,000
And when the man Band was going,
he bought APA.

1079
01:07:11,400 --> 01:07:14,240
The Man Band fizzled, but he had
APA.

1080
01:07:14,440 --> 01:07:18,080
So he started APA rental company
and it took off.

1081
01:07:18,680 --> 01:07:25,480
He called me to say, look, let's
do some trading, you know, And I

1082
01:07:25,480 --> 01:07:29,280
said I'm good for it.
So he sent me, I think the

1083
01:07:29,280 --> 01:07:32,000
Pretenders and I sent him in
excess.

1084
01:07:33,160 --> 01:07:37,400
He sent me Dire Straits, I sent
him Supertramp.

1085
01:07:37,680 --> 01:07:43,400
So I'm getting on really well
now with the Brits and the word

1086
01:07:43,400 --> 01:07:46,880
is out there in Good Britain
that we're the go to company,

1087
01:07:47,200 --> 01:07:51,080
you know, super small company
with a big name.

1088
01:07:51,920 --> 01:07:53,960
I.
On the other hand, with Little

1089
01:07:53,960 --> 01:07:57,320
River Band has got this Aussie
thing going.

1090
01:07:57,840 --> 01:08:02,800
So then we get in excess, come
on over.

1091
01:08:02,800 --> 01:08:06,360
They were opening for Adam Ant
and at Long Beach Arena and

1092
01:08:06,440 --> 01:08:08,720
they'd heard of us and they
drove up.

1093
01:08:08,720 --> 01:08:12,520
They'd knock on the door most at
the warehouse in in the Valley

1094
01:08:12,520 --> 01:08:16,160
here.
She says it's a band at the

1095
01:08:16,160 --> 01:08:19,439
door.
Their name is Inks and they're

1096
01:08:19,439 --> 01:08:22,160
from Australia.
I said OK, go down to the off

1097
01:08:22,160 --> 01:08:24,920
license, the liquor store, get a
case of Fosters and we'll see

1098
01:08:24,920 --> 01:08:28,359
where we go with this.
That was the beginning of a

1099
01:08:28,359 --> 01:08:30,680
great relationship with with the
band.

1100
01:08:31,160 --> 01:08:42,560
After INXS came probably, oh,
Crowded House, Midnight Oil, Men

1101
01:08:42,560 --> 01:08:46,279
At Work, Men At Work came over.
So we were doing great.

1102
01:08:46,279 --> 01:08:49,359
Now we've got the Brits calling
us constantly and we've got the

1103
01:08:49,359 --> 01:08:52,080
Aussies calling us constantly.
Amazing.

1104
01:08:52,080 --> 01:08:53,960
We're knocking.
These sound and lights to us out

1105
01:08:54,040 --> 01:08:56,200
the door, it's just.
Amazing.

1106
01:08:57,160 --> 01:09:02,279
We started in 1980 with one rig.
By 85 I had Little River Band

1107
01:09:02,279 --> 01:09:05,640
out doing sheds, I had Dire
Straits in arenas and I had

1108
01:09:05,640 --> 01:09:09,040
Supertramp in arenas.
How I pulled that off, I had no

1109
01:09:09,279 --> 01:09:13,080
idea whatsoever.
That is incredible.

1110
01:09:14,359 --> 01:09:16,920
I didn't have the light rig on
Dire Straits, but I did on

1111
01:09:16,920 --> 01:09:18,960
Supertramp and Little River
Band.

1112
01:09:20,600 --> 01:09:26,760
That's where I got to with Dire
Straits, got to meet Charles.

1113
01:09:27,399 --> 01:09:31,720
And work with.
Charles Harrington So yeah,

1114
01:09:31,800 --> 01:09:34,200
things things took off pretty,
pretty quick.

1115
01:09:34,200 --> 01:09:36,880
Demo.
So did you did did Supertramp

1116
01:09:36,880 --> 01:09:39,960
take back their sound system at
some point, or did you just pay

1117
01:09:39,960 --> 01:09:42,840
them out for whatever was left?
No, 1983.

1118
01:09:42,880 --> 01:09:46,880
I'd done so many upgrades with
consoles, amplifiers,

1119
01:09:49,200 --> 01:09:54,360
equalizers, just you name it
that when that I put on there, I

1120
01:09:54,400 --> 01:09:57,200
put that on as a rental list,
right?

1121
01:09:58,080 --> 01:10:02,840
And at the end of the tour, we
just, it was a wash.

1122
01:10:03,680 --> 01:10:06,680
So.
I ended up after 83 owning the

1123
01:10:06,680 --> 01:10:09,360
rig entirely.
Oh, I see.

1124
01:10:09,360 --> 01:10:13,360
But most interesting?
Stuff that I replaced was it, It

1125
01:10:13,440 --> 01:10:20,760
had no very little value.
In fact, you know the amplifiers

1126
01:10:20,760 --> 01:10:23,560
at the time we're called Midas
blocks.

1127
01:10:23,600 --> 01:10:27,840
We know that Midas, Martin Midas
making concerts, well, they made

1128
01:10:27,840 --> 01:10:31,360
amplifiers.
I've got one that we use as a a,

1129
01:10:31,520 --> 01:10:34,000
a stand for our plant a plant
pop.

1130
01:10:34,600 --> 01:10:37,240
It's a massive, great block.
Metal block.

1131
01:10:37,600 --> 01:10:43,040
With 4250 Watt amplifiers in
each corner and you built them

1132
01:10:43,040 --> 01:10:51,480
like bricks and and so they they
were gone new new amps, you know

1133
01:10:51,480 --> 01:10:55,680
sound craft series 4 console for
monitors.

1134
01:10:56,360 --> 01:11:00,600
You know, I, I'm not sure how we
put, I know it was, it was a

1135
01:11:00,600 --> 01:11:03,400
little hand to mouth and
everything was always put the

1136
01:11:03,400 --> 01:11:06,280
money back in.
We started off at 200 bucks a

1137
01:11:06,280 --> 01:11:09,720
piece When I, when the guys who
said they wanted to be with

1138
01:11:09,720 --> 01:11:12,400
delicate, you know, found out
that all I was going to give

1139
01:11:12,400 --> 01:11:15,480
them was 200 bucks a piece.
So we, they were a little bit

1140
01:11:15,480 --> 01:11:19,120
down hearted, but some of them
had walked away with $10,000 of

1141
01:11:19,120 --> 01:11:20,800
bonus from the Supertramp.
They were.

1142
01:11:20,800 --> 01:11:22,440
Very right and.
Talking about.

1143
01:11:22,440 --> 01:11:26,520
Generosity.
After a couple of months the

1144
01:11:26,520 --> 01:11:29,480
manager called me up and said
smooth to come over the office.

1145
01:11:29,880 --> 01:11:32,520
I went over there, he said this
is from the band Good Luck and

1146
01:11:32,520 --> 01:11:37,240
they gave me $40,000.
Whoa, that was real money back

1147
01:11:37,240 --> 01:11:41,000
then, you know.
In today's market, that's.

1148
01:11:41,000 --> 01:11:44,840
It was 40, yeah.
Probably up there at about 280

1149
01:11:44,840 --> 01:11:45,440
or something.
Like that?

1150
01:11:45,440 --> 01:11:47,320
Yeah.
Yeah, real money.

1151
01:11:47,680 --> 01:11:50,240
Good luck to you mate, you've
already got the gear for nothing

1152
01:11:50,240 --> 01:11:52,320
that hadn't hit.
This is just a little icing.

1153
01:11:52,600 --> 01:11:58,560
No, no, they're wonderful guys.
They're very it it I I learned

1154
01:11:58,560 --> 01:12:02,320
about work ethic and such with
them.

1155
01:12:02,720 --> 01:12:05,800
Maybe not work ethic.
Everybody started work at the

1156
01:12:05,800 --> 01:12:09,080
same time on the tour.
Everybody had a criteria.

1157
01:12:09,080 --> 01:12:11,840
You got to give 100%.
Didn't matter who you are, what

1158
01:12:11,840 --> 01:12:15,640
your job was, give 100%.
Yeah, kind of took that.

1159
01:12:16,200 --> 01:12:18,880
I carried that on initially with
with delicate.

1160
01:12:19,280 --> 01:12:21,320
I wanted everybody on the same
salary.

1161
01:12:21,320 --> 01:12:24,760
I want everybody pulling hard.
You know, if you just look to

1162
01:12:24,760 --> 01:12:27,480
the left and right of you and
you see everybody working so

1163
01:12:27,480 --> 01:12:29,520
hard, it's the best incentive in
the world.

1164
01:12:29,840 --> 01:12:31,720
Yeah, it's a real team.
Yeah.

1165
01:12:32,080 --> 01:12:36,160
Yeah.
So you why did you decide to

1166
01:12:36,160 --> 01:12:38,920
open a sound company in the US
versus UKI?

1167
01:12:40,200 --> 01:12:43,920
Was already I've been living
here since 1976.

1168
01:12:44,200 --> 01:12:47,880
I started off with, when I was
touring with Leo, say over here,

1169
01:12:49,760 --> 01:12:56,040
my sound system came out of New
York at that time and we had an

1170
01:12:56,040 --> 01:13:02,000
office up up upstate and I
decided that I was here so much

1171
01:13:02,520 --> 01:13:09,120
that I was just going to stay.
So I stayed for 76 through 70,

1172
01:13:09,760 --> 01:13:16,960
nearly 78 and and then moved to
the West Coast where Tasco had

1173
01:13:16,960 --> 01:13:20,360
opened up a place on the
Beechwood lot.

1174
01:13:21,360 --> 01:13:26,840
That's the old Columbia Studios
lot, which was a Mecca back then

1175
01:13:26,960 --> 01:13:32,160
of of sound and lighting Company
said that that that the Sir is

1176
01:13:32,160 --> 01:13:33,960
still like down on the Beechwood
lot.

1177
01:13:34,160 --> 01:13:37,200
But we had C factor had an
office there.

1178
01:13:39,080 --> 01:13:45,040
Sundance Lightning had an office
there, Pirate Sound INS, cases,

1179
01:13:47,960 --> 01:13:50,440
They even have their own
newspaper that circulated

1180
01:13:50,440 --> 01:13:57,360
monthly with jobs for roadies,
Who's with who, what musicians

1181
01:13:57,360 --> 01:14:00,360
are with what bands, who's on
tour with who.

1182
01:14:00,640 --> 01:14:05,000
I've still got those.
Stuart Ross gave me a whole load

1183
01:14:05,000 --> 01:14:08,280
of copies that I photocopied.
That's fantastic.

1184
01:14:10,160 --> 01:14:13,200
Fun days in the late 70s on the
in LA.

1185
01:14:13,640 --> 01:14:18,720
Yeah.
Yeah, I kind of tell you,

1186
01:14:18,720 --> 01:14:20,720
though, it's a little story, all
right?

1187
01:14:21,160 --> 01:14:23,880
I'm good, I'm good.
We've got time, my friend.

1188
01:14:23,880 --> 01:14:24,120
All.
Right.

1189
01:14:24,480 --> 01:14:28,080
I've got one of them.
My good friends is Derek

1190
01:14:28,080 --> 01:14:30,520
Wilkinson, Wilco.
Wilco's always been trying to

1191
01:14:30,520 --> 01:14:32,520
get this Enterprise roadie off
the ground.

1192
01:14:32,520 --> 01:14:36,360
Roadie's for ATV show, so we get
so close as we're going to

1193
01:14:36,360 --> 01:14:40,280
actually all meet and they're
going to, I'm going to meet the

1194
01:14:40,360 --> 01:14:42,800
the producer, potential
producer.

1195
01:14:43,280 --> 01:14:46,840
So we go to the cat and fiddle,
I guess down on Sunset.

1196
01:14:47,000 --> 01:14:49,800
I remember it well.
And there's no one there.

1197
01:14:49,800 --> 01:14:52,840
So we go.
And that was our sign, that was

1198
01:14:52,840 --> 01:14:56,280
our call sign for back in
England where if you went into

1199
01:14:56,520 --> 01:14:59,400
a, a gig or a bar and you wanted
to see if your friends were

1200
01:14:59,400 --> 01:15:02,000
there, you did that.
And if you got a response, go

1201
01:15:02,000 --> 01:15:03,360
ahead.
So I go in there I go.

1202
01:15:03,360 --> 01:15:07,480
And then the side room, I hear
all the replies and while I'm

1203
01:15:07,480 --> 01:15:10,160
sitting in there having a beer
and the other guys are arriving,

1204
01:15:10,400 --> 01:15:11,640
they're all doing the same
thing.

1205
01:15:11,640 --> 01:15:14,760
It wasn't rehearsed.
So really the producers go and

1206
01:15:14,760 --> 01:15:18,000
this is outrageous, this is fun.
So we get in.

1207
01:15:18,040 --> 01:15:21,040
We didn't, no scripts.
So we're all sitting around

1208
01:15:21,040 --> 01:15:25,440
having a free beer and and a
lunch and they've got the camera

1209
01:15:25,440 --> 01:15:29,520
guy working and the mic keeps
popping down and, and we're all

1210
01:15:29,520 --> 01:15:32,200
ignoring it.
And then the camera guy goes

1211
01:15:32,200 --> 01:15:35,280
stop, stop, stop, he says.
I can't hold the camera.

1212
01:15:36,440 --> 01:15:39,040
I can't stop laughing.
That's funny.

1213
01:15:39,040 --> 01:15:40,800
There's.
So many stories, right?

1214
01:15:41,360 --> 01:15:45,240
So the producer guy says, all
right, fellas, we've been doing

1215
01:15:45,240 --> 01:15:48,520
this for nearly two hours.
He says, I thought this was all

1216
01:15:48,520 --> 01:15:52,640
about sex and drugs and
rock'n'roll, and we haven't even

1217
01:15:52,640 --> 01:15:55,520
touched on sex and drugs.
And.

1218
01:15:55,600 --> 01:16:00,040
And that, to me, tells the story
that it was really all about

1219
01:16:00,040 --> 01:16:01,320
camaraderie.
It was.

1220
01:16:01,320 --> 01:16:03,520
Absolutely.
Challenges, yeah.

1221
01:16:03,800 --> 01:16:06,200
I mean, there was some of the
other stuff too, but you know,

1222
01:16:06,200 --> 01:16:07,520
when everybody got together
back.

1223
01:16:07,560 --> 01:16:11,200
To the hotel, the bloody Holiday
Inn bars closed.

1224
01:16:11,200 --> 01:16:14,440
The everybody's all the
Everybody's disappeared.

1225
01:16:14,680 --> 01:16:17,160
Yeah, the band maybe there.
Or the opening act.

1226
01:16:17,360 --> 01:16:19,440
Yeah, but not us.
Yeah.

1227
01:16:19,680 --> 01:16:23,480
That was that's that's bull.
Yeah.

1228
01:16:23,960 --> 01:16:26,840
That, that's that.
Yeah, there's stories here and

1229
01:16:26,840 --> 01:16:30,520
there, but that wasn't our will.
Yeah, we.

1230
01:16:30,640 --> 01:16:32,200
I'll tell you man, we were
professionals.

1231
01:16:32,680 --> 01:16:34,040
We didn't know.
It at the time.

1232
01:16:34,360 --> 01:16:37,400
Look, here's one for you, right,
Peter Alexander?

1233
01:16:37,840 --> 01:16:39,520
He's.
Working with Deep Purple, he's

1234
01:16:39,520 --> 01:16:44,280
trying to get from Yugoslavia
into Italy, all right.

1235
01:16:44,320 --> 01:16:46,720
Gets to the borders lined up
with trucks.

1236
01:16:46,840 --> 01:16:49,480
All these Europeans, semis,
right?

1237
01:16:50,480 --> 01:16:53,760
Borders closed, all right.
He's got a shark man.

1238
01:16:54,280 --> 01:16:55,840
So what does he do?
He goes back.

1239
01:16:56,200 --> 01:16:59,160
He drives towards the border
again and he runs it.

1240
01:16:59,160 --> 01:17:02,160
He knocks down the barrier and
they open up and they start

1241
01:17:02,160 --> 01:17:05,160
shooting the back of the truck
all right, and it gets to the

1242
01:17:05,160 --> 01:17:07,480
other side.
The Italians are all welcoming

1243
01:17:08,000 --> 01:17:09,800
and and it was those
commitments.

1244
01:17:10,200 --> 01:17:15,760
Now I reason I know this is
because meh, the blue truck A5

1245
01:17:15,760 --> 01:17:20,280
tonner with a big metal lift
gate had patches in it.

1246
01:17:21,360 --> 01:17:23,040
Covering bullet holes.
The patches.

1247
01:17:23,760 --> 01:17:25,440
They said.
You don't know the story of

1248
01:17:25,440 --> 01:17:29,000
Peter and and there's these
little metal patches across the.

1249
01:17:29,000 --> 01:17:32,480
That's fantastic.
What a madman.

1250
01:17:32,760 --> 01:17:34,440
I don't know that I would have
tried that.

1251
01:17:35,160 --> 01:17:36,040
I don't think so.
I might.

1252
01:17:36,640 --> 01:17:38,560
Get a cup of tea.
No, no, but.

1253
01:17:38,960 --> 01:17:44,560
But we were fiercely committed
to making those shows happen.

1254
01:17:44,920 --> 01:17:47,720
Yeah.
And, and in return, the bands

1255
01:17:48,160 --> 01:17:53,240
compensated you for that.
You see, when Supertramp were

1256
01:17:53,240 --> 01:17:58,200
compensating the crew, it was
because of the sheer dedication

1257
01:17:58,240 --> 01:18:02,760
and efforts above and beyond.
I, I, I can think of many

1258
01:18:02,760 --> 01:18:06,960
instances where we just went
through help and make a, a show

1259
01:18:06,960 --> 01:18:09,000
happen.
And that happens if there was

1260
01:18:09,000 --> 01:18:11,280
happening everywhere, somewhere
every day.

1261
01:18:11,760 --> 01:18:13,760
It's nice when they notice, you
know?

1262
01:18:13,760 --> 01:18:16,240
It's nice when the band notices
because they don't always has.

1263
01:18:16,360 --> 01:18:20,680
Nothing to do with the fact that
the T-shirts weren't sales,

1264
01:18:20,680 --> 01:18:23,880
weren't declared to the tax man
couldn't have been, could it?

1265
01:18:24,640 --> 01:18:27,600
When you when you're at CNE
stadium doing 2 nights in

1266
01:18:27,600 --> 01:18:30,960
Toronto at the football stadium
and you look out there and you

1267
01:18:30,960 --> 01:18:35,040
see these 33 gallon trash bags
full of something going into the

1268
01:18:35,040 --> 01:18:39,120
back of a semi with on a semi
where the wall keeps moving

1269
01:18:39,120 --> 01:18:41,280
towards the back.
It's a wall with a door in it

1270
01:18:41,280 --> 01:18:44,720
and a big lock wouldn't have had
anything to do with that.

1271
01:18:44,720 --> 01:18:46,120
I'm.
Sure, that's wild.

1272
01:18:46,680 --> 01:18:49,400
That's wild.
Wow, I won't even.

1273
01:18:49,560 --> 01:18:51,920
For that one.
I won't even ask you questions

1274
01:18:51,920 --> 01:18:54,120
on that one.
I'm not going to dig any deeper.

1275
01:18:54,560 --> 01:18:58,240
No, no, no, no, no generosity.
Yeah.

1276
01:18:58,480 --> 01:19:01,360
It was a it, it was a two way
deal there.

1277
01:19:01,840 --> 01:19:04,240
Yeah, and.
That that, that that was very

1278
01:19:04,240 --> 01:19:09,560
much the case.
So I want to ask you about the

1279
01:19:10,040 --> 01:19:12,560
evolution of gear.
And so if we look at we've

1280
01:19:12,560 --> 01:19:15,080
talked a little bit about
lighting, but if we talk about

1281
01:19:15,080 --> 01:19:19,960
audio, you know, again, you went
from stacked to line arrays,

1282
01:19:19,960 --> 01:19:24,000
well stacked sort of the really
old school stacked like in your

1283
01:19:24,000 --> 01:19:26,760
face kind of stuff to like that
face plug kind of when they

1284
01:19:26,760 --> 01:19:31,000
started using some technology in
those boxes, but they were still

1285
01:19:31,000 --> 01:19:32,440
stacked.
And then I.

1286
01:19:32,480 --> 01:19:34,560
Could I I should pull an
envelope out?

1287
01:19:34,560 --> 01:19:37,480
I've got the letters from Dave
Martin from Martin Audio.

1288
01:19:37,800 --> 01:19:40,600
Yeah.
With his pencil cats, he's

1289
01:19:40,600 --> 01:19:42,320
smoother.
I'm looking at this concept.

1290
01:19:42,320 --> 01:19:48,080
What do you think?
And yeah, the F2, the Martin F2

1291
01:19:48,080 --> 01:19:53,120
was a big breakthrough.
Kavanaugh, as they would say

1292
01:19:53,120 --> 01:19:55,840
down South, I'd knock a
burgeoned off a shit wagon.

1293
01:19:56,040 --> 01:19:58,360
It was a it was a beast.
It.

1294
01:19:58,640 --> 01:20:01,680
Really was and it was so well
thought out modular.

1295
01:20:01,720 --> 01:20:04,640
Where do you want to go today
with that?

1296
01:20:04,640 --> 01:20:07,880
And then they came up with the
WA, which was just a really good

1297
01:20:07,880 --> 01:20:09,400
sounding box, but.
Never.

1298
01:20:09,640 --> 01:20:12,360
Got the flying concept together
again.

1299
01:20:12,480 --> 01:20:19,760
Claire brothers consistently.
S. 4 was by far the most.

1300
01:20:19,760 --> 01:20:24,680
Yeah, they owned it, Yeah.
Aesthetically 2 of us out they

1301
01:20:25,160 --> 01:20:32,600
they did well with with their
presentation after Martin Audio

1302
01:20:32,600 --> 01:20:35,520
with the the W8.
Then they went to the line away

1303
01:20:35,520 --> 01:20:39,360
and I think we've probably gone
through with Martin.

1304
01:20:39,360 --> 01:20:44,520
We went through about 6
different line array systems.

1305
01:20:46,000 --> 01:20:53,120
It all ended when the company
who who were then owned Martin

1306
01:20:53,120 --> 01:20:59,560
Audio, bought ODAW and they
spent a whole ton of money to

1307
01:20:59,560 --> 01:21:05,280
promote the new EAW product and
didn't support the MLA product

1308
01:21:05,280 --> 01:21:07,920
that was out there.
And that's why we got rid of our

1309
01:21:07,920 --> 01:21:10,760
MLA.
That's why SES got rid of their

1310
01:21:10,760 --> 01:21:12,680
MLA.
We lost the support.

1311
01:21:12,680 --> 01:21:14,880
They had the best cabinet by far
today.

1312
01:21:14,920 --> 01:21:17,920
It's technology.
It's it's it's a way in above

1313
01:21:17,920 --> 01:21:19,520
anything.
Yeah, I've heard other people

1314
01:21:19,520 --> 01:21:21,760
say that they.
Screwed up, you know, and.

1315
01:21:23,920 --> 01:21:27,480
We, we, we, we've seen that, you
know, we saw avid.

1316
01:21:28,400 --> 01:21:32,880
Everybody had an avid console.
Everybody had an avid profile.

1317
01:21:33,800 --> 01:21:37,040
Where are they today?
For support explain it.

1318
01:21:37,440 --> 01:21:38,160
It's a puzzle.
It's.

1319
01:21:38,840 --> 01:21:40,960
An absolute.
Puzzle how you could be so

1320
01:21:41,000 --> 01:21:43,240
successful and lose it.
Yeah.

1321
01:21:43,440 --> 01:21:44,840
Well, you know what, you get
greedy.

1322
01:21:44,840 --> 01:21:48,440
I mean, I think in the line
array world, you've got L

1323
01:21:48,440 --> 01:21:51,400
acoustic and D&B and then
everybody else kind of chasing

1324
01:21:51,400 --> 01:21:53,560
behind them.
And those two have become such

1325
01:21:53,560 --> 01:21:56,240
big companies.
And so you've got some smaller

1326
01:21:56,240 --> 01:21:59,280
companies that are trying to be
aggressive to go after a little

1327
01:21:59,280 --> 01:22:01,680
piece of the pie.
And it's just not that easy to

1328
01:22:01,680 --> 01:22:04,560
do, you know, once somebody owns
a market like that, it's just

1329
01:22:04,760 --> 01:22:07,800
it's tough you.
Think they own the market, you

1330
01:22:07,800 --> 01:22:10,840
know, until such, but as you
mentioned it, everything

1331
01:22:10,880 --> 01:22:12,720
evolves.
It does, yeah.

1332
01:22:13,000 --> 01:22:14,960
There'll be another super
something.

1333
01:22:15,400 --> 01:22:18,880
Yeah.
I don't, I, I missed the days,

1334
01:22:18,880 --> 01:22:21,400
you know, with Charles Brook,
with Brookside and I think it

1335
01:22:21,400 --> 01:22:25,560
was Ian or something with Ian
Wallace or Ian something with

1336
01:22:26,160 --> 01:22:27,600
Avo lighting.
There.

1337
01:22:28,640 --> 01:22:32,600
Were these these single guys,
you know, developed that that

1338
01:22:32,600 --> 01:22:37,560
product in the early days?
Dave Martin's an example.

1339
01:22:37,560 --> 01:22:43,640
And there's so many others.
And I mentioned, perhaps I'm too

1340
01:22:43,640 --> 01:22:46,400
biased because I mentioned all
of the English, but the same

1341
01:22:46,680 --> 01:22:49,920
things were going on here in in
the US.

1342
01:22:52,160 --> 01:22:56,800
It it it it not, not now, of
course, it's like everything

1343
01:22:56,880 --> 01:23:00,760
else is massive corporate.
But I think at the end of the

1344
01:23:00,760 --> 01:23:03,960
day, like what you said with
Martin, it's still where we're

1345
01:23:03,960 --> 01:23:06,000
at is you got to take care of
your customers.

1346
01:23:06,000 --> 01:23:08,000
You know, if you take care of
your customers and you treat

1347
01:23:08,000 --> 01:23:13,480
them really well, even if it's,
you know, 3% less good than the

1348
01:23:13,480 --> 01:23:16,240
competitor, they don't care
because.

1349
01:23:16,400 --> 01:23:20,600
I I've got, I always try to
impress on people here.

1350
01:23:20,680 --> 01:23:28,040
Now look at this service comes
first service all right and

1351
01:23:28,040 --> 01:23:32,960
execution.
The show has got to be perfect

1352
01:23:34,920 --> 01:23:38,480
and the money comes later.
It's this isn't about the money.

1353
01:23:38,480 --> 01:23:40,720
This is about service and
execution.

1354
01:23:41,200 --> 01:23:45,760
If you can get those two and
stay on top of those two, the

1355
01:23:45,760 --> 01:23:48,000
rest will take care of itself.
Yeah.

1356
01:23:48,760 --> 01:23:51,280
Yeah, it's totally true.
You're you're not wrong.

1357
01:23:51,280 --> 01:23:54,280
I think at the end of the day,
do what you say you're going to

1358
01:23:54,280 --> 01:23:56,160
do and do it really well.
Do it to the best of your

1359
01:23:56,160 --> 01:23:59,200
ability and and you're going to
make a lot.

1360
01:23:59,200 --> 01:24:03,440
Of friends out there, you know?
Yeah, I bought on something

1361
01:24:03,440 --> 01:24:04,440
myself.
Uh oh.

1362
01:24:04,600 --> 01:24:06,040
Go ahead, friends.
Friends.

1363
01:24:06,040 --> 01:24:07,800
Yeah.
You know the important thing I

1364
01:24:07,800 --> 01:24:10,920
learned right from day one?
I needed friends.

1365
01:24:10,960 --> 01:24:13,120
I needed other companies I could
go to.

1366
01:24:13,480 --> 01:24:15,320
I needed to be everybody's
friend.

1367
01:24:15,640 --> 01:24:20,760
I didn't want to be the enemy.
I we had a little thing going in

1368
01:24:20,760 --> 01:24:25,560
the 80s and early 90s and it was
it was honor amongst thieves.

1369
01:24:25,560 --> 01:24:27,480
We didn't steal each other's
projects.

1370
01:24:27,720 --> 01:24:31,320
Now it's now it's a lot of sales
guys who just got to make their

1371
01:24:31,320 --> 01:24:33,320
numbers and they don't give a
rat's ass about.

1372
01:24:33,320 --> 01:24:34,920
It Yeah, yeah, it's true.
So.

1373
01:24:35,640 --> 01:24:39,760
Yeah, but friends still
important today to have friends

1374
01:24:40,320 --> 01:24:43,880
who will call you for support
and you can call them for

1375
01:24:43,880 --> 01:24:47,440
support.
Well, it's been a theme through

1376
01:24:47,440 --> 01:24:49,720
your career because you, you
were talking about, you know,

1377
01:24:49,720 --> 01:24:52,120
swapping bands.
You know, we'll take, I don't

1378
01:24:52,120 --> 01:24:54,760
remember who it was.
We'll give you in excess or

1379
01:24:54,760 --> 01:24:57,000
we'll take in excess and we'll
give you this one or whatever.

1380
01:24:57,000 --> 01:24:58,560
Yeah.
Yeah, Barry Marshall, he's, by

1381
01:24:58,560 --> 01:25:00,240
the way, he's Paul McCartney's
man now.

1382
01:25:00,720 --> 01:25:01,960
Oh, is he this?
Is a funny thing.

1383
01:25:01,960 --> 01:25:05,800
Talk about a full circle.
So my son ends up working with

1384
01:25:05,800 --> 01:25:08,280
Paul McCartney as his
teleprompter operator.

1385
01:25:09,080 --> 01:25:12,960
My daughter works for Negra in
West London.

1386
01:25:13,480 --> 01:25:15,400
OK.
Somehow or other I get a

1387
01:25:15,400 --> 01:25:20,720
photograph from from London.
It's Barry Marshall in the

1388
01:25:20,720 --> 01:25:22,800
middle, and my two kids are
either side.

1389
01:25:23,560 --> 01:25:28,600
And it's Barry says hello, you
know, and this is Barry from

1390
01:25:28,600 --> 01:25:30,520
1980.
That's hilarious.

1391
01:25:30,800 --> 01:25:31,800
That's amazing.
Hilarious.

1392
01:25:32,360 --> 01:25:34,000
With.
Yeah, he had to have loved that

1393
01:25:34,000 --> 01:25:36,120
photo.
Yeah, it came into rehearsals

1394
01:25:36,160 --> 01:25:41,120
with, with, with, with, with
McCartney and that.

1395
01:25:41,440 --> 01:25:44,000
And he says, I hear Smoother's
son's working for us.

1396
01:25:44,320 --> 01:25:46,800
And I had nothing to do with it.
Absolutely nothing.

1397
01:25:47,160 --> 01:25:52,800
And the sooner my son Spencer
joined them, he said, oh,

1398
01:25:52,960 --> 01:25:55,400
there's four guys here.
I'm working with all your old

1399
01:25:55,400 --> 01:25:57,240
pals.
You know, that's funny.

1400
01:25:57,800 --> 01:25:59,800
So he was made at home and.
Yeah, yeah.

1401
01:26:00,000 --> 01:26:02,960
Yeah, yeah.
It's, it's got to be interesting

1402
01:26:02,960 --> 01:26:05,200
being Smoother's son when you're
out there on the road and

1403
01:26:05,200 --> 01:26:08,600
running into some of the, the
old geezers and stuff, you know,

1404
01:26:08,920 --> 01:26:11,800
smoother look.
I just emailed Chaz's son.

1405
01:26:12,280 --> 01:26:14,440
Yeah, her and son.
I've already seen it.

1406
01:26:14,800 --> 01:26:16,760
Yeah, Yeah.
You're part of the same part of

1407
01:26:16,760 --> 01:26:20,760
the same business now, yeah.
Yeah, and then out on McCartney,

1408
01:26:20,760 --> 01:26:24,680
it's if it's not the original
guys who with the cruise, their

1409
01:26:24,680 --> 01:26:26,800
son is involved somewhere.
Yeah.

1410
01:26:27,440 --> 01:26:31,760
And it's the same, you know,
with I like, you know, Gallagher

1411
01:26:31,760 --> 01:26:34,600
staging here and, you know, Joe
Junior.

1412
01:26:34,920 --> 01:26:36,240
Yeah, I love it.
I love.

1413
01:26:36,240 --> 01:26:39,600
It it's cool, yeah.
Well, you know, and my, my son,

1414
01:26:39,600 --> 01:26:42,720
on the other hand, has no
interest whatsoever in the

1415
01:26:42,720 --> 01:26:45,960
business that we're in.
And, and that's all good.

1416
01:26:46,000 --> 01:26:47,680
Like I, I'm totally OK with
that.

1417
01:26:47,680 --> 01:26:50,200
Like I keep telling him, if you
ever want an adventure, you

1418
01:26:50,200 --> 01:26:52,280
know, I'll connect you to some
people and you can go out there

1419
01:26:52,280 --> 01:26:55,760
and find an adventure, but go do
what you're going to do.

1420
01:26:55,760 --> 01:26:58,960
You know, I've, I've been
meaning to ask you because I

1421
01:26:58,960 --> 01:27:03,160
don't think I know the answer to
this, but you know your name.

1422
01:27:03,160 --> 01:27:07,120
Where'd it come from?
Oh, I'm the smoother mover.

1423
01:27:07,800 --> 01:27:08,920
Is that it?
Yeah.

1424
01:27:09,400 --> 01:27:13,200
It's that simple.
No, you asked.

1425
01:27:13,200 --> 01:27:14,400
I'm going to show you.
Hang up.

1426
01:27:14,640 --> 01:27:18,480
OK, go get it.
We've got props, people.

1427
01:27:19,200 --> 01:27:21,360
We have props coming this time.
I like it.

1428
01:27:21,360 --> 01:27:30,920
Uh oh, the.
Smoother mover.

1429
01:27:31,080 --> 01:27:35,200
That's hilarious.
That's funny.

1430
01:27:36,360 --> 01:27:39,080
So the name came from that or
that came from the name I.

1431
01:27:40,080 --> 01:27:44,320
Was out on tour with Kiss and
those left behind a semi and

1432
01:27:44,320 --> 01:27:48,040
it's Smite Van Lines.
So they go hang on Smite.

1433
01:27:49,040 --> 01:27:52,440
That's Chris Smite me.
So next day they go and he's the

1434
01:27:52,440 --> 01:27:56,600
smoother mover.
And I got stuck with being the

1435
01:27:56,600 --> 01:27:58,600
smoother mover for a year and a
half.

1436
01:28:00,400 --> 01:28:03,640
And that later was abbreviated
to just smoother.

1437
01:28:04,040 --> 01:28:06,600
So when I started delicate and
I'm calling people and I'm

1438
01:28:06,600 --> 01:28:08,080
going, oh, it's Chris Smythe
here.

1439
01:28:08,120 --> 01:28:11,160
Is John available?
I'm sorry, he's busy.

1440
01:28:11,480 --> 01:28:14,640
You know, I called back another
couple hours later, tell him

1441
01:28:14,640 --> 01:28:17,600
it's smoother.
Why didn't you say so?

1442
01:28:18,240 --> 01:28:21,840
They're on the phone.
My wife said, you know,

1443
01:28:22,280 --> 01:28:24,680
nicknamed smoother when I met
you.

1444
01:28:25,440 --> 01:28:30,600
Stick with it and it's hard to
lose that now when you're 76

1445
01:28:30,600 --> 01:28:33,600
years old and you introduce
yourself and this is smoother.

1446
01:28:34,920 --> 01:28:39,000
Yeah, that's funny.
What a silly name, Sir I.

1447
01:28:39,240 --> 01:28:40,600
Met.
I was introduced to Margaret

1448
01:28:40,600 --> 01:28:45,920
Thatcher and she's smoother.
That's a rather peculiar name.

1449
01:28:45,920 --> 01:28:50,080
Yeah, but people don't.
So is Margaret, ma'am?

1450
01:28:50,520 --> 01:28:52,880
Yeah, that's right.
Yeah.

1451
01:28:53,040 --> 01:28:56,280
I told her I was a Lincolnshire
lad right from where she comes

1452
01:28:56,280 --> 01:28:58,520
from.
Yeah, that's awesome.

1453
01:28:59,440 --> 01:29:01,240
So have I.
Kept Have I kept you up long

1454
01:29:01,240 --> 01:29:03,480
enough?
Yeah, no, no, hang on a second.

1455
01:29:03,480 --> 01:29:06,320
So hang on a SEC.
You've worked with bands,

1456
01:29:07,000 --> 01:29:10,680
managers, accountants and now
attorneys.

1457
01:29:10,920 --> 01:29:12,360
Which is?
Which is the toughest?

1458
01:29:13,200 --> 01:29:17,640
Which is the tough one.
Yeah, well, attorneys don't

1459
01:29:17,640 --> 01:29:20,200
bother me 'cause you set your
dog on their dog.

1460
01:29:20,560 --> 01:29:24,840
Yeah, attorneys for me are
always at the bottom of the

1461
01:29:24,840 --> 01:29:28,720
pile, I'll tell you that one.
Well, we became this litigious

1462
01:29:28,720 --> 01:29:34,240
society about in the beginning
of the 2000s, accounts came into

1463
01:29:34,840 --> 01:29:37,400
started off the bands ran the
show.

1464
01:29:37,400 --> 01:29:42,320
In the 70s, if you lost the rent
a car, they would tell the ban

1465
01:29:42,400 --> 01:29:44,760
the manager, get over it.
All right.

1466
01:29:45,000 --> 01:29:50,200
In the 80's the the manager
started to take back control.

1467
01:29:51,120 --> 01:29:55,120
In the 90s, they, we started
running into accountants.

1468
01:29:55,920 --> 01:29:59,800
And then as we got into the late
90s, we started pitting the

1469
01:29:59,800 --> 01:30:02,040
serious litigation.
Yeah.

1470
01:30:03,160 --> 01:30:08,160
And so it but now, now it's sort
of all found itself.

1471
01:30:08,520 --> 01:30:10,840
Yeah.
For the most part, nobody reads

1472
01:30:10,840 --> 01:30:12,440
anything, they just sign it
anyway.

1473
01:30:12,800 --> 01:30:14,560
Yeah, it's kind of true, isn't
it?

1474
01:30:14,680 --> 01:30:15,520
Insurance.
That's it.

1475
01:30:15,520 --> 01:30:17,720
COICO I/O?
Off we go.

1476
01:30:18,560 --> 01:30:22,600
You know, The funny thing about
all of that is like, you know, I

1477
01:30:22,600 --> 01:30:25,400
went up against one of the
world's largest companies

1478
01:30:25,400 --> 01:30:27,360
because they stole a trademark
from me.

1479
01:30:28,080 --> 01:30:31,480
And at the end of the day, it
doesn't matter whether you're

1480
01:30:31,480 --> 01:30:34,200
right or wrong.
It matters how deep your pockets

1481
01:30:34,200 --> 01:30:38,680
are to fight that battle and.
Let's not talk government now.

1482
01:30:38,680 --> 01:30:41,720
Right now.
Let's kick politics out of this.

1483
01:30:42,040 --> 01:30:45,640
Yeah, Moving, moving on.
This wasn't the government

1484
01:30:45,640 --> 01:30:46,960
though.
This was one of the largest

1485
01:30:46,960 --> 01:30:51,160
companies in the world that I
had a lawsuit against.

1486
01:30:51,160 --> 01:30:54,880
And and they not only did they
decide to defeat me, they

1487
01:30:54,880 --> 01:30:58,640
decided that they were going to
try and crush me completely put

1488
01:30:58,640 --> 01:31:01,320
me out of business, murder me,
whatever it was.

1489
01:31:01,320 --> 01:31:05,120
They just wanted me to be
squashed like a little bug and I

1490
01:31:05,120 --> 01:31:07,640
just had to give up.
You know, even though I was

1491
01:31:07,640 --> 01:31:10,640
right, they were wrong.
The final judgement was you're

1492
01:31:10,640 --> 01:31:12,160
right, they're wrong, but
they're not going to give you

1493
01:31:12,160 --> 01:31:17,000
any money.
And so it's brutal, you know,

1494
01:31:17,000 --> 01:31:20,600
but when you've got, you know,
when you walk into a, you know,

1495
01:31:20,600 --> 01:31:24,720
a hearing or a mediation or
whatever, and you've got your

1496
01:31:24,720 --> 01:31:27,960
one attorney that you're paying
$400.00 an hour and they've got

1497
01:31:27,960 --> 01:31:31,480
like 6 attorneys that are each
getting $2000.00 an hour.

1498
01:31:31,480 --> 01:31:33,760
And, and then they've got a
bunch of these pretty girls

1499
01:31:33,760 --> 01:31:37,360
carrying briefcases for them.
And you know, it's, it's wild.

1500
01:31:38,360 --> 01:31:41,680
You know, I learned really fast,
you know, lawsuits are crap

1501
01:31:41,680 --> 01:31:44,360
sheets.
They tell you that that's true.

1502
01:31:44,720 --> 01:31:51,320
Now for a delicate up until the
live events chapter, we had the

1503
01:31:51,320 --> 01:31:52,840
same attorney for years and
years.

1504
01:31:52,840 --> 01:31:55,880
And he said, smoothie, you know,
you're one of my oldest.

1505
01:31:56,000 --> 01:31:59,440
You are my oldest customer.
And he said you're also the

1506
01:31:59,440 --> 01:32:02,760
worst.
You never go to court and

1507
01:32:03,280 --> 01:32:05,840
because most of these things can
be avoided, obviously you

1508
01:32:05,840 --> 01:32:09,800
couldn't you were that the side
swipe there.

1509
01:32:10,920 --> 01:32:17,920
And I think that's that's really
important to stay away from it.

1510
01:32:18,240 --> 01:32:21,720
I agree.
It's only entered, it's

1511
01:32:22,760 --> 01:32:28,440
disappointment.
So I've, we've been, we've been,

1512
01:32:28,680 --> 01:32:33,880
we've had our laws since I get a
guy who says, you know, I was

1513
01:32:34,400 --> 01:32:39,120
work setting up a Yanny show and
this light hit me on the head

1514
01:32:39,480 --> 01:32:44,120
and it was their fault, you
know, and then I got to be

1515
01:32:44,120 --> 01:32:46,760
careful here.
But the guy ended up the

1516
01:32:46,760 --> 01:32:50,240
insurance company paid him
$1,000,000, you know, out of

1517
01:32:50,240 --> 01:32:55,440
court.
I've had the hearing once, you

1518
01:32:55,440 --> 01:32:58,680
know, concert.
My ears shut.

1519
01:32:59,160 --> 01:33:04,320
And and and.
She's but really it's about it's

1520
01:33:04,320 --> 01:33:06,080
avoiding them.
Yeah, it's.

1521
01:33:06,440 --> 01:33:09,760
It's it's avoiding them.
I'd go to K Rocket, which would

1522
01:33:09,760 --> 01:33:15,520
be Irvine Meadows back then.
And I'd, I'd have a big bag of

1523
01:33:15,520 --> 01:33:19,280
earplugs and I'd go up to the
people who were closest to the

1524
01:33:19,280 --> 01:33:21,400
stacks.
And I'd say, guys, look, if you

1525
01:33:21,400 --> 01:33:24,080
kid, you know, you want these,
use them, you know?

1526
01:33:25,480 --> 01:33:28,600
But that wasn't cool.
That wasn't cool back then to

1527
01:33:28,600 --> 01:33:36,800
put earplugs in.
I, I just, I, I, I'm very

1528
01:33:36,800 --> 01:33:40,840
conscious about what what we're
doing to, to, to the kids

1529
01:33:40,880 --> 01:33:43,160
hearing.
Yeah, it's true, man.

1530
01:33:43,560 --> 01:33:46,120
You know, I know that I've lost
a lot of my hearing over the

1531
01:33:46,120 --> 01:33:49,760
years, but being a musician and
then being in the industry and

1532
01:33:49,760 --> 01:33:53,080
going to concerts myself as a
fan, even, you know, I've I've

1533
01:33:53,080 --> 01:33:53,640
lost a.
Ton I I.

1534
01:33:54,440 --> 01:33:59,720
You know the story here.
I got gold albums, platinum

1535
01:33:59,720 --> 01:34:05,200
albums at $6000.
Hearing aids, Are you listening

1536
01:34:05,200 --> 01:34:08,600
to this, Gene Simmons?
Gene, are you listening to this?

1537
01:34:08,920 --> 01:34:11,360
Have you got your ear plugs in?
After.

1538
01:34:11,600 --> 01:34:17,120
A year and a half Paul Chevrolet
is is roadie runs out and says,

1539
01:34:17,240 --> 01:34:21,960
Gene, you forgot your ear plugs.
I'd spent so much time trying to

1540
01:34:21,960 --> 01:34:25,200
get that guy's vocal going.
The bottom end is coming out of

1541
01:34:25,200 --> 01:34:28,080
the side film.
My trousers are flat and this

1542
01:34:28,080 --> 01:34:31,120
guy's got his.
He's given me a hard time, he's

1543
01:34:31,120 --> 01:34:35,600
given me a lot of tongue because
he wants more level and he's and

1544
01:34:35,600 --> 01:34:36,960
he's.
And he's wearing earplugs.

1545
01:34:37,320 --> 01:34:38,680
Earplugs.
That's funny.

1546
01:34:40,200 --> 01:34:42,760
That's crazy.
Well, fortunately for you, he

1547
01:34:42,760 --> 01:34:45,440
doesn't listen.
He doesn't listen to my podcast.

1548
01:34:45,520 --> 01:34:47,160
So, you know, not that I'm aware
of.

1549
01:34:47,160 --> 01:34:49,240
Anyways.
I did have Doc McGee on.

1550
01:34:49,240 --> 01:34:50,920
I had Doc McGee on at one point.
Yeah.

1551
01:34:51,520 --> 01:34:53,880
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.

1552
01:34:54,080 --> 01:34:56,720
Otherwise, yeah.
You was some.

1553
01:34:56,720 --> 01:34:58,800
Great, great artists.
Yeah.

1554
01:34:59,000 --> 01:35:03,200
Had some fun times but back then
the worst job you could ever

1555
01:35:03,200 --> 01:35:06,040
have was being the monitor
engineer you.

1556
01:35:06,120 --> 01:35:08,360
Know, Yeah.
Do you know, Do you know Jim

1557
01:35:08,360 --> 01:35:11,040
Yakoboski?
No, I know, I know.

1558
01:35:11,200 --> 01:35:16,480
Yeah, he's a, it was a Tasco A1.
Yeah.

1559
01:35:17,280 --> 01:35:18,560
So it didn't.
Work with him.

1560
01:35:18,960 --> 01:35:21,560
That I, yeah, I knew him in
Canada.

1561
01:35:21,560 --> 01:35:25,160
He, he was doing sound for a lot
of the bar bands that were up

1562
01:35:25,160 --> 01:35:28,080
there when I was playing and
when I owned a music store up

1563
01:35:28,080 --> 01:35:29,680
there as well.
And we were good friends.

1564
01:35:30,120 --> 01:35:35,880
And he got a gig, I think it was
with DB Sound out of Chicago

1565
01:35:36,160 --> 01:35:38,800
doing monitors for Ingvey
Melmstein.

1566
01:35:38,800 --> 01:35:43,680
Could you imagine that gig?
I mean it was just constant

1567
01:35:43,680 --> 01:35:45,960
like.
For a couple of tours.

1568
01:35:46,280 --> 01:35:46,880
Oh, did ya?
Yeah.

1569
01:35:47,000 --> 01:35:50,120
Yeah, yeah, there's some stories
there and all of that.

1570
01:35:50,200 --> 01:35:52,760
He said he would just look to
the side of the stage and be

1571
01:35:52,760 --> 01:35:56,400
like, I'm gonna kill you, you
know, just this look.

1572
01:35:56,680 --> 01:36:00,440
And and there was so much guitar
coming out of every monitor on

1573
01:36:00,440 --> 01:36:02,560
stage that nobody could tell
what they were doing.

1574
01:36:02,560 --> 01:36:04,640
No, because guitar was just
everywhere.

1575
01:36:04,640 --> 01:36:08,760
He had, he had these huge
speakers for his guitar amp and

1576
01:36:08,760 --> 01:36:12,640
then he had guitar coming out of
the the floor monitors as well.

1577
01:36:12,640 --> 01:36:15,400
It was just like.
Well, I have to have his guitar

1578
01:36:15,480 --> 01:36:17,400
in the warehouse.
Oh, really?

1579
01:36:17,520 --> 01:36:20,560
Yes, it's 20 foot, all right.
It's 20 foot.

1580
01:36:20,560 --> 01:36:24,160
It's a Stratocaster.
It was made as a prop for the

1581
01:36:24,920 --> 01:36:26,920
OK.
At the end of the tour,

1582
01:36:27,880 --> 01:36:30,000
management said they wanted the
guitar.

1583
01:36:30,560 --> 01:36:34,200
The guy who built it said he
wanted he wanted this other half

1584
01:36:34,200 --> 01:36:36,880
of the payment.
So between the two of them, they

1585
01:36:36,880 --> 01:36:39,320
couldn't decide who's it was.
And it's still here.

1586
01:36:40,760 --> 01:36:43,480
Yeah, 20 foot strata car.
That's hilarious.

1587
01:36:43,640 --> 01:36:45,920
Not just talking a cut out.
Yeah, dog.

1588
01:36:46,440 --> 01:36:49,160
Frets everything.
Yeah, yeah.

1589
01:36:49,160 --> 01:36:53,040
Well, that's, that's funny.
How long have you had it?

1590
01:36:53,040 --> 01:36:54,360
How long has it been sitting
there that.

1591
01:36:54,440 --> 01:37:00,920
Would have been about from 84.
Oh, it's been there for like 40

1592
01:37:00,920 --> 01:37:02,880
years.
Yeah.

1593
01:37:03,240 --> 01:37:06,320
Oh my God, Have you ever thought
of maybe getting rid of it?

1594
01:37:06,320 --> 01:37:10,040
Yeah.
Yeah, there was.

1595
01:37:10,760 --> 01:37:14,680
His manager at that time was a
guy named Andy Truman.

1596
01:37:15,200 --> 01:37:19,200
And.
Andy's a chapter in itself that

1597
01:37:21,080 --> 01:37:27,960
quite a character for formerly
tour manager for ELO started Jet

1598
01:37:27,960 --> 01:37:33,160
Productions, which I was part of
for Supertramp called.

1599
01:37:34,040 --> 01:37:37,160
Yeah.
So smoother, you've said follow

1600
01:37:37,160 --> 01:37:40,720
your nose.
What does that look like today

1601
01:37:40,720 --> 01:37:43,160
like in practice for someone
starting out today?

1602
01:37:43,160 --> 01:37:46,160
Someone said that you said
follow your nose in business in

1603
01:37:46,160 --> 01:37:49,080
this business.
Yeah, just no matter what you're

1604
01:37:49,080 --> 01:37:51,840
doing, even the guys who are out
there with a, with a, with a,

1605
01:37:51,960 --> 01:37:55,160
with a job, you know, in front
of house engineer or whatever

1606
01:37:55,160 --> 01:37:58,120
else, you know, you always look
for opportunity.

1607
01:37:58,280 --> 01:38:01,320
If you've been on the road for a
long time, you might want off,

1608
01:38:01,560 --> 01:38:04,920
you might want to, you might, if
there's an opportunity where you

1609
01:38:04,920 --> 01:38:08,680
could be the in house guy at
this venue or that venue, you

1610
01:38:08,680 --> 01:38:12,800
can follow your nose.
I think it applies to every one

1611
01:38:12,800 --> 01:38:16,000
of us.
Go where the instinct goes.

1612
01:38:16,000 --> 01:38:20,040
Don't, don't, just don't look
straight ahead.

1613
01:38:20,040 --> 01:38:24,520
Look left and right.
Look for opportunities you know

1614
01:38:24,560 --> 01:38:27,200
above all those.
Don't do anything you don't

1615
01:38:27,200 --> 01:38:28,640
enjoy.
You know I.

1616
01:38:29,080 --> 01:38:31,920
Try to get everybody who comes
to work here to enjoy coming to

1617
01:38:31,920 --> 01:38:36,280
work, not just happy to go home.
In fact, sometimes I want them

1618
01:38:36,280 --> 01:38:38,400
to.
Yeah, I know they feel they'd

1619
01:38:38,400 --> 01:38:40,320
rather be here than sitting in
the traffic.

1620
01:38:41,480 --> 01:38:45,520
So if I can, if I can get that
kind of enthusiasm where they

1621
01:38:45,520 --> 01:38:48,200
want to be with their pals, the
people they're working with,

1622
01:38:48,480 --> 01:38:52,440
they're not, then I've done my
job because now I've got

1623
01:38:52,440 --> 01:38:54,520
productivity, I've got a happy
house.

1624
01:38:54,880 --> 01:38:58,520
People who come in like band
engineers to come and set their

1625
01:38:58,520 --> 01:39:01,400
consoles up.
You're aligning guys check over

1626
01:39:01,400 --> 01:39:04,600
programming and such.
They they like to be in a happy

1627
01:39:04,600 --> 01:39:07,680
house.
And that makes so much sense.

1628
01:39:07,960 --> 01:39:12,240
So I advocate that.
That's so important.

1629
01:39:12,320 --> 01:39:15,120
Well, on a similar topic and I
promise this is the last

1630
01:39:15,120 --> 01:39:17,280
question I'm going to ask you
unless you have another story

1631
01:39:17,280 --> 01:39:22,800
you want to share.
So a lot of times when call it

1632
01:39:22,800 --> 01:39:26,760
private equity or call it an
acquirer or call it someone

1633
01:39:26,760 --> 01:39:29,960
who's doing a company roll up or
whatever, a lot of times when

1634
01:39:29,960 --> 01:39:33,800
they put these businesses
together, founders either don't

1635
01:39:33,800 --> 01:39:38,360
survive or choose not to stay
and yet you're still there.

1636
01:39:38,360 --> 01:39:42,680
And I actually spoke with Steven
Vitale a couple weeks ago and he

1637
01:39:42,680 --> 01:39:44,280
said smooth, there's loving it
right now.

1638
01:39:44,280 --> 01:39:48,320
He's having a great time.
And I was a little bit surprised

1639
01:39:48,320 --> 01:39:52,840
because honestly, I, I just, you
know, you didn't seem like you,

1640
01:39:52,840 --> 01:39:56,040
you intended to continue working
forever.

1641
01:39:56,040 --> 01:39:58,160
But no, no, you seemed quite
happy.

1642
01:39:58,760 --> 01:40:02,160
No, we had that.
We had the COVID right.

1643
01:40:02,640 --> 01:40:04,920
Yeah, and.
I I thought, you know what,

1644
01:40:04,920 --> 01:40:07,720
now's as good a time to, to make
a move.

1645
01:40:08,000 --> 01:40:13,200
So I, my wife and I moved up to
Oregon.

1646
01:40:13,200 --> 01:40:16,120
We went to Salem when the
pandemic was over.

1647
01:40:16,560 --> 01:40:18,280
Salem was the same.
It was dead.

1648
01:40:18,280 --> 01:40:22,040
So we we moved close to the port
and that was good, but my wife

1649
01:40:22,040 --> 01:40:24,360
developed a respiratory issue
and at the.

1650
01:40:24,360 --> 01:40:26,040
End of the day.
They said you've got to go where

1651
01:40:26,040 --> 01:40:29,960
it's warmer.
So we came back down here and I

1652
01:40:29,960 --> 01:40:31,560
got a call.
Hey, would you like to now

1653
01:40:31,600 --> 01:40:33,040
you're down here, would you like
to come in?

1654
01:40:33,400 --> 01:40:36,560
Because I was already working
from Home Office as a sort of

1655
01:40:36,840 --> 01:40:39,960
keep an eye on my existing
accounts bit of a consultancy

1656
01:40:39,960 --> 01:40:42,480
thing.
And I, I've just jumped at the

1657
01:40:42,480 --> 01:40:49,000
idea because I'm with my, my,
my, my work mates, you know?

1658
01:40:49,360 --> 01:40:52,480
I'm yeah these.
Are this is a second home.

1659
01:40:52,920 --> 01:40:55,320
Yeah, that's awesome.
I love that all.

1660
01:40:55,520 --> 01:41:01,520
My industry friends, you, you,
it's, it's hard to walk away

1661
01:41:01,520 --> 01:41:04,840
from now.
What live events did is they

1662
01:41:04,840 --> 01:41:07,160
kept us autonomous.
Yeah.

1663
01:41:07,960 --> 01:41:09,720
They didn't try and make it all
one big.

1664
01:41:09,800 --> 01:41:11,200
Yeah, yeah.
Which I like.

1665
01:41:11,280 --> 01:41:16,000
Yeah, yeah.
So we we've got Zenith and we've

1666
01:41:16,000 --> 01:41:19,400
got Gemini and such an an active
and and.

1667
01:41:20,360 --> 01:41:22,120
Yeah, they didn't disappear the
brands.

1668
01:41:22,120 --> 01:41:25,440
Instead, they they honored and
and celebrated the brands.

1669
01:41:25,720 --> 01:41:28,120
All we have to do is produce.
Yeah.

1670
01:41:28,360 --> 01:41:31,440
But we've got now got more tools
in the toolbox because we got

1671
01:41:32,440 --> 01:41:38,080
that inventory referrals from
intercompany, yeah, that's that.

1672
01:41:38,240 --> 01:41:40,080
So one-on-one makes.
Three.

1673
01:41:40,480 --> 01:41:42,960
Yeah, that's awesome.
So why would I?

1674
01:41:43,880 --> 01:41:45,600
What?
Where's the harm in that?

1675
01:41:46,160 --> 01:41:51,200
Yeah.
I, I, I don't blame, I can't put

1676
01:41:51,200 --> 01:41:55,040
the pandemic on Steven and live
events.

1677
01:41:55,360 --> 01:41:58,200
Well, you could try.
Yeah, I think I, I think I might

1678
01:41:58,200 --> 01:42:02,840
have.
You know, the pandemic is the

1679
01:42:02,840 --> 01:42:04,120
pandemic.
Yeah.

1680
01:42:04,400 --> 01:42:10,960
It was unfortunate for me
because for 40 something years I

1681
01:42:11,000 --> 01:42:13,560
was always look, always put
everything back into the

1682
01:42:13,560 --> 01:42:15,360
company.
In the early days I had

1683
01:42:15,360 --> 01:42:18,200
partners.
I couldn't take more from me

1684
01:42:18,320 --> 01:42:23,200
even though I did more, because
I had to have parity if I wanted

1685
01:42:23,200 --> 01:42:24,960
to have a happy camp.
That.

1686
01:42:24,960 --> 01:42:28,040
Was all for the end game for me.
Unfortunately.

1687
01:42:28,160 --> 01:42:34,040
COVID beat me by three months.
Discussions having discussions.

1688
01:42:34,960 --> 01:42:37,800
COVID hit.
I get it, my friend, Trust me,

1689
01:42:37,800 --> 01:42:41,040
my, my business got the shit
beat out of it during COVID.

1690
01:42:41,040 --> 01:42:43,280
So, you know, I completely get
it.

1691
01:42:43,280 --> 01:42:47,000
It, it was a special moment that
a lot of people didn't survive.

1692
01:42:47,040 --> 01:42:49,280
I mean, a lot of businesses
didn't survive.

1693
01:42:49,280 --> 01:42:52,840
People didn't survive too.
But let's hope we never go back

1694
01:42:52,840 --> 01:42:56,280
there, you know?
Let's hope it doesn't happen

1695
01:42:56,280 --> 01:43:00,840
again, ever.
Yeah, we, we, I don't, I, I

1696
01:43:00,880 --> 01:43:07,160
think right now the culture here
pretty much as good as it's ever

1697
01:43:07,160 --> 01:43:09,640
been.
Good for you, good for you.

1698
01:43:09,880 --> 01:43:12,200
Long serving people here.
Yeah.

1699
01:43:15,720 --> 01:43:17,960
I don't want to be corny, but
there's a fair amount of love

1700
01:43:17,960 --> 01:43:20,320
around this place.
Yeah, I've always heard it.

1701
01:43:20,560 --> 01:43:21,520
Yeah, I've always heard it.
We're.

1702
01:43:21,520 --> 01:43:26,600
In our new facility, we went
from 23,000 square feet to about

1703
01:43:26,600 --> 01:43:28,480
50.
Oh, good for you.

1704
01:43:28,480 --> 01:43:29,840
We're.
Able to actually set up full

1705
01:43:29,840 --> 01:43:33,640
lighting rigs and we're able to
do things without falling over

1706
01:43:33,640 --> 01:43:37,200
each other.
All this is, you know, I've got

1707
01:43:37,200 --> 01:43:42,320
to it goes back to live events
and Steven for having faith in

1708
01:43:42,320 --> 01:43:44,680
US and going with that
investment.

1709
01:43:46,560 --> 01:43:49,680
And so do they're.
Not They're not the bad guys.

1710
01:43:49,960 --> 01:43:52,680
No, no, and I wasn't suggesting
they were at all.

1711
01:43:52,680 --> 01:43:56,160
I was just like I said, I was
happily surprised to hear that

1712
01:43:56,160 --> 01:44:00,080
you were heavily involved and
really enjoying yourself.

1713
01:44:00,080 --> 01:44:02,400
And you know that to me says it
all like it.

1714
01:44:02,400 --> 01:44:05,680
That's, that's meaningful, you
know, because usually what

1715
01:44:05,680 --> 01:44:08,760
happens is these businesses get
bought and, and either the owner

1716
01:44:08,760 --> 01:44:13,960
retires or the owner gets in a
battle with the the owner and

1717
01:44:13,960 --> 01:44:18,000
you know, it's it I.
Must say this, our general

1718
01:44:18,000 --> 01:44:21,480
manager, Brian Boyd, he came on
board with us just before the

1719
01:44:21,480 --> 01:44:23,320
pandemic.
Yeah, I I met Brian.

1720
01:44:23,800 --> 01:44:29,200
And he he deals more with any
sort of rebuff for this.

1721
01:44:29,360 --> 01:44:31,440
And.
You know, I'm, I'm fairly

1722
01:44:31,440 --> 01:44:36,240
insulated from it.
I, I, I, I'm, I'm nobody's

1723
01:44:36,240 --> 01:44:41,600
pushing me to be in the office,
you know, every day of the week.

1724
01:44:41,640 --> 01:44:43,760
I'm sometimes working from Home
Office.

1725
01:44:44,120 --> 01:44:47,320
Yeah, nobody's putting any
pressure on me.

1726
01:44:48,120 --> 01:44:50,840
But then again, the last couple
of weeks I was doing kind of

1727
01:44:50,840 --> 01:44:53,680
work days where I was working
8:00 till 8:00.

1728
01:44:53,920 --> 01:44:57,200
Yeah, with.
With with the projects that I

1729
01:44:57,200 --> 01:44:59,960
was, you know, working on, we've
got Coachella going right now.

1730
01:45:00,040 --> 01:45:04,560
It's we've got a big light rig
out there with one of the acts

1731
01:45:04,560 --> 01:45:08,160
just came off doing sound like
some video with Danzig.

1732
01:45:08,200 --> 01:45:13,040
That was my account working with
three promoters, yeah. 4 bands,

1733
01:45:13,920 --> 01:45:19,360
10 crew, 2 trucks, 2 buses, and
that was a handful.

1734
01:45:19,720 --> 01:45:22,200
Yeah.
So is it mostly?

1735
01:45:22,520 --> 01:45:25,960
It's mostly all touring still or
or corporate or no?

1736
01:45:26,000 --> 01:45:30,960
No, I said Pomoda College doing
the site survey for graduation

1737
01:45:32,640 --> 01:45:37,840
video and audio on that one
corporate special events.

1738
01:45:39,160 --> 01:45:40,480
So it's a nice.
Blend meetings.

1739
01:45:40,840 --> 01:45:42,480
We do it all.
Yeah, that's what.

1740
01:45:42,480 --> 01:45:44,360
Keeps it fresh.
Yeah, you know.

1741
01:45:44,480 --> 01:45:48,120
Guys come off off the road and
they start working corporate.

1742
01:45:48,120 --> 01:45:52,360
They get time and a half double
time walking on the carpet and

1743
01:45:52,360 --> 01:45:55,360
then are fed up with the 405
freeway every day.

1744
01:45:55,680 --> 01:45:56,920
Yeah.
Back on the road.

1745
01:45:57,080 --> 01:45:58,360
So it's a young ank.
It's good.

1746
01:45:58,440 --> 01:46:00,160
Yeah, good.
That's fantastic.

1747
01:46:00,680 --> 01:46:03,520
Yeah, that's really good.
Well, smoother.

1748
01:46:03,520 --> 01:46:05,160
Thank you so much.
I appreciate it.

1749
01:46:05,160 --> 01:46:07,400
Some great stories and I putting
this.

1750
01:46:07,800 --> 01:46:10,160
Together.
Marcel No, thank you so much.

1751
01:46:10,160 --> 01:46:13,720
I I I've enjoyed it very much.
I love the stories.

1752
01:46:13,720 --> 01:46:18,160
And and if I could keep you all
day, I would We'd keep we'd keep

1753
01:46:18,160 --> 01:46:20,560
recording it, but I got to let
you go.

1754
01:46:20,560 --> 01:46:22,960
I Steven told me that, you know
you can't keep them all day.

1755
01:46:22,960 --> 01:46:25,160
Marcel, you know what this guy's
costing me?

1756
01:46:25,680 --> 01:46:28,800
No, he never said that.
Thank you.

1757
01:46:28,800 --> 01:46:30,200
Smoother.
All right, man.

1758
01:46:50,560 --> 01:46:50,640
The.