Giggs Podcast

Recorded live at Rock Lititz, Nikki Sanz sits down with Doug Wilson — long-time tour manager and Director of Touring — for a grounded, honest look at what 20 years on the road teaches you.

Doug's path started with a chance encounter with a tour manager in catering in Glasgow, Scotland. He bought a Sprinter van, converted it with his dad, and four months later was on his first US tour. From there: bus tours, arenas, eight years with Half Moon Run, world tours with Fletcher, and a final show that ended on March 11, 2020 — one day before the world shut down.

Then he talks about his transition off the road, in LA, running touring and production for Black Ink Presents, a Sony Music Masterworks company that builds IP-based concert experiences (The Nightmare Before Christmas, Beauty and the Beast, Ghostbusters, La La Land, Batman). This one gets real about perfectionism, the pressure of being the person who says no, the "off-ramp" problem for tour managers, and why getting off the road feels a little like kicking an addiction.

What you'll learn:

• How to break in when you don't have a technical discipline (audio, lights, etc.)
• Why chasing perfection is the biggest mistake new TMs make
• How to grow with an artist from clubs to arenas — and what separates the crew that makes it from the crew that gets replaced
• The hidden financial tradeoffs tour managers navigate when artists level up
• Why lack of understanding of other people's jobs causes more tour drama than anything else
• What the tour director role actually looks like — and why more management companies are building it in-house
• How to plan an off-ramp from touring before the window closes

Listen, follow, and leave a review if this one hits.

Episode Sponsor: RoadCase has given Giggs listeners a free month of RoadCase Pro. Head over to https://roadcase.app/giggs for an exclusive discount.

Doug Wilson Bio:

Doug Wilson is a highly respected music industry professional with extensive experience in touring, concert production, and artist management. Having spent nearly 20 years on the road as a Tour Manager, Doug then transitioned to Director of Touring and Production at Black Ink Presents, a Sony Music Masterworks live event production company. Originally from Scotland, Doug now lives and works in Los Angeles, but still spends time on the road traveling to oversee events and check in on touring productions.

Join the #1 community and career platform for the live event industry: https://www.giggs.live/

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Host: Nikki Sanz

Recorded in Nashville, TN, this special docuseries episode of The Giggs Podcast steps inside Kingfisher Production Studio, the new virtual production offering from LEO Events. Nikki Sanz walks through the space and talks with the team behind it to see how virtual worlds are built, lit, filmed, and finished.

This episode is worth your time if you work in production, post, creative, live events, or brand storytelling and want to understand what virtual production actually takes. The team breaks down how Unreal Engine, motion tracking, lighting, editorial planning, and post all work together to create worlds that feel real on camera.

You’ll also hear why this kind of studio can open new options for corporate shoots, music content, branded storytelling, and location-based concepts without the same travel, permitting, and logistics challenges of a traditional shoot.

We highly recommend watching this one on video on either Spotify or YouTube for the full episode experience.

What you’ll learn:

• How Kingfisher uses virtual production to build believable environments
• Why lighting and motion tracking matter as much as the digital world itself
• How Unreal Engine fits into the production pipeline
• What post-production teams receive after a virtual shoot
• Why pre-production planning still matters in a “limitless” environment
• How this workflow can save time, travel, and location costs
• What kinds of skills help people thrive in studio, animation, and editorial roles

About Kingfisher:

Kingfisher by LEO Events is a virtual production studio based in Nashville, Tennessee, built to help brands, creators, and clients tell stories in flexible digital environments. 

In this episode, Nikki Sanz talks with members of the team behind the space, including Stacey Ladd, Sr. Director of Media Production, Brett Clark, Director of Studio & Editorial, Tyler Montanino, Video Production Specialist, Matt Dimodica, Senior Media Animator, and Josh Ickes, Senior Editor. Together, they walk through how Kingfisher blends creative development, lighting, motion tracking, Unreal Engine, and post-production to turn ideas into polished visual stories.

To learn more about the Kingfisher Production Studio and LEO Events, visit https://leoevents.com/ and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/kingfisher.made and https://www.instagram.com/leoevents/

Join the #1 community and career platform for the live event industry: https://www.giggs.live/

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Host: Nikki Sanz

What does real support for music professionals actually look like when the gigs stop, the bills pile up, or the stress gets too heavy? In this episode, Nikki Sanz sits down with Theresa Wolters, Executive Director of MusiCares, to talk about the health, financial, and emergency realities facing people across the music industry.

They get into the gap between how glamorous the industry can look from the outside and how vulnerable it often feels from the inside. Theresa shares how MusiCares helps with rent, therapy, medical bills, substance use treatment, and disaster relief, and why better data is finally helping the industry confront what so many people have lived for years.

This conversation also digs into the Wellness in Music Survey, why preventive care and health coverage remain major issues for freelancers and touring professionals, and what meaningful change could look like from here.

What you’ll learn

• What MusiCares actually does day to day for music professionals
• Why so many people in music still lack stable health and financial support
• How MusiCares responds to emergencies, from lost gigs to natural disasters
• What the Wellness in Music Survey is revealing about stress, money, and health
• Why Theresa believes sustainability is now one of the biggest issues in music careers
• How friends, coworkers, and managers can help someone reach out before things get worse

Take the Wellness in Music 2026 survey: https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/8718804/scs-2026-Wellness-in-Music
The survey is completely anonymous, and participation directly contributes to shaping resources and support for the community. The survey is open from April 6 – 17th.

Qualifying music professionals can reach out to MusiCares for support at any time at https://www.musicares.org/get-help
A minimum of five years employment in the music industry (three years for disaster relief), OR six commercially released recordings or videos (singles)

For more information on MusiCares or to donate, please visit www.musicares.org

Theresa Wolters bio:
Theresa Wolters is the Executive Director of MusiCares, where she leads the organization’s mission to provide a critical safety net of health, human, and social services for music professionals. She joined MusiCares in 2022 as Vice President of Health and Human Services, a role that built on her two decades of global leadership expanding access to health, financial, and emergency services.

Join the #1 community and career platform for the live event industry: https://www.giggs.live/

Stay up to date:
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/giggs-llc/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@giggs.live

Host: Nikki Sanz

Recorded live at Rock Lititz, this episode features Patrick Ledwith, Managing Director of North America for ES Global, reflecting on a career that spans nearly four decades across touring, staging, and large-scale live production.

Patrick takes Nikki Sanz from his start as a 17-year-old stagehand in London to building stages on U2’s Joshua Tree run, managing major tours, and eventually stepping into executive leadership. Along the way, he shares what has changed in live events, what has not, and why fan experience still sits at the center of great shows.

For anyone working in touring, production, project management, or live entertainment, this conversation is a grounded look at how careers are built over time. Patrick talks about problem solving, leadership under pressure, the evolution of stadium-scale production, and the values that still matter when the trucks get bigger and the timelines get tighter.

What you’ll learn:

• How Patrick got his start as a stagehand and found his path into touring
• What it was like building stages during U2’s Joshua Tree era
• Why the best artists stay obsessed with fan experience
• How production managers think about responsibility, morale, and problem solving
• What separates entertainment builds from traditional construction
• How tours like Iron Maiden and Beyonce scale from creative vision to live execution
• What legacy means after a lifetime on the road

Patrick Ledwith Bio:

With nearly 40 years in the events, music and film business Patrick amassed a wealth of experience working on numerous different large scale projects and ceremonies around the world. Patrick’s structural and technical background in the business has set a solid foundation for a career as a Production/ Project Manager and Technical Director working with many of the largest production companies in the world including, Balich WS, Five Currents and ES GLOBAL. After working for ES GLOBAL on and off since the 1980’s it was an easy decision to join the company full time. Touring work in the entertainment business has, among others, included world tours with the U2, Van Halen, Grateful Dead, David Bowie, Rolling Stones, Scorpions, Metallica, Guns n Roses, and Iron Maiden.

Join the #1 community and career platform for the live event industry: https://www.giggs.live/

Stay up to date:
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Youtube: https://youtube.com/@giggs-live
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/giggs-llc/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@giggs.live

Host: Nikki Sanz

Recorded live at Rock Lititz, this episode features Kyana White, a tour manager and production manager whose path into touring did not start on a bus. It started in TV, in internships, in low-paid PA work, and in learning how major productions actually come together behind the scenes.

Kyana walks Nikki Sanz through the real story: how she went from the WME mailroom and award show production into touring, how cold outreach helped her land opportunities with Janelle Monáe’s camp, and how those early one-off gigs turned into bigger roles with Ari Lennox and beyond.

This one matters if you’re trying to break in, level up, or understand what separates people who stay stuck from people who create their own lane. Kyana gets specific about preparation, advocacy, transferable skills, and why calm leadership matters so much in live production.

What you’ll learn

• How Kyana moved from TV production into touring
• Why cold emailing and using your network still works
• What transferable skills matter most when changing lanes
• What a small touring crew actually needs at the club and small-room level
• Why being both a tour manager and production manager can be such an advantage
• What Kyana is learning now as she looks toward arena and stadium-level production

Kyana White bio:

From Atlanta, currently residing in New Orleans, Kyana’s start in touring was unconventional. She got her start in entertainment when she landed the WME Mailroom gig in 2013 the summer before graduating from UAB. She returned to LA summer of 2014 and landed an internship at Octagon Entertainment where she worked on a tv pilot there and decided she wanted to do tv. In the summer of 2015 she did her last internship with Jesse Collins Entertainment on the BET Awards. From there she worked as a PA, coordinator, and Executive Producers Assistant on award shows (Grammy’s, Hip Hop Awards, Billboard Awards, Emmy’s, Oscars, etc) until 2018. She decided to leave LA because she had set a goal to buy a duplex by 30 and realized moving up in tv wasn’t going to happen fast enough to achieve that in LA. She started sending cold emails out to people in touring and this woman named Kim responded saying she loved her resume and wanted to keep in touch. She had ties to Janelle Monae’s camp and in fall 2018 Kyana did her first one off touring gigs in Janelle’s camp as a PA. Early 2019 she was back working on the Grammy’s when she got a call to work a 2 week underplay tour as a coordinator with Anderson.Paak so she quit the Grammy’s and went on her first bus tour. Summer 2019 she became road manager for Ari Lennox and by end of 2019 she was her Tour & Production Manager. She’s been a TM+PM ever since and she currently works with Tank & The Bangas, noname, Kiana Ledé, and Samara Cyn.

Join the #1 community and career platform for the live event industry: https://www.giggs.live/

Stay up to date:
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Youtube: https://youtube.com/@giggs-live
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/giggs-llc/
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Host: Nikki Sanz

Behind every tour is a whole other job happening offstage: parenting, schedules, safety, emotions, and the quiet pressure of “don’t make this harder for them.”

In this episode, Nikki Sanz talks with Rachel Smith and Rhyan Shirley, founders of Stage Wives—a support community built for women navigating life while their partners work in the touring industry. They share what this lifestyle can do to connection, communication, and family rhythms—and the practical tools that help couples stay aligned when time, sleep, and distance are working against you.

You’ll also hear the frameworks they lean on in real life, from how to start hard conversations (“facts, then feelings”) to the one question that can stop a fight before it starts.

What you’ll learn:

• Why touring families can feel isolated and what actually helps (community + real tools)
• A simple communication order: facts → feelings → “listen or fix?”
• How touring impacts kids (and why ages 3–4 can be especially tough)
• Staying “present” from the road with routines
• The “two-week / three-week” approach some families use to stay connected mid-run
• What to do when therapy isn’t built for the realities of touring life
• The resources they’re building for stage families (Touring Tales + The Invisible Backpack)

Check out all Stage Wives has to offer as well as The Invisible Backpack pre-sale info: https://www.stagewives.com/

Check out Stage Wives on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stagewives 

Stage Wives bio:

Stage Wives is a Nashville-based support community for women whose husbands or significant others work in the touring industry—including musicians, artists, sound engineers, lighting techs, stage managers, road managers, and crew members of all kinds. If your partner tours, Stage Wives exists for you.

Stage Wives was founded by Rachel Smith and Rhyan Shirley, two women who know firsthand the unique challenges and emotional demands of life on the road.

Rachel Smith has spent over ten years as a tour wife. She is a pyographer aka wood-burning artist and the owner of Cinder Bella Studios and Raye Ann Pyrography. Her husband has toured full-time since they were married, and together they are raising their five-year-old daughter.

Rhyan Shirley is an award-winning songwriter and recording artist. In addition to writing full-time and leading Stage Wives, she is a single mom to a four-year-old son. Rhyan was a stage wife for ten years, during which her former husband toured an average of 300 days a year. In spite of her personal journey, she has developed a deep passion for strengthening families and helping marriages not only survive, but thrive, within the demands of touring life.

Together, Raye and Rhy are committed to empowering women to step out of isolation and victimhood and into confidence, wholeness, and emotional health. Their heart behind Stage Wives is to support the mental and emotional well-being of women at home while also strengthening marriages by ensuring touring husbands feel supported, loved, and at peace knowing their families are cared for.

At its core, Stage Wives, their podcast Offstage and On Duty, and the other resources they provide are built on the belief that prioritizing women’s mental health is essential to creating healthy stage families.

Join the #1 community and career platform for the live event industry: https://www.giggs.live/

Stay up to date:
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Youtube: https://youtube.com/@giggs-live
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/giggs-llc/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@giggs.live

Host: Nikki Sanz

Recorded live at Rock Lititz, this episode features Suzi Meyer, Chief of Staff, in a candid conversation about workforce development, burnout, leadership, and the future of live events.

If you care about crew culture, retention, or building a sustainable career in this industry, this one hits home. Suzi breaks down what COVID exposed, why respectful leadership is outperforming pay in recent polling, and how we can stop “accidentally” entering the industry and start building real pathways.

What you’ll learn:

• Why respectful leadership ranked above pay in industry polling
• The real reason burnout is rising on bigger tours
• What employers say is missing in new hires (hint: it’s not technical skill)
• How gatekeeping hurts long-term industry growth
• Why structure doesn’t have to mean “corporate”
• What Workforce LIVE is doing to recruit and retain talent

Suzi Meyer Bio:
Versatility and creative problem solving have been the foundation of Suzi’s career. Over the past nine years at Rick Lititz, Suzi worked with the team to grow and expand the business, manage building operations and provide insight and care to those she leads. As Chief of Staff, she is able to focus on expansion into new geographic areas focusing on workforce development, leadership + inclusion, mental health and sustainability. Suzi also works with an incredible group of industry professionals through the non-profit Workforce LIVE, an organization focused in attracting and retaining talent in the live event industry. 

Suzi started her professional career working on college campuses creating community and leadership programming for college students in her role as Director of Residence Life + International Student Advisor. Suzi started her career in the live event industry in 2008, where she served as the Accounting and HR Director before finding her home at Rock Lititz in 2016.

Join the #1 community and career platform for the live event industry: https://www.giggs.live/

Stay up to date:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/giggs.live
Youtube: https://youtube.com/@giggs-live
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/giggs-llc/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@giggs.live

Host: Nikki Sanz

Recorded live at Rock Lititz, Nikki Sanz sits down with touring production manager, Jesse Sandler, for a behind-the-scenes look at how a touring career actually gets built—one cosign, one good attitude, and one “figure it out” moment at a time.

Jesse walks through his path from an early runner/production assistant role to touring internationally as an audio tech, and eventually stepping into the production manager seat—sometimes faster than expected.

What you’ll learn:

• The difference between production assistant, production coordinator, and production manager
• Why “pay attention and do your job” can beat formal training (early on)
• How mentorship actually shows up on tour (even when no one labels it “mentorship”)
• A calm leadership approach that keeps problems from becoming chaos
• How to ask for the job without overstepping the room
• Why attitude is often the deciding factor when hiring crews
• The “cosign effect”: how introductions create career momentum

Jesse Sandler bio:
Jesse Sandler is a highly respected touring professional with over 25 years of touring experience in production management and related disciplines. He has managed complex shows globally for top-tier artists, including Bon Jovi, Nickelback, Phish, The Eagles, Prince, Aerosmith, Morrissey, and Steely Dan. His diverse background includes roles as a production assistant, production coordinator, Clair audio technician, managing tour catering, ticketing and production accounting.

Find your next Gigg: https://www.giggs.live/

Stay up to date:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/giggs.live
Youtube: https://youtube.com/@GIGGS-live
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@giggs.live

Host: Nikki Sanz

Join the #1 community and career platform for the live event industry: https://www.giggs.live/

Stay up to date:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/giggs.live
Youtube: https://youtube.com/@giggs-live
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/giggs-llc/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@giggs.live

Host: Nikki Sanz

Recorded live from Rock Lititz, Nikki Sanz sits down with Butch Allen, VP of Global Business Development at TAIT, and a touring veteran who’s done nearly every job on the road (“everything but audio”).

Butch breaks down what actually moves your career forward in live events: learning fast, contributing solutions, and being someone people want in the “fishbowl” when the pressure is high and the clock is ticking. If you’re trying to level up—whether you’re a stagehand, tech, designer, or production leader—this one is a blueprint.

What you’ll learn:

• Why “make the effort” is the real unlock for growth on tour
• How being a “good hang” can matter as much as raw technical skill
• What changed between early touring days and today’s professionalized crews
• The moment Butch knew he was done with the grind—and what he did next
• How show design really works: from blank page to build to reality
• Why live events are “purely human” in an AI-heavy world
• What it takes to thrive in touring’s “fishbowl” environment

Butch Allen Bio:
Ladies and gentlemen, technicians, professionals, and artists of questionable sleep schedules—this is fully Giggs’ fault with the full knowledge of TAIT, who bravely agreed to let Butch speak into a microphone unsupervised. Prepare for insights, unseeables, and the unfiltered thoughts of a man who once said, “Um, sure. Let’s do that,” before knowing what “that” was. Let the chaos begin. 🙃

Butch Allen has spent years working in live entertainment, helping build shows, solve problems, and keep things moving—sometimes literally. He’s known for a practical approach, a dry sense of humor, and the ability to stay surprisingly awake when everyone else is out of coffee. His path through the industry has been shaped by collaboration, curiosity, and saying “yes” maybe one or two times too many. Now, he’s here to talk about the work, the people, and the oddities that come with it.

Butch is the VP of Global Business Development at TAIT and a lifelong touring and live events professional who began in technical theater before falling in love with concert lighting. Over his career, he’s worn nearly every hat on the road—lighting director, production manager, stage manager, designer, backline, and even stepping in to drive a bus or truck when needed (everything but audio). He’s worked with major artists including Eric Church, The Eagles, Metallica, Melanie Martinez, and Paramore, and he’s passionate about building great teams, solving hard problems, and helping projects find their way from big idea to real-world execution.

Join the #1 community and career platform for the live event industry: https://www.giggs.live/

Stay up to date:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/giggs.live
Youtube: https://youtube.com/@giggs-live
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/giggs-llc/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@giggs.live

Host: Nikki Sanz

Recorded live from Rock Lititz in Lititz, Pennsylvania, host Nikki Sanz sits down with Dr. Chayim Newman and Zack Borer—the co-founders of Amber Health—to talk about what it really takes to support touring crews and live event professionals when the days are long, the pressure is constant, and the margin for error is basically zero.

This conversation goes beyond “mental health awareness” and into what support looks like on the ground: proactive tools that help people manage the road and real-time backup for the moments that can derail a camp—conflict, crisis, burnout, and the stuff nobody wants to put on the comms channel.

What you’ll learn:

• Why touring can be “lonely in a crowd,” even with a full crew around you
• What changes when support is built for the road, not a 9–5 world
• The difference between proactive training and crisis response
• How trust and industry fluency make care actually usable
• Why this is shifting into a standard tour budget line item
• How support can reduce conflict, turnover, and operational risk

Dr. Chayim Newman and Zack Borer bios:
Dr. Chayim Newman and Zack Borer, LMFT are the co-founders of Amber Health, the music industry's only full-service mental health and wellness provider. Since launching the organization in 2021, their team has pioneered a new standard of care specifically designed for the unique demands of the music business. Together, they've developed and implemented comprehensive mental health programs that serve everyone from touring crews and live event staff to A-list artists and major music companies. Their innovative approach addresses the full spectrum of mental health needs—from crisis intervention and ongoing support to preventative wellness initiatives and systemic cultural change. Amber Health has forged groundbreaking partnerships with industry leaders including Sony Music, Clair Global, and world-renowned artists such as Olivia Rodrigo, Green Day, Ed Sheeran, and Billie Eilish and more.

Dr. Newman holds a PhD in Clinical Psychology and maintains a private practice specializing in clinical care for artists and industry members. He utilizes a variety of therapeutic modalities—including ACT, CBT, Mindfulness, and traditional psychotherapy—to address the psychological and emotional challenges unique to the music world. With over two decades of involvement in the industry as a touring performer, event producer, and artist liaison, Dr. Newman brings firsthand insight into its distinct stresses. He was also the co-founder of the Tour Health Research Initiative (THRIV), dedicated to conducting research on mental health in the touring sector, and co-creator of the weekly Come Together music industry online support groups. In his spare time, Dr. Newman can be found studying ancient Jewish spirituality or surfing off the coast of Portugal.

Zack is a Los Angeles-based licensed psychotherapist with a Master's degree in Marriage and Family Therapy. After spending a decade as a professional musician and songwriter, he transitioned into mental health with a deep understanding of the unique pressures faced by artists and music industry professionals. His dual background allows him to connect authentically with clients who navigate the intersection of creative expression and mental wellness.

Together, Zack and Dr. Newman are committed to making mental health support accessible and stigma-free for an industry that has historically lacked dedicated resources.

Join the #1 community and career platform for the live event industry: https://www.giggs.live/

Stay up to date:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/giggs.live
Youtube: https://youtube.com/@giggs-live
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/giggs-llc/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@giggs.live

Host: Nikki Sanz