Every working musician needs non-musician allies.

While the live music industry seems overrun with agent poseurs and charlatans, the antidote is David Craig.

He's the owner of Mais Musica, a talent booking, event management, and AV hire company in the UAE, and he’s one of the most straightforward people I do business with.

A former DJ himself, David understands our needs as performers, he values our work, and he conducts business in a way that makes you happy that you’re both getting paid.

In this episode, David shares invaluable insights into the backend of the live music business: what he’s looking for in a band to be able to confidently promote them to clients, what goes into building events from the ground up, and where he witnesses live music transforming events.

He also talks about the challenges of taking the high road: those occasions where his commitment to doing the right thing meant he lost working relationships, friends, or money.

Despite those setbacks, he’s still standing - integrity intact - with a long list of clients and musicians happy to continue to work with him.

If you are looking for inspiration and a roadmap to running an ethical business as a booking agent, this is the episode for you.

I almost didn’t bother with a second season of this podcast.

Not because I ran out of things to say, but because I genuinely wasn’t sure I had a point.

Season 1 of The Lady J Podcast was full of great conversations about what it takes to build a career in the live music industry. My guests and I truly do believe that live music matters, which is why we’ve spent our lives doing it.

However, while I love providing a platform for people to share their stories, it sometimes felt like preaching to the choir. I couldn’t shake the feeling that just talking about how to do a good job on a gig was not actually getting to the heart of the matter.

And this matters to me.

I wanted to get it right.

As I was grappling with finding the new direction of this podcast, a war broke out around us in Dubai, with missiles flying overhead on a daily basis, and our gigs disappeared overnight.

Poof. Gone. Income zero.

With extra unwanted time on my hands, I chose to put it to terrible use by scrolling anxiously through social media for hours at a time. Amidst all my panic over regional news I also got sucked into the discourse about AI.

Cue: next cause for alarm.

Alarm at how AI is being sold to us as the glorious future, smarter and more skilled than any human could ever be, and alarm at how we’re being told that it’s inevitable and we’re powerless to stop it.

Oh great. Dystopia starts today. Fan-freaking-tastic.

But despite the AI-creep on every platform, I also saw artists and creatives - of all kinds - going, uh NO.

And that gave me hope. There were other people, like me, horrified at the thought that we were expected to just slide into an AI-stupor, give in to the embrace of the abyss and just go to sleep. Like freezing to death.

So when I asked myself, is being a full-time musician really the best use of my time and energy in my one and only life? I decided: yes. Very much so.

Because making music live and in-person, that beautiful and tiring and flawed and irreplaceable combination of vibrations, is one of the most human things we can do.

Made by humans, for humans.

The human effort and emotion, and acquired skill and proficiency, and flaws and workarounds, and time and energy, and the story and the struggle, are literally the point of making art. At a moment in time where any kind of art that can be reproduced digitally is at risk of being altered or stolen by AI, in-person arts remain immune.

And somehow, championing human things has become an act of resistance.

So, no matter which side of the microphone you’re on, to support live music is one of the most fundamentally human things you can do. And not only does live music matter, but humans matter.

Vive la résistance.

00:00 Intro

00:52 – Great conversations with live music veterans during Season 1

01:47 – Struggle to find direction for Season 2

03:16 – Covid flashbacks

04:00 – Live music as an anti-AI, pro-human act

05:31 – Artists and creatives resist

06:21 – In-person art is immune to AI creep

08:00 – Thank you from this human corner of the internet

08:35 – Lightning Round

14:00 – Stay tuned: upcoming interview with David Craig in episode 2

14:54 – Original music: Bourbon Belly Blues (free download available here)

16:22 – Credits

Last summer, my gigs were few and far between and my motivation was low. I needed a new challenge, but also needed some answers.

What makes and sustains a career as a gigging musician? How do I get more gigs? How do I become a better performer? How do I make gigs more fulfilling and financially rewarding?

Just like on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, I used one of my lifelines:

“I’d like to phone a friend, please.”

And, without hesitation, they answered the call.

Season 1 of The Lady J Podcast is a series of conversations with my friends in the industry, most of them gigging musicians for a number of years already, all happy to share what they’ve learned along their journey.

These generous humans are musicians who book themselves, who work solo or in small groups, as leader or band member. We talked about what their lives look like onstage and behind the scenes, the importance of networking, education, and mindset. And, because nearly everyone I spoke to is a parent, work-life balance.

Though each conversation was essentially an on-air version of one I’d had prior (maybe multiple times over many years) with my guests, I didn’t expect to hear anything that was new to me.

But in every conversation I found myself surprised by a piece of advice or new bit of information. I’ve pulled those moments out here to share my learning with you.

I hope that you also learn something that feels new and interesting to you. And definitely feel free to dive further into the stories and advice shared by all of these wonderful souls by listening to their full episodes.

We’re all happy you’re here.

00:00:00 Intro

00:02:52 - Mikey Reed - gig preparedness

00:04:40 Joe Bashorun - Dubai: the best place in the world for live performance

00:07:21 Aston Wylie - karaoke tracks for the win!

00:10:12 Timo Higgs - the importance of in-person connections

00:12:21 Chris Santillán - enjoying the music more

00:15:09 Janelle & Felix - the magic of live streaming

00:18:24 Romario Fernando - the Dubai music scene’s grassroots roots

00:20:49 Carrie Gibson - how to deal with awkward comments from guests

00:23:50 Mikey Reed (Christmas special) - parenting during the busiest gigging month of the year

00:25:43 Thank you

00:26:38 Credits

I’m Lady J (onstage) and in the two decades that I’ve been a full-time gigging musician I’ve played nearly 3000 shows with my husband-slash-guitarist-slash-business partner. We live in Dubai with our two kids, and we continue to perform hundreds of shows per year.

I firmly believe that there is nothing like being in the room with the person making the music that moves you.

Live music matters.

Whether you’re hoping to get your first gig, looking to get more gigs, or looking to make your gigging more fulfilling and financially rewarding, this is a place to get insights and practical advice from people who believe live music matters.

I’m happy you’re here.

Music. It’s the music that sets Christmas apart.

Other holidays may also be about love, and family, and food and gifts, and peaceful wishes, but no other holiday is as inextricably linked to its music as Christmas is.

Which is why it’s my favourite.

The songs, oh the songs.

Songs that make you feel all warm and fuzzy, songs that make you feel like a kid again, songs of hope and positivity that celebrate the magic that exists in the little things, if only you look for it.

Mikey Reed, self-titled Mr. Christmas, agrees with me. His enthusiasm for Christmas is palpable: for the traditions, the food and – of course – the music.

Luckily for us, as performers and hardcore Christmas fans, festive gigs flow freely in December. And it’s not just for us: anywhere that Christmas is celebrated, gigging musicians are called on to provide a live festive soundtrack to those events.

Which is why Mikey is returning to chat with me about what makes holiday gigs different, which are his favourite Christmas songs to play, what he considers to be the “official” Christmas season, and what he does – despite the madness of the season - to preserve the magic of Christmas for himself and his family.

China was the worst.

Well, to be fair, not necessarily the worst. But, of all the countries I performed in when I was touring, it was definitely my least favourite.

Frankly, the sole redeeming feature of my 6-month Chinese experience was that I met Carrie and her husband, Joe, on my first night there and we’ve been friends ever since.

After three years performing on the hotel circuit, I already knew Carrie by reputation. Entertainment agents and management of venues referenced her band, and her, personally, as the gold standard of top-tier performances, professionalism, consistency: someone who brought in business and who audiences adored.

Guests had regularly been mistaking me for her on gigs, but I was the other Canadian singer, another brown girl with big curly golden-brown hair, a willingness to rap, a husband in the band, and a love of cargo pants.

When I told excited patrons, sorry, you’re mistaken, I’m not Carrie, I’d see their covert (or overt!) look of disappointment. They, too, were sorry.

It was all pretty intimidating.

I made up my mind that if ever I got to meet this “Carrie” person, I would make a point not to like her.

So when we walked in to Galleon Bar, at the Intercontinental Hotel in Shenzhen, to see Carrie and her band Master Plan absolutely devouring the stage on their final night, I was pretty overwhelmed.

They were amazing.

She was everything I’d been told she would be.

When she came offstage, I steeled myself, expecting a full-blown haughty diva-esque attitude to accompany her legendary status, which I was planning to counter with chilly, one-word replies, but she was friendly, and welcoming, and helpful, and just… normal.

She owed me nothing - we would likely never meet again - but without hesitation she invited me into her world. In doing so she immediately overturned my preconceptions about what it meant to be a professional in this industry.

And over the fifteen plus years that we’ve been friends, Carrie continues to challenge and inspire me.

She is a singer, a songwriter, a storyteller, and a coach, but she is most quintessentially, a performer. She has a lifetime of stage experience, and is an absolute treasury of guidance and advice on how to make every performance come alive, how to set audiences on fire, and how to keep doing the thing night after night, without losing your spark.

Just as she did on the night I met her, Carrie continues to share her wisdom with an open heart. This conversation will challenge your definition of “diva”, and will prove how the world is a better place when we lift each other up. Carrie Gibson is, indeed, the real deal.

00:00:00 – Introducing Carrie Gibson00:03:47 – Interview 01:03:07 – Lightning Round01:11:39 – Live music: Long Train Running (Doobie Brothers)01:18:05 – Credits

I’m Lady J (onstage) and in the two decades that I’ve been a full-time gigging musician I’ve played nearly 3000 shows with my husband-slash-guitarist-slash-business partner. We live in Dubai with our two kids, and we continue to perform hundreds of shows per year.

I firmly believe that there is nothing like being in the room with the person making the music that moves you.

Live music matters.

Whether you’re hoping to get your first gig, looking to get more gigs, or looking to make your gigging more fulfilling and financially rewarding, this is a place to get insights and practical advice from people who believe live music matters.

I’m happy you’re here.

In the wee hours of a mid-January morning in 2015 I landed in Dubai with my band, ready to begin a long sought-after residency at The Music Room, one of the city’s most interesting and prestigious live music venues. A few hours later we met Romario Fernando, the resident soundman, for our first soundcheck and to begin the symbiotic relationship with the engineer who would work alongside us on a nightly basis for the next few months.

I stayed in the warm comfort of that house gig for another two years while Romario left for freelancing and greener pastures, but he and I have remained connected over the last decade. We both became parents around the same time, and as I’ve watched his career evolve, I’ve only had a deepening respect for what he does and how he does it.

Romario is a sound engineer, bass player, father of two, and - as I learned sitting down with him for this chat - a consummate storyteller. It was such a pleasure to reminisce about the good old days in TMR, to find a sympathetic ear for my AV-tech-sound rants, and to hear highlights of some of his most memorable gigs doing sound for legends like Sepultura and Andrea Bocelli.

Most of the people I meet have set up shop in Dubai as adults (like I did), but Romario grew up in Dubai. He remembers when Sheikh Zayed Road truly was a two-lane road, not the 5-a-side super thoroughfare it is today, when half of the neighbourhoods that exist today were nothing but sand dunes, and when the local music scene looked completely unlike it does now. His description of shows ‘back in the day’ completely blew my mind.

He talks about how music (and vitamin D) helped him overcome a period of burnout, the differences in being a sound engineer in studio vs in live venues, how mentorship is interconnected with his vision of entrepreneurship, and how he’s evolved his business to be able to be more hands-on with his kids.

In his own words, Romario says that being behind the mixing desk is the closest you can get to being on stage. His passion for live sound and his determination to make artists sound their best onstage is truly an inspiration.

It’s a friendly takeover! Aston Wylie hosts a very special episode of The Lady J Podcast, interviewing Felix, my husband-slash-guitarist-slash-business partner, and me about our career together over the last two decades.

Felix and I have been together since 2006, running a business and performing more than 2700 shows worldwide, and also, now, being very full-time parents to two small humans.

In this behind-the-scenes episode, we talk about how we got started gigging overseas, our experience travelling in the pre-GPS/pre-Google translate era, and all the times choosing a band name turned out to be trickier than we thought.

We talk about the generous offer that prompted us to write Noise Rises, our album of original music, the beauty in community we discovered live streaming during COVID, the best places we’ve played in Dubai, and what’s next for our career.

Across different countries, and through many permutations of the band, the one constant we have had is each other. Find out how we got here and where we’re headed.

Because, as Aston describes it, we still have “a lot of tread left on the tires”.

In this episode, Chris Santillán, musical director, pianist, and educator, proves how far a formal musical education can take you, if you “know your why”.

Chris has spent his career telling stories through music, on tour and at sea, and he walks us through some of the highlights of his career as MD.

He tells us why he studied to be an ER doctor (and what caused him to change career paths), whether or not “the show must go on” is just something old fogies believe, and how he feels about being part of the bourgeoning music scene in the UAE and educating its next generation of performers.

If you’re considering a career in musical theatre, or looking to study performing arts in UAE, you need to hear what Chris has to say.

In this episode, Timo Higgs, DJ and producer, percussionist, music curator, lyricist, poet, and event organizer, shares how challenging life can be as an entrepreneur in a creative field, when you’re working from home… with your toddler.

Timo’s been working in the music industry for twenty-five years, but since becoming a father two years ago has experienced a seismic shift in how he works.

We talk about what it takes to operate in the entertainment business when your children are little, whether or not it’s possible to truly be off the clock when you work for yourself and work from home, how he feels when he’s asked to prove his DJ’ing skills, and what date is acceptable to start playing Christmas music.

If you're juggling booking yourself for gigs, while performing, while staying active on social media - all with a baby on your hip - you are not alone. We're in it, too.

In this episode, Aston Wylie, singer-guitarist, songwriter, and fellow parent-of-a-small-child shares his conviction that original music belongs everywhere, including at cover gigs.

Aston talks about his journey writing and playing his own music, when being a solo performer becomes a juggling act, how an injury led him to discover an unexpected perk of working with karaoke tracks, and the best part of being a musician parent.

Throughout this conversation, his dedication to making original music - while gigging in the cover-heavy music scene in Dubai - is inspirational.

This episode will definitely have you dusting off your originals and playing them at your next gig ...just like we did.