Giggs Podcast

Most entertainer coach drivers will tell you that you need to know somebody to get into this world. Keith Heyward didn't know anybody. After 30 years driving trucks and charter buses, and five years running his own charter company through a pandemic, he shut it all down, cold-called his way into the touring industry, and within a month of his first co-drive was the lead driver on Jordan Davis's tour, behind the wheel of the star car for Celebrity Coaches.
Nikki Sanz sits down with him to talk about how he broke in with no connections, the difference between hauling freight and hauling people, what changes when the artist is on your bus, and the homework that separates good drivers from everyone else. He also documents life on the road for his YouTube channel, and he pulled up to the studio in the bus.
What you'll learn:
Why he says the biggest difference between trucking and buses is that the freight doesn't talk back
How a drummer at his church, a weekly check-in call, and one email got him to an orientation in Nashville
What a co-drive is, how DOT hours shape a tour's routing, and why it's a smart way in
How he went from driving the crew bus to lead driver about a month into his first tour
The rumble strips, low bridges, and Boston on-ramps that keep entertainer drivers up at night
Getting held at the Canadian border for hours, and the time an officer asked, "Is there a Jordan Davis on the bus?"
How Neville Shende's early videos taught him that there's another level of driving smooth
Why being a team player and staying normal around famous people matters as much as how you drive
Keith Heyward Bio:
Keith spent years in trucking and passenger bus operations, eventually building and running his own charter bus company before shutting it down and pivoting into the entertainer coach world in early 2024. Within a month of his first co-drive, he was behind the wheel of Jordan Davis's star car for Celebrity Coaches, a role he's held ever since. He also runs the YouTube channel Keith on Demand, where he documents life on the road as an entertainer driver. Born in Savannah, Georgia, and raised in Evanston, Illinois, he's now based in Portage, Indiana.
Follow Keith on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Highwaypitmaster
Sponsored by ACM:
This episode is brought to you by the Academy of Country Music. For more than 60 years, the ACM has championed the artists, creators, and industry professionals who make country music what it is today. Become an ACM Member and apply or renew by December 31 to vote in the 62nd Academy of Country Music Awards. Learn more at https://www.acmcountry.com
Join the #1 community and career platform for the live event industry: https://www.giggs.live/

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Youtube: https://youtube.com/@giggs-live
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Host: Nikki Sanz

After Ozzy Osbourne was kicked out of Black Sabbath, he moved into a West Hollywood hotel called Le Parc. To this day, people book rooms and ask for "Ozzy's old room." 
Barry Podob has spent nearly 25 years booking the music and entertainment business there, hosting artists and crews for everyone from the Rolling Stones to 5 Seconds of Summer, and he never planned on working in hotels at all.
Nikki Sanz sits down with him to talk about why the biggest tours trust a 154-room, all-suite hotel over the big brands, how he earns the trust of people who get recognized everywhere they go, and the philosophy behind it all: protect the guest, not the hotel.
What you'll learn:
How a career detour after 9/11 took him from a New York ad agency into hotel sales with zero experience, and from 35% to 85% occupancy in his first year
The "Who's Booking Who" list of 400 bands that built Le Parc's entertainment business
Why he Googles every name on the rooming list and writes a "group resume" for every tour that checks in
Why bus drivers get the best room in the house
The morning more than 100 fans showed up outside the hotel for 5 Seconds of Summer, and how he handled it
Barry Podob Bio:
For nearly 25 years, Barry has booked entertainment groups at Le Parc Suite Hotel and the other West Hollywood hotels in the Springboard Hospitality collection, including Le Montrose, The Chamberlain, and Hotel Ziggy. He works in Area Sales for Music and Entertainment and is a 10-time Top Dog Award winner who has hosted artists and crews across rock, pop, hip hop, country, and more. A New York native who was at Woodstock in 1969, he has lived in Los Angeles for 30 years, calls himself a country music freak, and has written three novels, including The Azure Lady, plus eight cookbooks.
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

What does a production manager and front of house engineer do on show day? The Giggs team spent a full day with Jacob "Trunz" Trunzo on NEEDTOBREATHE's Long Surrender Tour at FirstBank Amphitheater in Franklin, Tennessee, following him from morning load-in to doors.
Along the way, Nikki Sanz meets the crew behind the show, from rigging and lighting to the PA and the tour bus, and sees how a touring production handles a tight stage, a hot day, and a front of house console that fails hours before showtime.
For the best experience, make sure you listen to this one with video on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube.
What you'll learn:
What a production manager handles on show day, and how one person runs production and mixes front of house on the same tour
How touring rigs work, including bridles, trim heights, and why the rig changes from venue to venue
How a systems engineer tunes a PA so the mix sounds the same in every seat
Why NEEDTOBREATHE's front of house mix leans on analog character and low latency
How a lighting designer runs a show with no video and every cue fired by hand
What happens during line check, and how the crew swapped a console before doors
What life on the road looks like for a tour bus driver
Featured Guests:
Jacob "Trunz" Trunzo, Production Manager & Front of House Engineer
Johnathan Rickard, Lighting Designer & Director
Dalton Brandt, Head Rigger
Zach Johnson, Systems Engineer
Greg Tribble, Bus Driver
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

Tyler Cain's first paid music job was at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, dressed like Pinocchio, playing the chicken dance next to an 87-year-old oompah singer for $12 an hour. The real assignment: catch the singer when he fell down the stage steps. Years later, Tyler came back to the same park to play the amphitheater with Colbie Caillat.
In between came two decades on the road and in the studio with Darius Rucker, Shaboozey, Gavin DeGraw, Big & Rich, Billy Currington, James Otto, and Ashley Monroe, plus Bold Music Group, the experiential music company he built with his wife, Meghan Linsey. It's also where Nikki got her first job in Nashville, after Tyler and Meghan watched her outwork a room full of CMA Fest interns.
Tyler and Nikki get into the indie label that collapsed under an FBI investigation when he was 21, the vacant studio that became his first production credit, the 3-year-old in Arkansas who asked if his band were clowns, and why he's recording on tape with no click track now that AI makes perfect easy.
What you'll learn:
Why the FBI questioned him in an apartment with no furniture, and how that label's collapse put him on a radio tour with Ashley Monroe the next day
How an empty studio at Wrensong and an engineer friend's borrowed gear became his first production job, a six-song EP for Ashley Monroe
What it looked like to watch "Just Got Started Lovin' You" take James Otto from empty rooms to sold-out shows in a couple of weeks
The filters that shrink the pool of working musicians: talent, then showing up on time, then showing up prepared, then being someone people want around
Why every tour he's had came from a friend's call except one
How Bold Music Group started as a way to cover studio rent with four shows a week
The Planet Fitness trick he uses on tour, and how he handles the post-show comedown
Featured Guest:
Tyler Cain is a Nashville-based artist, producer, musician, and entrepreneur who's worked in the studio and on the road with artists including Darius Rucker, Shaboozey, Gavin DeGraw, Colbie Caillat, Big & Rich, Billy Currington, Chingy, Aloe Blacc, and Shaggy. As an artist, his own music has racked up millions of streams, and as an entrepreneur, he co-founded Bold Music Group, one of Nashville's go-to spots for high-end, immersive music experiences. His latest release is Generations, an instrumental EP from Tyler y Zoro, his project with legendary drummer Zoro.
Follow Tyler Cain:
Website: https://tylertheproducer.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisistylercain/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7xmVA0jnh2yjM3S642J1Bd
Tyler y Zoro, Generations EP: https://open.spotify.com/album/60GPHSvKkXvNvqpZtmdqyD
Sponsor:
MOC is looking for new volunteers to help share the joys of live music. Volunteer Guides are the friendly faces who host the programs as volunteer musicians perform hopeful songs to put a smile on the faces of hospital patients, families, and caregivers. To learn more about becoming a Musicians On Call volunteer, visit https://www.musiciansoncall.org.
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

We're rewinding it back this week with a favorite episode from last year...
Ryan Whelpley is a Touring Director at Red Light Management with over 20 years of experience in live production. He started out mixing front of house at Nashville's Wildhorse Saloon, then hit the road full-time tour managing the Gin Blossoms. For The Lost Trailers, he did it all: tour manager, front of house, production manager, merch, van driver. He ran pre-show carpentry and automation for Tim McGraw, then spent nearly seven years as Kip Moore's tour manager. These days, Ryan oversees budgets, vendors, staffing, advancing, and routing for a roster of artists at Red Light: anything and everything touring runs through him.
What you'll learn:
Why he budgets roughly $1,250 to $1,500 a day per truck, and $2,000 to $3,000 a day for a tour bus, when building a preliminary budget
The Winnipeg scramble: a commercial flight delay, a police escort, and getting the band on stage with 15 minutes to spare
Why he'd rather sell out a 900-seat room for three nights than fill 80 percent of a 3,000-seat room once
How six days a week mixing front of house at Nashville's Wildhorse Saloon became the foundation for everything that came after
His rule for handling a crew member who quits or gets let go mid-tour, and why doing business properly matters more than convenience
Why he thinks of his job as being a chameleon, adapting to each artist camp's spirit instead of bringing his own energy to it
Sponsor:
MOC is looking for new volunteers to help share the joys of live music. Volunteer Guides are the friendly faces who host the programs as volunteer musicians perform hopeful songs to put a smile on the faces of hospital patients, families, and caregivers. To learn more about becoming a Musicians On Call volunteer, visit https://www.musiciansoncall.org.
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