Everyone welcome to the bus Vinny Mauro - the drummer for Motionless In White. Lovely to hear his progression as a drummer throughout the past ten years. I originally met Vinny on the road 8 years ago - catch him on The Trinity of Terror tour right now. LAN party sometime soon? In this episode of the Don’t Shit On The Bus podcast we will learn: • How Vinny’s first tour ever was with Motionless in White • The evolution of Motionless and White’s careers from supporting acts to headlining...

Matt Halpern is the Drummer of Periphery and one of the creators behind Get Good Drums. I love how balanced and intentional he is with his life and it was a pleasure to learn from him for an hour. Congrats on creating a human with your life, I look forward to experiencing the joys of life you are experiencing right now. See you in real life soon!   In this episode of the Don’t Shit On The Bus podcast we will learn: • How Matt found a balance between the touring world and family life •...

Everyone welcome the wonderful team behind your favorite party - Emo Nite. If you haven’t been to Emo Nite yet, I highly recommend it. Morgan & T.J. put their passion and lives into this project and it shows. Was a pleasure to talk with them on how they started working together, became friends and what their future goals are for Emo Nite. If you are going to Coachella make sure to catch their set. Otherwise chances are - Emo Nite is in a city near you sometime soon. I look forward to the...

This week we have the amazing Jason Richardson on the podcast. Jason joined his first touring band while he was still in high school. He started off with All Shall Perish, then joined Born Of Osiris, next Chelsea Grin - and most recently has joined All That Remains. Jason also has an insane solo career - make sure you check him out on youtube. What I really like about Jason is how good he is at guitar. The man has turned his job into a science. I respect that, and admire his work ethic. Thank...

This week we welcome Paris Visone, an amazing Music Photographer and solid friend. Paris has created her career out of working with artists - not for them. Which I think is an important distinction to make. When you tour with someone, your work as a photographer is a reflection of your relationship with that artist. Arguably even more important - that artist’s relationship with you. Paris has been touring for over 10 years and during those years has created some very unique work with artists...

This week we have Bing, Manager at Fly South Music Group. I wanted to know more about what the journey to being a manager was like. I usually just end up working with managers. I don’t always know how they acquired their career. Luckily Bing was nice enough to sit down with me and teach me how he did it. I hope that others can find this information useful in their journey. In this episode of the Don’t Shit On The Bus podcast we will learn: • How Bing went from working on Warped Tour to...

This week we have the wonderful Amanda Phelan on the bus! Amanda comes to us from Danny Wimmer Presents - where she is the Director of Talent. Lately I have been noticing a lot of misinformation out there on what actually goes into making a festival happen. Now I do not know what it takes to put on a festival - because I have never done it. Danny Wimmer Presents puts on eight different festivals all over the USA every year. Aftershock, Louder Than Life & Hometown Rising to name a few. I...

This week we welcome Lucas Keller - the CEO & Founder of Milk & Honey. Milk & Honey is a 21st-century hybrid entertainment company that represents some of the biggest songwriters & producers in the music industry today. David Hodges, Oak Felder, Sir Nolan, and Jenna Andrews to name a few. Lucas played a big role in my career when I was just starting out - and I am thankful for what I was able to learn from him. It is nice to reconnect, and start learning from him again. The...

This week we have the legend Eric Gardner on the podcast. Eric has been working in the industry for over 50 years now. He is the CEO & Founder at Panacea Entertainment and currently manages Paul Shaffer & Todd Rundgren. His career and life are full of amazing stories and I am so happy to have him on to share a few with us today. In the future hopefully we can get him back to tell us more stories.   In this episode of the Don’t Shit On The Bus podcast we will learn: • How Eric went...

This week we have Chris Gaylord, the bassist for Wage War on the podcast. I haven’t seen Chris in almost three years now but damn was it good to catch up with him. Chris’ band has been touring their asses off for almost ten years now. This most recent tour was their first in a tour bus and I know that feeling all too well. Congrats guys, what a time to be alive.  If you haven’t had a chance to check out Wage War - put on their Spotify, clear all the breakable objects from your vicinity, and...

This week we have Kelen Capener of The Story So Far on the podcast. Kelen is a kind human I respect and admire. He makes jokes that are so believable they often go over my head and you will witness this multiple times throughout the podcast. I was happy to catch up with him because well, we haven't spoken in a long time. It was nice to catch up on what he has been up to in life as well as revisit some memories we have together. This was a great chat, thank you Kelen In this episode of the...

This week we have my good friend Daniel Nickleski on the podcast. Daniel owns and operates Sound Works out of Illinois and currently tours with Kygo. Daniel and I set off with the intention to talk about how COVID has affected the music industry - and we did do that, a little bit. But to be honest we mostly got lost in the sauce and just started talking about touring in general and tossed in some COVID here and there - and eventually dug up some embarrassing tour stories. All in all I think...

This week we have the wonderful Lindsey McLemore on the podcast to talk about street teams. Street teams were much more popular back in the early 2000’s - however, they do still exist today in a more refined form. Lindsey is a marketing manager at The Syndicate and works with them closely to help bring labels, bands, managers’ marketing dreams to life. They have done some remarkable projects with artists such as Panic! At The Disco and LCD Soundsystem. We think street teams are a great way...

Starting 2022 off with a banger! So happy to have the legend that is Johnny Minardi on the podcast. Johnny is the VP of A&R at Elektra records and one of the most inspiring people I have had the pleasure of speaking with. Through consistently finding the right path Johnny has created a well-rounded and balanced life with a great support network. This setup allows him to crush goals, inspire his peers, and teach the next generation on the way. I think we can all agree this is definitely...

This week we are trying something new - and if you like it, let us know and we will do more of it! I invited a few of my friends to the show to tell some of their favorite tour stories. Thank you so much to you all for joining me. If you are an experienced touring person - hit me up and we will get you on the next episode of Tour Tales, or whatever we end up calling this series. Happy holidays to everyone! See you next year!   In this episode of the Don’t Shit On The Bus podcast we will...

This week we welcome Katie Robinson the VP of Marketing at Electra Music Group to the podcast! Katie started her journey in the industry over 15 years ago. She has slowly climbed her way to the top and is very knowledgeable on how labels of all levels operate. In this episode she breakdowns everything we need to understand before we can go any deeper on learning about labels. I’m excited to continue our journey into understanding the different areas of the music industry and Think this...

This week we are joined by Melissa Hemingway of Fly South Music Group. Melissa is the Merch Director at Fly South. She started out in Illinois going to college and then moved to Florida to work for Fueled By Ramen right around the time of its conception. I like Melissa’s journey because it does not involve touring - which has been the minority case for us on the podcast. I think I am most impressed by how different areas of the industry collaborate and work with the artists themselves. To me,...

This week we have Entertainment Lawyer Eric German on the show. Eric is a good example of how we are all really just fans. He loved music as a kid and found a way to make a career in it. Something that really stuck out to me about Eric is how involved he is with his clients on a daily basis. He puts his relationships before everything, and it really shows. I enjoyed his outlook on how to do business and maintain your focus. Thanks again for joining me eric. In this episode of the Don’t Shit...

This week we have the legendary Dave Shapiro on the podcast! Dave is most well known for his relentless work ethic as a booking agent that has led to the success of countless bands. When it comes to being a booking agent - Dave is one of the best to learn from. After climbing his way to the top at The Agency Group - Dave started his own company called Sound Talent Group based out of his San Diego airport hangar. Fast forward a few years and he is running stronger than ever. His agency...

This week we welcome long-time friend and amazing music manager Mike Mowery to the podcast.  Mike Mowery has managed a variety of different artists over his career, however these days he spends the majority of his time working with Ice Nine Kills. Mike is very well-spoken… wait a manager, well-spoken? No way! But really, I was very impressed with everything he had to say. Very concise, straight to the point - and honest. I love how deeply he has thought about all the topics we discussed and I...

This week we are doing something a little bit different. We are discussing a current event. Please welcome back Sully Sullivan from Episode 28. Sully was nice enough to sit down and explain to me what happened at Travis Scott's Astroworld fest. I had been seeing a lot of information floating around online and I wanted some solid answers from someone who was well informed on what goes into putting on a festival. Our goal is to not point any fingers, and place any blame on any one party. But...

This week we have the amazing Brittanie to talk about being a Tour Promoter. We have talked about so many jobs that exist on tour - but there is a whole other group of jobs that make it possible to even have a tour. A Tour Promoter is one of those jobs. It is also a job I thought I knew a lot about, but in fact I didn’t know much about. Their job is very important when it comes to booking a tour, selecting venues - and then of course, promoting the tour! I took this opportunity to ask...

This week we have arguably one of the most important touring jobs on the show - the Bus Driver. Everyone meet Moose - your new favorite bus driver. Moose has spent the last 20 years of his life touring, a good portion of it - driving. However, what I really liked about Moose is that he slowly worked his way up to becoming a bus driver. A lot of drivers are lifers - they have been doing it their whole life and it is all they know. There is nothing wrong with that - in fact, I think it’s quite...

Everyone welcome the awesome Danny Kurily to the podcast! Like most guests, Danny is a good friend - but even more importantly, a true badass. I have always admired how Danny has navigated the music industry and his life in general. It was a true pleasure to sit down and learn from him. We toured together with All Time Low a few times about 10 years ago, and the next thing I know he is living in LA as a personal assistant. Fast forward a few years he is running VIP for Demi Lovato. I could...

This week we have Brooke on the podcast! I got to hang out with Brooke a few weeks ago at a wedding and the whole time I was just thinking - I need to know more about what she does for a living. We met once before, but never really got the time to sit down and know her - now I have! Brooke is a stylist that has worked with Demi Lovato, SIA, and St. Vincent to name a few. I never realized what a big role a stylist plays in someone's look. After the fact, it kind of seemed like a no-brainer,...