Giggs Podcast

Chris Rippy's parents gave him a Canon Rebel T5 for Christmas his freshman year of college. A few years later, he'd left school, moved in with a rising country artist to film his life on the road, and found himself backstage on a Snoop Dogg tour, double-booked to shoot two artists on the same night.
Chris is a Nashville-born creative director, videographer, and photographer who has spent the last several years capturing the touring world from the inside. His work has appeared in CMT and People, and he's traveled the road with artists including Snoop Dogg, Darius Rucker, Chase Matthew, Cole Swindell, and Austin Williams. 
On this episode, he talks with Nikki Sanz about the cold DM that got him hired within 24 hours, the year and a half he spent living and touring with Chase Matthew, and the week he came home from that Snoop Dogg tour and had to call his dad for rent money.
What you'll learn:
How a cold DM to Chase Matthew turned into moving in with him and touring for a year and a half
What separates being a fly-on-the-wall on stage from directing the shot
Why he had to call his dad for rent money after coming home from a Snoop Dogg tour
How getting double-booked for Snoop Dogg's opener turned into shooting Snoop Dogg too
Why he didn't know what a retainer client was until it cost him
How Chris uses AI tools like Higgsfield, Nano Banana Pro, and Seedance to solve problems he can't fix on-site
Why a nine-second video of his own hand became his most-viewed post ever, at 14 million views and counting
Chris Rippy Bio:
Chris Rippy is a Nashville-born creative director, videographer, and photographer who has spent the last several years capturing the touring world from the inside — his work has appeared in CMT and People magazine, and he's traveled the world, on the road with artists including Snoop Dogg, Darius Rucker, Chase Matthew, Cole Swindell, Austin Williams, and more. He also helps other freelance visual creators with different courses and education content on social media.
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.
Find your next Gigg and join the #1 community for the live events 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

In 1972, Ted Cohen talked his way through a crowd of 70,000 people and onto the side of the stage at a Led Zeppelin show in Atlanta. He had no ticket, no pass, and no plan beyond finding the tour manager. By Monday morning, the president of Atlantic Records had offered him a job.
That's the version of the music industry Ted Cohen came up in. He spent the next five decades inside it: artist development at Warner Bros. and Atlantic for Van Halen, Fleetwood Mac, Prince, Talking Heads, The Who, and The Pretenders, then negotiating Warner's digital deals with EMI, iTunes, Napster, and Rhapsody as SVP of Digital Development.
What you'll learn:
How Ted got hired by Atlantic Records’ president before he’d even left the Led Zeppelin stadium
Why he never gave Prince a single note of direction across years working with him
The stunt that had Van Halen roll into record stores in an armored car and a stagecoach
How he snuck Coca-Cola branding into a venue locked into an exclusive Pepsi contract
Why he calls himself a “forgiveness executive, not a permission executive”
What artist development actually did for touring bands, and why the job doesn’t exist anymore
The bar coaster he still puts on the table before every negotiation
Ted Cohen Bio:
Ted Cohen has spent five decades in nearly every corner of the music industry — from artist development at Warner Bros. with Van Halen, Fleetwood Mac, Prince, Talking Heads, The Who, and The Pretenders, to negotiating the label's digital agreements with EMI, iTunes, Napster, and Rhapsody as SVP of Digital Development, to co-creating the Leadership Music Summit. He's made Billboard's Power 100 list three years running, founded TAG Strategic, and now teaches at the University of Tulsa. He's been in more rooms where the industry got built — and rebuilt — than almost anyone still working.
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.
Find your next Gigg and join the #1 community for the live events 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

Accurate Staging has spent 25 years building the structures underneath some of the biggest names in live entertainment — Travis Scott, Ye, Zara Larsson — without most of the audience ever knowing the company's name. 
Founded in 2001 by brothers-in-law Jose Cantu and Freddy Gomez, the company has grown from a single warehouse into facilities across Los Angeles, Nashville, and Atlanta, staffed by sons, grandsons, nephews, and decades-long employees who call each other family too. 
Giggs went behind the scenes at their LA and Nashville shops to see how a company this size builds everything from a viral Chevy commercial to the rolling stage that carried players onto the field for the FIFA World Cup at SoFi Stadium — and even certifies its own crew to build stages at the bottom of a lake.
What you'll learn:
What it takes to launch Travis Scott onstage from a hydraulic "toaster"
Inside the inflatable dome hiding a 32-foot scaffold structure that becomes Kanye West's rotating globe stage
The overnight scramble that built an NBA All-Star basketball court from 250 decks after a single 5 p.m. phone call
The behind-the-scenes story of a viral Chevy commercial build, including a custom track system built to roll five cars into position
Why some crew members are scuba certified, and what it actually takes to build a stage structure underwater
What it took to survive months without pay after opening four months before September 11, 2001 and again during the COVID pandemic
How three generations of one family — including Jose's grandson Adrian — are running the company's next chapter
Featured guests:
Jose Cantu — Co-Founder & COO
Jose started welding stages for another entertainment company at 18 years old in 1986, building the first Mötley Crüe drum riser early in his career. In 2001, he and his brother-in-law Freddy Gomez left steady jobs to start Accurate Staging from a single warehouse — surviving a near-total business wipeout after 9/11 and going on to build for Kanye West, Travis Scott, and a viral Chevy commercial, among hundreds of other projects.
Freddy Gomez — Co-Founder & CEO
Freddy came from construction and design, with earlier experience at Showlites, before partnering with his brother-in-law Jose to start Accurate Staging in 2001. He worked every role in the company's early years — designer, fabricator, installer — through 20- and 30-hour days, and has helped grow the company from a single flatbed truck's worth of gear to a multi-city operation.
Adrian Wexler — Project Manager & Executive Assistant
Jose's grandson, Adrian grew up in the company's warehouses and has worked his way from painting decks and washing truss as a kid to leading Accurate Staging's operational modernization — including introducing Slack-based systems for job communication and site updates.
Herman McDonough — Operations Manager & Crew Chief
Herman has spent over 20 years in the live events industry, starting out building props for Las Vegas magicians before moving into staging. As crew chief, he oversees inventory, crew staffing, and job prep across Accurate Staging's LA warehouse.
Johnny Cantu — Sales Rep
Jose's eldest son, Johnny has been around the family business most of his life and has worked professionally at Accurate Staging for over 15 years, handling client relationships across touring, corporate, and festival work.
Mike Munoz — Sales Rep
Mike, a member of the Cantu family, has spent 16 years at Accurate Staging and leads major touring accounts, including work with Kanye West and Travis Scott, out of the company's Nashville facility.
Joe Castellanos — Sales Rep
Joe has spent 16 years at Accurate Staging, starting out cold-calling from a client binder before building a career in sales and project management. He still gets in the field with the install crew on jobs.
Jake Lacher — Lead Project Manager & Technical Designer
Based in Nashville, Jake came from a background in technical theater direction before joining Accurate Staging, where he now leads custom design and CAD work for touring clients including The Red Clay Strays and Zara Larsson.
Find your next Gigg and join the #1 community for the live events 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

On this edition of Ask Giggs, Nikki Sanz answers questions straight from the Giggs community on topics like when trying to look competent on a job site becomes the problem, how to know when to step in as a leader versus letting someone figure it out, and when to say yes or no to a gig.
What you'll learn:
Why pretending to know what's going on is the fastest way to look like "a big dummy" on a job site
The line between stepping in as a leader and letting someone learn it the hard way
Why the catering gig Nikki didn't want to take ended up leading to the gig that changed her career
Why asking someone how they take feedback matters more than the feedback itself
What actually makes a crew member irreplaceable
Why one bad moment doesn't have to define your reputation, and where the real line is
Find your next Gigg and join the #1 community for the live events 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

Adam Wells has spent nine years inside Ed Sheeran's touring operation, working his way from PA tech to audio systems engineer, the role responsible for the entire technical backbone of one of the most complex stadium shows on earth. He was offered the job twice before he finally said yes, then stepped into it for the first time in front of a quarter of a million people at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Along the way he's worked on productions for Bryan Adams, Tom Jones, Queen & Adam Lambert, Russell Brand, Tim Minchin, and the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Adam sits down with Nikki to talk about coming up through South Wales' concert sound scene, losing his first freelance tour overnight before it even started, and what it actually takes to run audio for an artist who refuses to use a backing track or a click track anywhere in the show.
What you'll learn:
Why Adam turned down the top audio job on Ed Sheeran's tour twice before finally saying yes
What happened when his first freelance tour fell through nine months out, and how he rebuilt from zero
Why Ed Sheeran's show has never used a backing track or a click track, and what that actually costs the audio team
How growing up around South Wales' concert sound scene shaped the way he works
What it felt like to run audio for a quarter of a million people over two nights in Melbourne for the first time
Why humidity, elevation, and an empty stadium change how a show actually sounds
The one piece of advice Adam gives every young engineer starting out
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.

Adam Wells Bio:
Adam Wells is an audio system engineer who has spent nine years with Ed Sheeran — working his way from PA tech all the way to the top technical role on one of the most complex and distinctive stadium productions in the world. He grew up in South Wales and got his start at a production company called Sonalyst.
Adam has a vast array of experience not only in concert touring but in large scale theatre production, broadcast, festivals, and television. In addition to Ed Sheeran, he’s worked with Bryan Adams, Tom Jones, Queen & Adam Lambert, Russell Brand, Tim Minchin, Strictly Come Dancing UK, and the Tokyo Olympic Games to name a few.
Find your next Gigg and join the #1 community for the live events 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