Today we’d like to introduce you to Russell Reinhart.
Hi Russell, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I started off making music in high school. I thought I would be the next super producer, I studied music and how certain producers and composers created their own sound or innovation within music. Originally I used free online programs but going into college I got myself a laptop and Logic 9 (a DAW or Digital Audio Workstation which is what you record and compose music on).
I continued to make music for years and worked with a number of artists, a lot of which are still doing stuff today. While in college I bounced between a few different majors, like many others I did not know what I wanted to do. While I was at UH, I majored in creative writing until I took a class on an author named John Milton. John Milton re-wrote the bible in a poetic form but it was super confusing. He would change narrators in the middle of a sentence and you had to figure out who was talking. I dropped that class within two weeks and decided to change my major again. The only thing I enjoyed at that time was making music and even tried to start a label with a couple of friends. I figured if that was all I enjoyed, then I needed to find out what all the avenues are of turning music and sound into a career. I’d rather do something I love than chase paper and be unhappy. I tried to go to the radio and broadcast station at UH to get an internship but they told me they only brought on Jrs and Seniors and I was a Sophomore at the time. Luckily for me, my mom got an interview at KTSU 90.9 about her lactation consultant business and asked me to go with her. After the interview at the radio station, I asked about internship opportunities in production and audio. I met with a wonderful woman named Donna Franklin and she pushed for me to transfer to Texas Southern University and brought me on for production at the station. She even helped me get a scholarship when I made the transfer.
I transferred to TSU and majored in Radio Television and Film. While studying, I did every aspect of audio you can think of. I recorded drops and promo for the radio station, I studied studio recording audio, I ran audio for television and film, and I even started a podcast I do to this day called Comic Cave Podcast and ran the audio for that. While trying to learn every aspect I could, I was still producing and making music for other artists. One of which worked at the House of Blues and live audio was an avenue I did not even consider up to that point. I bugged him for a job and while he could not get me into production, he did get me on as security. Worked for me, I just wanted to be around other creatives and like-minded individuals.
While working at HoB, I was producing an album with another artist that at the time went by Bravo and helped her get a job at HoB as well. We got her on a couple of local shows which did not go well. We saw how local shows were ran and how most of the time they were pay to play and just very cutthroat not great environments to be in. After doing a couple of local shows and having worked on professional shows at HoB, we decided we could do it better. So we created an event company called Evolversi and started throwing our own shows with the goal in mind to get rid of pay-to-play. I continued to work for House of Blues as well as other event companies and gained as much experience as I could. Eventually, I worked my way into production, ran live sound, became a stage manager and then eventually the production coordinator. I fell in love with live events. With Evolversi we produced many events ranging from concerts, to comedy shows, to fashion shows and festivals. We ran that for a few years up until Covid.
Before Covid, I started another company called Flight Concerts which focused on tours. Today I still work with Flight Concerts producing events in other cities as well as here in Houston. I also had the amazing opportunity to help open a venue called Free Gallant and run the production and booking company for it called HIEV. HIEV stands for Highly Immersive Event Venue and we focus on projection mapping for our events. I also still help out Livenation and have partnered with many other event curators to produce events of all sizes from small and intimate to large-scale festivals. My podcast Comic Cave has even grown and we have partnered with Comicpalooza several times to host panels and interviews for them and we are currently working on our own convention called Space City Geek Fest which will be all about music and comics and will be held at Raven Tower February 18th, 2023.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The journey is never smooth. There are always obstacles and those obstacles make you appreciate the good times. I don’t feel I can go in to great detail of some of the challenges but I can list a few.
Not everyone shares the same vision as you and you have to be very careful about who you work with and bring into the fold. This honestly has made me very cautious on who I work with now. I have bumped heads with larger and more established companies than my own which normally leads me to change the way I handle business going forward. I always have contracts but even then, sometimes things go south.
One instance I can give a little detail on is I helped another company put together a festival a few years back. This company wanted to charge artists to perform. As I mentioned before I do not do pay-to-play. When I addressed that with the other owner, we got into a big spat about it. I told him we did not have to help with this event if this is what he wanted to do and his final words were, “just get me artists.” I clarified to make sure we were on the same page that that meant I was not going to charge artists and he repeated the same line, “just get me artists.” So I did. Festival day came around, money was made, but then he asked me for more and said I needed to collect payment from artists. I told him that isn’t what we agreed on and things got heated really fast. It was a very uncomfortable situation to be in, he had many of his people around and it was just me and my partner talking to 4 or 5 other guys. Very big guys. Guys you do not really want to mess with. Luckily we walked away from that and that just made us move in a different way going forward. Contracts set aside, some people you just don’t want to work with and regardless of if you will make money you need to know when to cut it off.
That is just one difficult situation. I have been shot at by artists who were gang members and who got into it with another gang because the promoter of the event did not check the background of two of the opening acts on the tour to find out they were in opposing sets. I have had to search for bombs myself, like I know what a bomb looks like. I have had to jump in and help pull colleagues and friends out of getting jumped. I have had to pull underage girls out of dressing rooms and get them out of bad situations, and I have delt with business owners who just care about money and handled business all wrong.
There were also times when I made mistakes myself, not understanding what questions to ask ahead of time when booking venues, artists or sponsors. You have to learn from mistakes, keep going, and don’t make the same mistake twice.
The main thing I have learned in my 6 years of working with live events is, do not cut corners, have agreements signed, learn when to cut people off if you have to, treat people with respect and share knowledge. I have had some rough times but I have had many more great times. When you help others, they tend to help you back. There are a lot of really good people in the live entertainment industry.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
There are two entities I am very much focused on.
FLIGHT CONCERTS
Flight Concerts started as a touring company. I originally put on shows in Houston, Austin and Dallas. Now I have helped set up shows in NOLA, NY, LA, ATL and more. We organize concerts, tours, festivals, and help other artists and brands curate their own events and tours. We are mostly a booking company so focusing on booking artists and venues however we do help with event production, box office, marketing/promotion, and sponsorships as needed as well. I also am the booking agent for a couple of artists through this company, Dende and Jono Jono.
We do not do pay-to-play. In fact, I always have at least some way to compensate artists and other participants for their time. Whether it be a flat rate or guarantee or some kind of compensation on the back end. There are many other great promoters and event curators out there and I do not want to take anything away from them but Flight is one of the most up-front companies to work with and we are your one-stop shop for all things related to live events. We will work for you to create the best event possible to push your brand forward and stay within budget.
I am very proud to say we have partnered with many brands and artists and have curated so many great events. Currently, we are working on more so stay tuned and if you are looking to put on your own event and do not know how, give us a shout.
COMIC CAVE PODCAST
Comic Cave is a podcast that focuses on businesses and artists. We interview comic shop owners, toy shop owners and artists who have been influenced by comics or geek culture and talk about how they turned their passion into a business that works for them. We also have some fun topics like covering the Dragon Ball Super manga and fun convos like the morality and ethics of superheroes. The past two years, we have partnered with Super Happy Incredible Toys and Comicpalooza to host panels at each of their festivals and conventions. If you are in to comics, toys, anime, or all things geek, check out the podcast on Youtube, where we drop episodes first and then Spotify and iTunes later. If you are a toy, comic or geek culture shop owner or an artist that is influenced by comics, reach out to hop on the show!
Both Comic Cave and Flight are teaming up with Raven Tower, Caring With Comics, Super Happy Incredible Toys and more to bring you Space City Geek Fest which is a festival that highlights the influence comics and music have on each other. There will be toy, comic, and pop culture vendors, music performances, panels and more. If you want to support either one, be on the lookout for more announcements from that coming soon.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
Covid definitely threw a wrench in things. I had to learn to adapt. There was a short period of time where I was not sure if events were coming back at all and that is my entire work experience from college and on. The main thing I learned is you have to adapt. Events, in general, have changed a lot since then. Not just from a crowd perspective but the back end as well. Shows that you expect to do well are not selling as great. Tours that would normally cancel are pushing through with low numbers just to make things work.
You have to find other ways to make events work in these situations. Whether it be doing virtual events, scaling down the size of your plans, or just covering all bases you can when it comes to health regulations. Don’t stop but be as prepared as you possibly can.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flightconcerts/ & https://www.instagram.com/comiccavepodcast/ & https://www.instagram.com/spacecitygeekfest/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FlightConcerts/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9A2V_vd18ASlQ6-jQanFRg
Image Credits
Russell Reinhart
@MindtoFrame
@bensiive
@cassidyboi
