Who Are We
To start with, check this out. Let's say you were wondering "Hey, I wonder how I could find a Youtube of Dave Rat and Scott the Lampi venture to a Japanese bath house" So you then decide to ask Dave Rat "Dave Rat, where would I find a Youtube of Dave Rat and Scott the Lampi venture to a Japanese bath house?"
"Hmmm," I say, "Funny you should ask that question because I can help with that!, here let me help you"
Ha! Thank you Jon for that! Next in the agenda of notes to share, lets all give a shout out to Greg Cameron for helping with the Rat Message board. I have known Greg since the Black Flag days when he was the drummer for a band called SWA. Oh and also to Erock for his help with Roadiepedia. I really appreciate and am honored by the assists.
Next up, just a snippet of the press releases about the new K1 system
And while we are giving shout outs, I would like to send a huge thank you to all the Rat Coachella crew that made it all happen. This is a huge and complex festival with some real heavyweight bands that need precision on every stage on every day
Coachella
1 Main Stage FOH Roz
2 Main Stage FOH Greg Nelson
3 Main Stage System Scott Sugden
4 Main Stage Mon Derek Van Ord
5 Main Stage Mon George
6 Main Stage Patch Master Mike Arnold
7 Main Stage Patch Matt Fox
8 Main Stage Wedges/Power Tyler Arnold
9 Main Stage Stripper Manny Perez (cable stripper that is)
10 Outdoor Theater Stage FOH Nick Brisbois
11 Outdoor Theater Stage FOH Jamie
12 Outdoor Theater Stage Mon Billy Flores
13 Outdoor Theater Stage Mon Jared
14 Outdoor Theater Stage Crew Chief/Patch Master Jim Jorgenson
15 Outdoor Theater Stage Patch Taka
16 Outdoor Theater Stage Patch Jason
17 Sahara Tent FOH Jim Lockyer
18 Sahara Tent Mon Chris Rymarz
19 Sahara Tent Crew Chief Ronnie
20 Sahara Tent Patch Kyle Rogan
21 Mojave Tent FOH Bryan Worthen
22 Mojave Tent Mon Steve Walsh
23 Mojave Tent Chief Neal
24 Mojave Tent Patch Phil Reynolds
25 Mojave Tent Patch Sara
26 Gobi Tent FOH Andy Turner
27 Gobi Tent Mon Johnny B
28 Gobi Tent Crew Chief LBC
29 Rat Sound Systems Coordinator - All Stages, Jon Monson
30 Festival Audio Consultant - Dave Rat
Once again an all star crew comes to join us. The crew is a collection top engineers, 'A' class techs, key Rat personnel and loaners from other companies that all come together. Truly wonderful to see all our friend for a few weeks in the desert.
Now, I have a bunch of pictures I will try and chew through bit by by before I get distracted or forget. So lets meet the crew!
Nothing like an arm stretch photo series, Meet Andy Turner who rocked the old school Rat Trap system in the Gobi tent. The toughest part about hanging with Andy is trying to stop laughing.
Bryan Worthen AKA Brian Rat Jr. setting up FOH for the Mojave and a Rat from way back.
The legendary DVO patching Main Stage(who also has a you tube video you can check out if you can find it).
If you look carefully you may be able to see Grandpa getting ready for some dancing in the Sahara Tent, though he is well hidden.
Daniella, who heads up Rat Sound Sales department, was working in the main Goldenvoice office.
Jamie is our awesome Rat Shop Manager and y'all know Nick the Fly
Jim, pulling cable. Hey, go see Chad Smith playing with Chikenfoot and say hey to Jim who is doing monitors. Also down below is George, another old school Rat, and the very hard to capture on film Jon Monson, the head of Rat Sound Rentals and ochestrator of all Coachella sound equipment and crew.
Ha! Lee, also known as Happi-Lee who you should recognize. Lee has an amazing ability to blink with a camera flash and have every pic show up with his eyes closed. Though I foiled that by using the red eye reduction setting. I have like 50 pics of closed eye Lee!
Matt Fox, a newer part time Rat that we are honored to have join us.
Neal, our in house Tequila expert.
Taka is awesome, and you should see him with his new mohawk!
Ronnie to the left who comes joins the Rats when not on tour with Bad Religion. It is good to have Ronnie around if you spill something. Rico is one of the newest Rats and helping us in the tout account aquisition area.
We had a Rat dinner with all that could attend right before Stage Coach. The crew Rats we have not met yet today are Scott Sugden is super brain L'Acoustics human and was the key to getting us dialed on the K1. Jared who I ended up having a great time hanging with way to late that eve slurring stories, is back there standing behind Daniella. Steve Walsh a top notch mon eng and super cool is sitting between Jon and Jim. Milk whom has ventured west and just told me the other day he has wanted to join us Rats for years, welcome Milk we are honored to have you! Finally Paul is more concerned with food than the picture but we love him anyway. He came to join us from L'Acoustics as well and we hold him personally responsible for Rat being broke and having this big new toy. Well, we hold Christian Heil responsible as well for designing the magnificent PA beast.
I should have more crew pics and wish I had been more vigilant in capturing everyone. But hey, there is always next time.
I feel kind of bad for not sharing some technical sound nerdery avalanche upon you so how about I cheat and send you to a thread on Pro Sound Web I feel is important reading for those interested in cardioid sub setups.
And with that bye bye for now. Oh, and I am excited to say that in order to keep my mixing skills, happiness and sanity intact, I have taken a short tour with Juliette Lewis and the Romantiques and will be in doing some club and festival gigs in Spain and the UK starting next week. So if your around, come say hello at a rock show!
Dave Rat