“T-Boy”

The concluding part of our interview with Todd Confessore, the production manager, and at times tour manager. Here, Todd explains more about his roll with the band, along with some interesting stories along the way.

You’ve probably had some interesting offers from people or incidents where they are wanting to get passes, meet the band, etc. Any in particular?

I have had many interesting offers as far as that subject goes. People offer all type of things; they tell all sorts of stories. One of my favorite stories is from the Awake tour. We were in Portland, OR at a place called The Roseland Theater. At around 1:00 in the afternoon, I saw a boy standing outside by the buses in the rain holding up a sign that read “Portnoy Rules!” I went to him and his father (who was waiting with him), and explained to them that the band was not on the bus, they would be here later and to get out of the rain before they catch their deaths in the rain. The boy’s father explained to me that he was a huge DT and Mike Portnoy fan, a drummer, and he took him out of school for the day in hopes of meeting his hero, Mike Portnoy. I said I would see what I could do for them and gave them two passes to the band’s after show meet-n-greet. When the band arrived for soundcheck, I told Mike about the boy and his father. He told me “go get them”. I brought them both into the venue. Mike introduced himself to them both, brought the boy onstage, introduced him to the rest of the band, showed him his drum set, let him play on it and had them both stay to watch soundcheck. They watched the show from the mixing board, and after the show at the meet-n-greet, Mike gave the boy an autographed drumhead and chatted with him for quite some time.

This is one of my favorite stories in my time working for DT. When I was growing up going to concerts, there was pretty much no chance of meeting the band. That boy had a great time that day and I was able to be a part of it. It’s things like that that make doing this worthwhile.

What generally creates your biggest headache?

If I had to break it down to one thing, I would have to say people that do not take their job seriously. From not paying attention to details in the paperwork, to security people not reading pass sheets correctly. Having to do things over and over due to others not doing things properly the first time causes me the most headaches.

Have there ever been any major incidents or problems in the past?

Outside of the earthquake in Japan, not any I can recall in my time with the band. We were stuck in the bus on the top of a mountain-pass for 36 hours once. I am happy to say things run very smoothly when we are out there.

What other bands do you work with?

I work for many different bands. I just moved the band from their rehearsal studio to the recording studio and have been busy getting them situated in there. I was just out with Stone Temple Pilots. I have worked for Kiss, Mariah Carey, Alice Cooper, Savatage, Fight, Carly Simon, Prong, T.M. Stevens, Deborah Gibson, Widowmaker, Danger Danger, Exodus, Open Skyz and T.S.O. just to name a few. I like to continue working for as many bands as possible, although it’s tough because sometimes more than one of the bands I work for are working at the same time.

I do a number of different jobs depending on whom it is I am working with. For example: with S.T.P., Mariah Carey and Carly Simon, I am the drum and percussion tech. For T.M. Stevens and others, I am the tour manager. With Alice Cooper, I was the guitar and keyboard tech. Most of what I do is production management though.

Knowing the ins and outs of these other jobs help me be better at my production duties. I know what my crew will need time-wise, equipment-wise and so on. It helps to know as much as possible about all that goes on around you.

To give an example of how much work can be had knowing more than one specific job, this has been my schedule since the “Fix for ‘96” mini-tour: through Dec. 18th – DT, Dec. 26 - Jan. 4 – Alice Cooper, Jan. 18 - Mar. 30 – T.M. Stevens, Apr. 1-5 – Deborah Gibson, Apr. 6 - May 26 – S.T.P., June 1 - present – Dream Theater’s new record.

This can also be tied into your question about this being a very glamorous way of life. If you count the days I have been home since Christmas, you will see it is not many. Which is okay if it is what you like to do, but if you have a family, it can be very stressful.

Any facets of the job that may be a surprise to people?

A surprise? Hmmmm...let’s see... that it takes a large number of people a lot of time and effort to make the show happen every night.

What’s the biggest plus in this job? What makes your day and it all worthwhile?

That’s easy...biggest plus: working with great people to make a great show happen. What makes my day and it all worthwhile? The moment when the lights come up, the band hits the stage without any problems and you hear the roar of the crowd.

Honesty time! Dish the dirt on these guys. Who’s the most difficult one amongst them? Who causes you the most grief?

Honestly...none of them are difficult in my eyes at all. They know what they want, how they want it and they are at a position in their careers where they are employing a staff of people to give them what they want, and that is it. Plain and simple.

And finally, the inevitable question: where did the ‘T-Boy’ tag come from?

The T-Boy tag came from a band I used to work for.

That’s about it. Feel free to inject anything else that you feel would be of added interest, and thanks again for your time and help.

I appreciate the fact that the fans are interested enough about my position with the band for you to ask these questions. I hope people get another outlook from my answers. I want to say that none of what gets accomplished out on the road with this band happens without the extraordinary efforts and talents of the members of our road crew past and present: Bill Barclay, Vincent Kowalski, Mark Snyder, Jose Baraquio, Lindsay Vannoy, Jim Flood, Michael Buffa, Steve Baird, Jim Poepping and Jorge Varandas, who deal with my sometimes military-like intensity every day. I also want to thank Rob Shore and everyone in the office for their constant care. Of course, none of what we get done would be possible without the monumental talents of the 5 gentlemen that are Dream Theater. In my 10+ years of working in this business, rarely have I encountered a band with such commitment to their craft. They are consummate professionals and will always have my loyalty and respect.

Thank you for taking the time,

Todd L. Confessore