Rob Koenig
Credit: Brett Murray
Lighting Programmer/Designer
Metallica / Guns N’ Roses
CHANGEOVER: Tell us a bit about who you are and what you do in the music industry.
Rob Koenig: I am a lighting programmer and designer. I started in 1996 in Florida. My nine to five job, as I call it, is I’m the lighting designer/director for Metallica. I am also the programmer/director for Guns N’ Roses, programmer for Eric Church, Carrie Underwood, and Cardi Bi. I’m also starting my foray into doing some TV lighting as well.
How did you work your way into the industry?
I fell completely backwards into it. I was a drummer and had bands and nothing ever really happened. In ‘95, I started doing some stagehand stuff with some friends of mine that owned a sound and light company. They would do shows and I would just push boxes and be a stagehand. Then their lighting guy was moving on to bigger and better things and they asked if I wanted to try lights and I said, “sure, why not.” It just started from there.
Credit: Jeff Yeager
Were you a fan of Metallica and Guns N’ Roses when you were younger and, if you were, how was it going from being a fan to working with these bands? Was it what you thought it would be?
It's not what I thought it would be, just for the simple fact that touring has changed so much over the years and it's very much a business now. The crazy backstage stuff just doesn't happen anymore. With that said, It's actually been better, especially with Metallica, because it’s such a family vibe. You don't have to worry about all those weird temptations that we did in the 80s and 90s, which has been very nice.
The people are not as crazy as they seem to be in the press. Everybody I work with is quite lovely to deal with. It becomes your normal job, but I definitely had a few “pinch me” moments when I got brought into those projects. It was pretty overwhelming thinking about the 14 year old me back in Satellite Beach, Florida. I destroyed my parents eardrums listening to Master of Puppets and Appetite for Destruction and ended up working for those two bands. It's been a pretty amazing ride and I’m very blessed to be part of it.
Talk about the difference between being a lighting programmer versus being a lighting designer.
It's really all about money and status and who can afford what. You might be everything. You're the whole lighting department and maybe the drum tech or monitors, maybe doing some of the other background duties, maybe selling merch. Maybe you're the tour manager, the production manager, which I did a handful of times, too. You start off and you do your own programming. You operate your own shows and you do all those things by yourself. Then, as the budgets get bigger, as the bands get bigger, as your reputation grows, there is more of a budget there.
Credit: Jeff Yeager
Some designers still program their own shows, but I love when I’m afforded to be able to walk away from the console. I like being able to task a programmer with continuing to work while I’m in two hours of meetings with bands and management. I love being able to get myself out of the ones and zeros of the console and look at the show from an aesthetic point of view. I do love still programming, and working alongside other designers to see things through their eyes, as well as keeping myself up on the technology of the show. I know so many designers now where that's all they do. They wouldn't be able to turn the power on a console, let alone figure out how to cable up a rig anymore. I like keeping my feet implanted in some of those worlds quite a bit.
Being the designer, you have the overall idea of the aesthetic that you're trying to create and what you want to get out of the rig. The programmer basically, in a small spectrum, is your data entry clerk and is accomplishing all those things that the designer wants. On a bigger spectrum, the programmer is your designers confidant, the right hand man and the one that gets beat up on a daily basis with his problems and drama. He's able to turn to his programmer and say, “you're not going to fucking believe what they just said to me at this meeting” and know that it's not going to go any further than that. The designer may have writers block on a song and the programmer may just play with the rig or maybe make a suggestion and say, “that's a new direction we haven't taken yet.” The programmer may be more familiar with all of the individual fixtures that you expect on a show where the designer might not be capable of all the little tricks. There's a lot of different things there, but it's not like you can't wrap up that role into one person.
How did COVID-19 affect your job in the industry?
Credit: Shelby Cude
Decimated it. From my last show, on March 8th, until August there was zero. Zero whatsoever. Nothing happened at all. Metallica decided they wanted to be a part of this drive-in series that Encore Concerts was putting on. We got a small rig together, set up in a parking lot, filmed this thing for Encore and ended up being a part of that drive-in series. A month or so later, I got a call to start doing some local stuff here in Los Angeles. It was for a couple of video and photo shoots filling in as media server programmer for a few TV shows. Little bits of work started coming in and then Metallica did a live stream benefit show. I’ve been doing little three and four date hits here and there so I've been getting some work, but nowhere near where we were prior to all of this. I’m very blessed that I did move to L.A. because New York and L.A. seem to be the only cities that are doing anything at all right now. However, I was absolutely decimated. I think I lost 60-70% of my income, which is better than most.
What have you been doing in the meantime since COVID shut everything down?
I did some training. I started learning Disguise media servers a little bit here and there, which I stopped. Without the work, I just didn't want to train myself on something that I wouldn't be able to use for six months and then have to retrain again. I did start learning the grandMA3 for a little while but stopped due to software issues. Then I decided that I’m going to be OK just spending time with my family, my dogs and just being here. When you’ve got three humans and two animals in a house, shit constantly needs to be straightened up and cleaned. Each day has been, “well, I’m cleaning floors today” or “I'm cleaning the kitchen again.” I’ve also been reading a lot more than I ever have before. I also find much joy in driving around Los Angeles, especially during pandemic traffic. It's much easier to get around and explore. My favorite pastime, like an old retiree, is going to Target. I get to go to Target about once every other day. Whenever we need stuff, I go to the store.
What sounds do you miss the most from touring, for example, the chirp of a radio?
I don't miss that. I fucking hate radios. The one I miss the most, and the one that's going to make me cry like a schoolgirl the first time it happens, is “houselights go.” It's not the roar of the crowd. When houselights go, there is a split second where there is this hush that falls over the crowd right before the roar happens. It's almost a gasp. The house lights turn off, and the whole crowd goes utterly silent for a split second, and then the roar happens. That is what I miss the most. When I hear that moment right there again, I’m going to cry. I cannot wait for that.