Rob Koenig has moved from stagehand to programmer to lighting director, as well as lighting designer. Having relocated to Los Angeles, Koenig is also now starting to add television lighting to his already impressive resume, including recently serving as one of the programmers on NBC’s American Song Contest, his first foray into live television. I caught up with him by phone however, not while he was in sunny California but in Chile, where he is out on tour, once again designing for Metallica, a role he’s held since 2015.
How did you end up in the industry?
By pure accident. When I was a kid, my older brother and sister fed me rock records when I was in kindergarten. I grew up a huge music fan. I played music—piano and drums—in bands and thought I was going to be a rock star. Then I went to Full Sail for audio because I wanted to be a studio engineer—”my backup plan from being a rock star!” I loved it but couldn’t find a studio job. A friend of mine owned a production company and needed a stagehand. Later I worked for Bash [a rental shop]. I gave lighting a shot and fell in love with it, and within a year I was on the road.
What is an important trait one needs working in this industry?
Patience. Patience with your crew; patience with anybody that’s working with you. Showing patience goes a long way. When you’re yelling and screaming, nothing gets accomplished. If you show people some compassion and some patience, they’ll go a lot further for you.
What do you think is an essential element needed in the programmer, lighting designer relationship?
For a programmer, you need to be a bit of a chameleon. If you want to be a successful programmer, you need to be able to do many styles. You need to be able to work with many different personalities—sometimes all at the same time. Trust is another huge thing that a programmer has to instill in his designers. I think that there’s a lot of psychology involved. Understanding your designer will get you a lot further than the designer trying to understand you. The designer needs to feel confident that when he does get pulled away, that you can make that song blue. You need to understand where his or her head is at, and that you’re going down the right path and that they are confident that you are going down the right path.
Being a designer, you have to have a passion for what you’re designing. I learned that very early on, back when I’d just take every call. That is when it doesn’t work out, because you’re not passionate at all about what that artist is doing. You could pull out the old bag of tricks and just go through trick after trick, but it shows when there’s no passion in the show; you’re just blinking lights. I don’t think that you can design a show well for somebody that you don’t appreciate.
Were there moments that really set you on the course of your career?
One person who was very instrumental in helping me when I was coming up was—Garrett Rentz, an LD for a lot of rock bands. The first time I was stagehand, he was the LD for two of the bands on the tour. We maintained a friendship for years. I’d call him up looking for a gig and he’d put me on a gig. Then he’d say to me, ‘you have to go do this gig because this will lead to this.’ I’ll be damned, it did lead to the next thing every single time! I could draw a straight line back to his recommendations, starting around 2001, that’s led me to where I am now.
What do you enjoy most about your career, and what has surprised you most?
The variety of the work, especially now that I’ve moved to Los Angeles and I’m starting to work in TV. I have discovered that I love my work on the road to the nth degree, but I also want to learn new sh*t. I want to learn why the TV guys do the things that they do; things that are so polar opposite of what we would do in a live show. I started to learn those things working on American Song Contest, and I’m starting to see things through their eyes. It’s truly a fascinating process for me.
What has surprised me in my career is how unpredictable it can be sometimes. That’s what I love about it so much. One day I’m working with Metallica, one of the biggest bands on the planet; one of my biggest influences growing up as a kid. The next day I’m doing a show with Cardi B; the next day I’m doing a show with another artist. I love them all equally. Cardi, when I got to work with her, it was an absolute blast. I’ve been able to do things like work with Lizzo as well. She’s unique, a great singer, an amazing songwriter. I just absolutely love the challenge of doing all those new things. I think they like bringing in somebody like me because I have a unique perspective. I’m not the guy that does every pop artist. For them, that’s kind of cool; that I’m somebody completely out of the wheelhouse of what they would normally expect.
Who are some of the people whose support has been key to your success?
Mark Workman, in my early days. He’s out of the business now. For many years, Mark was the lighting designer for Slayer. He had the best take on metal bands; the way that he lit the stage, and the angles he used, set the tone for what a metal show is supposed to look like. For years he had my back, threw me gigs, and helped me. Paul [Arlo] Guthrie has always been a proponent of mine and very supportive. Butch Allen was incredibly instrumental in my career for many years. He pushed me to be a proper ‘programmer.’ I would not call myself a programmer until I knew what the f**k I was doing. There are so many people that will call themselves a programmer because they sat with one of the trainers at ACT for three days. Butch really pushed me. I love working with Peter Morse. Peter has the best eye in live entertainment for color. I love Peter to death. He’s not forceful. He’s not panicky. He rolls through his day and does his thing. The next thing you know, you’re looking at something gorgeous on stage.
Is there a piece of advice you got at the start of your career that you still find applicable today?
Get the f**k over yourself. When you’re young, you meet all these very gregarious designer types, and they’re over the top, and the show is about them. But you’ve got to realize very quickly; the show is not about you. The show’s about the people up on that stage. They want to feel comfortable. They want to look good. They want to know that every cue is on time; is the right vibe; that it looks right. They’ve entrusted you with their career. The second that you make it about yourself, you’ve lost. What is about you is creating the product that they want. Some artists are very hands on; some are painfully opposite, and very hands off. They don’t know what they want; they just know what they don’t like. You have to work within those constraints and get them where they want to be. Make those recommendations. Let them understand things, but take your ego out of the equation and give them the product that they want.
What advice would you give to someone in the early stage of their career in the industry?
My biggest advice is to stay calm. It’s very difficult to learn to stay calm. You’re in an environment with upwards of 50,000 people. Something goes wrong in the middle of the show—doesn’t matter what it is—the first thing you cannot do, is panic. You’ve got to chill out. I always tell them, ‘Stay as calm as a coma.’ You need to delegate the next steps to the crew, and start fixing the issues at hand immediately—without panicking—and without drawing attention to it either. You’ve got a serious problem on your hands, 20,000 people in the room, and your lighting rig just went black. Now what? The number one thing you have to do is stay calm. That’s the best advice I can give to anybody.
Is there a design that you’re particularly proud of?
I would say the proudest I’ve ever been of anything is Metallica’s recent 40th anniversary shows. Dan Braun came up with the concept, which I loved, with layered video screens. The lighting rig was very minimal for the size of the show; only about 160 fixtures. To only have 160 fixtures on a show in the round, for a band as big as that, and for as big looks as we were trying to create… I was incredibly proud of what we created. We, in the globalist of senses. Gene McAuliffe, our video director, and Naoki Ogawa, our content creator, just crushed it. Joe Cabrera and Cat West programmed and were amazing. It was one of the best things I’ve ever been a part of, and I was super proud of what we accomplished on that one.
