We were lucky to catch up with Jeff Koteles recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jeff, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Often the greatest growth and the biggest wins come right after a defeat. Other times the failure serves as a lesson that’s helpful later in your journey. We’d appreciate if you could open up about a time you’ve failed.

My failure story is a personal one. However, it did lead to growth both personally and in my business, and perhaps I can reach others who may have gone through something similar. In October of 2021, I got drunk at a gig, attempted to drive a van full of sound equipment home, and got a DUI. I also had my pistol in the van with me. That was the failure part. I failed my wife, my clients, anyone who had looked up to me for any reason, and I failed myself. I let selfish indulgence take over, and had no regard for anyone else but myself.

A lot of people in this line of work have had this happen. I’ve seen it first hand over the years. We work in venues that survive on the basis of selling alcohol, concerts and festivals are sponsored by alcohol, some awesome songs are written about alcohol. It’s everywhere, and it becomes another part of the job and lifestyle if you aren’t careful. Some personal friends, clients, even some more high profile artists and gig workers have all had their number called up when they got behind the wheel. It’s really not uncommon.

For someone like me, it was absolutely devastating. My income is entirely dependent on getting to these gigs. I’m not a rich man, Now I’m facing jail time. What happens when my clients lose their production company last minute? How will my wife keep the house? Feed the pets? What will people think when they see my mugshot? It was not the best of times.

I made a decision immediately to never touch a drop of alcohol again. There was no light at the end of the tunnel, so I was determined to make one and claw my way out of this inch by inch. The legal costs and lawyer just about wiped my savings. I had a little bit of money left, and thankfully I was not sentenced to jail. I took the remaining money I had and bought a larger, fantastic sounding pair of speakers that would allow me to charge a bit more to bring out. That’s where any extra money was to go from now on. Reinvested in the business, and not spent at the bar.,

This was not the time to give up and feel sorry for myself. I had to make it up and work even harder. My wife deserved the peace of not having to worry about paying bills, my clients deserved a more dedicated engineer, my body deserved to not be poisoned with substance anymore. It was difficult to take in at first, but everything fell into place little by little. After buying the extra speakers, I needed a way to transport my larger system to gigs, so I bought a trailer. I bought more microphones, lighting, cables, and everything else needed to run multiple systems on the same day. I found a dedicated tech to work the other gigs. It’s kind of crazy to think about what you’re able to accomplish when you dedicate yourself to something. I even started working a job with an AV solutions company to boost the income more. My new self body-slammed my old self in the middle of the ring at Wrestlemania and came out on top.

My summer and fall seasons are booked to the brim. Old gear can be repaired. New gear is being bought. Clients are happy. The business is growing and will grow some more. I took the lowest point of my life and turned it into a new beginning. I haven’t touched a drop of alcohol in almost 2 years. I even started playing in bands again. Now, I just need to get back in the gym!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

To kick things off…I’m 35 years old, married to an amazing and supportive woman named Katie, fur father to a 120lb dog (Benny) and 2 cats (Oscar and Oswald) and live about 25 minutes west of downtown Cleveland in the suburbs. I’ve been playing drums since I was 9 years old and currently play in an original rock band called “Abort Mission”, and a cover band called “Dirty Pop”. Some of my hobbies include tinkering with projects around the home, anything outdoors related, and watching my beloved Cleveland Browns work their way to a future Super Bowl win.

My career in audio started when I joined my first band in the 8th grade. I was really keen into figuring out ways to record us with my family’s old karaoke machine. Placing the microphone in different places around the room and recording to cassette tape gave me a drive to want to get into a real recording studio. When I had my first job, this older kid I worked with would tell me stories about being in the Recording Arts & Technologies (RAT) program at the community college and all the cool stuff he’d get to do there. So, of course I was determined to join after I finished high school, and I did. I tried opening my own studio and partnering up with others to open, or work in their studios. One time, I was working for a guy who owned a concert venue and had built his studio in the basement, One day, his sound guy didn’t show up and I was called to fill in, and that’s when I fell in love with live sound. I haven’t been much of a studio guy since.

That being said, Banzai Sound LLC is a live production rental company. Currently, my rental business caters to a lot of local corner bar bands and small community concerts. However, I host karaoke, DJ weddings, and do the occasional ribbon cutting ceremony. I also freelance as a for-hire live tech, working in Cleveland concert venues like the Agora and TempleLive. I do a lot of pick up work for larger production companies in the area, and have mixed events and stages for Inkcarceration Festival, Live Nation, The Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland Clinic, NASA, Disney, and plenty more.

That is really what sets my business apart from the other rental companies in town. I cater to local bands in small venues, but my experience and skillset come from much larger stages and productions. When I work in the best venues in the city, I get to work alongside some of the best people in the industry, pick their brains, take in all of the techniques they use, advice they give, and bring it to my clients. Your show for 100 people gets the same treatment as the show I just worked for 3000 last night. I will help you solve your wireless issues, get those drums tuned, get you to use the best mic technique, and toss you that spare cable when yours cuts out.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

Over the years, I have worked for many different venues and production companies. Quite often, they would pay under the table, and chasing down my paycheck became something normal. It should not have been that way. That’s why I originally started Banzai Sound. Starting an LLC allowed me to leave a proper paper trail and do invoicing, where I could keep good records of those I worked for and how much they owed. Eventually, enough people started asking me if I had any equipment of my own, and it gave me a reason to start seeing how I could make that happen. Turns out, it’s really not easy to get money from lenders when all you have is okay credit and a dream.

I eventually reached out to the Small Business Administration. They actually hold different events in the area, and told me to make a business plan and take it to this “meet the lenders” event that was coming up. I wasn’t looking for much money because all I wanted to do was get enough to buy a small PA system suitable for bars and weddings. Nearly all of the commercial banks want you to provide 20% down, be in business for 5+ years, gross $200k/yr, and won’t even look at you unless you want to borrow $150k or more. However, I got extremely lucky, and found an organization called HFLA Cleveland (Hebrew Free Loan Association). They specialize in giving interest-free microloans to struggling individuals, and small businesses. After going over my plans & projections, these guys decided they wanted to help my little dream come true. They gave me just enough to buy my first PA system, and the original money I was saving up went to a down payment on a van to cart it all around town.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

My ability to relate to the local musicians is a big help here. Mostly because I am a local musician myself, and have seen how the average run-of-the-mill sound engineer can really throw off a show. When I’m at the mixing desk, I want to be able to enjoy the show just as much as an audience member. This requires me to make sure the band on stage can hear themselves properly, and that’s become something that I’m really known for. The less the band needs on stage, the more I can concentrate on being an “audience member”. Musicians use stage monitors, or in-ear monitors to be able to hear themselves on stage. These monitor systems need to be mixed differently than the main PA system, and require a different type of attention & finesse to really dial in correctly. When a band can hear themselves properly, it’s a game changer to their performance. They tell their friends in bands how well I took care of them, and those artists end up calling me in sooner than later. I think my reputation is built on me actually giving a s*** when it comes down to it.

The band doesn’t listen in the room like everyone else. So when they refer me to other bands, I know that my monitor mixing is what gets them to say “Jeff makes us sound amazing!” Yes, I can toot my own horn on this.

Contact Info:

• Website: coming soon!
• Instagram: instagram.com/jeffrahhh
• Facebook: facebook.com/banzaisound
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@abortmissionband

Image Credits
Ryan Brewer