 I'm Rusty Kamori and this is Beyond the Lines on Think Tech, Hawaii. I was the head coach of the Punahou Boys Varsity Tennis Team for 22 years and we were fortunate to win 22 consecutive state championships. My books Beyond the Lines and Beyond the Game are about leadership, character, and creating a superior culture of excellence which is what this show is all about. My special guest today is the highly respected president of REMA Services which has provided the sound for some of the most famous artists and bands in the world for concerts here in Hawaii. He is Pat Kuh and today we are going Beyond concerts. Hey Pat, welcome to Beyond the Lines. Oh brother Rusty, thanks for having me. Oh you and I, we know each other for so many years and I'm so excited to have you on today's show Pat and you've been such a great leader of REMA but I want to first ask you if you can share about your background. Well you know I just consider myself a local homegrown boy, grew up in small town Waimalu, before there was Pearl Ridge, before there was a new town, before there was even the freeway. When I was in elementary school they were actually pounding the pylons to build the freeway overpass right outside my house and remember coming home from school and I used to be a JPO and had I get all the black oil dots all over my white shirt and you know mom would get all upset every time you know the next time I put on the shirt got more white black dots but you know hey that was life growing up in the country back then went to Waimalu Elementary School and ended up at IAEA high school and went on to the University of Hawaii where I was studying to be a vet surprisingly ended up in electronics kind of as a as a backstop to my original career but from when I first started high school I worked at a veterinary clinic I just had it in my mind I'm going to be a veterinarian and I worked all the way through college at this vet clinic but then in my junior year at Epiphany it's like you know the reality was coming from out of state just a sheer number or the lack of numbers of veterinary schools in the country it was a numbers game and I wasn't going to be a vet was the bottom line this shortcut so I had to make a turn make a life choice and switch to electronics which was always my hobby and I loved it so went on to electronic school there was a local electronic school it doesn't exist anymore it was a great school for technicians right out of tech school I was hired by Hughes aircraft and I straight from school I went to California and worked in aerospace back in the 70s 80s sorry 80s late 80s and found my way eventually back to Hawaii doing audio which was always a hobby from from high school well that's interesting Pat and I never knew that you wanted to be a vet and Pat you're you have such a wonderful family and your younger son Kaviko was my tennis student for some years and yeah you've seen me in action on the tennis court and he's given us some stress does he still give you stress at all or what? That's my son if I wouldn't expect anything else out of that boy you know him um my son I've been blessed with two great boys but yeah Kaviko has always been the boy I've always said is my my surprise he always is full of surprises and I will say always pleasant surprise it's just from out of the blue that's just Kaviko I expect the unexpected from him. Well your wife Terry and and your two sons are are awesome and Pat I want I want to ask you if you can share about what services Rima provides? Also we specialize in pro audio reinforcement we also part of doing entertainment is our specialty doing entertainment is the necessity to do the back line or the band gear that goes with the bands so we specialize in all of that the back line from grand pianos to organs to guitar amps to bass amp drum sets we have like 10 different drum sets you name it that's kind of all the services and the technical staff that's necessary to support all of that that's our specialty and you do corporate events and weddings and business I mean everything right? We do we do corporate is our mainstay actually as much as we specialize in entertainment people not too many people know is that corporates bring in tremendous acts and headliners that never quite make it to the public arena here in Hawaii. So Pat you're I mean your your company is one of the is the top sound company in Hawaii you have some equipment that no other company in Hawaii has but how did you create such a superior culture of excellence with your company? Well I gotta say it starts with the people you know it really does buy any equipment anybody with a large pocketbook can buy equipment maintaining that equipment and providing the technical staff that's that's the important part to all this high-tech gear I mean all the gear is nothing if you don't have the staff that one can maintain it and two knows how to operate it and bring it to its best performance you know my guys I stress with them that you know anybody can own gear but also realize that any of this gear as high-tech as it can be anything made by man is going to fail at some point in time therefore you know in order to maintain the excellence and the reputation that we want to maintain we have to do everything humanly possible to put ourselves in a position to make sure that gear is working and then that starts from maintenance that starts from constant testing and just staying on top of it keeping track of every piece of gear that goes out and the history of it so that we can anticipate and head off any obvious points of failures. Well Pat I know many of your REMA team members and I know that that you really treat them like your second family I mean you guys it's it's so special they're all such great people and I want to know what's a what's a risk that an example of a risk that you and your team members have taken in the past? Well one of the biggest risks I will say in the twenty-three years that we've been in business would have been in 2009. New president at the time came into office it was a time when everyone was watching banking industries as far as there was publicity about you know corporate misspending and junket trips etc. What that did was it put a stress on the corporate travel the incentive market that we do which is our main stay here so incentive sales what we do is rewards for salespeople of the corporations and if you don't have a sales staff you don't have a business so incentive trips are rewards they're not junket trips you know they set goals companies set goals and those salespeople have to meet those goals in order to qualify for the trips. Well back in 2009 when they were there were some businesses corporations that were caught doing odd things the market shrank almost immediately it was literally one week after the inauguration speech I got tired of answering the phone we lost 60% of our business in one week's time and you know after about a month or so the writing was on the wall you know there's no way we could sustain our current staff you know with that reduction and it totally came out of the blue totally unprepared I gathered the staff and we sat down and I gave them two options this is you know here's the reality you know we can't maintain I mean we've lost tremendous amount of business are about to and I have to lay off to people so that's option one option two was we can all keep everybody on but we're going to all have to take a cut in bank and if we do that I'll keep everybody on we'll just all share the burden and without hesitation that was the most impressive display of teamwork um I was ever a part of they told me we're all going to take a cut in bank and I was like wow I was humbled in that moment so to go on the rest of the year and actually took us two years to fully recover to go on from that point was a big risk I know what I did but it's like to me from that reaction how can I let them down you know I'm I'm the I'm the leader I I have to I have as far as I was concerned I had no choice we're moving forward and I'm going to do everything in my ability to keep everybody here so that was a big risk back in 2009 wow that's really impressive I mean to hear that you know from from your team members but that just goes to show you how much loyalty how much respect they have for you and the culture of excellence that that you have created with your company and pat you I mean you know I you did the Durand Durand concert and that was one of my favorite concerts to to see and it's incredible I mean you've done Durand Durand the Eagles earth went in fire Elton John and you have a behind the scenes look at some of these the biggest bands in the world what why are these bands so successful for so many decades you know success it's got a common denominator and it starts usually at the top so whatever team we're talking about it usually starts at the top and the formula seems to be the same I can meet a crew I can meet a crew right off the bat we don't normally deal directly with the end talent you know we respect that we respect the privacy and you know we deal but we'll deal with everybody else in the entire organization you can tell right off the bat from my first correspondence email phone calls and when you meet them in person it's like they got a good boss you know they got a good boss they love their boss that put in all their efforts for their boss and everybody is just doing their part you know as a team you know everybody's just happy at their job and it's just a common thread I see over and over you mentioned the few of them you know I can go on and on like old timers I'm talking like Tony Bennett and stuff like that you know guys like that you know it's just that that makes me want to wake up and go to work in the morning that meeting people like that is incredible oh and Pat you know I know that you really love country music and you you're culturing me to some of these country acts in these concerts that you're doing and one of the the biggest shows you did was Garth Brooks and and I know you love Garth a lot and what is it about Garth that impressed you so much that was a that show was different in the sense that Garth came out of people know this fact he came out M Trisha and his two airline pilots that's it he brought no crew didn't bring his production no management nothing he did it all himself it was a fundraiser for Arizona Memorial he was all about it he's all about he's all about the military and supporting the military anyway this was one of the few cases in my 20 plus years being in this business we got to interact with the headliner um as part of the crew he was the crew he was the talent but he was the crew too I tell you what the guy was down to earth as anybody I've ever met humble man I mean here's Garth Brooks the largest selling artist of all time walking around introducing himself to all the crew and taking the time to shake their hand and say hi I'm Garth Brooks what's your name what do you do I mean just out of the blue you know it's like it was it was incredible to see oh I love hearing that when when these famous acts they're just so down to earth and oh yeah nice and and Pat you know I I know that you have such a passion for what you do and how you do it but what's the number one reason why you love your job so much why do I love my job because this is this is true sorry I tell everyone you know I do audio for a living you know I have been blessed that I didn't have to get a real job all my career I've gotten this far in life without having a real job you know they say if you go if you love what you do you never you never really go to work and I love what I do I mean it's it's I've had the privilege to work with amazing artists and just my crew and itself you know working with my people striving our goal always has been to be a world-class audio company a company of people and technicians that we could you could drop us in anywhere in the world on any crew and we would fit right in and that was our goal and trying to do that and keep maintain that is what I love about my job just being able to mentor people and and just keep it going I love that the the details that you guys have the the level of excellence is is is amazing and and Pat you know that Def Leppard is my all-time favorite band in the world and thanks to you when they came to do two concerts here in Hawaii at the Blaisdell Arena I got to do a meet and greet on both nights with them because of you and Pat I thought I was going to be like super nervous I think I was beyond excited and nervous that I just had this calmness when I meet them when I met them because it was just so surreal I mean they're like the top three best-selling bands all time in the world and and I just want to thank you for that experience because that was that was just the most incredible I mean to to really meet them and you know my friend Justin Cruz he and that's his favorite band band as well but how was it working with Def Leppard? Oh Def was great I mean again they're they're crew and they're people this fellow in that category of you know you know why you know why they are where they are and I have the longevity that they have they're just good people and stuff by the way I'm going to question the host so tell him about the second meet and greet when you walked in the room I never forget that part of the story well because on the first meet and greet I brought them my beyond the lines books and then they had remembered me so when I went back the second night with Justin Cruz as soon as we walked behind you know in to see them they said Rusty you're back I'm like oh and then Justin looked at me saying dude they know you you up stage the rock stars Rusty that was that was incredible and Pat I know you have my books and what are some things that stood out to you in my books? Oh there's a bunch of them that you know reading through your books that's that's everything that I strive to be and I try to push on to my people I mean one one one that comes to mind was you're talking about creating the environment you know and I was the listen first and speak last that that is exactly what I do I read that I say oh did you you quoted me in the book you know maybe it could be but uh you know maybe because of my trade you know I'm an audio guy we listen you know I'm trained to listen to the articulation of the music you listen for all the little subtleties and stuff like that and being a trained electronic technician in order to troubleshoot anything you have to have an understanding of the entire circuit before you know where to begin so I think those are the traits that I use you know and just dealing with people day to day it's like you know be the last one to speak let everybody else speak first and then I can use what their their point of view and double check my own opinion before I speak. Now you're still right about the listen first and speak last and also about it's the environment that you create and uh Pat I want to know what effects did COVID have on your company and your team? Well what has it had has done and we're still in it we're not quite out of it I mean as much as government I understand you know the restrictions that have to be put in place you know large gatherings have to minimize the spread we all get that but people don't may not understand our government I should say doesn't quite understand or have a full grasp of it until we're at gatherings of 100 percent our entire industry is at risk you know just by the nature of what we do we need large gatherings of people so for a public concert to come back of the thousands that we won't see that until government restrictions are lifted but we've managed you know again I have a resilient team you know and they're awesome I gotta say you know when TPV monies ran out when you first got hit back in you know March monies ran out in June you know here we are fast forward we're in July the following year my team they gave of themselves they've come in to work and do whatever we could do we're starting to pick up they come in and I may not be able to pay them much but that was never part of the equation they were just we're all family and we all want to see see it through the end and we're going to find a way yeah you guys are all resilient that's for sure and Pat a lot of people don't realize that if the pandemic continues on and all of these restrictions stay in place that you know your company other companies would have to sell all of your the equipment that you guys have to mainland companies or companies from other countries and there would be no equipment here or future concerts and events right yeah so Hawaii being you know the the nature of where we are in the middle of the Pacific you know they can't groups can't travel with their gear you see on the mainland tours just going night after night after night one venue to another well they're carrying their own equipment in those situations Hawaii they can't the cost is prohibited to bring all of their gear and that's why we as a rental company that that's what we do we provide them that opportunity to come here to go to a destination and you know perform so without companies like you know Rima and it you know on and on down the list the lighting companies the staging companies down to the catering I mean all of us in our industry you know without us here we don't make it through COVID those public concerts are at risk you know groups will just skip they'll just skip what you know you're so right about the domino effects and how it really impacts so many businesses that really you know cater to these concerts and events that that we have here and Pat I want to ask you when you do an event I know that you try to control everything that you have control of but there's some things beyond your control there's always things where you have to prepare to to expect the unexpected and have the right mindset so when something unexpected happens you can adapt and adjust how do you deal with that well that's just I mean I look at it is it's just that's just the cards you dealt you know you got to expect the unexpected anything can happen it's just I mean from you know somebody just knocking over a cup of water onto a snake head that might have shorted out some stuff you better be ready to jump up there and fix it you know kind of thing so it's just the mindset we have we just have to be I mean we're we're just standing by we're always standing by our eyes are always scanning we're looking for things it's all about risk and minimization yeah so we said that we do things a certain way we have procedures why we do things why we set things up a certain way why we run cables a certain way to minimize all these potential hazards or failure points and you know it's I could tell you a story one big concert that we had done I'll leave them unnamed a Christian concert fan came in and said hey we want to use this particular console and this is how we're going to configure it and I'm scratching my head saying yeah no I don't never seen that configuration before you go oh no it can be done I just okay more power to you knock yourself out so they go ahead they set it all up to their credit is working we get your sound check everything's great so sound check ended about five o'clock band walks off stage we bring the headliner in then I hear something from the monitor engineers like oh the console crashed I'm like okay well go ahead and fix it so we reload it we reload it get it all about okay took a while rebuild it got it back okay drop in your file uh I didn't save it huh the short in the story they got off stage about five o'clock headliner hits the deck about 8 30 we get through all the opener openers on stage houses full they got the board running about 8 20 the engineer had 10 minutes to put that together the band went on stage I gotta tell you I can you could just I can read the expressions on the page they're professional they just powered through it I guarantee you that first 30 minutes of the set was hell for them but they just powered through and they got through it but that's just one of the examples of all these things that can happen you try to minimize it but you know something's gonna happen well talk about cutting it close there up pat oh yeah now pat I want to ask you one more thing before we wrap up who's a who's an artist or a band that you would love to work with that you haven't worked with yet well there's a lot there's a lot but here's one and don't date me one artist I always wanted to work with um she's still in she's still out there performing with shinaya twain when shinaya first hit she's ever come to a way when she first hit uh I used to tell everybody I told all my promoter friends they thought I was crazy and like so if you book shinaya I'll give you a free show I won't charge you anything for audio that's how bad I wanted to do it but that's one on the list that you know got away didn't get a chance to do well hopefully uh a shinaya concert might happen in the future we can all like cross our fingers and cross our toes but pat I really want to thank you for taking time to be on the show today and you've been such a great friend uh for so many years and and you you have such a fantastic company uh with rima and your team members it's just very impressive oh thank you rusty thank you for having me been a pleasure thanks pat and thank you for watching beyond the lines on think tech hawaii for more information please visit rusty komori dot com and my books are available on amazon and barns and noble I hope that pat and I will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs aloha