The Back Lounge
During the dreaded Covid Days, there was a great need within our industry to bond with other people in our situation to help ease the feeling of loneliness, desperation and flat-out dread as the prospect of when we could get to work again grew ever further out of reach. Tour manager, nutritionist, and psychotherapist Suzi Green decided to do something about it and started a weekly Zoom meeting she called “The Back Lounge,” a peer support group for anyone working professionally across live music touring and events. With a plethora of A-list guests, The Back Lounge has become a pillar of the industry and a place for people to go to discuss various issues in our business.
Join us for a live version of The Back Lounge led by Suzi with very special guests where the focus will be on mental health, battling addictions and anything else that may be bothering you.
Mod: Suzi Green // The Back Lounge (GB)
Suzi Green has a music career spanning 25 years, and has tour-managed artists including PJ Harvey, The Chemical Brothers, and Grace Jones. After experiencing burnout, she left the industry and retrained as a Nutritionist and having returned to the business, using her skills on tour, to the benefit of artists and crew. Passionate about wellbeing, Suzi’s aim is to help bring awareness around both physical and mental health in live music. During the COVID shutdown, she founded a peer support group The BACK LOUNGE as a way for live music professionals to connect and one that continues to grow in numbers and provide a global community and promote best practices. She has recently completed a Masters in Psychotherapy with the aim to use this added skill within the music industry and she is a Trustee for Music Support, a charity assisting with mental health and addiction issues. Suzi has won a number of awards including TPI ‘Unsung Hero Award’, Pollstar’s ‘Inaugural Impact International List’ and Women in Live Music ‘Tour Manager of the Year’.
The BACK LOUNGE is a peer support group for anyone working professionally across live music touring and events. Their aim is to make touring better, promoting positive mental health, a diverse workforce and best practice in a tough industry without HR and often without accountability. They offer community via weekly zoom discussions on various themes and with a global reach of participants at all stages of their careers in every role, they are there for support when you’re on one of those ‘difficult’ jobs, and equally to celebrate your triumphs. There’s no formal membership, connect via email or socials and drop in as.
Rowan McDonagh // The Cowshed Talks (IE)
Rowan has 30 years of experience working in the music industry, from touring AV tech to stage and festival production manager. He is also in addiction recovery and living with a bipolar diagnosis. As the founder and manager of The Cowshed Facebook group and The Cowshed Talks, he has created a 24/7, confidential peer-to-peer mental health and addiction support group for those working in the music industry.
He is an advocate for mental wellness and addiction recovery, dedicating his efforts to supporting others in the industry through his work.
Joanne Croxford // Touring with a Twist (GB)
Having worked across the international music industry for multiple years, Joanne brings extensive experience of life on the road to the table. Her client list is extensive having started her career working with Robbie Williams and Sia and recently with DURAN DURAN and Anastacia. Joanne has also worked at UK wellbeing industry charity, Music Support, and was the charity’s first volunteer to be offered a full-time role.
Daring to challenge the industry’s image and stereotypes of yesteryear, Joanne is very vocal about her sobriety and helped to co-found the mutual aid 12-step support group, Roadies in Recovery (RiR). Through the RiR community, Joanne pioneered and fundraised for the first ‘sober table’ at the live touring industry’s coveted TPi Awards in 2024. The second sober table featured again at the recent awards ceremony with industry suppliers behind some of the world’s largest tours putting their hands in their pocket to make the sober sanctuary became a permanent fixture.
Joanne is a campaigner to make the live touring space more inclusive to ethnic and gender minorities and carries out volunteer work with both 3T and Girls Rock London as vehicles of change.