Festivals In Focus: Q&A With Good Vibez Founders Amy Sheehan & Dan Sheehan

Live music festivals continue to grow in popularity and diversity as the landscape shifts and responds to trends and technological changes. JamBase reached out to several independent promoters of music festivals for insights into the challenges and rewards of hosting memorable events. This installment presents a Q&A with Good Vibez founders Amy Sheehan and Dan Sheehan.

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Good Vibez Presents, founded by industry veterans Dan Sheehan and Amy Sheehan, has become a significant player in independent music promotion. Since its establishment in 2003, Good Vibez has been the driving force behind numerous concerts and festivals along the West Coast, Hawaii, Arizona, North Carolina, and Mexico. The events take a conscientious approach toward sustainability, building community and supporting local nonprofits and small businesses.

Among their most prominent events is the California Roots Music & Arts Festival in Monterey, recognized as the foremost reggae-rock festival nationwide. The 2024 California Roots Music & Arts Festival returns to Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California over Memorial Day Weekend, May 24 – 26. Performers include Ziggy Marley, Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley, Stephen Marley, Rebelution, Ice Cube, E-40 and Too Short, among many others.

Additional Good Vibez festivals include Holo Holo Las Vegas, which took place at the Downtown Las Vegas Event Center on April 26 – 28. Kolohe Kai, J Boog, Iam Tongi, Common Kings and Three Plus were among those on the 2024 Holo Holo Vegas lineup. Holo Holo San Diego will be held at Thrive Park at Snapdragon Stadium on July 13 and 14. The 2024 Holo Holo San Diego lineup features J Boog, Fiji, Maoli, Six60, and several others.

Good Vibez will present the Lake Tahoe Reggae Festival at Palisades Tahoe in Olympic Valley, California on August 3 and 4. Cypress Hill, Shaggy, Rebelution, Atmosphere and more are aboard the 2024 Lake Tahoe Reggae Festival lineup. The Holo Holo Sacramento Festival will take place at Cal Expo in Sacramento on September 21 and 22. Holo Holo Sacramento 2024 features a lineup topped by Kolohe Kai, Maoli, J Boog and The Green. Returning for its second year, the 2024 Rebels & Renegades Music Festival will be held at Monterey County Fairgrounds on October 12 – 13.

Good Vibez founders Amy Sheehan and Dan Sheehan shared their thoughts and insights into the world of independent music festival promotion. Scroll on to read their Q&A.

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What got you into the world of independent festivals/promotions?

Both of us (Dan Sheehan and Amy Sheehan) started as fans… (separately) running off to every concert and festival we could in our late teens and 20s. Dan began his career as a radio DJ and program director on an all-reggae radio station on Guam. After leaving Guam, the Hawaii-raised Dan migrated to Northern California and inspired by Reggae On The River, established his own production company, Good Vibez Entertainment in 2002.

Amy turned her love for attending festivals as a fan into a career when she lived in Lake Tahoe and started working for the local concert producer, Renegade Productions. She built her own publicity company, promoting reggae bands’ West Coast tours and cut her event production teeth working for Renegade Productions, Sierra Nevada World Music Festival and at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz.

We joined forces in Santa Cruz in 2003 where we harnessed our combined talents to grow Good Vibez Presents into a well-respected company, promoting local reggae events and producing tours and music festivals that spanned the entire West Coast and Hawaiian Islands.

Did you have a mentor(s) or an education in the space?

As we all know, festival production is a lot of trial and error and learning on the fly. Experiences like producing a festival in North Carolina during King Tides season along the Cape Fear River which flooded its banks into the festival grounds during the event are how we figured out what to do and more importantly what not to do.

Kaati from Renegade Productions and Bruce Howard from Otter Productions guided us well when we were young in the game. And we continue to this day to surround ourselves with smart problem-solving people who work alongside to bring our visions to life.

What do you wish you knew starting out that you know now?

To stop and take it all in once those gates open, fans get in and the music starts. We do this now, but when we first started we would get so caught up in ‘producing’ that we would miss most of the magic. Now we purposefully stop and breathe it all in, revel for a moment that all of our hard work and planning has come to life.

What are 3 things you wish concert attendees knew about hosting and promoting an independent music festival?

1. Our budgets to make the magic happen are higher than you think. Ticket prices reflect that – we aren’t making millions like some believe.

2. We feel like we are welcoming 10,000+ people into our home for the weekend and treat you as such with the hopes you feel that love and reciprocate that love back to the bands and staff.

3. That we too are fans of music. This isn’t just a job for us, this is our passion and we are so blessed we get to do this every day.

What is your favorite thing about promoting independent music festivals?

Having the honor of being an architect of people’s memories for a weekend. Baby bands that have dreamed of playing on our stage and are there for the first time, fans that meet and fall in love at our festivals, parents bringing their children and connecting over their love for a band, friends connecting after being apart for a long time. We get to create magical experiences that people carry with them long after the music ends.

What’s a favorite festival that you’ve attended or worked on and why?

For Dan, our Holo Holo brand of festivals is a favorite because he’s paying homage to the island music that he grew up on. The Holo Holo Festivals are like his love letter to Hawaii and to all of the Polynesian Islands. It’s his privilege to give island artists their own festival to celebrate their music, their culture, their community that has inspired him so much.

How do you prefer to engage with brands or sponsors who want to come on board? What qualities do you look for?

We are always seeking brands and companies that align with our brands – that are independent, that believe in leaving the earth better than we found it, that do good in the world through their brand. We love working with companies that together, elevate each other.

What are the qualities you look for when partnering with an artist to curate/co-brand a festival?

This is Dan’s wheelhouse. He curates all of our festival lineups. I think as a DJ so long ago, he’s got the gift to bring the expected and unexpected to our stages. He’s huge on discovery – for himself personally and professionally. He loves to find bands that understand our visions and work with us to bring them to reality. So many of the artists we’ve worked with over the years – we all grew up and grew into the larger stages together so there’s a ton of respect and support amongst us all.

How has the indie festival promotion business changed post-pandemic?

It’s hard A.F. some days. Feels like we’ve got to fight for dates with artists, fight for sponsor dollars. The festival market exploded post-pandemic – fans and musicians are oversaturated with options – so we’ve got to work even harder to keep existing fans and gain new ones. And big corporations (who will not be named) have killed off more independent festival producers – there’s less of us fighting the good fight.

Do you think that the effects of the pandemic are over/complete for people promoting independent live music events?

Nope. Still feeling the effects. We are stronger and wiser because of those experiences, more nimble and able to shift quickly, which is a benefit of being independent — if we need to make a change, we can quickly, and decisively, unlike big corporations.

What is the best advice you can give to someone looking to attend a festival in 2024?

Know that all the staff has been working for months to create experiences just for you so show some gratitude! Stay away from pills and powder – that fentanyl shit is so scary and is EVERYWHERE… And HAVE FUN!

Dance to your favorite bands, take some time to discover a band you haven’t seen before, buy some merch, support the local vendors, connect with old friends and make a couple new ones!

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The JamBase Festival Guide is consistently growing with the addition of new music fests happening globally.

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[JamBase is a media partner of Good Vibez.]