Calls have never stopped for the near 20 years John Reese has been a tour and band manager. Being a rock manager means being able to do just about anything asked or required - what’s the difference? Getting things done is the only order, whether it’s getting a band signed or avoiding a riot and the drug cartel in Bogota.

When he’s asked what could have possibly prepared him to do that job, a job he estimates less than 100 people in the world do full-time for any significant length of service, he says it has nothing to do with his music background because he has no music background.

Reese ran an Arizona security company that provided support at rock shows. That led to arranging and maintaining security on the road for touring bands including the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith and many others and, eventually, an offer to be tour manager of Guns N’ Roses, which were to become the biggest rock band in the world.

He says his years on the road with the band provided him with everything he ever needed to know about the music business.

The groupies, the drugs, the egos, the psychosis and, with as big and dysfunctional a band as Guns N’ Roses, the near riots and real riots - these all contributed to Reese learning fast.

His years on the road with Guns N’ Roses convinced Reese of a few things: it can all end like that, and any artist worth caring about is probably crazy - certifiable. Finally, the road convinced Reese that he really, really liked his job: the crises, the fights, the near-death experiences and/or moments of transcendence.

“I remember in 1990 at the Rock in Rio concert, looking out from the stage and there are 240,000 people cheering. I’m 27 years old and I’m thinking, ‘I can’t believe this is my job.’ I never wanted to do anything else.”

In 1992, he became Guns N’ Roses’ co-manager, the difference between that and a tour manager being that the latter involves “getting them weed and wiping their asses,” while the former is “involved in every facet of the band. You’re the embryo for the yolk.”

“I have never worked with a huge artist who didn’t have some serious psychosis. Axl, Kurt (Cobain), any of them were all brilliant and all completely fucked up in the head. But that’s the way it has to be. You’ve heard nice guys finish last. Well, that’s the truth in the music business,” says Reese.

The quicksilver implosion of Guns N’ Roses taught Reese to diversify his band portfolio. “Any band, no matter how big, can go bust - there are just too many drugs, girls and egos out there - and so one must always be looking for the next big thing, “working the fields,” and “maintaining your farm system.”

“Ninety-five percent of the bands you work with will never make any real money,” he says. “But that’s the business.”

Of course, since that is the business, and since burgeoning technology seems to be threatening every facet of it, he has diversified his business. He not only represents bands, but also promotes tours – He is the co founder of the Taste of Chaos tour as well as the Get a Life tour. The Taste of Chaos tour has become a worldwide phenomenon and is the only worldwide festival tour playing over 80 Arenas in 22 Countries. Reese started a mobile phone service, a TV production company and, with his wife Elenie, created LiL Punk Clothing, which makes tanks, apparel and T-shirts for babies and toddlers.

His current roster of management clients includes platinum artists The Used, Story of the Year, Head Automatica and is the USA rep for The Cure among many others.  He was instrumental in the signing and success of Limp Bizkit, Slipknot, My Chemical Romance and many others.

“You can’t just have one thing you depend on these days,” he says. “You have to be able to go a few different directions. Because it can all disappear that quick; I’ve seen it. And when it happens, you’re either going to be able to adapt or be destroyed. I love failure,” he says. “Without failure there is no success. You got to get your ass knocked around. It’s all part of the roller coaster and I love the roller coaster.”