Steve Levitt and Iain Whitehead share a vision of producing the very best live pop shows with high production and entertainment values, within a sensible budget. Louise Stickland unravels the secrets behind their unrivalled success...

Two thousand and four has already been a hectic year for Production North, the company headed by touring masteros Steve Levitt and Iain Whitehead. Their business recently expanded into a new office/warehouse space in Leeds, and has been busy touring with Westlife, Atomic Kitten, Busted, Blue, Ronan Keating, Lemar, Jamelia and McFly to name but a few.

Prolific and successful, Production North's CV is a roll call of the glitterati of pop, an all-action dizzy set of listings sometimes reflecting the fleeting nature of its star cycle. Aside from the already mentioned dinosaurs of popland, name drops from the archives include East 17, Boyzone, Five, All Saints, Peter Andre, Steps, Hear'Say, Mis-teeq, the Smash Hits Roadshow & Poll Winners Party, Darius, Fame Academy, Lulu... the list is endless - you name the act, and the chances are at some point Production North has worked alongside them.

Neither Whitehead and Levitt at face value are the sort of guys you'd generally associate with the more fluffy, fawning elements of planet pop, but then maybe that's the base element of their winning formula. Both are from West Yorkshire. They exert a zero tolerance policy to bullshit, are straight talking, down-to-earth and grittily charismatic.

I caught Iain Whitehead during Busted's arena tour and Steve Levitt on Westlife's latest marathon rollercoaster. They met in 1988, and immediately hit it off with their shared dry sense of humour, musical and football interests (both are avid Leeds United supporters) and zeal and energy for their work on the road - just a fraction of the many synergies.

Whitehead had just left Cardiff University, where he'd studied economics and industrial relations. Like many, his music industry career also kicked off at Uni, when he started working for the band Little Angels, who suddenly got signed and took off. This prompted him to ditch studies for the excitement of life on the road and seeing the world. He's quick to say now that he would not advocate leaving college before completing to anyone, but it was a snap decision he doesn't regret himself.

Levitt - 10 years his senior - had wanted to work 'in music' since the age of 13, although he didn't know exactly how to go about it. From Kirkthorpe in West Yorkshire, he was determined to avoid going down the pit like most of his contemporaries, and instead ended up playing bass in a cover band, trawling the Tiffany's and Mecca ballroom circuit in the mid-1970s! During this time he started accumulating sound equipment, learning how to mix and operate, and renting it out for his band and others.

By the late 80's, his sound engineering career had advanced exponentially, and he was working for SSE when he met Whitehead on his first monitor tour for Little Angels. Several Little Angels tours followed, with Whitehead working for the band and management, doing everything from tour managing to the administration and finances. He's always had a propensity for figures and has actually done the books - among other roles - for every band he's worked for.

The duo worked together on-and-off for the next five or six years, and in 1994, when Little Angels split up, they decided to find other projects to work on as a team. It was another five years later, in 1999, that they officially formed Production North in name and body and on paper, since when things have really taken off.

AUSPICIOUS START
Their first show as Production North was The Disney Channel Awards at London's Docklands Arena - the first of many similar events they've produced since. Pop entered the Production North equation in a serious capacity when Levitt took on East 17 circa 1995. He was working with Steve Martin, who he respects greatly, and was initially mixing at FOH, with Martin doing production and tour managing. Martin's workload ramped up steadily, and so he asked Levitt to handle the technical side of the production while he concentrated on the money and admin.

Pop, its foibles, its highs, lows, formidable entertainment value, energies and many personal and political challenges has been a happy, fun and at times galvanising association for Production North. It's where they've cut their teeth, established their name and a created a unique place for a specific type of technical production. Levitt puts it plainly: "Dealing with boy bands is different from a regular rock'n'roll gig, and it's definitely more like theatre in terms of production."

'The show' is central to a boy band's touring success and can radically enhance their ability to make money on the road. It's very often the first gig experience for many audience members, and young audiences have very specific requirements - like brief attention spans, and the need for a show to be memorable, with plenty of drama, action, and several helpings of magic!

For pop acts, it's usually crucial to make money on tour, as they're often not songwriters, and so are limited in other income streams into their business. Fiscal expedience on tour is therefore absolutely vital.

TANTRUM-FREE
Early on, Production North perfected the task of balancing astute arithmetic with producing the most exciting and adrenalised shows, and that's another key to their success.

Their willingness for telling-it-like-it-is has also been a big asset in boy band-land - especially when dealing with artists and sometimes designers with wild and impractical ideas about what they'd like to do on-stage. "You really do get the loo paper with Stonehenge scrawled on it sometimes," says Levitt with a giggle.

Honing the art of transforming a profusion of loo roll into spectacular working solutions within the available resources is what has made Production North. Repeat business has come from those appreciating this penchant for delivering an excellent show for great value.

Levitt also reckons that being a father of eight has also given him ideal credentials and a very grounded approach to managing tours generally, specifically boy bands and teenage stars tasting fame for the first time, sometimes with a bank balance to match their egos. "They're by no means all high maintenance," he qualifies quickly. "But after 27 years of dealing with teenagers of both genders," he says with paternal pride, "there's no tantrum or hissy fit I can't deal with constructively."

Working closely with pop acts for over a decade - and seeing the productions now surpass most heavy metal gods in hugeness and WOW factor - they know how to pace a show and use the gags sparingly but spectacularly. The favourite show stopper is still flying the artist - something Westlife have adopted with zeal!

They keep pushing the technical and imaginative boundaries, says Whitehead, whilst also keeping cute to over-egging, becoming staid or resting on their proverbial laurels, which would quickly spell the end to the winning formula. Pop can be fickle right across the board - not just among the music consuming public.

Production North has always respected its relationship with suppliers and the importance of the right personalities and having regular crew on-board. Ensuring prompt payment is high on the agenda. "We basically treat people as we'd like to be treated ourselves," says Whitehead.

Apart from that, their tours are also characterised for being happy and relaxed places to work on and walk in to. There's rarely a pissed off person or a moody vibe, and that's essential to getting the best out of everyone on the team - artists, creatives and technical crew alike.

Levitt and Whitehead rarely work on the same tours now. Blue in December 2003 was a rare exception where Levitt did FOH sound and Whitehead handled production. However, they both work alongside a regular cache of freelance production managers like Sarah Hollis, Jason Danter, Mike Clegg and Karen Ringland, who also take out Production North tours in their own right. "Having the right people around you is essential," says Levitt. Whitehead adds that there's no one they've worked with in recent years who'd not be asked back.

Coming from the freelance worlds themselves, they understand the realities of crew having to accept more lucrative or long term job offers at times, but this doesn't prejudice their chance to work with them again.

FLYING (WITHOUT WINGS)
Naturally, memorable projects abound. "I know it sounds cliched, but they're all memorable for different reasons," states Whitehead, adding with a laconic flick of Yorkshire wit, that there's also been the odd one over the years that's been remembered for all the wrong reasons!

For Levitt, top of the memorable pops was Westlife's epic Unbreakable arena 2003 tour, when they flew the band two metres above the audience on a perspex disc, right to the back of the arena for a full 20 minute section of the show. The gag took 12 hours to build each day and consumed 130 rigging points. He also enjoyed working with show's creative directors/designers Alan MacDonald and Will Baker who he found brought fresh and exceptional talent and vision to the stage presentation.

Whitehead may be a decade younger, but Levitt reckons he's definitely harder in some areas... and more technology-conscious in the office. "I use a computer because I have to and everyone else does, but I still prefer to pick up the phone and pitch for work and make my deals that way." Levitt also likes to keep his hand in as a sound engineer whenever possible.

ALL UNDER ONE ROOF
So how about the future? In the five years since Production North's official inauguration, they've exceeded their growth expectations each year. The move to the new premises has been a major one, and will allow consolidation of the 7,000 odd square feet of set, staging and props that's been amassed over the years - some owned, some stored for others. They'll be able to work much more efficiently with the additional space and everything under one roof.

However, the major advantage of the new space is that it's 200 metres from Elland Road! So when they're in the office midweek and there's a Leeds home game, they can be at the ground in five minutes!

Looking to the future, Whitehead thinks they'll be seeking new and different areas of production to move into aside from pop. With so many short-lived careers at the top, it makes sense to explore more durable long term avenues.

Levitt, now 46, looks forward to a period when he can maintain and manage the business and spend less time on the road himself. He also has a few ideas up his sleeve about where Production North will head in the immediate future - given the world of falling record sales and minimal tour support for artists making it an increasingly difficult business in which to survive and prosper - but, understandably, he's not about to reveal them just yet.

Photography by Louise Stickland