After spotting a Penn Fabrication latch on social media, we wanted to find out more about this particular flight case, and so we reached out to Laura Nagtegaal, owner of MsGyver, and self-employed tour & stage manager, guitar & keys technician and merchandise manager with 25+ years of experience.
Laura was born and is still based in The Netherlands, with a background in Computer Science and Psychology. In 1995, Laura got her first taste of the live music industry assisting the band ‘The Gathering’ as a roadie and helping with their merchandise.
In 2003, Laura went on her first full tour as a guitar technician, for which this case was commissioned, “It was basically me asking Raymond (The Gathering’s Tour Manager at the time): ‘I need a road-proof guitar stand that travels with me’ - His preferred flight case partner was Reco Cases, and as I was new to flight cases and how I could get them built to my specs back then, there wasn't any input from me other than it needed to hold 7 guitars.”
Reco Cases is a long-time, valued customer of Penn Elcom’s and has been for over 20 years. A large company, Reco Cases continues to grow, becoming more and more active in high-tech, industrial flight cases.
At 20 years old, this particular flight case featuring Penn Elcom (or Penn Fabrication) hardware and adorned in stickers from the shows it’s been a part of, has travelled thousands of miles all around Europe and the United States… and is still fully operational, but is no longer being used. “I used this case on all my tours between 2003 and 2006, including; Samael & Cathedral 2003 EU, Samael & Cathedral 2003 US, Exodus 2003 EU, Anathema 2003-2006 EU, Exodus 2004 US, Porcupine Tree 2005 EU.”
“Very early on in my professional career, I learned about Penn Elcom (then Penn Fabrication) and how their products were the industry standard. If your flight case was built without Penn Elcom hardware, you'd get into trouble sooner or later! All of my currently-used wheeled flight cases (5 install rack & amp cases and one 19" audio mixer rack turned guitar technician case) are fitted exclusively with Penn Elcom hardware and Penn Elcom or Tente wheels. I bought all of these cases second-hand, because of a circularity approach I have to buying my gear, whenever I can. The only solid requirement I have for cases is for them to be fitted with heavy-duty Penn Elcom hardware!”
Since starting out as a guitar and keys technician, Laura has expanded her skills and portfolio considerably; Stage, Production, Tour Manager and Merchandiser for many well-known bands, “most notable for me were Porcupine Tree 2005-2007, Turisas 2007-2014, Theatre of Tragedy 2007-2010, Carcass 2008-2014, Cathedral 2010-2011, and Blind Guardian 2011-2022”.
For Laura, taking an active role in promoting diversity and equality in the music industry is also extremely important …
“In 2016, after having repressed it for 30+ years, I came out as transgender. It gave me a backbone and instantly boosted my confidence and sense of self, knowing I could be unapologetically ‘me’”. Since then, Laura has become involved in all sorts of social-focused volunteer work such as counselling gender-questioning people and political party membership where she focuses on diversity, equality & inclusion.
“As a mostly-white transgender person, I have become hyper-aware of how much work there's still to do in the live music industry surrounding gender, equity, and representation. This was pushed more to the foreground during the ‘pause’ button so harshly being pressed during the height of the Covid pandemic. Many in the industry took that for the silver lining it could be; hard and hot topics like mental and physical well-being, sexism, racism, and sustainability; they could all finally be addressed without the never-ending stream of show-related deadlines distracting us."
"I personally suffered massive losses in revenue and work simply by now presenting as Laura. Previously, I never even had to make a resume or CV; now all of a sudden, that was the first thing I'd be asked for, and still, I’d not be hired, despite having a long list of references and recommendations.”
Outside of her work in the music industry, Laura has also been active in sports governance. “In my younger years, I played korfball (an almost exclusively Dutch sport) and football, but in 2010, when I started playing disc golf, I very quickly became involved in national governance and I became a Governor for the Global Sports Association, PDGA. I have just been re-elected and I am about to start my 4th term”.
We were thrilled to see Laura’s case and to find out more about it. It’s been a pleasure to also learn more about Laura – thank you for sharing your story with us!
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