Box Five Artist Management was formed when Tour Manager Randy Sappo, known as “Stripes” throughout the music industry, was asked to take over the day-to-day managing duties of a handful in bands in a relatively short period of time. When not touring, Stripes was already helping his friends in the Poison Tribute Say Ahh…, and working with solo recording artist Rick Plester, when he was approached by rock legends Kingdom Come to help navigate their return to the touring industry in 2023. Within a few months he was also asked to help a couple of other bands who were looking for representation, including a Queensryche tribute called Empire, based partially on the fact that he had spent the better part of two years touring with Queensryche's vocalist of three decades, the legendary Geoff Tate.
This quickly blossomed into the multi-band roster that is now represented by Box Five Artist Management in varying capacities ranging from fulltime Day-to-Day Management, Tour Management, or Consulting, all of which are aided by his touring experience with various bands throughout the last decade, and the incredible opportunities he's had to work alongside, and learn from, CTK Management who handle a number of high-profile bands and artists, most notably Dolly Parton.
A former professional hockey official, with more than 1600 pro games in 22 seasons to his credit, Stripes began Tour Managing in 2013 when he was tapped by former Iron Maiden vocalist Blaze Bayley to manage the touring responsibilities of his new heavy metal supergroup, The Foundry, that also featured guitarist Rick Plester (Black Symphony), bassist John Moyer (Disturbed), and drummers James Kottak (Scorpions) and AJ Pero (Twisted Sister). Stripes managed three annual US tours for the band from 2013 through 2015 before being hired by former Queensryche singer Geoff Tate, for his solo band, Operation: Mindcrime, for whom he helmed 4 National Tours in 2016 & 2017, including the Trinity Tour that featured Tate, Blaze Bayley, and former Judas Priest vocalist Ripper Owens.
In 2018 Stripes was recruited by his friend John Moyer from Disturbed to take over the touring management of his newest side project, Dark Sky Choir. Dark Sky toured extensively that year with Fozzy, Joyous Wolf (both of whom Stripes would later work with directly), Through Fire, Santa Cruz, Electric Citizen, and Monster Magnet.
The Dark Sky tours lead directly to Joyous Wolf hiring Stripes' the following year, when he toured exclusively with the up-and-coming rock band, with whom he would continue to work until their hiatus in 2022. Touring non-stop in 2019, he was with them for 85 shows with Buckcherry, a two-week run through Canada with Slash, Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators, festival slots alongside Godsmack and Evanescence, and wrapping up the year with 32 shows opening for the legendary Deep Purple on the North American leg of their Long Goodbye Tour.
Since then, Stripes has worked with or toured nationally with metal bands Fozzy and The Nocturnal Affair, as well as the legendary Brett Michaels of Poison; Michigan-based rock band Frame 42; Academy of Country Music Award nominees Restless Road; pop singer Jonah Marais; and currently serves as the full-time TM for the Nashville-based alternative pop group Nightly.
In addition, Stripes' name can be seen in the credits of Dolly Parton's 2021 television special, A Holly Dolly Christmas. He also worked on the country legend's 2022 Super Bowl commercial and has accompanied Dolly in various capacities for her headlining show at Austin's South by Southwest in 2022, as well as her two hosting spots at the Academy of Country Music Award shows in Las Vegas in 2022 and Dallas in 2023.
When not touring, Stripes has also served as executive producer for three separate album projects. The first was with California power-pop band The Pranks for their eponymously titled 2014 cd, featuring the late Jeffrey Foskett (Beach Boys Band), Randelle Kirsch (Beach Boys Band), Robby Scharf (The Cowsills), and Bo Fox (Papa Doo Run Run). The second was with the afore-mentioned metal supergroup The Foundry, for their 2015 cd Live in Texas, featuring Blaze Bayley (Iron Maiden) Rick Plester (Black Symphony), John Moyer (Disturbed), and AJ Pero (Twisted Sister). More recently, Stripes helmed the production of the 80's MetalFest Mixtape CD featuring one of his own Box Five bands, Kingdom Come, highlighting their new music as they return to the touring industry.