In our Staff Spotlight series, we’re pulling back the curtain on the talented artists, artisans, and craftspeople who make up our crew. Our team is a gumbo pot of creativity: painters, sculptors, woodworkers, fiber artists, costume designers, metalsmiths, actors, musicians, and the list goes on. If you can dream it up, chances are we’re already doing it in our free time, too. That’s what makes us so good at our day jobs as custom experiential fabricators.

Each month, we’ll shine a light on one of our team members—their inspirations, their after-hours projects, and the creative spark they bring to both their life and our shop floor. Because behind every masterpiece is a person with a story worth sharing.

This month we talked with the Head of our Metalworks Department (alternate job title: Metal Head), Shagg Neeley.

If you’ve ever wandered into the Downtown FabWorks shop and caught sight of a welding mask tilted toward the flame, chances are it was Stephen Neeley—better known around here as Shagg—making something awesome in his signature style: patient, precise, and deeply intentional.

Shagg’s a natural-born creative, and has been drawing, painting, and making music since early childhood. He started piano lessons at six, and by 11 he was plucking out tunes on his dad’s acoustic guitar. It wasn’t long until he moved on to his own electric guitar. At 14, he and his friends started their first band (with his older brother, Orville, on the drums).

He didn’t like the traditional training methods, so he made his own path—skipping formal music programs in school, but experimenting constantly. Over time, the instruments changed, but the drive to create never faded. Music runs in the family; Shagg counts his brother—now an L.A.-based touring musician—and grandmother Barbara Jean—a talented church pianist and organist who infused hymns with her own special flair—as personal heroes.

Shagg arrived in New Orleans in 2007, and right away, the city's rhythm and spirit cracked something open. His music started to shift in tune to his new home, a city still in full swing of rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina.

Over the years, he played in metal bands, learned to cook, and took on a challenging job as a sous chef under a classically trained chef in a restaurant whose menu changed weekly. He eventually realized that creativity wasn’t just fun for him—it was necessary. He also started to double down on his musical exploration, first teaching himself synth, then learning the drums soon after.

After the pandemic hit, like so many of us, Shagg faced a hard reset. Restaurants were closed, and the future seemed uncertain. He decided to go back to school to get his CDL, then drove trucks for a major company for awhile before coming to work as a driver at Downtown FabWorks. But between trips, he hung out in the shop and watched the welders fit out and tack up steel elements. He was hooked. "Perhaps I took being a metalhead too seriously,” he jokes.

He learned fast. One of his first major moments came during the Walk-On’s bar rig build, where he handled a massive cut list and helped fit the assembly alongside experienced teammates. The job was messy at times. It was mentally demanding. But it was also fulfilling. Soon after, he signed up to get certified as a welder, and the rest is history.

Whether it’s an educational pavilion (shoutout to Bucktown Bird’s Nest—one of his favorite DFW builds) or a piano line written in the middle of a dark, wandering season—Shagg’s work is always personal. He takes pride in standing out through attention to detail, whether it’s a unique riff or a super-clean weld.

When he’s not in the shop, you’ll find him making music with his band Mehenet—a performance-driven black metal group whose shows are raw, real, and intentionally a spectacle—decidedly not background noise. Shagg describes their style as "performance art with a purpose.”

You can catch the band’s newest music streaming on Spotify and Bandcamp. They also have a benefit show coming up in early June (date TBD) in the parking lot at Wagner’s Meat, with all proceeds going to benefit Palestinian children. Keep an eye on Mehenet’s Instagram page for more details.

Interested in finding out how the creative minds at Downtown FabWorks can help you create unforgettable experiences for patrons, guests, and clients? We partner with our clients to design and fabricate immersive experiences, themed environments, and more. Visit our website to see how we can bring your vision to life.