Industry: Some Rules of Thumb

My first bit of advice: Don’t tell anyone anything!

This was a phrase my old boss and one of New Zealand’s great rock’n roll promoters Chris Cole used to bark at me – and although it sounds super cynical, it’s really not. It is probably not what NZ funding bodies and those trying to forge a local music community would like to hear bandied about – but I think it’s good policy for a band and its management to be careful about telling anyone anything.

It works on a couple of levels. As a manager I think it’s wise not to pass on every piece of good or bad news to the band. You get so many great offers, or suggestions or opportunities – I think it’s best to wait until the deal is completely done, or permission from the band is required – before bringing it up. It can be really depressing for band members when these things don’t happen, but in reality a lot of things don’t happen – all the time. So no need to tell the band that a certain reviewer/label/agent/important person will be at their show – no point in telling them Arcade Fire have just offered them the support of their world tour, yadda yadda… basically wait until it happens.

As a band the same applies. I don’t think you should broadcast that you are off overseas on tour – better to wait until you have checked your guitars on and are walking towards passport control. In this business anything can happen – and you look really dumb if this sort of stuff doesn’t eventuate.

NZ is such a small environment that for the most part everyone is getting the same deals at venues, the same ad rate with bNet etc., but every now and again you do learn things that not everyone knows. Perhaps a certain bar thinks they can make money out of bands so offer good guarantees for a while – or maybe you figure out that you should actually book your Labour Day gig in February. It’s good practice to keep this info to yourself.

The only real advantage you end up having over all of your mates who are in bands is tacit knowledge, and if you learned it for whatever reason , then it has a value. And that value gives you a value. Obviously there is a whole lot of info that is good to share as well – like cheap van hire companies, good sound engineers, helpful radio people etc – but sharing international contacts to just any old one isn’t going to help you. Sharing successful grant application templates around is just going to have you competing against your own grant application one day with another band’s name on it.

I also don’t think a band ever has to issue a press release to explain why certain stuff has happened. I read recently about a Kiwi band getting turned back from London because they didn’t have visas and their record label offered up same lame excuse in a press release – in other words trumpeting bad organisation and making the band look silly. If bad / embarrassing stuff goes on – and if the media show an interest – you are under no obligation to talk about anything. Just keep it to yourself. Don’t keep feeding the fire or showing that dumb stuff is going on – be it internal fighting, sacking of a band member, or what ever feels like big earth shattering news in your world.

I have personally benefited from a lot of great advice and shared contacts over my time. Tom Dalton in particular really helped me out when The Datsuns were huge in the UK and the Brunettes were just about to go over. So when I say don’t tell anyone anything – I should really be saying – pick wisely the people who you are going to share information with. At the end of the day whether you like it or not – all bands in NZ are competing with each other whether its for show dates, poster space, good ads slots on the radio – so you need to keep mum about a few things if you are going to get ahead.

And now a Do: Go Where The Enthusiasm Is

This is a truism I learned from Jonathan Poneman of Sub Pop Records. This guy has been round the block a few times and is like a wise old druid. I remember him saying this to me after I had a whole bunch of excellent booking agents interested in the Brunettes. Probably because the word had got round about their interest – a VERY MAJOR agent said she would throw her hat into the ring. (Until this time she had never shown particular interest in booking the band.) Now I was torn – to go with one of these really great people who were emailing me, phoning and trying to fly across states to see me OR go with this big wig.

Before I had even finished explaining it to Poneman he said; ‘Oh, go where the enthusiasm is – every time’. He was so right and I have since been involved with so many similar situations, weighing up the enthusiastic people vs the fat cats! Sometimes the fat cats just want to sign everything that moves if they hear it’s hot – and after that you can never get them to return your call. The enthusiastic people will still want to work for you.

More recently I had this very same situation come up with the Brunettes’ back catalogue – except now it was another label really chasing me for it while Sub Pop were saying they wanted to sign it, but never actually making an offer. This time I ended up using Mr Poneman’s own advice against him.

This advice is also relevant if you have a friend who is really super keen to help your band out – or a well-connected but arrogant promoter who shows the odd interest here and there, yet never comes up with the goods. Go with the enthusiastic friend.

Same with enthusiastic versus what is cool – and this of course happens a lot in our scene. A label might be going through its cool stage – or a publicist might be in with the cool crowd – but really – what is going to help you best is someone who actually does the work, likely not the cool. I have never been the cool alternative person around town – but I have always worked in that scene. For a long time I felt very out of place and almost apologetic that I was wearing Glassons clothes and didn’t drink or take drugs – so was never going to be the cool kid / manager type at the party. Nor did I know everything about every band that ever existed – but once I got out of NZ and was on the road I discovered that all the successful agents, tour managers, promoters etc were square too. I realised that no one wants to deal with a manager who is snorting drugs – integrity, work and reliability is what is going to help get your band to the next level.