WEBVTT - John Watson 0:00:07.520 --> 0:00:11.119 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bob left Sex podcast 0:00:11.400 --> 0:00:16.799 recorded Love Australian Musical. My guest today is manager Extraordinar 0:00:16.920 --> 0:00:19.680 John Watson. John, good to have you here, Thanks for 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:23.160 having me. So we were working at Sony. How did 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:26.760 you decide to leave to manage Silver Chair. Well, they 0:00:26.800 --> 0:00:29.200 already had a record that was exploding all around the world, 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:31.720 so it wasn't really that hard. Now usually it is. 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:33.920 I mean you have the security of you know, a 0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:38.080 weekly paycheck or by weeek paycheck, and so for you 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:41.720 it was really no problem. Look, when John Adunlan and 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:43.600 I first saw the band, we saw them. You know 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:45.680 it's a proverb your gig with six people and four 0:00:45.680 --> 0:00:47.400 of them are watching a TV a place called Jewels 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:50.320 Tavern outside of new Castle, and they did three sets 0:00:50.320 --> 0:00:52.680 and included most of the folk Stomp album that you 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:54.600 know we're gone to sell three minute around the world. 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:57.400 And as we were driving home that night, I said 0:00:57.400 --> 0:00:58.840 to John, I love my job here, but if I 0:00:58.840 --> 0:01:00.280 was ever going to leave to manage a and this 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:02.040 is the one I remember saying it in the car 0:01:02.160 --> 0:01:05.679 driving my Mitsubishi Magna back down the highway. Well, you know, 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:08.039 it's really funny, because that's how the music business is. 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:09.880 If you stay with your are, it's a game of 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:12.200 musical cheers. If you stay where you are, eventually you 0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:15.160 tend to be out. It's very true. Yeah, okay, yeah, 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:18.720 they can't shoot a moving target. Okay, So how did 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:22.360 silver Tare get signed to Sony so Um? Silver Chair 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:25.080 had won a demo competition that SPS had had run. 0:01:25.080 --> 0:01:26.400 In the first instance, it was sort of what we 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:28.000 were a little bit slower for those people don't know 0:01:28.000 --> 0:01:30.880 what is SPS. So Silver Chair had one a demo 0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:34.759 competition that had been run by a national public broadcaster 0:01:35.400 --> 0:01:41.280 called SPS, and it was in many ways the blueprint 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:42.920 for what Triple J would go on to do with 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:46.120 their Unearthed program, finding unsigned artists and giving them profile. 0:01:46.800 --> 0:01:51.400 So Um, the prize for winning this demo competition was 0:01:51.440 --> 0:01:54.320 a day's recording at the Triple J studios, and so 0:01:55.160 --> 0:01:57.360 we had got a tip off that this band had 0:01:57.360 --> 0:01:59.160 been in on the weekend and they've done this song 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:01.120 and everybody at Triple Jay was talking about it are 0:02:01.160 --> 0:02:02.880 probably going to actually start playing it, which was a 0:02:02.960 --> 0:02:05.680 very rare thing to plan unsigned band at that time. 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:10.000 And so we got the call, you know to to 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:12.440 check it out. We loved the song. We called them up, 0:02:12.600 --> 0:02:14.640 actually we called their mums up because they were fourteen 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:18.359 and fifteen at the time, and we John and I 0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:20.720 was John's second day working at Sony. We started up 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:24.480 this Murmur label and he was literally sharing my office, 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:27.200 so sitting across from my desk, and we called up 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:28.560 the parents and we said, well, great, we'll come up 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:31.000 and see them play. And they were playing on playing 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:34.239 two shows, one on the Tuesday night, one on the 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:37.000 Friday night. The Tuesday night we couldn't go because the 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:39.000 head of Sony International was in town, so it was 0:02:39.120 --> 0:02:41.000 put on a suit and go out to dinner with 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:43.520 the boss um. But we said we're coming up on 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:46.560 the Friday. Mushroom went up on the Tuesday. That was 0:02:46.600 --> 0:02:49.120 my next question, was there any competition? So Mushroom went 0:02:49.160 --> 0:02:53.800 up on the Tuesday and um and then Michael Godnsky 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:55.600 got told by the Mushroom people who've been up there 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:58.600 about it. He flew up on the Wednesday, and so 0:02:58.720 --> 0:03:01.160 on the Thursday, John and I call up just to 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:03.360 confirm the times for the gig on the Friday, and 0:03:03.400 --> 0:03:07.480 we're told, look, you shouldn't you probably shouldn't buy the card. Um, 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:10.840 you know we're going to be signing with Mushroom Like, well, 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:13.800 we're coming anyway. So we went up on the Friday, 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:16.240 and then you know, it proceeded to be a sort 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:18.880 of an interesting bidding war situation thereafter. So how did 0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:21.400 you convince them to go with Sony? Well, it's a 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:23.960 good question. Peter Carpins in the audience today. He was 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:27.359 my boss at at Sony at the time, and so 0:03:27.480 --> 0:03:30.600 we had started this new independent label, alternative label. It 0:03:30.680 --> 0:03:33.480 was the early nineties. Everybody had an alternative label to 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:37.680 get their Nirvana um and the whole point of that 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:39.640 label was that it couldn't get into sort of financial 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:42.440 bidding wars. So we had to find a different way 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:46.200 to provide an incentive. And there were two options. One 0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:48.680 was to do a one album deal, so make it 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:50.440 so that the parents was a low bar for them 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:53.840 to jump. You know, when the kids turnading, they can 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:55.880 make up their own mind. Then the other was to 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:59.040 do an Australia only sort of deal give them which 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:00.880 is very important as you would been talking to other 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:03.160 people about lots of Australian artists don't like to sign 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:05.280 for the world out of Australia. So I went to 0:04:05.280 --> 0:04:07.920 Peter and I said, look, we've got these two options. 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:10.240 I'm thinking we should probably just sign them for Australia. 0:04:10.280 --> 0:04:13.560 They're gonna be too young to tour internationally anyway. That's 0:04:13.640 --> 0:04:15.160 you know, there's already a lot of bands that sound 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:18.280 like this in America. Difficult for them to compete over there. 0:04:18.839 --> 0:04:21.960 And Pete with sort of the longer ranged perspective, when yeah, 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:26.080 but there's always little river band meaning an Australian band 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:27.880 that sounds so much like an American band that they 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:29.760 beat them at their own game. Follows you. I'd go 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:32.600 the other way, and in that one statement probably made 0:04:32.600 --> 0:04:35.520 so many tens of millions of dollars um. So we 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:37.600 offered them a one album deal. My few with that 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:40.520 was that they would think that we were saying, um, 0:04:40.839 --> 0:04:42.359 we don't have long term faith in you. Was Our 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:45.280 pitch was the exact opposite. Our pitch was always, if 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:47.600 they're capable of this at fifteen, imagine what they'll do 0:04:47.680 --> 0:04:50.240 at twenty five if they're just given the chance. So 0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:52.400 our pitch was very much, look it's a one album deal. 0:04:52.800 --> 0:04:55.960 There's options which you guys have that you can exercise. 0:04:56.320 --> 0:04:59.520 For more albums. Were definitely keen for more albums um 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:03.680 and then A Eventually that deal was extended. So we 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:06.400 we competed with Geninski, not by sort of throwing money 0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:09.080 at the band, by by by throwing greater control and 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:11.680 a greater long term vision. And I guess the fact 0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:13.240 that John and I at the time was sort of 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:16.240 the younger guys that you could give them, you know, 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:18.680 unreleased pearl jam c d s and stuff like that, 0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:21.560 gave us a little bit of an edge. And as 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:23.839 I say, the deal flexibility helps a lot as well. Okay, 0:05:23.839 --> 0:05:26.720 so did Mushroom really come back and try to get 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:30.000 the band or Mushroom Mushroom were definitely could be other 0:05:30.080 --> 0:05:32.640 labels and then came to the party, and there were 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:34.520 people around the band, as there always are, who are 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:36.240 sort of leaning them one way, leaving them the other. 0:05:36.279 --> 0:05:39.040 So but Mushroom with the main competition. Others subsequently came along, 0:05:39.080 --> 0:05:41.000 but it was always sort of U saw them and 0:05:41.040 --> 0:05:43.680 then so we signed them in the I think that 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:49.040 the Juno July by the August September of ninety four 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:51.320 tomorrow had gone to number one in Australia. It stayed 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:54.440 there for six weeks April. The following year, Frog Stomp 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:57.320 came out here in March April and debut at number one. 0:05:57.800 --> 0:06:01.440 And that's in That song was the most played song 0:06:01.600 --> 0:06:04.960 on modern rock radio in America for the year. Okay, 0:06:05.279 --> 0:06:07.560 so a little bit slower. So you signed the band, 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:12.040 you make the deal, what do you do about the recording? Um? 0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:15.200 So they had the first DP had already been done 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:20.120 at Triple J with Yeah. Look, it was their first 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:22.680 recording in a studio and Phil mccally did a great 0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:25.839 job with them. Um. There was a guy called Kevin 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:30.400 Shirley who went on to do a Millionaires Journey, a 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:34.400 million aero smith and he now does cultures or for 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:37.240 us and Jimmy Barnes. He's now based back in Australia, 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:40.520 South African originally, but he's been around the world. Um, 0:06:40.600 --> 0:06:42.600 we thought Kevin was perfect because he had a really 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:46.360 no frills, lean kind of rock approach. And the other 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:50.560 thing is the fastest engineer producer I've ever seen, Like, 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:52.680 you've never seen somebody who can capture a sound for 0:06:52.720 --> 0:06:55.720 a band like this guy. And they were teenagers. They 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:58.080 had teenage attention spans. You know, if you didn't get 0:06:58.080 --> 0:06:59.760 it in the first twenty minutes to half an hour. 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:01.680 You are going to get it. This band needed to 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:04.120 make please Please me. You know, they needed to get in, 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:07.120 make a record, fast, get out. They had the songs, 0:07:07.560 --> 0:07:10.200 it just needed to be captured and sound great, and 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:12.320 so Kevin, and Kevin was a big kid himself, so 0:07:12.360 --> 0:07:13.880 they'd get in. You know. We sent him in for 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:16.240 a day to sort of do a tryout with keV. 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:19.760 They walked out with two completely finished masters in a day, 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:21.960 which is pure massacre and a song called leave Me 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:24.560 Out that was the B side of it, and and 0:07:24.600 --> 0:07:27.160 then Kevin did the record in. He did it about 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:29.440 nine days, but three of that was chause Daniel blew 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:31.120 his voice out from all the singing. He really did 0:07:31.120 --> 0:07:33.720 it in six and then mixed it thereafter. So it 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:35.800 was super fast. And all the songs were written before 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:37.760 they went in the studio. Yes, yeah, they had every 0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:40.120 single pretty much every song and time on that album. 0:07:40.640 --> 0:07:43.360 There's like two or three that they wrote after we 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:46.240 signed them, but none of the singles. All the singles 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:47.720 were there the first time we saw. So the album 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:50.040 was finished. How long after it finished does it come out? 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:54.320 So the album's finished really quickly because tomorrow was already 0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:57.360 exploding in Australia and we're starting to get buzz around 0:07:57.400 --> 0:08:00.239 the world. Um, the band was on the big day out, 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:04.240 so it was probably only eight to ten weeks between 0:08:04.360 --> 0:08:06.680 delivery of master and first CD going in the shop. 0:08:06.800 --> 0:08:09.320 It's always funny because labels have their schedule, but if 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:11.800 the change of priorities, they can get things out much 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:15.640 very true, very true. I think about that Silver Chair 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:19.520 arc now and you know it was all super quick 0:08:19.560 --> 0:08:22.559 at the time. It was explosive, right, but it still 0:08:22.600 --> 0:08:25.640 took the better part of twelve months for this song 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:29.280 to travel from its first Triple J spins to the 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:34.800 band getting played on k Rock. And but once it's 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:37.520 played on Triple G at that point, it's breaking in 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:41.240 all of Australia, right correctly, it's a national station. At 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:44.840 what point do you quit? Sony, I don't leave until 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:48.520 like the formally until the June of ninety. I'm I'm 0:08:48.559 --> 0:08:52.480 in every manager's dream situation. I am a secret agent 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:55.960 withinside the record company, um, knowing that I'm probably going 0:08:56.040 --> 0:08:58.360 to leave in six months or so to manage this band. 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:01.720 So you could have a meeting we sort of should 0:09:01.720 --> 0:09:03.400 we fire this band to Europe to do a few 0:09:03.440 --> 0:09:08.000 promotional shows. Yes, we very much should um, but it 0:09:08.000 --> 0:09:10.080 worked out pretty well for everyone. Okay, so they didn't 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:12.199 have a manager at the time. Now the mums, Well, 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:15.040 we had this situation where each of the band's mother's, 0:09:15.400 --> 0:09:19.640 the band's agent Owen, authored their lawyer, Brett Oton, John O'Donnell, 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:23.920 and myself between us kind of divided the management responsibilities 0:09:24.160 --> 0:09:29.240 and their accountant. So it was sort of management by 0:09:29.240 --> 0:09:32.560 committee for a while, with most of the career direction 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:35.520 stuff that record company side, the global strategy side stuff 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:37.280 coming out of John and I Are the touring stuff 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:40.040 coming out of Owen. Brett was kind of looking after 0:09:40.040 --> 0:09:41.760 the band members interests and the moms were kind of 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:44.040 helping with a lot of the sort of the day 0:09:44.080 --> 0:09:46.280 to day organizing and just making sure that they were 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:50.160 kept ask of the theoretical fifteen percent. Did that all 0:09:50.160 --> 0:09:53.040 out up to well? There was There was no one 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:55.640 really getting paid for the management first period. No one 0:09:55.679 --> 0:09:57.520 was getting paid for it. It was just everybody was 0:09:57.559 --> 0:09:59.640 doing it. It was a labor of love for everybody. Okay, 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:04.199 sure the record explodes in Australia in terms of international 0:10:04.400 --> 0:10:07.720 they find you or you pitch them so my I 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:10.439 had two roles at Sony Australia. I was by then 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:12.840 I was a and R and I was international marketing, 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:16.400 which sounds strange from an American perspective. It's like think 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:18.199 of the assembly line on the first step in the 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:22.400 last step. UM Melissa, who's the general manager of my 0:10:22.440 --> 0:10:24.920 company has been ever since, was the domestic marketing person. 0:10:25.240 --> 0:10:28.280 So between us we sort of had the assembly um. 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:34.120 So we had UM through that international marketing role. I 0:10:34.160 --> 0:10:36.520 was already had been spending a few years traveling around 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:39.720 the world meeting people at Sony. We've had some success 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:42.400 with Tina Arena around the same time she had a 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:44.959 top ten hit in the UK. UM there were other 0:10:45.040 --> 0:10:47.120 artists that we had had sort of worked, probably with 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:50.559 less success, but it had helped me build some relationships 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:52.880 and I've been able to kind of slipstream on the 0:10:52.960 --> 0:10:57.760 very back of Midnight Oils global career, sort of walk 0:10:57.800 --> 0:10:59.840 in where you know, they were already a very established band. 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:01.760 Was just a kid walking around bumping into things who 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:03.640 knew nothing. But it was a great way to meet 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:06.080 people and build relationships. So by the time Silver Chair 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:08.680 came along, after two or three years of doing that job, 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:10.680 I was really well placed to be able to find 0:11:10.960 --> 0:11:14.040 the right supporters in Sony. So David Massey had just 0:11:14.120 --> 0:11:17.840 taken on his role um at Epic working for Richard 0:11:17.840 --> 0:11:21.079 Griffiths at the time, and he was a big early 0:11:21.160 --> 0:11:23.800 champion for it. And simply in some other territories, it's 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:26.160 always the type of record if you pleaded for somebody 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:29.040 once they got it. Yeah, and I think the Australian 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:33.280 successful well yes and no, I mean Tomorrow obviously sounded 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:36.559 a lot like Pearl Jam And you know, there was 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:38.199 always that thing of like, oh was it a teenage 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:40.800 novelty act, you know, so that most people could see 0:11:40.800 --> 0:11:43.240 the commercial opportunity in it. That wasn't what we were 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:45.760 looking for, though. We were looking for people who could 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:47.959 actually sort of see something more than that, who could say, 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:49.959 hang on, if they're capable of doing this at fifteen, 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:52.160 imagine what they'll do at twenty five if they're given 0:11:52.200 --> 0:11:54.480 the chance. So those were the kind of believers we 0:11:54.480 --> 0:11:56.120 were looking for. It wasn't hard to find people who 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:58.160 thought they could make a quick buck. It was hard 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:00.840 to find people who thought they could make a long buck. 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:04.240 And did it end up on Sony labels all over 0:12:04.280 --> 0:12:06.920 the world or did you make deals with other independence. No, 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:09.640 it was a worldwide signing to Sony because of how 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:11.960 the deal went down in the first place, So other 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:15.319 Sony affiliates released. It was just a matter of convincing them. 0:12:15.320 --> 0:12:18.079 There's no if the Sony affiliate in some country didn't 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:20.880 want it, you couldn't take it independent. Um. Well, look, 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:23.920 had they not wanted, I suppose we could have taken independent, 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:27.439 but it just was never necessary because of the um, 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:29.560 you know, the heat that the song happened. So it's 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:36.079 happening in Australia. Where's the first other country it happens, Um, America. 0:12:36.440 --> 0:12:40.040 And it's a great question, Um, it happens in This 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:42.760 is a great example of how breakouts happen in slow motion. 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:45.680 Now they happen in such fast motion that it's hard 0:12:45.720 --> 0:12:47.880 to go back and figure out. You know, did the 0:12:47.880 --> 0:12:50.760 blog happen one minute before the playlist dad, or did 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:54.960 it happen two minutes after the you know? Um, it 0:12:55.040 --> 0:12:57.000 was more slow motion in those days, so you could 0:12:57.000 --> 0:12:58.959 actually see it was that then it was that, then 0:12:58.960 --> 0:13:03.120 it was that. So there were three separate American radio stations, 0:13:03.600 --> 0:13:05.559 one of which is notionally on the Canadian side of 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:08.080 the border. But it plays him to Destroit who all 0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:12.800 started playing the record. So it's key rock now, I 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:15.120 don't know it's it's not the ones you expect. So 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:19.800 Brian Phillips at the time was programming x in Atlanta, 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:21.840 which was the big alternative station in Atlanta. He had 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:24.160 been flow in to Australia on a junket to see 0:13:24.200 --> 0:13:26.760 the Cruel Sea, an Australian band that probably aren't familiar 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:29.520 to your overseas listeners, but of familiar to everybody that's 0:13:29.559 --> 0:13:32.599 here today. M Brian had come to Australia seeing the 0:13:32.640 --> 0:13:34.400 Cruel Sea, hadn't been that impressed with them, but it 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:37.360 heard tomorrow on the radio. I thought this is fantastic, 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:40.400 went back home and played it, added it to his station, 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:42.840 as said of his souvenir of being in Australia. Completely 0:13:42.840 --> 0:13:44.920 different record company. By the way, so PolyGram have paid 0:13:44.960 --> 0:13:47.559 to flame down. He's picked up the Soniac, gone home 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:49.599 and added that. And that was before the record was 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:53.439 even out in America. Yeah, way before, way before um. 0:13:53.480 --> 0:13:55.439 He then decided to call his radio show the Big 0:13:55.520 --> 0:13:57.640 Day Out as well. So he had had a really 0:13:57.679 --> 0:14:04.040 good to Australia. Poley gramp brilliant. Um. Meanwhile c I 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:07.880 M x n X, which was north of Detroit, as 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:09.760 I say, on the Canadian side of the border, but 0:14:09.800 --> 0:14:14.560 played into the Detroit market. Um, someone there had a 0:14:15.040 --> 0:14:17.320 There was a person who had a sibling who was 0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:20.560 backpacking in Australia. I was a brother or a sister. 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:23.720 The siblings sent them the CD and they added it, 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:28.640 and um, then we had and they were the two 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:31.760 that went first. And then there was also air play 0:14:31.800 --> 0:14:36.440 in Chicago. Um from another coincidence of that sort that 0:14:36.480 --> 0:14:38.040 I'm just blacking on at the moment, but it was 0:14:38.040 --> 0:14:40.480 an equal Oh, I know what it was. People had 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:42.520 flown to Australia. We we'd flown down on a junk 0:14:42.560 --> 0:14:45.200 at some people from a trade mag from like in 0:14:45.240 --> 0:14:49.400 those his album network and Gaps and those sorts of things. Yeah. Yeah, 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:52.000 So a couple of those people had come to Australia. 0:14:52.280 --> 0:14:54.960 They had picked up I'd sent some of them the 0:14:55.000 --> 0:14:57.200 music they'd come down before to see other artists, and 0:14:57.240 --> 0:14:59.480 so I had given them some music. They had shared 0:14:59.520 --> 0:15:03.000 it with the end in Seattle and m Q and 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:05.520 one in Chicago at the time, and so they started 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:08.840 playing it as well. So epic is getting um these 0:15:08.840 --> 0:15:13.680 calls from radio programmers saying, this is our number one UM, 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:16.360 you know phones record, this thing is, why don't you 0:15:16.400 --> 0:15:18.760 release it? So it's the perfect world and it led 0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:21.520 to a situation for us that was highly unusual, which 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:25.920 was that within epic Um, the promotion department was actually 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:28.360 the band's biggest fans. Usually the promotion department, of course, 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:30.800 is the hardest one to sell exactly. But you know, 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:36.520 Sue Burgan and Ron Serrito and Jackie Saton, Evan Prague, 0:15:36.640 --> 0:15:40.160 those people were all very instrumental in the band's career 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:42.840 across all three records that we put out on Epic 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:46.120 and even when sort of other people within the company 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:48.800 were may be less interested in them because they were 0:15:48.840 --> 0:15:52.560 an inherited project, they were foster kids, not firstborn's. Um. 0:15:52.680 --> 0:15:55.760 They we still had the promotion department out there working, 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:57.600 and we had supporters in radio, so we sort of 0:15:57.600 --> 0:16:01.320 work backwards into a record company. Okay. The perception from 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:05.080 my viewpoint across the pond is that it breaks up, 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:08.640 breaks out immediately, you know, I get the record, etcetera. 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:13.560 But it didn't appear that the Subjequent records were as 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:17.520 successful in America. Is that true or just my perspective. Well, 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:20.200 it's true, but they were still successful. So the second one, 0:16:20.920 --> 0:16:22.560 the third one was more successful than the second one 0:16:22.560 --> 0:16:24.840 because they had a big TRL video top ten TRL 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:28.720 video at the time on MTV. UM. They both gold records, 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:32.080 well and truly gold records. The first one was double platinum. UM. 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:33.880 The other thing that was interesting with it with that 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:36.400 band is because k Rock was late to the party. 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:39.200 They were one of the latest stations. They never felt 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:42.040 the same ownership that they did on many other artists. 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:45.560 So Silver Chair had the opposite as well. Very inside baseball, 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:47.960 but the Silver Chair had the opposite kind of career 0:16:47.960 --> 0:16:51.320 in America to most international artists. They were much bigger 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:53.880 in the middle than they were on the coasts. Um. 0:16:54.240 --> 0:16:58.240 So the BIGG in Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, UM, you know, 0:16:58.360 --> 0:17:00.200 not as big in New York and l A. They're 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:02.960 always proportionately quite weak market, so the industry perception of 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:04.800 them was always probably a little weaker than what the 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:07.359 reality was. But yes, the second and third records were 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:10.840 not as big. The band had had a successful career there. 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:13.679 Of course. The difficulty was that being at high school, 0:17:14.280 --> 0:17:16.480 they just weren't able, and they did go through all 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:18.520 of their school and they finished the first two records 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:20.720 came out while they were still full time high school students. 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:24.320 UM So they weren't able to do anywhere near the 0:17:24.359 --> 0:17:26.400 same sort of touring they were doing here. So our 0:17:26.400 --> 0:17:30.560 ability to convince people that this is a really good 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:33.560 rock and roll band that you should see live, um 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:36.680 was diminished in America compared to what we were able 0:17:36.720 --> 0:17:39.320 to do in this market, where they had very different 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:42.000 standing in Canada because it was a smaller market and 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:44.359 we were able to play more. They're probably twice as 0:17:44.400 --> 0:17:47.000 strong per capita there. So it's very much about our 0:17:47.040 --> 0:17:49.240 ability to have people see the band play live. Once 0:17:49.280 --> 0:17:50.679 they saw them play live, they're like, oh, it's not 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:53.119 a novelty act that this is a seriously So in 0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:54.960 a couple of years when they were still in high school, 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:57.200 how many deeds would they do in a year? Well, 0:17:57.200 --> 0:17:59.760 it depend how long school holidays were, um, so they 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:02.000 only worked on the schoolhole And I'm being a little 0:18:02.040 --> 0:18:05.159 bit but like it's largely yeah, I mean, you know, 0:18:05.240 --> 0:18:08.800 they we were touring probably a fifth to a quarter 0:18:08.840 --> 0:18:10.760 as much as your average rock and roll band would 0:18:10.760 --> 0:18:13.919 have been touring, particularly at that moment. Now didn't whose 0:18:13.920 --> 0:18:17.640 idea was to stay in school, the parents, the kids, 0:18:18.119 --> 0:18:21.240 probably not the kids. Um, I think it was everybody 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:24.600 else's idea other than the kids to some extent. Although 0:18:24.640 --> 0:18:27.560 having said that, you know, as things got nutty for them, 0:18:27.560 --> 0:18:31.680 and it did get unbelievably nutty, tabloid photographers camped outside 0:18:31.680 --> 0:18:33.680 the school taking photos to put on the front page 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:37.800 of the Sydney tabloids and all that stuff. Um, having 0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:40.080 that some sort of anchor within the school environment was 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:41.920 pretty good for them, you know. I mean they turned 0:18:41.960 --> 0:18:45.480 down playing with the Chili Peppers at Wembley in order 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:48.440 to go to a mates sixte birthday party in Newcastle. 0:18:50.600 --> 0:18:54.080 So during this run, would you say they remain relatively 0:18:54.119 --> 0:18:59.679 well adjusted? Yeah? Um, I think Daniel was always going 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:03.080 to um. And you know, if you listen to the 0:19:03.160 --> 0:19:06.040 lyrics on frog Stomp, which were all written before he 0:19:06.119 --> 0:19:09.040 was famous, clearly you know he was a guy that 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:14.440 felt things deeply and was battling with some issues. Um. 0:19:14.480 --> 0:19:17.960 Those issues were not helped by the pressures of fame, 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:24.040 and despite everybody's intentions, best intentions, the best efforts to 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:26.760 try to kind of protect him from from all of that, stuff. 0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:28.840 There's no doubt all of that. You know, it took 0:19:28.840 --> 0:19:32.320 a toll as well. Okay, so as they say, we're 0:19:32.320 --> 0:19:34.440 in America, we're very focused there. How about the rest 0:19:34.480 --> 0:19:37.560 of the world in terms of the records acceptance, they 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:39.600 did well on the continent. The UK never liked, the 0:19:39.760 --> 0:19:43.240