WEBVTT - Richard Griffiths 0:00:07.520 --> 0:00:11.320 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bottom Left Sets podcasting. 0:00:11.720 --> 0:00:15.320 My guest today is Richard Griffiths. He and his partner 0:00:15.520 --> 0:00:19.440 Harry McGee make up Modest Management, and they are receiving 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:23.360 the Music Industry Award. Richard, what is that a war? 0:00:24.760 --> 0:00:29.400 But it's a great honor that is persperoed once a 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:36.720 year from within the industry to artists. Paul McConney got it. 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:41.239 Roger Roger Adultery got it, John Barry, the great composer 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:47.159 got it. Uh, Rob string On, Lucien Grange. Okay, you 0:00:47.240 --> 0:00:50.000 know in today's world, are you impressed that you got it? 0:00:50.080 --> 0:00:53.960 Does it mean something to you? Um, it's very flattering. 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:58.000 I think it's Uh in a way, I feel it's 0:00:58.120 --> 0:01:04.560 an acknowledgement that management is now somebody something that needs 0:01:04.640 --> 0:01:07.960 more respect than maybe it has been given in the 0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:11.480 past by the industry. Because we are the first managers 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:19.160 ever to receive the award. Um so i I although 0:01:19.520 --> 0:01:23.280 it's been given to Harry and me, um, as far 0:01:23.360 --> 0:01:30.320 as we're concerned, we're collecting it on behalf of managers. Okay, Now, 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:32.839 you used to be an executive. What's the difference between 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:35.760 working at the label or in publishing and being on 0:01:35.840 --> 0:01:41.840 the management side. As a manager, we are involved in 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:49.639 every aspect of the artist's career um. And that means 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:54.720 obviously in helping them get a record deal, getting the 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:57.640 right air and our person helping to make sure the 0:01:57.800 --> 0:02:00.400 right record is being made, then making sure it's being 0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:05.240 marketed properly, uh, and then getting the right agent to 0:02:05.400 --> 0:02:08.440 book the right tours and the right gigs for them 0:02:09.320 --> 0:02:15.160 to take their music out live. Um, the right publicists, 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:20.720 the right publisher. So we as managers are in the 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:25.200 epicenter of everything that goes on with an artist. Whereas 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:30.040 a record company guy may only be involved in a 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:33.600 and R ng the record, he may only be involved 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:37.200 in a and R ing in in marketing that record, 0:02:37.720 --> 0:02:43.960 maybe only in a certain territory. Um. And the manager 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:47.359 is the one person who is involved in in every aspect, 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:54.119 including um, the health and welfare of the artist, which 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:59.720 is obviously an incredibly important part of our job. Now 0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:02.799 we can really put the demarcation his napster the turn 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:05.799 of the century. Now what a manager used to be, 0:03:05.880 --> 0:03:10.160 in what a label used to be have flipped right? Yes, 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:14.320 well in in uh, you know, I was lucky to 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:21.200 be you know, running a major American record label in 0:03:21.360 --> 0:03:25.040 the glorious nineties where you know, quite frankly, if you farted, 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:28.919 you went gold, you know. Um, And so all the 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:32.600 all the money and all the influence really did come 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:37.880 from the record companies. There were still great managers around, 0:03:38.120 --> 0:03:40.760 you know. I mean I had to deal with Sharon 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:46.360 Osborne on a regular basis, who I love dearly and 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:51.320 who I learned an incredible amount from, uh, Roger Davis 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:56.960 who does pink Um and many other great artists. Bill Kurbishly, 0:03:57.240 --> 0:03:59.640 you know, behind the who I mean when I when 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:02.800 I when I said Virgin and did a couple of 0:04:02.880 --> 0:04:07.960 records with Roger Adultery. Um, I came across Bill Kurbishly 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:10.920 and I and I learned there was definitely a different 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:14.800 way of doing things. Well, give me an example. Um. 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:20.160 It was just the great thing I found working with 0:04:20.360 --> 0:04:26.239 those managers was that they believed that they knew better 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:28.880 of what was the right thing for their artists, and 0:04:29.400 --> 0:04:35.320 I believed in them sufficiently to go along with that. Um, 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:40.560 there were managers that I would deal with whom I 0:04:40.760 --> 0:04:43.680 didn't think were necessarily on top of it, and so 0:04:43.920 --> 0:04:48.640 we would we would take much more control in those days. Uh, 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:51.600 but I think that, as I said, the role of 0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:55.160 manager has just continued to grow and become more and 0:04:55.240 --> 0:04:58.240 more important. Okay, how hard is it to break a 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:04.680 record today as a posed to years past? Um, it's 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:13.080 it's it's different. Um, it's it's a longer process. And UM, 0:05:13.520 --> 0:05:17.680 I think we are certainly seeing sitting from a from 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:21.400 a British point of view, where for a long time 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:25.840 British artists would be successful in the UK and then 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:31.720 that would travel around the world quite easily. Uh, if 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:36.960 you have the right people in the right place. Um. Obviously, 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:41.919 now with the streaming and the predominance in America particularly 0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:45.520 you know of hip hop and rapp and everything that, 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:49.560 that doesn't that that makes it harder for newer British 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:52.679 artists to break in Having said that, you know, Lewis 0:05:52.760 --> 0:05:56.040 Capaldi is going to be the biggest new artist of 0:05:56.120 --> 0:05:58.160 the year and that's in the UK. Do you think 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:00.040 it's going to happen in the US? I'm absolute it 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:04.200 because it hasn't happened yet. It will happen here, I 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:08.000 have no doubt about that. Well, I think that he 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:13.440 he's an incredible artist and he the songs are absolutely brilliant. 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:17.200 I'll declare a vested interest here. My son in law 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:22.440 did co write the Absolute smash? Well, you don't have 0:06:22.480 --> 0:06:26.520 to worry about stopping your daughter money. Well there you go. Um. 0:06:27.560 --> 0:06:30.560 But and he's an incredible character and I think that 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:32.800 plays out and you know in the way that that 0:06:33.080 --> 0:06:36.120 ed Sharon and Nadele. You know, these incredible characters that 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:40.200 that have have reached beyond just their music, you know. 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:43.080 But you know you're still going to have British artists breaking, 0:06:43.200 --> 0:06:46.599 there's no doubt about that. It's just a longer, longer process, 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:48.800 and it's a longer process for everybody, and particularly on 0:06:48.839 --> 0:06:51.400 a worldwide basis. On the one hand, you have it 0:06:51.560 --> 0:06:54.400 great that you put your music out on a Friday 0:06:54.640 --> 0:06:58.200 and then it is available to anybody in the world 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:01.600 to hear it, so that is one of the great advantages. 0:07:01.680 --> 0:07:03.280 On the other hand, you have to get out there 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:05.920 and make sure that they're getting the opportunity to hear it, 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:10.240 you know, Okay, other than Louis Capaldi. Even though we're 0:07:10.360 --> 0:07:12.600 recording this while you're in Los Angeles a couple of 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:16.520 months before, people will hear it contemporaneous with when you 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:21.120 were reserving this receiving this award. Um, anybody else we 0:07:21.160 --> 0:07:27.120 should be looking out for. Um okay, okay, let's uh, 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:30.600 let's switch it up then. Okay, so presently on your roster, 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:34.840 who do we have? Uh? Well, nal Horren, who's a 0:07:34.920 --> 0:07:37.960 member of One Day and you were the manager of 0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:44.080 One Direction? Yes, yeah, um, and they may have alms. 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:51.680 How kameoly Morris hasn't broken in America? Um I um, 0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:55.600 I'm not sure that he was right for America. Maybe 0:07:55.640 --> 0:08:00.360 it's a bit too bit too British but to English. 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:07.080 Um uh. And I think that um yeah, Little Mix 0:08:07.440 --> 0:08:09.720 we also have and they have never really done it here, 0:08:09.800 --> 0:08:15.280 and that I actually do I put pretty firmly on 0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:22.440 the table of the labels promotion department because that band 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:26.200 deserves to be bigger here. You know, we we supported 0:08:26.800 --> 0:08:30.320 Ariana Grande with Little Mix a couple of years ago, 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:34.199 and you know there were fifteen thousand people in the 0:08:34.520 --> 0:08:37.920 in the Arenas and and twelve thousand of them were 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:42.439 singing the words to every single Little Mix song. And 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:48.880 I would turn to various Colombia folk present and you know, 0:08:50.000 --> 0:08:55.520 give them an exasperated um. But you know, because a 0:08:55.520 --> 0:09:00.800 Little Mix are are you know, absolutely massive in the 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:05.360 UK and very very successful in other parts of the world. UM. 0:09:05.679 --> 0:09:09.200 Five seconds of Summer who obviously have done incredibly well 0:09:09.640 --> 0:09:13.120 here um and and do very well around the world. 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:17.520 You know, we have a we have a very broad 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:22.320 UM roster. You know, we still look after Alison Moyer, 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:27.400 who most people in American from YEAZ but she's been 0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:31.880 incredibly successful in the UK and in Europe and Australia 0:09:32.080 --> 0:09:35.199 and as a solo artist for thirty years now and 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:40.599 we've representative for for the past fifteen years. UM. We 0:09:40.720 --> 0:09:43.360 still represent Paul Potts in fact, who was the original 0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:46.679 winner of Britain's Got Talent and people forget that that 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:51.240 James Cordon played Paul Potts in the movie of his Life. 0:09:53.000 --> 0:09:57.199 James tries to forget anyway, we still represent him and 0:09:57.280 --> 0:10:01.400 he does like eight gigs and on the world every year, 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:05.560 you know. UM. So you know, we like we're proud 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:07.440 of the fact that we have a broad rostrum. We're 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:10.040 proud of the fact that we have worked with a 0:10:10.120 --> 0:10:12.600 lot of these artists for a long time. And how 0:10:12.640 --> 0:10:19.360 many people worked from artists uh worldwide it's about uh 0:10:20.240 --> 0:10:23.200 forty four and where are those people? You say, world 0:10:23.240 --> 0:10:25.440 one well, mainly in London, but we were in New 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:29.319 York we have a couple, and in l A we 0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:32.840 have like four. We're just adding more of fact, we're 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:36.839 for going to be six soon here and then we 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:43.280 have one in Sydney and Australia. Okay, let's go back 0:10:43.320 --> 0:10:46.280 to the beginning. How did you get into music as 0:10:46.320 --> 0:10:52.959 a little pup um? Well, because the great thing in 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:59.839 in England was that there was radio radio stations that 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:04.040 that everybody was listening to, and they were very broad stations. Um, 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:07.200 and I just used to listen to the radio a lot, 0:11:07.280 --> 0:11:09.559 and I just became a okay, well just for those 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:12.360 of the Americans were listening. We really don't know that much. 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:16.440 So how many BBC radio channels were there? Well, well, 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:21.800 and in those days they were probably three or four, 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:28.079 you know, and now and then then and but the 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:31.880 other great thing that we had in England was pirate radio. 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:35.240 When did pirate radio hit The pirate radio really hit 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:39.000 the scene in about sixty five sixty six, I think, 0:11:39.080 --> 0:11:40.800 And that was just when I was starting to get 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:46.079 into music, and and and I was living with my 0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:49.840 my mother and my parents are divorced, and I would 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:54.319 listen and live with my mother and she would go 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:56.839 out to work, and so I would I and in 0:11:56.920 --> 0:12:01.400 the holidays I would just listen to the radio stations 0:12:01.840 --> 0:12:05.080 under the pillow and until two in the morning when 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:08.520 they turned off Radio London and Radio Caroline. And then 0:12:09.000 --> 0:12:11.839 and then there was this other station called Radio Luxembourg 0:12:12.040 --> 0:12:15.959 fabulous two oh eight um, and that that was just 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:18.439 where you got to hear every kind of music you 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:21.880 could you could think of. And then when Radio one 0:12:22.040 --> 0:12:26.400 came along for um for the BBC, when they got 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:30.280 rid of the pirate stations. Radio one has always been 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:33.240 incredibly broad so you would you would you would hear 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:38.320 Jimmy Hendrix, the Four Tops and Dusty Springfield one after 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:44.599 the other, um on on Radio one in in and 0:12:45.320 --> 0:12:48.199 so you you you found that Brits generally have a 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:54.400 far broader um sense of sense of different music. I think. Okay, 0:12:54.559 --> 0:12:58.280 so you started buying records, So I started buying records. Yeah. 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:01.520 The first single I Have a ort I was reached 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:03.640 out I'll be there by the Four Tops. Well, I 0:13:03.720 --> 0:13:06.720 know you're a big fan of the fourte Levi's stubs 0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:11.920 is the greatest, uh. And then the first two albums 0:13:12.000 --> 0:13:18.920 I bought were was Sergeant Pepper. Uh, and the first 0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:22.679 Vanilla Fudge album. You know, first one was great with 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:24.600 of course they hit you get You, keep Me hanging 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:26.600 On and take Me for a little while. I bought 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:28.719 the second album because I love the first one so much. 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:33.280 It was terrible. The Beagle's Hard Yeah that actually if 0:13:33.280 --> 0:13:35.719 funny enough. Something made me think of Vanilla eventually the 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:38.080 other day. So one of the great things about Spotify. 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:41.360 I went on Spotify and I listened to This is 0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:45.120 Vanilla Fudge for about two hours. You know, I don't 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:47.240 need to go back, probably for a few more years. 0:13:47.400 --> 0:13:50.760 But um, you know, I that just sort of all 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:53.599 of that just made me a fan. You know, And 0:13:53.760 --> 0:13:56.800 I've never I've never been a musician. I've never There's 0:13:56.880 --> 0:14:00.240 not an ounce of frustrated musician in me. Um. I 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:05.199 just I just love love music and being lucky that 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:08.800 I've been able to to work with it. Okay, so 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:16.840 you're in high school. Tell us about your experience there. Well, ah, there, 0:14:18.880 --> 0:14:24.600 So I did pretty terribly at school. Um. And what 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:30.640 had happened was, um, in the fifth year, which which 0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:33.720 I can remember what year that would be, So that 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:38.280 would that would so when I was fifteen, Uh, you 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:43.120 you took a set of exams called O levels and 0:14:43.360 --> 0:14:45.440 and then and then the next year you sort of 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:47.800 there were no exams and that was scored the lower 0:14:47.840 --> 0:14:49.560 six years, So that was sort of the year where 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:51.840 everybody us doss around doing nothing. And then in the 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:54.600 upper six year is when you took your A levels 0:14:54.640 --> 0:14:57.040 to go onto university. So at the end of the 0:14:57.120 --> 0:15:01.880 fifth year I got made the secretary of the jazz club. 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:07.160 I was a school in a place called Abingdon, near 0:15:07.400 --> 0:15:10.120 near Oxford, and in those days used to go up 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:17.240 to Ronnie Scott's once a term to see people play. 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:19.360 And so I decided, well we're not going to go 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:24.440 to Ronnie Scott's. I'm going to bring the artists down 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:28.600 to to play at the school. This is a boarding school, 0:15:28.600 --> 0:15:31.520 boarding school, well actually it was. It was one third 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:36.400 boarding school, two thirds day boys and yourself. You was 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:39.440 a boarding school. And this is how far from London? 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:45.040 It's an hour? Yeah, um, we'll just stopped for a second. 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:49.560 The jazz club, were they really into jazz, Well that 0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:52.720 was that was sort of what they how they got 0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:55.520 away with going up to London once a term to 0:15:56.640 --> 0:15:59.360 see jazz. Yeah, I mean we mean somebody rich. And 0:15:59.440 --> 0:16:06.880 we saw um Dick Hextel Smith. I can't remember no 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:09.600 other really great people. But anyway, I brought I brought, 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:14.800 I brought in cars Nucleus down to the to the 0:16:14.960 --> 0:16:17.840 local town, into the local well a little bit slower. 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:21.240 You're going on a boarding school. How do you even 0:16:21.320 --> 0:16:24.120 make that happen? Who do you call? What happens? Okay? 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:27.000 Well I had I had started going to a place 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:31.320 called the eighteen thirty two Club in Windsor, which was, 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:34.160 you know, ten minutes from where I lived. And I 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:38.040 got friendly with a guy called Andrew Kilderry who booked 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:44.200 the two club. And uh, so I have this idea 0:16:44.240 --> 0:16:46.920 that I want to start bringing concerts on and so 0:16:47.200 --> 0:16:51.600 I ring Andrew and and he and he books the 0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:54.160 band you know, for I think it was forty quid 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:59.920 or something in those days. And and I managed to 0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:04.520 get the school to agree to pay everything up front, 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:08.639 and and that the tickets would then go on on 0:17:08.920 --> 0:17:12.560 the accounts of the boys, so that would then be 0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:16.920 paid for by the parents. That's how I anyway, I 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:21.440 managed to get away with that, and so I so 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:24.200 the first one with Nucleus worked quite well, so that 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:26.800 that was in the school time. So then I thought, okay, 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:28.960 well look at in the holidays coming up, why don't 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:31.040 I put on a couple of concerts and the holidays. 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:35.640 So at that time I was really getting into Prague 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:39.040 and Egg. I don't know if you've ever heard of 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:41.280 I remember they've never really made anything you ever made 0:17:41.320 --> 0:17:44.480 it anywhere? Really, But anyway, I was a huge Egg fan. 0:17:44.600 --> 0:17:50.320 So I decided to put on Egg in the in 0:17:50.400 --> 0:17:56.320 the local town hall, and which I did, and uh 0:17:57.280 --> 0:18:01.960 made eight pounds, um, so that was reasonable. So I 0:18:02.040 --> 0:18:04.480 then so if you're making a pound, how many people 0:18:04.520 --> 0:18:10.480 are coming at what price? About three or four hundred people? 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:15.160 That's pretty good. At god, it was seven and six, 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:25.959 which which is about thirty fifty cents really um. Anyway, 0:18:26.000 --> 0:18:28.800 so I then put on another one with if who 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:32.800 are on island, and I had to pay them more. 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:35.639 I can remember what I had to pay them, and 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:41.760 it was it was it was selling badly, and luckily 0:18:43.359 --> 0:18:47.680 I I got a call from from Andrew Kilderry's saying 0:18:47.720 --> 0:18:54.000 that the band couldn't do the gig, so and he 0:18:54.200 --> 0:19:00.040 had Bloodwind Pig sorry the Mick Abrams band. It was 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:05.040 Cabron's band before he became Bloodwind Pig so and they 0:19:05.080 --> 0:19:07.800 were about a third of the price of of of 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:11.440 if and so actually I got away with it, so 0:19:11.720 --> 0:19:13.960 but that was I then decided that was enough. So 0:19:14.160 --> 0:19:19.200 I then started doing them with Andrew in Oxford town Hall, 0:19:19.320 --> 0:19:23.119 which is like a capacity With the first one we 0:19:23.200 --> 0:19:25.639 put how far is that from your school? It's about 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:30.400 twenty minutes by past. So, Um, what did he need 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:34.560 you for? Because he he was booking various places, various 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:42.320 town halls, right and and so so we um uh 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:45.840 were I was sort of acting as an agent for 0:19:45.960 --> 0:19:48.680 him as a you know, as a local promoter, right, 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:54.640 and we put on Genesis at at Oxford town Hall. 0:19:55.080 --> 0:19:57.680 Now how much a Genesis cost I can't remember, but 0:19:57.760 --> 0:20:03.440 I can tell you who's money. That was Andrew's. Andrew's money. Um, 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:07.159 I'm taking ten percent. How big is ours return? It's 0:20:07.200 --> 0:20:14.840 about anyway. Um, we've sold about three hundred tickets, so 0:20:15.000 --> 0:20:19.520 we're losing our shirt, right, but the but the hall 0:20:20.320 --> 0:20:28.840 is completely rammed full. And Tony Smith, who you know 0:20:30.000 --> 0:20:33.800 is the managers still is the manager. You know. It 0:20:33.960 --> 0:20:36.840 came down because we're crying off saying we haven't got 0:20:36.880 --> 0:20:38.359 money to pay him, and he said, yeah, but the 0:20:38.480 --> 0:20:40.480 fucking alls full, you know, what do you mean? What 0:20:40.560 --> 0:20:42.639 do you mean? And of course because we didn't have 0:20:42.680 --> 0:20:48.680 any cash, I hadn't hired any securities, so all these 0:20:48.720 --> 0:20:52.600 people had just come in through the through the doors. 0:20:52.840 --> 0:20:56.200 So there were twelve people there, but only three hundred 0:20:56.240 --> 0:20:58.800 of them had paid. So that was the end of 0:20:58.880 --> 0:21:01.280 that one. That My other big mistake was I was 0:21:01.359 --> 0:21:05.640 putting on Arthur Brown's Kingdom come in in Newbury Town 0:21:05.720 --> 0:21:10.639 Hall and I go around with the mate plastering posters 0:21:10.760 --> 0:21:13.840 all around Newbury, you know, for Arthur Brown's king didn't 0:21:13.840 --> 0:21:17.240 come coming to play. And after I put on the 0:21:17.359 --> 0:21:20.600 last one, some old geezers stops me and he says, 0:21:20.640 --> 0:21:22.920 so you know, what's this? What's this gig? And I said, 0:21:22.920 --> 0:21:25.480 it's Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come and they're coming, They're coming 0:21:25.520 --> 0:21:27.679 to play. And he says, yes, but when are they 0:21:27.760 --> 0:21:31.520 coming to play? And I looked at the post of 0:21:32.400 --> 0:21:35.840 and we've forgotten to put the date on. So I 0:21:35.920 --> 0:21:38.640 guess I worked out quite early on. I wasn't wasn't 0:21:38.720 --> 0:21:40.800 cut out to be a promoter. Okay, two things, how 0:21:40.840 --> 0:21:45.880 did that gig? Do? We canceled it? Yeah? And why 0:21:45.960 --> 0:21:50.200 where did this entrepreneurial spirit come from. Um, that's a 0:21:50.400 --> 0:21:53.080 very good question. I don't really know the answer to 0:21:53.200 --> 0:21:58.520 that because my father was in the army, um, and 0:21:58.720 --> 0:22:02.080 my my mom just you know, would do jobs whatever 0:22:02.200 --> 0:22:03.920 you had to do to make to make a living. 0:22:04.040 --> 0:22:08.760 But so anyway, I'm at school, you know. So was 0:22:08.800 --> 0:22:11.040 there enough money to do and buy what you wanted 0:22:11.119 --> 0:22:14.680 to do before you became a promoter? Um? No, we 0:22:14.920 --> 0:22:17.719 were never There was never much money around. I mean 0:22:17.800 --> 0:22:20.399 I got a I got a grant to go to 0:22:20.520 --> 0:22:23.720 the to the school, you know, but it was it 0:22:23.880 --> 0:22:27.240 was the combat. But it was a combination of things, 0:22:27.400 --> 0:22:31.200 you know, how things happen. So I would I'd learned 0:22:31.200 --> 0:22:33.280 a bit about promoting concerts. So I was doing that. 0:22:34.320 --> 0:22:38.600 I'm playing a lot of cricket. Who are you a 0:22:38.720 --> 0:22:42.520 good cricket player at that time? I was, yeah, thinking 0:22:42.560 --> 0:22:45.760 of going professional or just enjoy just enjoying it. So, 0:22:45.920 --> 0:22:47.800 I mean we watched the cricket matches go on for 0:22:47.880 --> 0:22:50.480 like days. So you say you play a lot of cricket. 0:22:50.720 --> 0:22:53.000 I mean, as kids, we would walk down to the park. 0:22:53.240 --> 0:22:55.400 What is playing a lot of cricket look like? Well, 0:22:55.920 --> 0:23:00.040 try explaining to an American that a cricket match and 0:23:00.200 --> 0:23:04.520 last for five days ending a draw, and yet be 0:23:04.640 --> 0:23:09.239 a great game of cricket. They cannot understand that at all, 0:23:09.400 --> 0:23:12.000 in the same way as baseball can sometimes be something 0:23:12.040 --> 0:23:14.639 that goes on forever until somebody HiT's the final. But 0:23:14.840 --> 0:23:16.880 but you've had a good time going to a baseball match, 0:23:16.960 --> 0:23:21.320 you know. Anyway, a combination of those things and sort 0:23:21.320 --> 0:23:23.199 of being madly in love with the head girl at 0:23:23.240 --> 0:23:29.400 the local girls school. Um My, my A level results 0:23:29.560 --> 0:23:32.160 were well, let's put it this way. So the night 0:23:32.280 --> 0:23:36.159 before I'm supposed to take my Economics A level, I 0:23:36.280 --> 0:23:40.200 go and see my economics teacher and I say, whose 0:23:40.280 --> 0:23:44.280 nickname is Doze? Doze Milton? I say, Mr Milton, you 0:23:44.400 --> 0:23:46.679 and I know I'm not going to pass this exam. 0:23:48.240 --> 0:23:50.960 I don't want to fail it. I just don't want 0:23:51.000 --> 0:23:57.080 to take it. So he says, Okay, go in and 0:23:57.160 --> 0:23:59.800 then after half an hour leave and then I'll just 0:24:00.040 --> 0:24:01.720 roll your paper so it will be that you you 0:24:01.840 --> 0:24:05.280 never took the exam. So that's great. Anyway. Four weeks 0:24:05.359 --> 0:24:07.880 later I take English and History A level, and four 0:24:07.920 --> 0:24:11.440 weeks later my A level of Arts come in and 0:24:11.520 --> 0:24:17.320 I've got two d's. Okay, this is a disaster. But 0:24:17.440 --> 0:24:21.480 I rang a guy called Tony Bowman who I shared 0:24:21.680 --> 0:24:23.879 a study with, and I said, Tony, can you believe it, 0:24:23.920 --> 0:24:26.720 I've got two d's. I'm going to get them to 0:24:27.000 --> 0:24:33.800 remark my English a level. And he said, but Richard, 0:24:34.320 --> 0:24:39.560 you didn't read any of the books, which was effectually 0:24:39.600 --> 0:24:45.199 correct statement. So there I was, you know, with two d's. 0:24:47.200 --> 0:24:49.760 You know, everybody's piste off. All my family are all 0:24:49.800 --> 0:24:51.560 piste off of me because I haven't done any work. 0:24:51.680 --> 0:24:54.400 But actually my my mom is married again by then, 0:24:54.440 --> 0:24:56.119 and so I do a deal with my mom my 0:24:56.240 --> 0:25:00.320 stepdad that um, I want to try again into the 0:25:00.440 --> 0:25:03.400 music business and if it doesn't work after a year, 0:25:03.480 --> 0:25:06.680 I'll go back to Polytechnic and retake my exams and 0:25:06.840 --> 0:25:10.080 go and become a you know, a bookkeeper or something, 0:25:10.200 --> 0:25:15.840 you know. So I when i'd been promoting these concerts 0:25:16.840 --> 0:25:19.719 through with Andrew Killderry, but I had I'd come across 0:25:19.800 --> 0:25:23.840 other agents, so I just wrote, because this is in 0:25:24.000 --> 0:25:27.879 days of writing letters, I wrote to the number of 0:25:27.960 --> 0:25:30.440 agents that I've done some business with them. One of 0:25:30.520 --> 0:25:32.719 them called me up and he said, can you come 0:25:32.800 --> 0:25:35.880 up and have an interview? A guy called Dave Winslet, 0:25:36.040 --> 0:25:39.280 and he was at an agency called the Terry King Associates, 0:25:39.520 --> 0:25:42.000 and he said that just so happens that one of 0:25:42.040 --> 0:25:44.760 our guys is leaving, why didn't you come up and 0:25:45.760 --> 0:25:47.600 you know, let's do a month's trial and see how 0:25:47.640 --> 0:25:49.200 it is. I go up and I start doing that, 0:25:50.119 --> 0:25:55.720 and I'm booking caravan, and I'm booking Southern Comfort, and 0:25:55.800 --> 0:25:59.280 I'm booking in all Desmond Decker and all that. And 0:25:59.359 --> 0:26:04.040 because in those days, every student union in and every 0:26:04.119 --> 0:26:09.000 college had had gigs going on. I mean, there were 0:26:09.080 --> 0:26:12.359 just hundreds of gigs going on every week. And so 0:26:12.520 --> 0:26:15.480 they handed me the student union handbook and they said, okay, 0:26:15.560 --> 0:26:18.640 just cool. Started a at aberrast with university and work 0:26:18.680 --> 0:26:22.359 your way through it and so our X. So my 0:26:22.480 --> 0:26:27.040 first day, I I started aberrast with university and I 0:26:27.160 --> 0:26:31.560 get as far as St. Andrew's University when I finally 0:26:31.920 --> 0:26:37.960 sell them Southern Comfort, not with Ian Matthews, by the way, 0:26:38.040 --> 0:26:42.240 so I slightly condom there, but anyway, but so I 0:26:42.480 --> 0:26:45.440 I sold them for you know, fifty quid or whatever. 0:26:45.520 --> 0:26:47.760 And anyway, one thing led to another and I and 0:26:47.880 --> 0:26:51.119 I started and then the office that I was in 0:26:51.800 --> 0:26:55.720 was in ward Or Street and the Marquee Club was 0:26:55.840 --> 0:26:59.880 in Wardoor Streets. So every night I would go down 0:27:00.040 --> 0:27:02.960 to the Marquee Club and I would watch all the bands. 0:27:04.600 --> 0:27:07.920 And that's when I that's when I first started to 0:27:08.200 --> 0:27:13.920 realize that I had an ear for picking bands. And 0:27:14.080 --> 0:27:19.440