Once we had all completed our degrees our college band 'The Thin Men' moved to London and tried to 'make it' professionally, we recorded demos for two major labels, various radio sessions for Radio 1 and had a couple of professional managers as well as playing numerous pub and college gigs, this band eventually broke up as the truth dawned on us that we just weren't good enough.
In spring and I joined a band called Zerra 1 who were signed to an independent label called Second Vision, we recorded numerous singles and had three top 10 indie hits and were regular support act for 'Echo and the Bunnymen' 'the Cure' 'U2' and 'Peter Gabriel' I left this band the following year due to 'musical differences.
Over a five-year career The Blow Monkeys had eleven top 40 hits and four gold albums with a double gold 'best of'. Other signings around this time included 'Psychic TV' and Scottish band 'The Silencers' who went on to have two Gold albums in France with worldwide sales in excess of K. I signed The 'Primitives' who had a top 5 hit with 'Crash' in the UK and over a three year career they had 7 top 40 hits and sold over a million copies of their debut LP.
I also signed Caron Wheeler for a solo deal following her success with 'Soul to Soul' and recorded her debut album which had a top 10 hit in the UK with 'Living the Light' selling over , LP's. After ten years at RCA I felt that I had achieved enough success for the corporation and wanted to personally own what I was creating and be fully in charge of how records are released so I eventually left and set up my own label Infectious Records.
After a successful first year I negotiated a joint venture with the Australian company Mushroom Records which had had a lot of international success with Kylie and Jason and planned to launch a UK division of the company. In the early days the label secured territory by territory licensing deals with Pop Will Eat Itself and went from there to achieve considerable world-wide acclaim and several successful releases with Ash, My Vitriol, Symposium and Quench amongst others.
In the first two years the company enjoyed huge success with several number one records, both singles and albums, from Peter Andre, Garbage and Ash. The company expanded its roster considerably with releases by several new signings including Muse. He amalgamated our group of companies with his own private independent hip hop label Rawkus records Mos Def and became my direct line boss for the next four years.
In an attempt to grow the business we also entered into other joint venture agreements with very different and distinctive labels such as perfecto records Paul Oakenfold and his many varied projects , Ultimate Dilemma run by a young Max Lousada and including the first Zero 7 album as well as Fierce Panda where we found and released the first singles by a new undiscovered band called Coldplay , Individually these imprints encompassed a diverse mixture of musical genres scheduled to take what was historically known as a pop label well into the Millennium.
During this time Garbage released their highly acclaimed third album 'Beautiful Garbage'. Ash achieved their first number one album, sold out a huge UK tour and had two top ten singles. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary Necessary. Non-necessary Non-necessary. I grew up in the world of [famed potters] Janet Leach and Bernard Leach and all these great designers. This androgynous figure amazed me; I fell in love. Any other influences from your childhood? The very next week, my parents moved us down to Cornwall, in a little village called Roche — eight miles from the nearest town. I had no friends, a cockney accent… I felt ostracised. I used to grow vegetables in the garden and sell them at the local market to raise enough money to get the bus into town and buy as many records as I could.
What was your first job in music? When I was at Canterbury, I joined a local art school band called The Thin Men and we became a big fish in a little pond. Then we did some Radio 1 sessions and what have you. After we split up I joined another band called Zerra One, which was my first real engagement with the music business.
They were a three-piece and they needed a drummer. At that time I could play a drum solo and roll a joint at the same time — I was a terrible drummer, but that trick got me the job. That also weighed in my favour. I wrote letters to publishers, agents, record companies, managers. There were eight replies. One of them was a phone call from a guy called Peter Robinson [at RCA] who said he was looking for a scout.
I was No. My job was coffee maker, tape copier, dogsbody. What came next? I discovered The Blow Monkeys. We went to New York and got Michael Baker to re-record their songs, and we mixed a track called Digging Your Scene which was a big hit. Take That? Did you know I got fired for signing Take That? And then, when it all went right, Nick got the credit and all the royalties! I got a bullet for spending too much on take that. I got a bullet for spending too much money on Take That. I had a three year firm deal, luckily, so I walked out with two-and-a-half-years salary.
Let me guess — that money started Infectious? I started Infectious on April 27 th I remember sitting in a hammock in the garden and my second child, William, had just been born.
It was the beginning of mobile telephones, phones on cables, so I could sit in the garden with a notepad, telephone and a boogie box with a cassette player. That album [Dos Didos Mis Amigos, pictured] did about 60, sales so in a very short space of time I had a proper business. You then sold Infectious completely, right? Yes, in we sold the business to James Murdoch. I remember it — we lost the licence! Sorry about that!
0コメント