This is Roger. You could call him music royalty, but he prefers doyenne and facilitator.
Ole mate has produced, toured, published, signed and managed some of the best bands / labels / festivals / artists in the country including Nick Cave, The Go Betweens, Tex Perkins, You Am I, The Fauves and Powderfinger. He is also a lecturer at the Australian Institute of Music AND most importantly, is the team manager of the RockDogs, who you will all be going to cheer on at the Reclink Community Cup this coming Sunday.
Who did you first hear and were like, ‘wow they’re incredible’?
There have been a couple. I saw Nick Cave’s first gig in Sydney, in a friends lounge room. Tactics from Canberra were the first band I managed and their album My Houdini is an Australian classic.
I brought PiL, Jesus Jones, Buzzcocks, Pop Will Eat Itself and The Fall, amongst others to Australasia. Over the years my personal favourites have been Shihad, and the D4, as well as any band I managed.
How do you know when you’ve found a band that will be big?
Instinct. That’s it. Instinct. Nothing else.
Anyone nearly die on tour?
One member of the Beasts of Bourbon has been given the last rites twice. Another band I worked with required a medic on tour, just in case.
Got any crazy-fan stories?
In Japan, during a Bad Seeds tour, a fan hid under guitarist Blixa Bargeld’s bed. When he threw her out of his room, she sat in the lobby and threated to commit hari-kari (suicide by disembowelment). That was a moment.
Highlights from your years of being a manager?
- Watching Nick Cave and Tex Perkins woo some little old ladies from the CWA at a karaoke venue in Brisbane
- Putting bands like the Clouds in front of half a million people in Estonia
- Taking an acid jazz group (DiG) from a Sun residency, to a deal with Verve and the Montreux Jazz Festival
- Doing four shows in three states in one day (The Johnnys)
- Singing along with Oasis at a Japanese Beatles tribute band
- Taking 18 people on the road 24/7 for 40 weeks of the year (The Allniters)
I’ve unpawned gear, hired learjets, arranged abortions, paid secret child maintenance, and bailed everyone from the Dead Kennedys to lesser mortals out of jail. Every day is a fresh adventure.
