Stories for boys……U2 early beginnings

Again I apologize for the gaps and infrequent blogging, it will improve but have an excuse as I’m frantically trying to finish the book..Insights from the engine room.. sort out promoting it etc etc

Here’s a snippet..

In 1980 I was working with U2, I’d been taking them in and out of radio stations prior to the release of their first single, ‘11 o’ clock tick tock’ and trying to get them in for interviews wherever I could. They released 3 singles in the six months from May to October and we had been working relentlessly driving up and down the motorways to talk to whoever would have us….and then more of the same upfront of the release of their debut album, ‘Boy.’

You hoped all the hard work would pay off and that opportunities would come your way, you’d take some risks, take a chance on something…..it might go pear shaped but you’d never know if you didn’t give it a go…… It’s the reason you try it in the first place.

If you believe it enough you won’t need convincing and you won’t need to convince others.

November that year was incredible. There were a few of us at Island Records who believed in the band and we were all convinced they could be huge. Rob and Neil in the press department had done an unbelievable job getting journalists along to see them play and were starting to get some really good feedback. All their efforts culminated in an NME (New Musical Express) front cover at the start of the year.

At that time there had still been no significant breakthrough with any national radio or television exposure and we all knew we would struggle to survive on press alone. In order to maintain the great press coverage they (the press) would need to see others pick up on the band……… and to get radio and television interested you needed the press, it was catch 22. We were at the crossroads, something needed to give. We needed to get that break otherwise it would be impossible to keep the momentum going.

I received some amazing news. Tony Hale the Radio One producer who was based in Manchester and therefore a contact of mine, loved the band. Were they available to record a session for the Peter Powell show? WERE THEY AVAILABLE……Damn right they were available! Around the same time, maybe a week or so sooner I got confirmation that Granada TV’s network kids show ‘Get it together’ wanted to book them. I couldn’t believe my luck….all my Christmas’s had come at once. I say luck but in all honesty I had been working hard on the band for most of the year, we all had and felt we deserved this break. This was the most significant result we’d had up until now from national radio and TV in the UK……..now we were really starting to get others to believe in them. At this point we were starting to think, just maybe…..

Filed under: About Tony Michaelides, Journey Through The Past, record companies, Neil Storey, NME, Rob Partridge, U2

Closing the door but leaving the light on

I have just been reading Neil’s blog about the funeral of our friend Rob Partidge (neilstorey.blogspot.com) and would recommend you do the same. It sounded just like a celebration of his life which we had all hoped for and even though everyone mourned the loss of their dear friend and colleague Rob had clearly given Tina his lovely wife the lowdown on how matters be conducted on the day. It would be an injustice to comment on the events of the day when Neil’s blog says it all….you really had to be there, and sadly I wasn’t. What would anyone have given to see the look on his face as he watched the gathering of the masses….or more to the point what would he have said.

I was pleased to see that U2 , Tom Waits and a multitude of others had made the effort to show how much they loved and respected him. It seemed like every journalist of any note was there too, a symbol of just what an important figure Rob was to all of them, and someone they all knew personally. That’s what made him so very special…you could never call Rob Partidge faceless in the music business, he believed in relationships and he nurtured them with both artists, colleagues and journalists. He encouraged others to do the same, an wonderful mentor to so many. Another legend from the engine room sadly departed, gone but never forgotten.

After reading Neil’s blog I thought of how he must have felt after such an emotional rollercoaster of a day, how so many memories must have come flooding back, those wonderful times at Island Records and when they made the decision to set up on their own. They had done as much as they could at Island and without Chris Blackwell as the figurehead how it wasn’t really Island anymore.I wasn’t there at that time…. I just know I would have been right behind them.

Neil and Rob made a formidable team in their time at Island Records and helped all of us do our jobs. If the acts you are promoting to radio and TV are being written about in the press then your job becomes easier. It’s weird but sometimes people needed to know they wouldn’t be the first to champion a band or artist, don’t ask me why, I never understood that one either! I suppose in commercial radio they needed the comfort factor that if people were paying attention then it might just be a hit. It also made me appreciate doing my own show and being allowed to play exactly what I wanted with no interference from Piccadilly Radio who were brave(or stupid!) enough to let me loose on the airwaves all those years ago.

Every time I write about events back then, whether radio or the record industry in general I keep saying how glorious it was….but it was. It was so exciting, so much fun, something I never want to apologize for. I can understand how and why it has changed but could never argue it was for the better. No way! As was the case with Rob it helped created the people I always want to write about….the legends from the Engine Room.They are immortal.

Filed under: About The Engine Room, Journey Through The Past, Add new tag, Neil Storey, Piccadilly Radio, Rob Partridge, Tom Waits, U2

The passing of a remarkable man

I just received a call from Neil with the very sad news that one of our former Island colleagues, Rob Partridge had passed away. Rob was one of the finest human beings ever to have graced the music industry and an engine room giant, yet his greatest quality was that he was an ‘all round good bloke.’ There will be many people in many places mourning yet at the same time fondly remembering someone who made an impact on everyone. I’m not alone in saying I was proud to have known him.

Rob had many qualities not least of all his humility. Most of you reading this won’t know who he was and that’s a shame. He was a hugely talented PR blessed with remarkable communication skills and someone adept at identifying and nurturing talent. I can imagine the impact his death will have had on so many artists from U2 to Tom Waits from just reading the tributes Johnny Marr and Marianne Faithful have already offered. Marianne said he was one of the greatest men she had ever met, Billboard referred to him as a PR giant. Words could never serve to do him justice, he was a very special human being.

Rob was the first person to spot the talent that was U2 and gave his employer Island Records the heads up, yet he was never one to gloat over it. I often wonder if U2 would have gone on to become what they are today without Island and especially without Rob Partridge. He had a unique ability when it came to dealing with artists, he took time to understand them and they in turn loved working with him.

The last time I saw him was maybe 10 years ago yet but when I read the tributes and e-mails and see his picture it’s like I’m there in his front room and he’s defending his dedication to Queens Park Rangers like only Rob could……and always there at his side his wonderful and loving wife Tina. A remarkable half of a remarkable whole.

I’m not the only one who will miss him and look forward to the day someone walks on to a stage to receive the Rob Partridge Lifetime Achievement Award.

Filed under: Journey Through The Past, PR, View from the room, Island Records, Johnny Marr, Marianne Faithful, Rob Partridge, U2

Island daze

I miss Island Records but I don’t miss record companies, Island was in a class of it’s own, its a tough one to describe…..you really did have to be there. Now I’m standing from the rooftops and shouting, ‘I was there, tough luck if you weren’t!’

My friend Neil met up with Chris Blackwell, Island Record’s founder last week and it got us talking about those times yet again. There aren’t too many moments in anyone’s career that trigger off the most vivid of memories….. but the merest mention of Island life and we’re away! I was equally as pleased to hear that the two of them had done just the same!…….check out Neil’s blog for more about CB and Island at Neilstorey.blogspot.com

You meet a lot of people in the music industry and you meet a multitude of stars. For me I not only met them but I worked with U2, Bowie, The Police, Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Bob Marley…..the list goes on, but when I talk about Island my only regret is that I never met Chris Blackwell. It was probably circumstance more than anything, he commuted between Jamaica, London and New York and I didn’t cover any radio stations there…… I don’t think he was avoiding me! That being said he played a huge role in my career, firstly as a fan of Island music and then professionally.

I can talk about growing up at Island and learning my trade as a promotions guy because I was left alone to do it, left to make my own mistakes. It was much the same script I gave anyone who came to work for me once I set up my own promotion company……go do it, if you fuck up there isn’t anything I can’t pull you out of. Make your own mistakes, I made plenty but they’re exclusive to me! If they made mistakes but identified them and recovered from them they proved themselves to be the right choice. Looking at the people who came and went I think my choices were good…..they went on to become radio presenters, form their own promotion companies, management companies…. and my intern went on to manage Coldplay! I think I emulated Chris Blackwell’s A and R policy, go with your gut instinct and believe in the people you work with. He was the Lion King, he lived in me!

In the early days Chris Blackwell was the A and R department. He found someone, he talked to them, told them how great he thought they were and how he thought he could help their career and boom…they’re signed. Prime example Bob Marley, it worked for both parties. Marley would never have been recognized and gain the popularity he did without Blackwell’s guidance and likewise CB would not have been able to attract new acts to his label if he hadn’t done such a remarkable job with Marley.

He needed to stand proud and look at what had been achieved and build his label from there.That’s the secret of a good record man. I won’t harp on about artist development, scroll down there is plenty of that but what I will say is how vital it is that you have a creative mind and an understanding for what you sign. It isn’t just the music it’s ‘can I work with these people, do we both have the same vision?’ Though Chris didn’t physically sign U2 and it’s been well documented by the man himself, it took just one meeting with them and manager Paul McGuinness to convince him of what his colleagues at Island were saying…..this lot are special. Rob Partridge and Neil Storey had worked long and hard in the early days until Nick ‘the captain’ Stewart stuck the piece of paper under them that said..come join this fabulous place that employs me.

Still to this day I think it was the perfect marriage. No label would have persisted in supporting U2 the way Chris Blackwell and Island did back then and certainly no label would have dared not to interfere. They owed the label so much in the first few years that most people would have stepped in and said ‘Oi, stop pissing my money away, this is how it’s going to be.’ Island knew how to grow with their artists…… through relationships based on mutual respect.

Filed under: Business Lessons, Journey Through The Past, Managing Creativity, record companies, Risk, Add new tag, Bob Marley, Chris Blackwell, Island Records, Neil Storey, Nick Stewart, Rob Partridge, U2