Where can music take you?

Tell us something about yourself and your life with music?  

I’ve worked in the music industry for 25 years, mainly at indie record labels, though currently I’m managing artists on the team behind Brian Eno, Oneohtrix Point Never, Roger Eno and Adrian Sherwood. I’m also a writer, and my new book The Rejects is out now. It tells the stories of people fired from music groups.  

What sparked your love of music?  

It was simply experiencing the power of a great song as a kid - that deep fascination that takes grip on first hearing something. I remember certain songs being shockingly new. I wanted to play them over and over and figure out what made them tick and gave them their power. The big musical moments in my early life were hearing Guns N’ Roses and then Nirvana for the first time. 

How does music fit with your life right now?   

I couldn’t live without it and I listen pretty much every day. It’s harder to fall in love with new music these days because as you age it doesn’t sound as completely fresh - you’re aware of the antecedents. But the love when you do experience it is just as strong. I have these amazing experiences like (old fart alert) listening to a podcast on a Beatles song, then really studying the White Album for the next two weeks. Listening over and over again and hearing new things - understanding more because I’m more experienced or a podcast or book has shed more light. These moments are really beautiful - being close to and in awe of a great work. 

How do you benefit from your involvement with music in and outside work?  

In work - the constant inspiration of being around artists and their craft and new music. Outside work - music solves so many things in life. The times that just hearing a certain song lyric or a mood captured perfectly has cleared something for me – made me realise that what I’m experiencing has been experienced by someone else. Bad times in life have always been helped by music and good times celebrated with it.  

What advice would you give to someone interested in a similar career in the music industry? 

Have a lot of tenacity. Keep asking for that foot in the door. Internships are the best way in and are much more regulated and fairer than they used to be, so start as early as possible. One bit of experience on your CV opens everything up! 

What music have you been listening to or playing lately? 

I like a new group from Northern Ireland called Kneecap. I spent a great deal of time with the Beatles’ White Album recently. I’d never fully appreciated how inspired Lennon was during the writing and recording of that record.  

I discovered Electric Wizard - very late - and their stuff is heavy and melodic in the best of ways. Reading a book called Strange Things are Happening has me going back to Acid House and rave. 

Can you tell us about a musician (or musicians) that you particularly admire?  

The people I always go back to: Elliott Smith – so beautiful but so dark; Kurt Cobain - the rawness and poppiness and beautiful melody with snarl. All my boxes ticked. The older I get – and it’s such a cliched answer - John Lennon. I sometimes think if I had to choose one song to take to the desert island, it would be I Am the Walrus - it sounds like a thrilling, very English nervous breakdown. 

Can you tell us about a memorable musical moment in your life?  

Hearing / seeing Nirvana for the first time. I’d been describing the sound before I heard it - I kept doing this to my best friend when I was 12. I knew there must be something out there that was heavy and distorted but not macho; punky and with beautiful hooks. He kept suggesting bands and I always said ’no, not quite’. And then one day we saw Smells Like Teen Spirit on Top of the Pops and I just said ’that’s it!!’ In some ways, nothing has changed. Nirvana are still my favourite band.