Morrissey - New management

[modrevolve]

Piggybacking off the main page post, here is an article on Andy Gould from September 23th which states that he is Morrissey's manager.

http://tv.boingboing.net/2008/09/23/andy-gould-rock-band.html

Today on Boing Boing tv, our UK-based music correspondent Russell Porter sits down with legendary rock band manager Andy Gould for a chat about crazy, historic rocknroll hijinks he's witnessed in his decades in the biz. We caught up with Gould at the Outside Lands Music and Arts festival, near the Crowdfire tent.
Gould is presently the manager for Primus, Morrissey, and other acts; past and present clients include Linkin Park, Lionel Ritchie, Rob Zombie, Pantera, Kool and the Gang, Damien Marley. Together with Irving Azoff, he manages Guns and Roses. He explains that he was there during the early days of "fur coat and cricket bat," band managers, tough guys who "walked around with suitcases full of hundreds of thousands of dollars when the band walked offstage."

"What's really really great now is that the record companies have gone out of business," he says -- why would a music manager be dancing on the labels' graves? And how is a pilfered pre-release MP3 like a box of Chicken McNuggets? Watch and learn, grasshoppers.

If you dig this, check out our previous BBtv episodes from Outside Lands. And there's tons of fan-made footage and photos of Primus on Crowdfire.net (they're a BBtv sponsor).

 

[jesuisbryony]

Hmm he seems like quite a traditionalist, that's an alright start.

 

[Kewpie]

Good to know Morrissey got a new management.

 

[CrystalGeezer]

And Lionel Richie's a genius. Good company.

 

[Bluebirds]

Piggybacking off the main page post, here is an article on Andy Gould from September 23th which states that he is Morrissey's manager.

http://tv.boingboing.net/2008/09/23/andy-gould-rock-band.html

Today on Boing Boing tv, our UK-based music correspondent Russell Porter sits down with legendary rock band manager Andy Gould for a chat about crazy, historic rocknroll hijinks he's witnessed in his decades in the biz. We caught up with Gould at the Outside Lands Music and Arts festival, near the Crowdfire tent.
Gould is presently the manager for Primus, Morrissey, and other acts; past and present clients include Linkin Park, Lionel Ritchie, Rob Zombie, Pantera, Kool and the Gang, Damien Marley. Together with Irving Azoff, he manages Guns and Roses. He explains that he was there during the early days of "fur coat and cricket bat," band managers, tough guys who "walked around with suitcases full of hundreds of thousands of dollars when the band walked offstage."

"What's really really great now is that the record companies have gone out of business," he says -- why would a music manager be dancing on the labels' graves? And how is a pilfered pre-release MP3 like a box of Chicken McNuggets? Watch and learn, grasshoppers.

If you dig this, check out our previous BBtv episodes from Outside Lands. And there's tons of fan-made footage and photos of Primus on Crowdfire.net (they're a BBtv sponsor).

Hes doing a great job with Guns N Roses. Not to mention Damien Marley. Hes related to Bob in case you didn't know

 

[Vauxhall95]

Irving Azoff - So, He Manages Axl and Moz

Damn, I'm impressed. Apparently, Azoff has a history of getting albums to market which had previously been difficult (read: Chinese Democracy, Years of Refusal). Azoff, since managing G n' R, has negotiated an exclusive U.S. Best Buy release for "Chinese Democracy." November 25th is the "tentative" release date. The exclusive Best Buy release is a way for the label to re-coup the costs of the insanely expensive record. I suspect it'll be release through normal channels outside of the U.S.

I think this is good news regarding the U.S. release of "Years of Refusal." Morrissey has clearly brought in a manager who specializes in getting troubled albums released. I can't say if this will help tour planning etc., but this is GOOD news for U.S. Morrisssey fans.

 

[moz'art girl]

http://strangeglue.com/music/morrissey-signs-with-new-management-reissues-album/2776
Currently going through managers quicker than Sienna Miller goes through men, Steven Morrissey has settled on a new manager to take over just one month after kicking 'ie: music' to the kerb.

The ex-Smiths singer had been managed long-term by Merck Mercuriadis. The new guy goes by the name of Irving Azoff, who should be more than capable of handling the famously difficult artist after experience with Van Halen, Alter Bridge, Christina Aguilera, New Kids on the Block, Seal and Guns 'n' Roses.
(...)
It's clear to us that Merck has a problem bowing down to these gods among men. Grovel Merck, prostrate yourself good.

 

[vivabob]

Good to know Morrissey got a new management.

yeah because the josie woman was hopeless , wish he had just stuck with merick he seemed to work well with morrissey

 

[CaliforniaMozGirl]

Wow! Morrissey and Primus under the same Manager?? Very interesting...

 

[Mars_Rover]

I recently finished reading Frederic Dannen's acclaimed (and rather depressing) book on the music business, "Hit Men". The book explores the music industry's ties to organized crime and other sordid shenanigans.

Irving Azoff is written about quite extensively, as he has been one of the most powerful men in the music industry for decades. Dannen says Azoff is known (or was known - I imagine the dude has mellowed with age) as the "Poison Dwarf" due to his ruthlessness and short stature. Azoff managed the Eagles in the 1970's, and became head of MCA (IIRC) in the 80's.

It will be interesting to see how Morrissey gets along with Mr. Azoff! The book said Azoff's clients usually love him, because he is so fiercely protective of their interests.

P.S. As enlightening as "Hit Men" was, it is mainly about the American music business. If anyone can recommend a good book about the workings of the British music scene, I'd be most grateful. It doesn't have to be a scandalous expose, just something you found informative. Ta.

 

[sistasheila]

I.

P.S. As enlightening as "Hit Men" was, it is mainly about the American music business. If anyone can recommend a good book about the workings of the British music scene, I'd be most grateful. It doesn't have to be a scandalous expose, just something you found informative. Ta.

Kill Your Friends, by John Niven

review from "the independent"
t is an all-out assault, a withering, scabrous and often repulsive attack on every part of the filthy machine: from the musicians who churn out rubbish and expect adulation to the corrupt labels and idiotic consumers who lap it up.

The novel runs from January to December 1997 – the year Britpop died. Its narrator is Steven Stelfox, a British A&R man who justifies the relentless hedonism of his lifestyle (the book is chock-full of drugs, booze, sex and swearing) with a few desperate gambles on new signings: a German techno "choon" called "Why Don't You Suck My f***ing Dick?", and a bunch of talentless Spice Girl-copies called Songbirds. (.......)

further reviews
While the title is not quite meant to be taken literally, it does express the cynicism at the core of this novel by Niven (Music from Big Pink, 2005) about the contemporary music industry.At the maelstrom's center is London A&R man Steven Stelfox, who desperately desires to cease being an occasionally successful minion and be made head of his recording company's Artist and Repertoire division. Stelfox is one of the most narcissistic and hateful characters in recent memory: Lying is natural to him, and his overdeveloped sense of competition makes screwing friends and colleagues as easy as breathing - or perhaps a more apt simile would be as easy as snorting lines of coke, a habit he liberally indulges. Stelfox inhabits a subculture pervaded by drugs, sex (kinky and otherwise), inauthenticity and materialism. He not only revels in this world, he wants to come out on top. The obstacles to his goal are formidable. Chief among them are airily arrogant artists like Rage, who's received a formidable advance from the studio to produce an album freakishly incapable of attaining commercial success. (Rage wants to release an hour-long cut as a single and refuses to allow the company any edits.) Stelfox finds himself reluctantly promoting a new girl band called Songbirds. His first impression? "Imagine you'd got four fishwives together, filled them full of Special Brew, and told them to scream random, primal abuse at each other." (Eventually they transform from semi-literate East Enders to catty artistes.) Other roadblocks standing between Stelfox and his dreams are a stable of vicious studio executives prone to goofing off and goofing up. When one of his greatest professional rivals is imported as the new director of A&R, Stelfox has to become, if possible, even more loathsome, devious and deadly.The protagonist's venomous rants have the power to amuse, but ultimately they become infantile and tedious. (Kirkus Reviews)

James Brown
`Anyone working in or trying to get into the music industry should read this book. Niven grotesquely portrays the short term disposability of this world with a great eye for detail and a stockpile of hilarious insults. Throw in some murder and major brand obsession and you have an indie American Psycho.'

London 1997: New Labour is sweeping into power and Britpop is at its zenith. Twenty-seven-year-old A&R man Stelfox is slashing and burning his way through the music industry, a world where ‘no one knows anything’ and where careers are made and broken by chance and the fickle tastes of the general public – ‘Yeah, those animals’.

Fuelled by greed and inhuman quantities of cocaine Stelfox blithely criss-crosses the globe searching for the next hit record amid a relentless orgy of self-gratification. But as the hits dry up and the industry begins to change, Stelfox must take the notion of cut-throat business practices to murderous new levels in a desperate attempt to salvage his career.

Kill Your Friends is a dark, satirical and hysterically funny exposé of the music business, a place populated by frauds, charlatans and bluffers, where talent means nothing, ambition means everything, and anything can be achieved – as long as you want it badly enough.

Born in Scotland, John Niven played guitar for 1980s indie hopefuls the Wishing Stones before reading English Literature at Glasgow University and going on to work as an A&R man in London. He escaped while he still could, to write full time, and is the author of the novella Music From the Big Pink. Kill Your Friends is his first novel.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=325756895

 

[sillygoose]

Wow! Morrissey and Primus under the same Manager?? Very interesting...

Primus sucks!!!!



From wiki:

It was during these early years that the catch phrase "Primus Sucks" was started. It began with people constantly stating to the band just how good they were. One day when someone told the band they were good, Claypool turned around and said "No, we suck" and from then on it stuck. The band's catchphrase is no longer "Primus Sucks!" because the band thought it became tiresome, although it was a tradition that dated back to their first album, and many fans still chant it at concerts.

 

[Mars_Rover]

Thank you for the recommendation, Sista Sheila. The Niven book looks intriguing.

Other than that, the pickings are surprisingly slim. Most British music writers focus on one band or one time-specific "scene" if you will. Johnny Rogan - of "Severed Alliance" & Mozza death threat fame! - wrote a book in 1989 called "Starmakers and Svengalis: The History of British Pop Management" that looks damned good, but sadly it's long been out of print.

 

[sistasheila]

Thank you for the recommendation, Sista Sheila. The Niven book looks intriguing.

Other than that, the pickings are surprisingly slim. Most British music writers focus on one band or one time-specific "scene" if you will. Johnny Rogan - of "Severed Alliance" & Mozza death threat fame! - wrote a book in 1989 called "Starmakers and Svengalis: The History of British Pop Management" that looks damned good, but sadly it's long been out of print.

you can always count on used books sold in the new and used section at amazon,someone mentioned abebooks
then ebay
there are more books around but i cant remember the names right now
ahh this KLF book-forgot the title

 

[bysshe]

I love Rob Zombie and Primus.