In 1977 Britain was a different place to live. A musical revolution was about to commence The Sex Pistols and The Clash unleashed their debut albums to an audience of young people desperate for change. Rock music had become so overblown that it now lived on a different planet made entirely out of cocaine and groupies. It was time for the people on the street to fight back and stick it to the establishment. It was time for anarchy to begin.
For Andy Corrigan though it was much more than this. It was a year that would start to shape his future forever. Coming towards the end of his Fine Arts degree in Leeds he helped form a band called The Mekons, which later led him to work with the Gang Of Four. This was his first taste of the music industry that he has not stopped devouring ever since. In those early days he was not just a performer but also helped out with the band’s technical duties as “there weren’t any light and sound hire companies around in them days.”
Once Andy felt his time on stage “had run its course” he decided to branch out into different fields within the business. “A friend who was actually the Gang Of Four manager went to work for EMI. He started looking after Bow Wow Wow and he put me in touch with their manager Malcolm McLaren, so I got working for them as their tour manager.” His time with the band was chaotic and out of all the artists he has worked with they were the worst behaved.
“I was thrown into a baptism of fire. They did the whole throwing TV’s out of hotel windows, getting in trouble in clubs and getting arrested. But I didn’t know any better then, I was pretty young and just thought that was normal.” This whole period was mayhem for Andy. When he first started out he did not have a clue about what his role entailed, so he had learn the hard way by doing it on the job.
He later went on to work with The Human League where he had some unusual duties to take care of. Instead of the usual arranging interviews and organising the concerts, most of his time was spent sorting out the bands luggage. “They used to cart around these three great big wardrobe flight cases, one for each of the main members. They would go literally all over the world and it cost thousands and thousands of pounds to move these things around which had their clothes in. They didn’t go with equipment as all their excess baggage was taken up.”
During his time managing bands he witnessed their behaviour suffer once they had become famous and he found “pandering to silly whims a bit boring. You also see a lot of people make silly mistakes and waste money.” These days he dedicates his time to his business venture, Re-Production, which tries to stop artists making these basic errors.
They cover all aspects of touring and have recently worked with the likes of Frank Black, Young Knives, Foals and Art Brut. His advice for anyone wanting to break into the business during this difficult economical climate is to “cease opportunities and ask people for jobs. If you do get a chance then make yourself indispensible and show initiative. Oh, and obviously be quite good. There are an awful lot of people out there who aren’t actually very good.”
In order to try and guide people into the industry Andy (alongside some of his associates that have also worked behind the scenes) decided to set-up a website called Friends To The Stars. Their aim is to give support and practical advice on all aspects of the live music industry which they hope will prevent other people from making the same mistakes they did.A lot of things have developed since Andy started out and he remembers that “the whole industry was less organised and account driven.” The anarchy that once looked set to revolutionise the country has passed and become just another moment in history. Hopefully there is more lurching round the corner and then chaos can once again reign free.
So don’t just sit at your computer waiting for something to happen. Get out there and stick it to them. Failing that, just ask them for a job.
Posted In Features, Nov 10 2009.
Words - Stephen