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When did you start as manager of the Fly? “September 2002.” How
did you hear about the position and what interested you about it?
“I heard about it through a website called Artshub which
advertises all the arts related jobs and then it also got
advertised in the West Australian. What grabbed my attention about
the job was that as a musician playing around town and doing
country visits and touring interstate I found music venues, and
namely the people that ran them, weren’t interested in the
musicians. They were more interested in making money over the bar
and didn’t show as much respect as I wanted, seeing as I was
bringing all the money in. So when the job came up I thought I’d
be interested in managing a venue and supporting artists instead
of sucking them dry. It was more about respect for the artist and
getting them on stage to perfect their art without them worrying
that their PA system’s working or that the sound engineer’s
passing out at the desk because he’s drunk or on something else.”
Let’s talk about some of your life before the Fly. Music retail?
“Yeah I’ve worked at every goddamn music store in this city from
Dada’s to Wesley to Underground Music which became JB Hi Fi. Did
that for a good ten to twelve years.” And then the Arts Management
course? “First of all I went and did a course at Central Tafe. The
Tafe Contemporary Music Course back in ’96 where I met Rachel
Pirney and started playing with Prickle. Basically I started that
course to get a background in arts management just to see where I
thought I belonged in the music business. With the assistance of
the Warburton brothers they gave me my first bass rig and I
started playing bass. Then I studied arts management at Edith
Cowan. I studied with a lot of people who were more interested in
theatre and opera and dance than contemporary music but what I got
out of it was a lot to do with law and finance which I don’t think
you’d get from any other course so I would definitely recommend it
for musicians and managers.”
There must be quite a challenge to running a “multidisciplinary”
venue as opposed to somewhere like a standard pub or bar? “Yes,
because we’re not just dealing with bands all the time, which are
quite easy to handle. As long as you have got all the information
from the band like when they want to come in for a sound check and
when they want to start the gig and what their technical
requirements are. That’s very easy and when you’re dealing with
national acts that tour a lot they’ve basically got a crew with
them and they can set up and dismantle within an hour. But when
you’re dealing with community organisations it’s different. Take a
choir for instance, in their rehearsal and performance they’re not
worried about the lights and the production and it’s good that I
have a professional crew who are caring and so when these groups
come in they actually nurture them through the process while also
educating them so when the next time they come they know how to
put on a show.”
What is the size of your membership? “The Club’s membership has a
significant amount of band muso’s and an ever growing amount of
Club supporters. The Fly By Night is a venue for hire at the
moment, we don’t guarantee acts payment wise so I can’t really
take away from the artist or the booking agent monies for
discounts on tickets for members of the Club. The Club will be in
a position soon to promote and book acts in where the Fly actually
pays the acts to play at the club instead of the band or the
booking agent taking the door. This year we really want to
encourage more musicians to join up as members so they can reap
the benefits of being able to rehearse for free or get a discount
on the Transit Lounge where they can set up a mock gig. And there
are so many other ways we can be of assistance to musicians in
terms of helping them with promotion, CD launches and accessing
private or government funding.”
Finally, what changes are you planning for the Fly for 2005? “In
the bigger picture we lease the building off the National Trust
and the building is owned by the state government. They are
currently doing repairs to the club, which as a military drill
hall was built in 1896 and the Fly By Night Club was formed in
1986 and therefore there needs to be a little bit of work done
starting with the electrics so that’s happening in the next three
months. The Café will become a historical gallery of the Fly and
the military drill hall so people can learn about the Fly By Night
and its past uses. Back in the old days the Transit Lounge used to
be where they learned how to fire a gun. Lots of country folk used
to come to Fremantle to learn how to be a soldier and never
returned so there’s some interesting stories to be told there and
how the officers used to use it as their drinking hole and for
dances. I’m looking forward to 2006 when we’ll celebrate our
twentieth year.”
After our little talk I salute “wing commander” Reid and as a
music lover I look forward to a big year of The Black Keys,
Endorphin, Eric Bibb and The Frames, just to name a few, and as a
musician I look forward to a sound check with no tears in the
capable hands of John Reid and his friendly flight attendants. |
