Panel members announced for 'Getting The Gig'
Welsh Music Foundation and Musicians’ Union present…
Getting The Gig
The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth
10th February 2010
Paul Gray – Musicians’ Union
Paul’s musical career started at 16 as bassist/ songwriter with teen rockers Eddie & the Hot Rods. Within a year they had gone from supporting local bingo sessions to being the first new wave band to break the US on a trailblazing tour of 56 gigs in 52 days with Blondie, The Ramones and Talking Heads.
In 1980 he left to join punk heroes The Damned and spent the next 17 years with them and subsequently stadium rockers UFO. Paul has had deals with numerous major and independent record companies, worn out 23 managers, been banned from Finland, worked internationally as a session bassist, managed and mentored new artists and reduced countless Gibson Thunderbirds to driftwood.
Paul is now unsurprisingly a bit deaf. He has been a member of the Musicians’ Union since 1977 and now leads a rather less noisy life as full time MU Regional Officer for Wales and South West England. In his spare time he plays in an electro acoustic punk bluegrass band called The Monte Dons.
Martin Bowen - Probation Management
Martin runs management company Probation Management. Their roster includes Viva Machine and The Automatic, who’s career Martin has steered from small town obscurity to international success, brokering deals with B-Unique in the UK and Sony Records in the US.
Previously he ran the FF Vinyl label, which broke bands including Mohobishopi and Martini Henry Rifles. Martin’s other roles within the industry include journalistic work for various music magazines, tour managing, and generally getting his hands dirty in all aspects of the business - doing it “the hard way” because there is no easy way !
John Rostron - Swn / A.P.E.
John Rostron is a live music and festival promoter living and working in Wales. With BBC Radio 1 DJ Huw Stephens he organises the now annual Swn Festival which takes place across a dozen venues in Cardiff through one Autumn weekend. He also curates and promotes Swn stages or gigs showcasing new music in and out of Wales at other festivals and events, including In The City, Stag & Dagger, Field Day, HowTheLightGetsIn (part of the Hay on Wye Literary Festival), The Pierhead Sessions and IASPM 2010 (International Association for the Study Of Popular Music).
He promotes flux=rad, a weekly night of free new live music, at Cardiff Arts Institute.
In 2009 he created the Association of Promoters and Events Cardiff (APE Cardiff http://www.apecardiff.com) a body representing all live music and clubnight promoters in the city. APE Cardiff gives these groups a voice speak to Council and Authorities in response to increasing pressures on live music promoters and venues within the Welsh capital.
In his spare time John runs the My Kung Fu record label. He is also the co-creator and author of ‘Sleeveface’.
Christopher Rees
Christopher Rees has been involved in the music industry in one form or another for over 15 years.
As a musician, singer and songwriter he has released 4 critically acclaimed albums and won the title of 'Best Male Solo Artist' at the 'Welsh Music Awards 2004'.
He has toured extensively on both sides of the Atlantic, across Europe and down under, opening for such legendary acts as John Cale, Kristin Hersh and Billy Joe Shaver amongst others. As a music producer/recording engineer he has worked with influential American figures Mark Olsen (The Jayhawks) and Victoria Williams alongside various Welsh acts.
He is the Director of independent record label and film music production company Red Eye Music. Christopher Rees also spent 12 years working as a freelance music journalist for The Western Mail.
For more info please visit
www.myspace.com/christopherrees
www.christopherrees.co.uk
Matt Cohen - The Reasoning
Matt, a professional musician, also runs his own independent record label, Comet Music. He helped to run Pop Factory records in Pontypridd and was a full-time member of the prog-rock band Magenta where his roles included marketing/PR/tour organisation for the band, as well as playing bass. As a result of his efforts the band’s profile increased significantly, and produced successful tours in the UK and Europe, with additional performances in the USA and Mexico, to promote 3 albums and 3 single releases. Matt also helped to organise and co-ordinate “ProgAid” for the tsunami victims back in late 2004.
Having parted company with Magenta in 2005, Matt formed his current band, The Reasoning. The band have since gone on to release two extremely successful albums (20,000 sales), toured with Marillion and FISH, and enjoyed several headline tours in the UK and Europe.
Duties involved with the label include accounting, PR, website development, maintenance of fan forums and a mailing list of 4000, tour- booking and CD production-planning as well as all contractual negotiation for the band and communication with collection agencies and the media. The Reasoning have received extensive coverage in publications such as Classic Rock, Classic Rock Presents Prog, Record Collector, Powerplay and Fireworks magazines to name but a few.
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