Alan McGee | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Alan John McGee |
Born | Partick, Scotland | 29 September 1960
Origin | Glasgow, Scotland |
Genres | Alternative rock |
Occupation(s) | Record label owner, film producer, singer, songwriter, guitarist, DJ, music blogger |
Instrument(s) | Guitar |
Years active | 1981–1991, 1997–1998 (as musician) 1983–2007 (as record label owner) |
Labels | Creation, Poptones, 359 Music |
Alan John McGee (born 29 September 1960) is a Scottish businessman and music industry executive. He has been a record label owner, musician, manager, and music blogger for The Guardian . He co-founded the independent Creation Records label, running it from 1983 until its closure in 1999.
McGee subsequently founded the Poptones label, running it from 1999 to 2007. He has managed or championed acts such as the Jesus and Mary Chain, the Telescopes, Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Momus, Oasis, and the Libertines. [1] He was also the lead singer and guitarist for the indie pop group Biff Bang Pow!, who were active from 1983 to 1991.
McGee was born in Partick on 29 September 1960. [2] He grew up in Glasgow and attended King's Park Secondary School, where he met future Primal Scream founder Bobby Gillespie. McGee left school at 16 with one O-grade. [3] He and Gillespie were heavily into punk rock, and they joined a local punk band, the Drains, in 1978. The band's guitarist was Andrew Innes. [4]
After the breakup of the Drains, McGee and Innes briefly joined the band H2O, then moved to London [5] and formed the band the Laughing Apple with Mark Jardim, a drummer from Croydon. [3] In 1983, quitting his job at British Rail, he co-founded Creation Records (named after cult 1960s band the Creation).
McGee said that his intention with Creation "was to merge psychedelia with punk rock". [3] He also formed the band Biff Bang Pow! (named after the Creation's song), which would continue until 1991, and began running a club night called "The Living Room" at The Adams Arms in Central London. He also began managing the then-unknown band the Jesus and Mary Chain, whose first single was issued on McGee's label in November 1984. [3]
Creation Records was one of the key labels in the mid-80s indie movement, with early releases featuring artists such as Primal Scream, the Jasmine Minks, and the Loft. When the Jesus and Mary Chain moved to Warner Brothers in 1985, Creation was able to use McGee's profits as their manager to release singles by acts including Primal Scream, Felt, and the Weather Prophets. While these records were not commercially successful, McGee's enthusiasm and ability to promote Creation releases in the weekly music media ensured a healthy following. Following an unsuccessful attempt to run an offshoot label for Warner Brothers, McGee regrouped Creation and immersed himself in the burgeoning dance and acid house scene, the legacy of which saw him release era-defining albums from Creation mainstays Primal Scream and new arrivals like My Bloody Valentine and Teenage Fanclub. [3]
During this time Creation had run up considerable debts, which forced McGee to sell half of the label to Sony Music in 1992. McGee calls the Sony years as the beginning of the end of the real Creation Records, which was driven by Joe Foster, Tim Abbot, Dick Green and McGee himself, and not by Sony accountants and marketing managers. [3] At the point it seemed Creation would collapse into receivership, the recently signed Manchester band Oasis began selling albums in huge quantities, and became one of the leading lights of the Britpop movement of the mid-1990s. The success of Oasis was unprecedented for an act on an independent label, and their second album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory? , became the biggest-selling British album of the decade. [6]
This brought McGee substantial exposure, and his position was noted by the revitalized Labour Party, who considered him a figurehead of youth culture and courted his influence to spearhead a media campaign prior to the 1997 General Election. McGee was largely responsible for changing government legislation in relation to musicians being able to go on the New Deal, which gave musicians three years to develop and be funded by the government instead of having to take other jobs to survive. [3] In 1998, Omnibus made a documentary about McGee and Creation for BBC One.
McGee was awarded by the NME 'Godlike Genius' award in February 1996 [7] and Creation Records was awarded "independent label of the year" every year between 1995 and 1998 by Music Week. McGee returned to making music in 1997, collaborating with Ed Ball under the name the Chemical Pilot, releasing the album Journey to the Centre of the Mind in 1998. [2]
While Oasis went on to sell nearly 54 million records by 2008, Creation continued issuing albums by other artists, none of which came near the success of the Manchester band. Rumours began to circulate of McGee's dissatisfaction with the direction Creation had gone. In late 1999 it was announced that Creation Records would cease operations. The final album released by the label was Primal Scream's 2000 release XTRMNTR , which went gold in the UK.
The dissolution of Creation Records led to McGee forming Poptones in 2000. The label is named after a song by Public Image Limited. During this period McGee also ran an international club night, Death Disco, under which name he also DJs occasionally. Death Disco had branches in Glasgow, London, New York City, Budapest and Los Angeles, and featured appearances from artists such as the Libertines, the Killers, BRMC, Kaiser Chiefs, Glasvegas, Razorlight, the Hives, Kasabian, the Darkness, Neils Children, and the Foxes. McGee had no further involvement with Death Disco after 2009.
In May 2007, McGee told The Independent newspaper that he was winding down Poptones for financial reasons. [8] [9]
On 12 September 2008, McGee retired from band music management and being involved with record companies after 25 years. [10] The decision was due to his wanting to concentrate on raising his child. After he sold Creation Records to Sony, he continued to publish songs by label acts such as Oasis, Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine, Swervedriver, Teenage Fanclub, Eugene Kelly of the Vaselines, under Creation Songs.[ citation needed ]
In 2007, McGee was made a Companion of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, in recognition of the work that he has carried out with students. In November 2008, he was a visiting fellow on the popular music degree course at the University of Gloucestershire. In interviews with the Glasgow's Daily Record in September 2010 and the UK's The Independent in October 2010, McGee stated he had lost interest in music and was more interested in the esoteric and occult teachings of Aleister Crowley and Peter J. Carroll, [11] particularly Carroll's book Liber Null. [12]
In October 2012, McGee stated that he was going help curate the Japanese rock festival Tokyo Rocks in 2013 and through working with Tokyo Rocks had become interested in starting up an as yet unnamed record label in 2013. [13] In May 2013, McGee announced the new label as a joint venture with Cherry Red Records called 359 Music. He stated he saw it as launch pad for new artists. [9] [14] In the ensuing month he reviewed 2500 submissions for signing, [15] [16] eventually signing 20 artists. [17]
McGee announced in May 2014 he had restarted Creation Management with Simon Fletcher and signed the Jesus and Mary Chain as his first clients. The roster subsequently expanded to include Wilko Johnson, Happy Mondays, Black Grape, Cast, Glasvegas, the Bluetones, and Shaun William Ryder solo projects.[ citation needed ]
In August 2018, Alan McGee announced the launch of a new 7-inch label named Creation23, also with Fletcher. [18] The label's first release was from North Essex group Rubber Jaw. [19]
In 2020 McGee set up the Creation Day festival, in collaboration with the City of Wolverhampton Council. The festival was originally due to be held at West Park, Wolverhampton on 29–30 May 2021, [20] [21] with Happy Mondays, Editors, and Echo and the Bunnymen as headliners, but was delayed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The festival, now branded as the Utilita Creation Day festival, is now due to take place on 28–29 May 2022, featuring IDLES and Happy Mondays as headliners, as well as Glasvegas, Sleeper, Ash, and several acts signed to Creation23. [22]
In January 2000 he likened the Labour Party to Big Brother in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four , and accused Tony Blair of being a "control freak". He had previously been one of Labour's biggest financial donors, having donated £100,000 to the party. [23]
One of McGee's last acts as the head of Creation Records was to use £20,000 of the company's money to fund Malcolm McLaren's campaign to run for Mayor of London. [24]
In late 2009, McGee withdrew his support for the Labour Party, and wrote an article for The Sun on 1 October 2009 in which he praised Conservative leader David Cameron, saying that "at least David Cameron looks like a leader." [25]
In the 2010 general election, McGee stated that he had voted for Liberal Democrat Roger Williams. [26]
From 2006 to 2010, Alan McGee wrote for The Guardian's weekly music blog. [27] As of September 2011, McGee blogs for The Huffington Post UK. [28]
McGee's autobiography Creation Stories was scheduled to be published in Europe on 7 November 2013, by Pan MacMillan. [15] McGee's autobiography was optioned by Burning Wheel Productions and has been adapted into a film screenplay by Irvine Welsh and Dean Cavanagh, due to be introduced at the next Cannes Film Festival. [29]
Upside Down, a film about Creation Records, premiered at the BFI in London on 23 and 24 October 2010. [30] It was scheduled for worldwide release in May 2011. [31]
In February 2012, McGee announced in the Huffington Post that he had started a new film company with writer and director Dean Cavanagh, who still works with Irvine Welsh, called Escalier 39. The film Kubricks was scheduled to be shot in 2012 on the grounds of McGee's house in Wales. [32] In the film McGee plays himself. He appears in Svengali , which premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in June 2013. According to The Hollywood Reporter , McGee "enjoys a surprising amount of screen-time and, in what is perhaps a deliberate in-joke, is never seen without his Trilby hat". [33]
McGee features extensively in the documentary film Teenage Superstars , which focuses on the Glasgow independent music scene during the early years of Creation Records. [34]
Creation Stories is a 2021 biographical film about McGee and Creation, directed by Nick Moran. [35] [36] [37] The film was adapted from McGee's autobiography by Welsh and Cavanagh. [38] [39] [40]
McGee's mid-1990s drug intake was such that he eventually suffered a breakdown. He has said he has no idea of the amounts of drugs he was using at this point, but that he cannot remember anything of the year 1993 other than the signing of Oasis. He added that Oasis were 'cool' about his cleaning up, but that his sober state made his relationship with Primal Scream difficult. [41]
McGee has been married twice. His first marriage was unsuccessful but produced a son named Daniel. Due to McGee's former long-term drug habit, he had been estranged from his first wife and had not seen his son since he was a baby. Dan was adopted by his ex-wife's new husband in 1994 and his name was changed to Daniel Devine. In 2005, McGee told The Independent that his son, whom he had not seen since he was a baby, had contacted him and they had reunited, [42] though they were later reported to be estranged again. [43] [44]
Since 1998, McGee has been married to Kate Holmes, of the band Client and formerly of Frazier Chorus and Technique, who now runs the fashion label Client London. They have been together since 1994, and have one child. [45]
Primal Scream are a Scottish rock band originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie (vocals) and Jim Beattie (guitar). The band's current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes (guitar), Simone Butler (bass), and Darrin Mooney (drums). Barrie Cadogan has toured and recorded with the band since 2006 as a replacement after the departure of guitarist Robert "Throb" Young.
Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as the Rain, the group initially consisted of Liam Gallagher, Paul Arthurs (guitar), Paul McGuigan and Tony McCarroll (drums), with Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher joining as a fifth member a few months after their formation. Noel became the de facto leader of the group and took over the songwriting duties for the band's first four albums. They are characterised as one of the defining and most globally successful groups of the Britpop genre.
The Jesus and Mary Chain are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in East Kilbride in 1983. The band revolves around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reid, who are the two founders and only consistent members of the band since its formation. They are recognized as key figures in the development of the shoegaze and noise pop subgenres. The band have had twelve top 40 entries and two top 10 hits in the UK Singles Chart in the course of their career.
Creation Records Ltd. was a British independent record label founded in 1983 by Alan McGee, Dick Green, and Joe Foster. Its name came from the 1960s band The Creation, whom McGee greatly admired. The label ceased operations in 1999, although it was revived at one point in 2011 for the release of the compilation album Upside Down.
Kevin Patrick Shields is an American-born Irish musician, singer-songwriter, composer, and producer, best known as the vocalist and guitarist of the band My Bloody Valentine. They became influential on the evolution of alternative rock with two of their studio albums Isn't Anything (1988) and Loveless (1991), pioneering a subgenre known as shoegaze. Shields's texturised guitar sound and his experimentation with his guitars' tremolo systems resulted in the creation of the "glide guitar" technique, which became a recognisable aspect of My Bloody Valentine's sound, along with his meticulous production techniques.
Heavenly Recordings is a London-based independent record label founded by Jeff Barrett in 1990. Heavenly released the first albums from Saint Etienne, Beth Orton and Doves, and early singles by Manic Street Preachers. Current Heavenly artists include Stealing Sheep, Mattiel, The Orielles, Confidence Man, audiobooks, Pip Blom, H. Hawkline, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Gwenno Saunders, Amber Arcades, Tapir!, Working Men's Club, Katy J Pearson and CHAI.
Arnold were a three piece alternative rock band from London, England, formed in 1996, who released two albums on Creation Records.
Poptones was a record label launched by Alan McGee after the demise of Creation Records in 1999. Its roster included The Hives, January, Oranger, Arnold, Cherrystones, King Biscuit Time, The Mardous, Thee Unstrung, The Boxer Rebellion, Beachbuggy, Pure Reason Revolution and Nick Laird-Clowes as Trashmonk. In May 2007, McGee wound down Poptones for financial reasons.
Technique were a British synthpop band from the mid-1990s featuring Kate Holmes of Frazier Chorus and singer Xan Tyler. The band was named after New Order's 1989 album of the same name, and they were signed to Creation Records, the record label owned by Holmes's husband, Alan McGee.
Le Volume Courbe is a band by French-born, London-based singer/songwriter/producer, Charlotte Marionneau/Charlotte Courbe. "Le Volume Courbe" was a name of a sculpture by a friend of Marionneau's, Marcel Marionneau, a French sculptor living in the region of Vendée (France).
Elevation was a record label set up as a joint venture between Creation Records and WEA in 1987. Frustrated with the limitations of independent distribution and financing, Alan McGee set up the label to get wider distribution and sales for some of the bands on Creation, with a view to generating additional funds for investment in other Creation artists. The label released albums and several singles by Primal Scream, The Weather Prophets, and Edwyn Collins, although the deal with WEA collapsed due to disappointing sales.
Andrew Colin Innes is a Scottish musician, best known for being the guitarist in Scottish rock band Primal Scream.
The Revelations were a British-based girl group formed in 2005.
The Jasmine Minks are a British indie pop band, whose early singles were amongst the first releases by Creation Records.
KAV is a British musician from Leicester, England, now based in Los Angeles. Sandhu played guitar with British band Happy Mondays for four years after helping reform the band with frontman Shaun Ryder in 2004. He launched his solo project under moniker "KAV" in 2008 with long-time friend and drummer Jim (James) Portas. His solo material has been compared by the media to Iggy & The Stooges, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Primal Scream, Kasabian, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan. He uses a full band for live performances, which sometimes features guest musicians from various bands.
Jonathan Tudor Owen is a Welsh producer, actor and writer who has appeared in TV shows including Shameless, Murphy's Law and My Family. Owen won a Welsh BAFTA in 2007 for the documentary The Aberfan Disaster, which he co-produced with Judith Davies.
Viking Moses is a band fronted by Brendon Massei, an American songwriter noted for being on tour since 1993. Founded in 2003 and currently based in Baltimore, the group features a rotating cast of musicians. Viking Moses has worked with the Alan McGee's Poptones record label as well as Portland-based Marriage Records.
Svengali is a 2013 British film directed by John Hardwick, written by Jonny Owen, and starring Martin Freeman, Vicky McClure, Matt Berry, Michael Socha, Michael Smiley, Vauxhall Jermaine and Natasha O'Keeffe. The film was produced by Root Films.
"Twisterella" is a song by the British rock band Ride. It was released as the second single from the band's second studio album Going Blank Again on 13 April 1992. It features Mark Gardener on lead vocals, who wrote its lyrics about his experiences with London nightlife. The song is described as "jangly Rickenbacker pop", in contrast to the band's typical shoegaze stylings.
Teenage Superstars is a 2017 film about the Glasgow independent music scene between 1982 and 1992, focusing on the bands that emerged from in and around the city at this point including The Pastels, BMX Bandits, The Soup Dragons, Teenage Fanclub, The Vaselines, The Jesus and Mary Chain and Primal Scream. In doing so, the film also considers the early days of Creation Records and Stephen Pastel, David Keegan and Sandy McLean’s 53rd & 3rd record label. The film follows on chronologically from 2015's Big Gold Dream, also directed by Grant McPhee, with its title taken from The Vaselines song "Teenage Superstars".
Dan got adopted at 5 by my ex wife's husband and his name was changed to Daniel Devine. I then met him when he was 16 – he texted me in Mexico so we met up. We didn't get on unfortunately after we met but I wish him all the best for the future.