Dedicated to the Business of Contemporary Live Music
Matthias Siefert
Bizarre Management, London
E: matthias@bizarremanagement.com
Your artiste roster: Emerging Manchester artist MNRØ, plus a couple of others that I’m not at liberty to talk about right now.
Favourite venues for seeing and/or showcasing new artistes: Lexington and Café Oto in London, Castle Hotel and Soup Kitchen in Manchester, Lido in Berlin and Moods in Zurich.
How important is it for artistes to play live: It’s arguably the most important part of an artiste’s career. Performing live builds confidence not just in music but in the artiste’s own mind. I’m still amazed by how frequently tracks that were in danger of being “overlooked” in the studio somehow take on a whole new meaning in a live setting.
Other emerging acts to watch: Black Sea Dahu.
Greatest lesson learned: Always have a backup plan for pretty much everything. Even then, things can still go wrong.
Worst live experience: A London-based artist of mine was booked to play a high-profile festival in China. Due to an engine fault on the plane, she and her two musicians missed their connecting flight from Zurich to Beijing. This resulted in the band arriving on site three hours late and performing on the main stage in front of 20,000 people who didn’t take kindly to seeing their Chinese superstar’s headline slot delayed by a British upstart.
Current live music projects: All my artistes are currently in the studio writing or recording, so no live music projects until 2020.
