What it's like to work in the music industry

Juvenile-deliquent-turned-one-time roofer-turned-rock’n’roll manager Martin Davies once spent his time trying to avoid the cops in Moxley, near Darlaston. Within a few years, he was hanging out with Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl and The Kinks’ star Ray Davies.

Martin formerly managed Wolverhampton’s Ivor Novello-winning singer/songwriter Scott Matthews and has chronicled his life story in a new book: The Million Pound Drop.

From Moxley to the Sydney Opera House and back again – these days, he’s a life guard in Wolverhampton – Martin’s life has been truly extraordinary.

“When I started the book, I was going to write about 10 years of working with Scott in the music industry. But once I started it, it turned into a bigger story.”

Martin grew up in Moxley during the 1980s. “It was rough, really rough. And so the book became a story of two parts. There’s stuff about getting into little bits of juvenile crime when I was younger. Then it’s into part two, which is the time of working with Scott. There’s a lot of funny anecdotes in there. It’s kind of a memoir.

“The feedback has been great. I was really nervous because there’s stuff in there that my parents didn’t know. But my friends really were encouraging me to write it and I’m glad I did.”

Stories

Martin will line up at Wolverhampton Literary Festival in January to talk about the book and is thrilled that his stories are being aired. He bought his first records when he was 12, investing in songs by Simple Minds and The Associates.

He’d grown up on his uncle’s Led Zeppelin records and was equally influenced by his older brother, who was a regular at new romantic clubs in Birmingham.

Martin attended Darlaston Comprehensive school, where he tried to play the violin and guitar. “I was never really any good. Then my girlfriend brought me a home keyboard for my 16th or 17th birthday.

“I had a few lessons in Wolverhampton, group sessions, then I decided to push myself and book classical piano lessons. I started seeing a teacher by Low Hill. She was from Greece and used to do recitals on Greek radio.”

He started playing in bands in 1990s and got record label interest from ZTT – the company that signed Frankie Goes To Hollywood. When they passed, they were followed by a label called Hut. “Our manager used to run the furniture shop at Bridge Street, in Walsall, and we used the back of his place to rehearse. Our manager told us Hut records had come to see us. They were looking at us and a band called Verve. They could only sign a few bands.” The Verve were signed and Martin and co missed out.

In 1991, life changed. Martin had an epiphany after almost losing his life in a roofing accident. He’d been working in Stoke and found himself stranded on a roof without the proper ladder. He started sliding off and came crashing to the ground with a broken foot.

“I spent 13 weeks off and had time to think. My boss offered voluntary redundancy, so I went back to college instead. I ended up studying theatre and history at Wolverhampton Uni and got a 2:1.

“Then I went into acting for a while and auditioned for the Birmingham School of Acting. I couldn’t afford it – it cost £10k – but I won a scholarship.”

And it was at that time that he met Scott Matthews. Scott was playing as support to a Smiths’ tribute band in a Black Country club – and Martin fell in love with his music. They caught up soon after when Martin was DJing at a club in Wolverhampton. Matthews gave him a demo for Passing Stranger and the rest, as they say, is history.

Martin and a business associate formed a record label and management company, Scott was signed to Island Records and before long there were solo tours, supports with Robert Plant and Foo Fighters and gigs in Australia.

“It was a happy accident. We could never have imagined how things would turn out.

“My business partner, a guy called Marco, was looking for a plugger for Scott’s song, Elusive. He came across Jeff Chegwin, Keith’s brother, and he got the song to all the right people. He had a connection with Zane Lowe, on BBC Radio 1, and Zane had a slot called ‘His Hottest Record in the World’.

“As soon as he heard Elusive, he dropped what he was going to play and started playing that instead. He played Scott for two nights in a row and then the phone didn’t stop ringing.

“We were meeting music lawyers, accountants, labels, everything. I employed a tour manager, the former drummer of The Wedding Present, Simon Smith, to take care of the shows. But I went on the road just to experience it.

“Scott’s shows with the Foo Fighters were incredible. For a lifelong music fan, it was pinch yourself moment. I remember being back stage and Scott was on stage and Dave Grohl was next to me. We went to the side of the stage to watch the set and Dave was talking to me as Scott played The Fool’s Fooling Himself.

“Grohl turned to me and said: ‘It’s a rock song’. We were talking away but all the time my mind was saying ‘He was in Nirvana’.”

There were other highlights, which are recorded in Martin’s book, The Million Pound Drop. “Touring Germany with Snow Patrol was amazing. Their fans loved him. Gary Lightbody, their singer, went above and beyond and in promoting Scott on stage.”

Eventually, time moved on. After 10 years as Scott’s manager, Martin bade a fond farewell. He retains the utmost admiration for his former charge.

“The big bombshell was getting dropped by the publishing company. That was the first sign of there being panic. It was a four-five-year big peak, then it faded. Jo Whiley and Zane Lowe were no longer biting. It was time to move on.

“But I look back on those years with nothing but fondness. It was tough when it ended but it had been a dream come true. The last show for me was at Birmingham Town Hall. The band was on fire and I literally wept in the audience. I knew that was it. I couldn’t hold it back and I just cried. There was the realistation that it was over.”

l The Million Pound Drop, by Martin Davies, is out now.