Alan McGee; VIVA Talks To Mr Creation

Amelia Ryder | 4th December 2015

IMG_7869V3(1)Alan McGee is easily one of the most influential and successful music managers around. A musician himself, he’s also a music-blogger and record-label owner. He co-founded the infamous Creation Records in 1984 and has since worked with some of Britain’s most respected musicians. Most famously, Alan discovered and signed Oasis, catapulting the band and himself into stardom. In the past, Creation Records has worked with the likes of Primal Scream, The Libertines, The Kills, Super Furry Animals and many more. Today, Alan has joined forces with Simon Fletcher to form Creation Management. Together they manage legendary artists including Happy Mondays, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Pete Macleod and Alias Kid.

VIVA caught up with Alan at Shaun Ryder’s latest video shoot to talk about the history behind Creation, the music industry today and the infamous Oasis discovery.

VIVA: You’ve managed some of Britain’s most influential bands with Creation management. Where did it all start?

ALAN: It started originally in 1984. Then we started up again in 2002 until about 2007. We managed The Libertines, The Kills, Mew. In the beginning we managed Primal Scream, then we took a break. I got ill. Then I got better on the testosterone. Basically my immune system crashed, I couldn’t get out of bed and I had no energy at all but then I got better. The Mary Chain kept asking me to manage them, I turned them down twice and then the third time I said ‘OK’ and then Wilko Johnson asked me to manage him. So we started managing Wilko and then Black Grape asked us to manage them and it just kind of rolled on from there. Finally, we ended up managing the Mondays.

VIVA: How has the music industry changed since you started managing bands in the eighties?

ALAN: It’s one hundred per cent changed but in some ways it’s utterly the same because it’s still all the same venues, like the Ritz. We’re using the Ritz for Shaun Ryder’s video shoot and I used to put bands on here in the eighties. So nothing’s really changed on one level. Yet, in another way, everything’s changed because it’s all about the internet now. I mean, look at you and me, we’re Facebook friends. I knew about you before we’d even met each other and that’s the same for so many people. So, the interconnectivity of the internet has made things so different. About ninety per cent of things on the internet are great and the other ten per cent is utter s***e. Same with life really, isn’t it?

VIVA: As a fan of music in general and somebody who has a lot of friends in bands, it’s really easy to see that talent doesn’t always equate to success. There are some really talented musician’s out there struggling to make it. Likewise, there are a lot of very successful bands who maybe aren’t as talented. What do you think that’s down to?

ALAN: It’s all about drive. It’s a lot about will power. I’m not the best manager in the world, I’m not the best record guy in the world but I’ve had the biggest group in the world and you know what, it’s all about drive.

VIVA: You’ve worked with a lot of mega-stars, do any of them stick out for you?

ALAN: There’s a lot. Bobby Gillespie, Shaun Ryder, Noel and Liam, Kevin Shields, Pete Doherty, Carl Barat. There’s a load of people you can look at and totally understand why they’ve made it.

VIVA: Is there a specific formula managers look for in a band?

ALAN: Believe it or not I actually have to like the people. If I don’t like them as people then we’ve probably got a problem because I probably won’t work with them. When I got involved with the Mondays, I’d always got on with them, I’ve always got on with the Ryders and Bobby Gillespie was my school friend from forty years ago. Noel and Liam, we liked each other from the start. I mean, Noel liked me the minute he met me and I ordered a triple Jack Daniels and coke, (laughs) from then on we’ve never had a bad word.

VIVA: What advice would you give to bands looking to get signed?

ALAN: I think it’s never been harder. It’s like struggling to get oxygen but you can get oxygen, if you can find a way to get yourself through the internet and marketing thing. It’s all about the internet and if you can market yourself on the internet and go viral on the internet, you’re away. If you’ve got the songs and you’ve got the ability and you’ve got the manager, you’re gonna make it.

VIVA: It sounds like you’re saying that the internet is really central nowadays in making it.

ALAN: Yeah, it’s essential. You know, you don’t judge people on how many records they’ve sold, you judge people on how many streams they’ve had. Which is bonkers but it’s the truth.

VIVA: In a city where there are lots of success-hungry bands, there are also a lot of success-hungry managers. What advice would you give to music managers just starting out?

ALAN: You’ve just got to do it because you love music. If you get into it to make money, you’ll fail. When I was nineteen, I wanted to be a popstar, I wanted to be in a band, to be a bass player and, if I was lucky, I might get a good looking girlfriend. I never dreamt that I was gonna go to London and start Creation and then twelve years later have the biggest group in the world. I never saw any of that coming. So you don’t know what you’re getting into sometimes, you just have to go with it. Life’s a journey at the end of the day, we’re all gonna end up in old folks’ homes, so enjoy the ride while you can.

VIVA: What makes a good manager?

ALAN: I think it’s being available twenty-four, seven, you know. If Shaun Ryder wants to talk to me at eleven at night or seven in the morning, so be it. You know, half the battle is putting out the fire before it starts.

VIVA: So, what are you listening to at the moment?

ALAN: I like weird bands. I like Empire of the Sun, MGMT and people will hate me for saying this but I quite like Adele. I just like what I like. I don’t really think about whether it’s cool or not. I probably don’t even know what’s cool anymore.

VIVA: What’s makes you say people won’t like that you like Adele?

ALAN: Because she’s mainstream and people get weirded out if you like something mainstream but she’s quality and she’s unique. In terms of old stuff, I like the Pistols, The Kinks, The Beatles, The Stones, Jimi Hendrix and I like Elvis.

VIVA: You’re best known for your association with Oasis. Tell us about that sacred day it started.

ALAN: Total fluke. I’d been hanging around with a girl called Debbie Turner, she was playing a gig in a band called Sister Lovers. Oasis weren’t even on the bill. She’d brought them along in a twin splitter van kind of thing. They weren’t announced, just came and caused a commotion. There were about twelve people there, one of them being a Japanese tourist with a camera. I went in with Susan, my sister. There were Glasgow drink licensing laws which made the pubs open twenty-four hours a day. So the band went on at ten thirty pm when it should have been eight pm. I saw Oasis and it was just supposed to be. It was meant to be and the other thing about life; I was thirty-two when I found them – who else, on a bank holiday Monday, would have been watching that gig at that time? So, was anybody else gonna get it? It was probably meant for me.

VIVA: So, VIVA are also interviewing Noel for this issue. We asked him what he’d like to ask you. He’d like to know what you spent all the money you made from Oasis on?

ALAN: (Laughs). I’m getting through it.

Photo by Karin Albinsson