Every good band has a job to do – practice hard, make music, play onstage, record, release an album; so on and so forth. These aspects are well known and have been well documented for ages now. However, their brilliant music, that infectious energy onstage, the awe inspiring CD covers and everything else we see cannot be achieved without a primary sense of well being. We take a look at the guys who make it all happen. Call them the binding glue if you’d like or in other words, they’re likely to be called ‘Band Managers’. Vignesh Iyer investigates.

Brains Behind The Bands

Come to think about it, a layperson would have no clue what these guys do. Why do a few perfectly well grown guys need a ‘manager’? Drawing a parallel from the corporate world or the ‘real’ world as many would like to call it, a manager is symbolic of someone holding a position of authority and seniority. Basically, he is – ‘The Boss’. That notion doesn’t hold true here though, the band managers are primarily fans of the musicians they choose to work with and in some cases, close friends.

Brains Behind The Bands

“If you do not like the music of the band you are representing, I doubt you’d be able to convincingly sell it to anyone at all” says Dhruv Jagasia who has been managing Indian Ocean for the past five years now. He first worked alongside the band as an employee of Teamworks films almost a decade ago, accompanying the band to a music festival in Edinburgh. A few years on, he quit his job and had landed up at Indian Ocean’s jam pad.  “It happened over a few drinks there, I asked them if they had a band manager and they said they’d tried about ten! Then they just said, maybe I could take over” he informs.

Brains Behind The Bands

Most of the bands seem to work on a semi formal working relationship with their managers. The Independent music scene in the country is not evolved enough for bands and their managers to be drafting out individual contracts just yet. Mumbai based jam band Something Relevant’s manager Goldwin Fonseca is another example. Just 21 years old, he followed the band around recording their gigs and encouraging their music purely as a fan. “I also used to help them out on stage with whatever was needed to be done up there. After I graduated they asked me if I could take up a more active role and become their manager”. He couldn’t have refused that offer. “I have a business card though, if that can be considered formal!” he quips.

Brains Behind The Bands

If one has been following the independent music scene for a long enough time now, the name Vijay Nair must surely have cropped up either in a conversation over beer or an article of some sort. A college dropout, he was working for the now legendary Gigpad.com which used to serve as a networking portal for bands. “I started to initially manage AFS (Aquired Funk Syndrome) which had a few friends of mine, then Zero and Pentagram happened” he says. The rest as they say is history, he took the decision to stay on despite the independent music scene’s relatively nascent stage of development at that point. Doubt he’d live to regret it, for his good work led to the formation of OML, an artist management company owned by himself in partnership with Girish Talwar, better known as ‘Bobby from Zero’. OML deals with anything and everything related to the music business in the country. They also manage bands like Pentagram, Swarathma and Tough on Tobaaco. Vijay Nair was also recognized as the British council’s Young Entrepreneur of the year in 2009.

The rapidly progressing Independent scene has brought with it a few welcome changes like the availability of more bands, more original music and a lot more opportunities for bands to play gigs. However, it has also led to increased competition. It is a challenge which makes it almost a must for bands to have managers who can network, market and promote them while they concentrate purely upon their music.

“Getting gigs is one of the most important things we do, apart from which I have to liaison with our publisher, our sponsors, make sure the payments come in on time, etc.” says Goldwin. It is what most managers normally do; their primary motive is to ensure that their bands are comfortable. “At Indian Ocean the guys are normally extremely calm, always happy. Sometimes when things go wrong I wish they’d get frustrated. Considering they don’t, I need to be an ***hole” asserts Dhruv, reminiscing of the time when he has had to get into fisticuffs for the band. “I’d do it again if at all needed, as a manager you cannot let someone disrespect your band” he says.

Brains Behind The Bands

Vijay Nair is of the opinion that most bands tend to whine though and he tells us why. “There’s always something to cry about, it’s not only here but in the UK too where the scene is fairly evolved with almost five thousand venues to play. In the creative industry this will always continue. Lets say thirty bands make it big, we’ll have three hundred other bands coming up but not getting the same piece of action.”

While the guys from Indian Ocean are largely known to be a light hearted bunch – their extensive touring and the close bond shared does sometimes take its toll upon the members. “As band manager for Indian Ocean, you can never be having a bad day. Considering we travel around with almost 10 people everywhere we go, there could be days when a member could be snappy or antagonistic. So as the manager the responsibility falls on me to handle him, the other members as well as the organizers of the show!” he states.

There are plenty of opportunities for those willing to take the step into the business of music and then there is this often asked question – Which Indian band will finally achieve worldwide fame? “If anyone had known that, they would have already made their millions” says Vijay Nair. Considering, no one knows yet, it could be anyone, and that coupled with the general encouraging signs, is great news for new comers in the scene. “It’s important as a manager to respect the people you are working with, the toughest part I’d say is to get shows. Though India seems to be progressing on this front, it hasn’t completely opened up as a market for live gigs yet” says Goldwin. Wait and watch time then for the veterans as well as the beginners, but Vijay has a few words of caution “Don’t ever work with someone who doesn’t work as hard as you do.”

Brains Behind The Bands

All of the work they do is behind the curtains but as far as the business goes, they are the face of the band. If musicians are the heart and soul, managers represent the brain. While most people who purely attend gigs most likely wouldn’t know much about the managers, it’s not the same with those who organize shows. Band managers are the key to opening the vault of music their bands can offer. Musicians recognize this- their managers are as important as a fellow member. Good music will ultimately be heard irrespective of whether or not a manager markets it, but the right music combined with right people is the best combination for a success story in the music business. At the end of the day, even if a band isn’t the best at what it does, it’s worth having a manager. He could probably turn out to be their bridge to success.

They said it…

“I’ll never hear the end of it for accepting this but he is the smartest one of us all! He’s our biggest fan and we know he’s got our back. He’s got the ability to look three steps ahead while we worry about how to handle the current one. He’s extremely good at making things happen. Also if you ever need cakes, Goldy is the man!!” - Aalok Padhye (Something Relevant) on Goldwin Fonseca

“He is extremely efficient, knows his stuff. More than us liking him, it is also important the others like our promoters and organizers work well with him. As a manager he does that very well.” – Amit Kilam (Indian Ocean) on Dhruv Jagasia

“When Vijay came in to manage Zero it changed our lives to a certain extent. We found somebody to rely on. He managed our gigs, travel arrangements, money, etc. Now OML manages Tough on tobacco. Vijay has become quite successful doing what he does, travels around the world and I’m happy for him man!” – Sidd Coutto (Zero and Tough on Tobacco) on Vijay Nair

Article by Vignesh Iyer

Zedde performing at Not Just Jazz By The Bay