This week’s guest on The Road To Rock has been managing bands and making deals in the music business for over thirty years… what he doesn’t know about the ways of the industry ‘aint worth knowing, quite frankly.
Andy Farrow started his career as a young lad in the north of England scouting bands for music labels based in London.
Seeing a gap in the market for a northern centric company to be closer to the northern music scene, this led Andy to form his own company which focused on taking care of bands from Newcastle down to Derby.
Over the years he progressed from narco punk music scene into thrash metal then into death doom metal, working with bands such as Slammer, Loud, Paradise Lost, Sons of Apollo, 65 days of Static, Trailer Dead and Skindred.
Andy’s current roster of bands signed to Northern Music Company includes Swedish Progressive Rock Metal band Opeth, Canadian musician Devin Townsend, British Gothic Metal band Paradise Lost (who he’s been with for 30 years) Swedish metal band Katatonia and Newcastle Upon Tyne’s answer to Guns N Roses… The Wildhearts!
In this interview Andy talks about the big names he’s missed out on working with, how he and his staff tackled the financial repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic, the deals he’s made to ensure his bands will be financially secure well into their retirement and he offers some great advice for bands trying to make their mark and be seen and heard in the industry.
We hear how Devin Townsend has been the busiest man on the planet during the lockdown and the phenomenal amount of money he has raised for charities including the NHS.
Andy tells us which of his bands will be doing live stream gigs and touring in 2021, and find out which of his artist’s has been writing music for a new Netflix movie.
Where to listen
