But there was this one band, which had been my all time favourite. I had grown up listening to them, being a fan all through their journey to fame.
Their first album was released when I was thirteen. It was nothing like what was around in local music scene. And as much as I like international bands, let's face it, there's nothing quite like the feeling, when you listen to a good song in your native language. It somehow resonates more with you.
I've listened to them and followed them for 15 years. All through this time, their songs became soundtracks to my memories. I used to write on their guestbook, which was very primitive (it was 1999, we didn't even have MySpace then!) but the friendliest virtual space I've ever been in. After I moved here, I went to several concerts of them and enjoyed every one of them. I witnessed the songs on their 4th album, and all their albums after that becoming huge hits. They changed the local music industry for good. Rock bands became more popular than ever. They started to sell much more, tour more, earn more, and they simply became the biggest band in the country.
But they never did anything uncool. I guess that's why I still like them so much.
Instead of changing their lifestyle after this great success, they put all they had back into music, and started a record label. They released their own albums, and helped great emerging bands in their stepping into music business.
Now, this label was looking for a product and tour manager. As I told in the Working at a Venue post, I'd met their manager, who was the managing director of their record label. He was one of the band's closest friends from highschool, studied marketing in the States, worked in a major record label there, and came back just to manage the band. The day I worked as the backstage manager in their concert at the venue, I told him I'd be very interested in this position. We quickly set up a meeting.
It was a great meeting. We knew each other, and we had already worked together. I told him what I had been doing for the last 4 years, showed him the tourbooks and itineraries I had prepared, and how much I liked the band and wanted to work for them. I immediately started working there.
The day I met the band the first time, I was a little bit star struck, for the first and last time during my career.
