WHO IS HE? Currently manages Chicken Legs Weaver who'll soon be recording in the States with Johny Dowd and writing with Jim White and you’ll have seen his poster work (under his design name The Greenman) all over town. Also promotes gigs around Sheffield.

HOW DID HE END UP DOING IT? "I was still at school and I put on Dr Feelgood for an end of term gig just as they went to number 1. I got involved with photography through the design work and ended up on the road with punk bands. When I came to Sheffield I helped to start up the Leadmill doing all their design and had a studio there until ‘94. In the 80's I managed The Junk, whose bassist Andy Hobson went on to play in the Pretenders. The Loft was an arts project I was involved in putting on gigs and hiring out rehearsal rooms and sound systems to bands. Elfin used to rehearse there. I heard them and wanted to get involved. I also ran the Broadfield putting on gigs and all day festivals."

THE UPSIDE: "I'm doing what I want to do. It's great to create posters that really promote the event. It can say a lot about a venue and the way it approaches its customers. They say that the night is an event you should be at! Long lists of gigs are just like saying, 'give us your money and then fuck off!' Putting a lot of thought into the design respects the artist."

THE DOWNSIDE: "I'm broke!"

WHAT'S YER BAG BABY? "Early blues, psychedelia, black leather trousers, white T-shirt and shades music. I like the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, John Dowd, Mississippi Fred McDowell and local bands Chicken Legs Weaver, Pink Grease, Rumpus, Texas Pete, Hoggboy, Tegi Roberts and Richard Hawley."

ANY ADVICE? "Managers: Don't manage bands you don't 100% believe in. Bands: You should have someone to represent you. If you don't love it, it won't work."

 

http://www.martinfbedford.com/

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