Industry veteran Chris O’Brien and Northlane guitarist Joshua Smith have unveiled a new joint venture in Open Door Management.
The new agency will see O’Brien, who is currently General Manager Of Touring at Destroy All Lines, and Smith join forces to address management issues they’ve both experienced in the past, utilising knowledge from both sides of the industry.
“Part of the issue that some artists have is there’s just not necessarily a huge amount of clarity with what goes on in their careers,” O'Brien told The Music.
“The idea is to be upfront and honest with them at all times. It’s their life, it’s their business, so we’re just there as guardians to guide them through it more than anything else and help them along the way.
“First and foremost, it’s about putting the power back in the artists’ hands and making sure they’re aware of what’s going on while helping guide their careers.”
Their combined roster currently boasts Northlane, Introvert, Stateside and Void Of Vision, with two new signings also unveiled today - Make Them Suffer and Windwaker.
“We’re obviously massive fans of [Make Them Suffer] live and they’ve come a long way in the last two years, so that was a pretty seamless one for us,” O’Brien said.
“I saw Windwaker at BIGSOUND last year…and when they released the EP, it just blew me away. I sent it straight over to Josh and said, you’ve got to listen to this. He had one listen, called me up that night and said, ‘What do we have to do to manage this band?’”
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