Melbourne-based Richard – Rich to his friends – got his first job booking bands in pubs at 17, when, legally, he couldn’t even be in them. His band played the back room at a Melbourne venue on a Wednesday night to 82 payers. Feeling pretty chuffed that he’d got so many people to a mid-week show, Rich got in touch with a friend – another booker – borrowed his phone book and started making calls. The next day, he went back to the pub, told the owner he wanted the job booking bands, the owner said “OK mate”, and the rest is history.Until recently, Rich booked several Melbourne pubs and clubs, including:Evelyn Hotel, Punters Club, Corner Hotel, Public Bar, Northcote Social Club, East Brunswick Club, Shebeen, 170 Russell and Newtown Social Club (NSW).In the early 2000s, he started booking and programming festivals, which include:
St Kilda Festival, Queenscliff, Falls, Southbound, Pushover, Groovin’ the Moo, Parklife, West Coast Blues & Roots, Northwest Festival, Splendour and The Plot. Rich has booked early tours for the White Stripes, Blink-182, QOTSA and Beck at venues, including the first ever Australian show by The Pixies; at festivals he has booked Kings of Leon, Lorde, the Flaming Lips, Tame Impala, Vampire Weekend, Weird Al Yankovic, The Strokes, The Roots, Public Enemy, TV on the Radio, Black Keys, Alt-J, Arctic Monkeys and many more.In addition to being an active presence in Melbourne’s music community, Rich has busied himself with a bunch of other music-related stuff over the years: – Wrote and edited Form Guide, a monthly 60-page magazine featuring interviews, album reviews and a gig guide, Founded Way Over There, an artist-run record label (distributed via Shock) that released 65 full-length albums from artists such as Machine Translations, The Dead Salesmen, Gersey, Mississippi Barry and Blue Grassy Knoll, Hosted Triple R drive-time radio show ‘Incoming’ for 15 years, showcasing new Australian and New Zealand music ,Arranged music, sorted publishing and booked bands to appear on Channel Nine’s Mick Molloy Show, Most of the work Rich has done – from booking bands in pubs, to programming festivals, to self-publishing magazines – has started out on a voluntary basis.