Owen Orford

Owen Orford is an Australian booking agent and concert tour promoter. Orford transitioned from lead singer in Australian touring bands Finch, Contraband and Toys, to venue booker of Sydney venues The Astra Hotel, Bondi Beach and Sydney Cove Tavern from 1979-1982. He went on to promote tours for local and international acts and has booked shows for more than 150 Australian artists.

Early career

In 1972, he joined hard rock group Finch. The band toured the country extensively and over the years released a number of hit singles and albums, including the critically acclaimed Thunderbird in 1976. The band signed with United States Label Portrait, changing their name to Contraband due to the existence of a Dutch band with the same name. After a run of line-up changes the band split up in 1979. The following year Orford went to work at the agency that had booked his band, Harbour Premier.

Orford developed a roster of acts including Hoodoo Gurus, Models, Hunters & Collectors, Icehouse, Moving Pictures, Heaven, Dynamic Hepnotics, The Radiators, The Cockroaches, Machinations, Kids in the Kitchen, Electric Pandas, The Stems, Boom Crash Opera, Jenny Morris, Big Pig, The Hummingbirds, Paul Kelly, Jimmy Barnes, The Screaming Tribesmen, Dynamic Hepnotics, Ups and Downs and Do-Re-Mi.[1]

TPA

In 1989 Orford left Harbour Premier to establish his own agency, Trading Post Agency (TPA). Signing their first act, Australian rock band Midnight Oil.[2] TPA hit its stride. Throughout the years the company, with Owen Orford at the helm, TPA represented such acts as; Weddings Parties Anything, Tommy Emmanuel, Savage Garden, Men at Work, Killing Heidi, Grinspoon, Spiderbait, Falling Joys, Tall Tales and True, Clouds, Margaret Urlich, Directions in Groove, The Black Sorrows, The Screaming Jets, Kasey Chambers, Things of Stone and Wood, Grace Knight, InSurge, Wendy Matthews, The Living End, Primary, COG, Karnivool and Mammal, Shihad, Penny Flanagan and Weta. And also a number of international artists in Australia including; Adeva (USA), Hothouse Flowers (Ireland), Margaret Cho (USA) Crash Test Dummies (Canada), NoMeansNo (Canada), Jello Biafra Spoken Word (USA) and The Pursuit of Happiness (Canada). TPA booked world tours for; DIG, Karin Schaupp, and sold-out UK tours for Killing Heidi and Grinspoon.[3][4]

Owen Orford has also mentored promoters of various Australian festivals including Clipsal 500 , Rock It (WA) , MS Fest , Pyramid Rock, Homebake, Bassinthegrass and the inaugural Groovin The Moo Festival at Narrandera.[5]

From 2001–2003 Owen won ‘Best Live Agent’ at the Australian Live Music Awards three years in a row.[6][7]

In July 1999, Owen was invited to be a part of the Commonwealth Government’s Contemporary Music Touring Program sub-committee.[8] The program allocated $1.05 million over three years to help develop viable touring opportunities for Australian musicians and increase audience access to Australian contemporary music.[8]

In 2007 Owen managed the Across the Great Divide Tour[9] that saw Powderfinger team up with Silverchair. The tour featured concerts in 26 towns across Australia and multiple shows in New Zealand, and sold out in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney. Adelaide, Wollongong, The Gold Coast, Newcastle and Perth.[10]

In 2010, Silverchair and Grinspoon headlined 5 Groovin’ The Moo one day events , and propelled this regional touring festival to national touring festival.[11][12][13] In 2017, NWA activated milestone event tours for: Spiderbait (Ivy & The Big Apples),[14] Grinspoon (Guide To Better Living)[15][16][17] and Tina Arena (Innocence to Understanding - 40th Anniversary Tour),[18][19] and all became the highest selling national tours for each of these Artists to date.[20]

New World Artists

Orford is Executive Director at Australian booking agency, New World Artists.[21] New World Artists is an independent booking agency.

New World Artist roster includes: Allday, Australian Rock Collective, Tina Arena, Grinspoon, Mallrat, The Potbelleez, Rockwiz Live, Silverchair, Slumberjack, Sarah Mcleod, Sneaky Sound System, Spiderbait, Darren Middleton, Urthboy and The Superjesus.[22]

In 2018 Orford designed the 14 date Australian capital city ‘Chemical Hearts Tour 2019’ for Grinspoon,[23] in association with promoter TEG.[22][24]

In 2018 Owen reactivated his passion for motivating start up events for Spiderbait with event promoter Empire Touring to establish the inaugural Spring Loaded Festival in June 2019,[25][26] selling out 7000 tickets in record time at Sandstone Point, overlooking Bribie Island Qld, on the iconic grass amphitheatre.[27] This success immediately enabled another two Spring Loaded Festivals for mid 2020 with headliner Grinspoon adding the Sydney edition, at Royal Randwick Lawns.[28][29] Additional editions are planned in more States for when mass gatherings are allowed. NSW and QLD events are postponed to November 2020 or later due to Covid 19 restrictions.[30]

In September 2019 Orford signed The Butterfly Effect for global representation and secured a return to Festival stages on Good Things in Melbourne, Sydney and hometown, Brisbane.[31][22][32]

In November 2019, Orford moderated the Hypothetically Live Panel at Australian Music Week Conference.[33] He also recommended Silverchair manager John Watson and Ken West (Big Day Out), to Bob Lefsetz as subjects to interview for his Podcast, The Lefsetz Letter.[34]

In January 2020, Orford signed the 12 -18 piece funk collective, The Regime.[35][36] Under Orford's representation The Regime played Big Gay Day 2020[37] and were booked for Byron Bay Bluesfest 2020.[38]

References
  1. "New World Artists chief Owen Orford on building long-term live careers". The Music Network. 17 October 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  2. "Midnight Oil ~ Concerts". midnight-oil.info. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  3. Scott Ellis "Strike up the band", "The Sun-Herald", 6 May 2003
  4. Christie Eliezer "Pokies Slow Local Touring", "Billboard", 16 October 1999
  5. "The Barrier Daily Truth". The Music. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  6. "QMA Judges". Gaming Law Review and Economics. December 2016.
  7. "2003 Australian Live Music Awards". CelebrityAccess. 4 December 2003. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  8. Monday; July 1999, 19; Unknown, 1:38 pm Press Release. "On the road again | Scoop News". www.scoop.co.nz. Retrieved 9 May 2020.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. "Powderfinger & Silverchair - Across The Great Divide Tour". Discogs. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  10. "Powderchair gig sparks a frenzy". web.archive.org. 28 September 2007. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  11. "Aussie Festivals Worth Chucking In Your Calendar/Travelling Interstate For". Pedestrian TV. 4 June 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  12. Crabbe, Ashlee (3 February 2010). "Groovin' the Moo". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  13. "/". The Music. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  14. "Spiderbait to play Ivy & The Big Apples in full on next tour". Double J. 21 November 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  15. "New World Artists". New World Artists. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  16. "Grinspoon return with 20th anniversary 'Guide To Better Living' tour". Beat Magazine. 2 April 2017. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  17. "Grinspoon announce huge 20th anniversary 'Guide To Better Living' tour". Tone Deaf. 2 April 2017. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  18. "Tina Arena Innocence to Understanding' - Greatest Hits Tour 2017". www.weekendnotes.com. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  19. "Tina Arena Has Announced A Huge 2017 Australian Tour". Music Feeds. 2 April 2017. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  20. "/". The Music. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  21. Christie Eliezer "Industrial Strength", "The Music Network", 28 November 2012
  22. "New World Artists". New World Artists. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  23. "Grinspoon - Guide to Better Living". Grinspoon. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  24. "Grinspoon have announced their massive 'Chemical Hearts' Australian tour". Tone Deaf. 2 June 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  25. Cashmere, Paul (24 February 2019). "Empire Touring reveals inaugural Spring Loaded Festival". Noise11.com. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  26. "Introducing Spring Loaded! The Ultimate 90's Alt Rock Festival". Wall Of Sound. 16 February 2020. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  27. "Spring Loaded 2020 - Brisbane". tickets.oztix.com.au. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  28. "Sydney's First Spring Loaded Festival Promises Epic Trip Down Memory Lane". Triple M. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  29. "Spring Loaded Festival Now Also NSW! – Across The Ocean". acrosstheocean.com.au. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  30. "Spring Loaded". Sandstone Point Hotel. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  31. "New World Artists ink The Butterfly Effect to multi-market deal". The Music Network. 17 November 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  32. "Australia News: Australian Open, Butterfly Effect, Will.i.am & More". www.pollstar.com. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  33. Writers, Staff. "Owen Orford: Australian Music Week Speaker Profile". scenestr - Pop Culture & Entertainment. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  34. "Ken West". Lefsetz Letter. 6 November 2019. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  35. Talks, Music. "Exploding Soul Funk Collective The Regime Drops New Music". Music Talks. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  36. "/". The Music. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  37. Cheung, Emily. "THE REGIME ANNOUNCE SEXY NEW SINGLE NEVER GONNA STOP OUT NOW ALONGSIDE BLUESFEST LINEUP ANNOUNCE + TOUR DATES THROUGH MARCH + SIGN EXCLUSIVELY WITH NEW WORLD ARTISTS | Buzz Magazine". Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  38. "The Regime". Byron Bay Bluesfest. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
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