"We opened The Harbour Agency in 1976," he continues. "At the same time I was managing acts and a director of the agencies, I was a freelance tour coordinator with Dainty from 1972-80 and did all the big tours. From 1977-80 I spent a lot of time overseas with my management acts, Kevin Borich and Richard Clapton. In 1978 or 79, Kevin took me to the Lyceum in London to see a new band - The Police. I was blown away, and back in Australia, I suggested we tour all these new U.K. acts that Dainty didn't want to know.

"At the same time, Gudinski came back from the U.K. He had signed the publishing of 90 percent of the punk explosion and we decided to start a touring company. We borrowed Ian Copeland's name, Frontier, and The Frontier Touring Company was born. Our first two tours were Ian's flagship acts - Squeeze and The Police."

In 1983, Chuggie was starting to have success internationally with The Church and The Sunnyboys, when he decided to give up management to concentrate on Frontier….and the rest, as they say, is history.

Today, Michael Chugg remains a pioneer of the Australian music industry with his years of experience in organizing and promoting international artists such as The Police, Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli and Sammy Davis, Jr, R.E.M., Bon Jovi, Kylie Minogue, Elton John, Billy Joel, Madonna, Vans Warped Tour, Sting, John Fogerty, Guns 'N Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Garbage, KISS, Pearl Jam, Tom Jones and The Cure, to name a few, from over 135 international tours while general manager of Frontier Touring.

All this while, Chuggie spent a great deal of time traveling throughout the world, developing close relationships with every major record company, booking agency, management company and music convention. In 1997, he produced the first Pacific Circle Music Convention, now named Australian Music Week, which runs this year Oct. 9-15 in Sydney.

Chuggie also has long donated his time and talents to many charitable events, including being on the board of the Prince Of Wales Children's Foundation, a member of New South Wale's Arts Council Advisory Board. He is also a 12-year veteran and Trustee of the music industry charity, the Golden Stave Foundation, with which he has been instrumental in raising $2 million for the Paraquad Association, the Camperdown Children's Hospital, The Shepard Centre, Nordoff-Robins and the Starlight Foundation

Among the many benefit events his name has been associated with are Ash Wednesday Bushfire Appeal (1983), Rock The Way To L.A Olympic Appeal (1983), Australian coordinator for Bob Geldof's Live Aid concert (1985), Newcastle Earthquake Appeal concert raising $941,000 (1990), Turn Back The Tide concert - to save Bondi Beach (1998), The National Drug Offensive Concerts, and The Odyssey House Drug Rehab Program.

In 1992, along with actors Brian Brown, Rachel Ward and Doug Mulray, Chuggie organized 'Bush Bash' for the Sydney City Mission, raising half a million dollars. In 1994, he coordinated the Bushfire concert at Sydney Football Stadium, featuring Sting, Bryan Adams and Jimmy Barnes, that raised $700,000 for Ian Kiernan's Clean Up Australia, The National Parks & Wildlife Foundation, and the Community Disaster Relief Fund.

That was followed by the 1996 Crowded House Farewell to the World Concert on the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House that raised over $500,000 for the Sydney Children's Hospital at Randwick, which was the biggest free concert ever in Sydney with over 300,000 people.

Last year, after 25 years with the company he co-founded, Frontier Touring, Chuggie went out on his own and started Michael Chugg Entertainment, producing and promoting 19 national tours featuring international artists and five national tours featuring Australian artists.

A major highlight in 2000 for Chuggie was co-producing the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the ParaOlympic Games in Sydney, "with incredible sell out attendances of over 100,000 at both events."

Respected and recognized by his colleagues, Chuggie was named International Promoter of the Year, 1997, by Performance magazine readers, and Promoter of the Year, 2000 by Pollstar.

First industry job

I ran dances and managed acts in Tasmania until I went to the mainland, Melbourne. My first job was poster boy for Browning & Gudinsksi's Consolidated Rock Agency. I ended up being sent to Sydney to open an office there.

What is the state of the Australian music market compared to five years ago?

It certainly is not as busy as it was, basically because of the Australian dollar.

How has the economy affected international artists performing in Australia?

The international side of touring has been very affected by the weak Australian dollar. We haven't seen U2, Madonna; Bon Jovi played a charity show in Melbourne because a commercial show wouldn't work. There's a lot of acts not coming.

With the dollar at 50 cents U.S., it's impossible to make a lot of tours work, and from that point of view, it's certainly slowed down. More and more young acts are only getting in record company sponsored PR, promotional and some showcase tours. Certainly the Australian acts on that side of the business is much stronger than it was. There are a lot of Australian acts touring overseas now - The Living End, The Avalanches, 28 Days, Mick Hart, Silverchair, Powderfinger, Vanessa Amorosie, Killing Heidi, Jimmy Barnes, Natalie, Kylie, Shihad, Paul Kelly, Superheist, Rose Tattoo, 7 and many more. Fruit - the girl band- who are doing really well and Savage Garden, of course. So a lot of money is coming back into the country from the Australian touring point of view, and certainly Australian music has never been stronger and it's slowly, really taking over the world.

We have a poor economy the government is bearing. A huge percent of the audiences have no money and are living below the poverty line. GST (tax system) has been a disaster. Small businesses are closing down in the hundreds. I think the Eminem tour - which I didn't have anything to do with - reflects the problems of the U.S. dollar forcing a ticket price of around $98, consequently drawing 50 to 60 percent houses as a result, with promoters losing a lot of money.

Australia is changing slightly in the fact that our Australian acts have been certainly a lot more respected from local audiences. It was never a fact that Australian acts were bigger than international acts coming into our country, but now probably the two biggest touring acts really have been John Farnham and Kylie Minogue, who are doing huge business.

As a company co-founder, why did you leave Frontier Touring after so many years?

Frontier Touring was a very proud time in my life. Myself, Michael Gudinkski and Philip Jacobsen built that company to be the biggest company in Australia and New Zealand. I think the last couple of years, the company was losing focus on what was going on. I felt we weren't keeping up with technology. Also, I felt we weren't doing enough with young acts and building a client base like we had done back in the early '80s with acts like The Police, Bon Jovi, Bob Dylan, Bryan Adams, and we weren't really getting on top of the new breed of acts. I was getting frustrated with that and thought I'd like to give it a try on my own, which I did and started Michael Chugg Entertainment. It really now rests on my ability and my gut feelings on what acts to tour and what is going to happen in the marketplace.

I believe I'm doing very well and I'm very happy with the way things are going. It also gives me more time internationally to work on obviously - my favorite love - promoting Australian music to the world and also creating relationships with new acts and maintaining relationships with established acts. I've been lucky that some of Frontier Touring's clients - Sting, Dylan, Bon Jovi - have come with me. And I'm lucky to have picked up some great new acts. [Faith No More singer] Mike Patton has stayed as well. And in 18 months we've done two Mr. Bungle and two Fantomas tour. The last in August was a seven- show sell out. I'm very lucky to have the Robbie Williams tour this November that has done incredibly - 100,000-plus tickets in New Zealand and will do a total sold out tour of Australia. I'm very happy and very appreciative that people have had the faith in me.

How competitive are the concert promotion companies?

The music market is very competitive in Australia, probably as much as it has always been. My main competitors are Michael Coppell and Frontier Touring. There are established promoters like Paul Dainty and Kevin Jacobsen, but they tend to do the older, bigger acts. Kevin certainly does theater. I am co-promoting the Elton John tour with Kevin and I'm happy to do that. Kevin is a wonderful person and a real genuine Aussie bloke, and I'm looking forward to that tour. It should be great.

In Australia and New Zealand, unlike America, we don't have individual promoters. When a promoter buys a tour he buys it for the whole country, sometimes both countries. We have local reps in the cities. There are five major cities - Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth - and there's quite a few secondary markets. It's been great watching the secondary markets growing over the years to be big enough to be able to handle a lot of international acts - Darwin, Townsfield, Cairnes and Surface Paradise (in Queensland), Newcastle, Canberra (in New South Wales), Victoria. Tenworth (home of country music) now has a new arena. I've played Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson there. In Tasmania, Sting, Dylan, Bryan Adams and big Australian acts have played there. There are quite a few markets viable for mid-level acts.

In New Zealand, there are three major cities - Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington. A problem is there's no arena but 5-6,000 basketball stadiums and other outdoor venues. In November, I'm playing Robbie Williams at Ericcson Stadium (45,000-capacity) in Auckland. In Wellington there's the 5,000-seat Queens Wharf Events Centre and Westpac Stadium (34,500-capacity) and the Town Halls. In Christchurch there's the 9,000-seat Entertainment Centre with lots of international acts playing there. But because of production deficiencies, acts skip New Zealand in the winter. There's also New Plymouth and Dunning.

We are also doing more and more shows in Southeast Asia. An associate of mine, Colleen Ironside, does a lot of shows there. Recent shows have been The Corrs, Scorpions, Elton John, The Cult and Travis. It's a tough music for Australian music because really, the only way you can make it in Southeast Asia is through America and London because the entire western music there is based on what's happening in those markets - England and America.

Who are you managing and how do you plan for international touring?

I'm now managing Mick Hart, a brilliant Aussie songwriter, singer and musician, who just finished tour of Europe fifth) playing sold out shows, and played with Jimmy Barnes on Jimmy's tour. Mick has just played the Mercury Lounge in New York and L.A.'s Viper Room that was fantastic. The reception was incredible. We're very pleased with the way it's going. We're a little disappointed with the sales of Still The Flowers Bloom, his first mainstream CD in Australia, but the reviews have been just incredible. I believe Mick has a huge, huge future and he and I have worked really hard to build a groundswell internationally, and we're happy with the way it's going.

I also manage Billy Thorpe, who is obviously one of the few rock icons still alive. Billy's working on his first studio album in many years and doing intermittent touring. He features quite heavily in the "History of Australian, Rock and Roll," a series being prepared and airing on ABC in Australia. Four episodes have aired. It's taken the joint by storm. Over a million punters a week are tuning in. Last week the ABC beat the 9 network in five states.

Rene in my office is managing Eskimo Joe, whose album has just come out. We are very excited that it's gone top 10 and gold already. We have a couple of other new acts - Sleepy Jackson and others.

What's the status of the Pacific Circle Music Conference?

I started going to conventions years ago and I discovered it was a fantastic place to do business. A lot of my relationships and a lot of the business I've done in the last five to six years came at Performance's Summit Conference, the CIC, SXSW, ILMC and Canadian Music Week, so I decided to start Pacific Circle. This year's event will be the fourth.

I was lucky that Darryl Herbert, a guy with vision, believed in my dream. His company, Definitive Events, now underwrite and partner with me in the event. We have changed the name to Australian Music Week. We have been lucky enough to acquire the services of Kim McCarthy, a very experienced and established English tour manager and special events coordinator, who with his wife Robin, moved to Melbourne last year. With Kim in place running the events, we are really looking forward to this October's event in Sydney, Oct. 9-15. The conference runs Oct. 11-13 at the Hilton Hotel. We have some great speakers and panels -- one of the most important being the safety panel - with Leif Skov of the Roskilde Festival and Vivian Lees of the Big Day Out.

Why have you decided to move to Los Angeles?

I'm not relocating, I'm opening an office there. I find I get more acts and meet new people. I'm highly regarded by the U.S. industry and I'm getting offered a lot of work by my U.S. friends. With my knowledge and the network of the international business, a lot of people feel I can be a big asset with the indie promoters in combating the monopoly and world domination aims of Clear Channel. It's important that there is an alternative world circuit to Clear Channel and there are a lot of players who want to see this happen.

Music industry trend(s)

The older acts are still very, very strong in our marketplace. The demographic of the baby boomers have a lot of money to spend. It's also an exciting time for the older Australian acts which have struggled in the atmosphere of "old farts," etc. which seems to be the attitude of radio and some other parts of our industry, but this is turning around. I think we've had a lot to with this with the Ted Mulray benefits early in the year where most of the major acts from the '70s and '80s got together to play and raised a lot of money for Ted. And out of that came a television special that rated incredibly well. Unfortunately, Ted passed away from cancer at the end of August.

Younger acts have more melody in their music. Obviously, the pop thing is very, very strong. I'm a little disappointed with the exception of a few acts like Human Nature, that not a lot of Australian pop acts have gone on, but it's certainly brought a lot of young kids into our industry and also turned a lot of young kids onto music.

Biggest challenge

To make Australian Music Week a profitable event and to maintain my relationship with street level and young acts' music.

Career highlight(s)

Many, many, many, many - being part of the production team that produced the opening and closing ceremonies of the ParaOlympics and hoped to make the ParaOlympics the biggest ever. It sold out; Guns 'N Roses in 1993 the biggest one-day show ever; Madonna's tour of several years ago - The Girlie Tour - the biggest grossing tour ever which still stands; and being able to put Australian music in a position of success overseas.

Career disappointment

There haven't been that many. Obviously you have wins and losses, but I'd have to say the festival Frontier Touring did with Michael Coppel a few years ago called Alternative Nation, which is now a legendary festival in Sydney, Melbourne and now called Mudstock. It rained on us -- the wettest Easter in history.

Best business advice you received

If you believe in something, it will happen. Never give up. If I had an idea and I wanted to do something and I thought it was right, no matter what people said to me, I'd go ahead and do it. Nine out of 10 times it works. You must believe in yourself.

Best business decision

To go out on my own and start my own company, which I'm really enjoying. I'm doing a lot of special events and raising money for children's charities. I'm in a position where I can give back and I think that's very important.

Worst business decision

(chuckles) Touring the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

Something people would be surprised to learn about you

I have an Order of Australia, which is the Australian equivalent of an MBE or knighthood in England that was given to me for my services to the music industry and for my work with children's charities. I was Father of the Year a few years ago, again for my work with children's charities.

Office paraphernalia

A surfboard signed by all the acts on the first Warped Tour we did a few years ago. I have some great stuff in my office if I can manage to keep it. My son has a memorabilia and paraphernalia collection of sports and music that's worth $9-10 million and I know a lot of my stuff is sitting in that collection.

Industry pet peeve

Radio's demographic-driven narrow programming; SFX/Clear Channel Entertainment's monopolization of American music is terrifying and as an outsider looking in with a lot of close friends in the business - my knowledge of which is pretty good - is doing a lot of damage to the American music scene and I hope it's kept out of our part of the world.

Chuggie can be reached at 61 2 9380 7544; e-mail: michael@chuggentertainment.com.

.

.