There’s a new artist management company on the block and straight out the gate, they’re representing some of Australia’s most exciting names in heavy music.
Open Door Management, a joint partnership between Chris O’Brien (Good Things Festival, Destroy All Lines) and musician Joshua Smith (Northlane), has launched this week, combining their individual artist rosters to include Northlane, Make Them Suffer, Stateside, Void Of Vision, Introvert and Windwaker.
“We agreed there was a huge gap in the market for a management company that combined experience from both sides of the industry,” O’Brien and Smith have agreed. “We felt that the power needed to be handed back to artists and give them more control over their careers.”
Both have had extensive and successful careers in Australia and abroad. O’Brien, who came to Destroy All Lines in 2016 off the back of a long jaunt with Soundwave, where he was General Manager, while throughout his career, O’Brien has worked in artist management and promotions with artists including Bodyjar, Nine Inch Nails, Deftones and more.
For Smith, as a founding member and manager of Northlane, he has seen broad successes on record and on the road, with two ARIA’s to the band’s name and countless tours around the globe. He’s also been at the head of music-supply retail business, Boutique Sounds.
“We want to create an Open Door policy where our artists feel free to be part of the process and not be in the dark with anything happening in their careers,” the duo have said. “Also, an Open Door into creating new opportunities for our artists and that the sky is the limit when it comes to what we are trying to achieve together.”
While the roster is very much in the heavy territory currently, O’Brien and Smith have indicated that the Open Door roster won’t necessarily be focusing on specific genres, the idea is to reach out and connect with artists they love. Simples.
Coming up as an initial release for the company, Northlane’s much anticipated new record Alien, is due out August 2nd.
