The Guvnor: Chris York in his own words

In November 2018, IQ spoke to Chris York about the promoter’s integral role in the rise of the SJM Concerts empire and the chance encounter that changed his career trajectory forever. Following the sad news of his passing this week, IQ is republishing the article in full below for those who might not have met Chris in person, or want to remind themselves of his astonishing career…

The first time that Chris York recalls meeting Simon Moran was at a Levellers concert at London’s Brixton Academy in 1993, promoted by Moran’s company SJM Concerts. “I was there purely as a punter and this man came up to me and berated me for trying to steal his acts,” remembers York with a smile. “I pointed out, probably not as eloquently as I might have done, that that was actually my job seeing as I didn’t technically work for him. He retorted, ‘Well, you should do then.’”

A few months later, York made the 200-mile journey up the M1 from London to Manchester to take up Moran’s offer and join SJM. Back then, there were five of them working out of a nondescript workspace shared with post-punk band The Fall, where the “much-missed” Mark E Smith could regularly be seen “swaying in the lifts in the mornings.”

Fast-forward a quarter of a century to today and SJM employs 65 people, puts on around 2,500 concerts and events a year, and proudly stands as the UK’s biggest independent promoter, with The Stone Roses, Take That, Coldplay, Muse, Robbie Williams, Peter Kay, Adele, The Killers, Arctic Monkeys, The Courteeners and Little Mix just a few of the many acts it has worked with in recent years.

“In order for the company to keep progressing and be relevant to new challenges, you’ve got to find people who aren’t doing exactly what you do”

“I’ve always felt at home at SJM,” says York, who recently celebrated 25 years at the company that he has played a key role in turning into a promoting powerhouse. “It’s always had the right ethos. We’ve always been artist-focused and tried to develop talent, and I think Simon and I share the right attitude about how we want to take things forward. Certainly, whenever we’ve been recruiting new staff we are always keen to add people who aren’t identical to ourselves. In order for the company to keep progressing and be relevant to new challenges, you’ve got to find people who aren’t doing exactly what you do.”

“Chris has been a huge part of the SJM story over the last 25 years,” says Moran. “He’s made a massive contribution in all facets of the business – clients becoming bigger, getting and retaining new clients, growing the business and gaining people, [investing in] buildings. He’s a very, very bright guy. He works hard. We’ve become really good friends and we’ve got implicit trust.”

“I think Simon’s style and my style are distinctly different, but they work well together, and I guess the biggest barometer of that is that we have gone on to be a very successful company,” reflects York, whose personal clients include Noel Gallagher, Foo Fighters, Massive Attack, Stereophonics, Lily Allen, Smashing Pumpkins, Underworld, Fatboy Slim, Green Day, Placebo, Lorde, Robert Plant, Morrissey, Kraftwerk, Swedish House Mafia, and The Chemical Brothers, among others. York is also one of SJM’s four directors alongside Moran, Rob Ballantine and Glenn Tyrrell.

“Chris is, if not the best, one of the best promoters that I have ever worked with in the world. He is loyal and sticks with his artists”

Respect and admiration for the 49 year old extends throughout the industry. “Chris is, if not the best, one of the best promoters that I have ever worked with in the world,” says Underworld manager Mike Gillespie, who has known him since the mid-1990s. “He is loyal and sticks with his artists. Whereas a lot of promoters are naturally very cautious and hedge their bets, he is a bold and confident risk taker and is always looking at what the next step can be.

“At the same time, he can be stubborn, belligerent and awkward, but that’s part of what makes him brilliant. He will tell it you like it is and he doesn’t hold back. When you have an act that is doing well people tend to tell you what you want to hear. Chris isn’t one of them, and I really like and respect that. He understands that you’re only as good as your last gig and he’s not afraid to say to the manager or the artist, ‘That’s not good enough.’”

By way of an example, Gillespie turns the clock back five years to when “Underworld had reached a ceiling” in terms of how many tickets they could sell. Through working closely with York over a series of releases and tours they rebuilt momentum and were able to sell-out two nights at London’s 3,000-capacity Roundhouse.

“Chris’s response off the back of that was, ‘Now we do the (10,000-capacity) Ally Pally,’ which really knocked me out,” recalls the manager. The gig sold out six months in advance and Underworld are now selling more tickets in the UK than ever before, he states. “A huge part of that is down to Chris’s willingness to take a risk, his determination to be bold, and his clear vision.”

“It was a steep learning curve initially, but through that I developed good friendships”

York-shire
The Roots of York’s promoting career can be traced back to his childhood in Yorkshire where he developed an “unhealthy interest” in music from a young age and became immersed in Leeds’ post-punk and goth scenes as a teenager. To earn some extra cash while studying chemistry at Warwick, he began crewing and stage managing bands that visited the university. That led him to being elected cultural affairs officer in 1989, booking gigs by The Sundays and De La Soul, and gaining a first real taste of how the industry operates.

“It was a steep learning curve initially, but through that I developed good friendships with people that I still work with today,” says York, who moved to London after finishing his studies and spent 18 months as a booker at punk and indie club The Venue in New Cross.

“It was a really exciting time in music and we put some great bands on,” he says, listing memorable shows by Lush, Pulp, Suede, PJ Harvey, New Model Army and Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine. The job also saw him establish with Steve Lamacq the inaugural NME On Nights with On For ‘92, which ran at The Venue from 1991 to 1993, later evolving into the NME Awards Brat Bus tours.

A brief stint working for John Curd (“a legendary promoter with a brilliant handle on street promotion and what’s important in the job: tell people that it’s on”) followed, which saw York put on a series of now legendary gigs by Suede (who he still promotes) at London’s Africa Centre and 100 Club. After that came a short-lived solo endeavour, Sunrise, putting on shows by Radiohead, The Auteurs and Aphex Twin in the capital. “It was the beginnings of something that could have gone somewhere, but then I met Tim Parsons at MCP, which I thought was a better horse to back at the time.”

“As a promoter, doing the ‘same old, same old’ sometimes isn’t the right approach”

Although his time at the Midlands-based company (later acquired by SFX and incorporated into Live Nation) lasted only six months, the experience proved hugely beneficial in teaching him how a high-level national promoting company operates, along with the value of not resting on your laurels.

“Tim had a very cerebral approach to promoting, in that sometimes he saw it almost as a challenge to do things in a more difficult, unconventional or circular way, just to see if it could be done. That was very influential in terms of thinking outside of the box. As a promoter, doing the ‘same old, same old’ sometimes isn’t the right approach. Great agents are the same. You have to start with a blank sheet of paper and think, How can we do this differently and not be constrained by previous bad thinking?”

Working at MCP also gave him hands-on experience of working on U2 stadium shows. “Seeing the scale of the stadium operation stood me in good stead for when I ended up doing things like Oasis later down the line because it didn’t seem as difficult a proposition when you’ve already seen it on the ground.”

It was in the autumn of 1993, while York was working at MCP, that Moran approached him about joining him in business. “I’d noticed the stuff he was doing and he was obviously making some waves,” remembers the SJM founder and owner. “Plus he came with some great recommendations from people like Charlie Myatt, who I’d worked with on The Levellers.”

Supersonic
For York, the opportunity to join a fast-growing, although still young and relatively small operation like SJM was too good to turn down. “I felt there was a lot of room for growth and a lot of room to have an input into the direction of the business.” Relocating to Manchester (where he knew only one person other than Moran) just as Britpop was simmering over proved to be a case of being “in the right place at the right time” and brought him into the orbit of local guitar band Oasis, who he promoted from the start of their touring career.

“It sounds ridiculous now, but when we put Knebworth on sale there was only me and one other person in the office”

Within a few short years the group went from playing 500-capacity rooms to being the biggest band in Britain, selling out huge era-defining shows at Manchester City’s Maine Road Stadium and two nights at Knebworth that York co-promoted with MCP and famously saw 2.5 million people apply for tickets.

“It sounds ridiculous now, but when we put Knebworth on sale there was only me and one other person in the office. We sold 220,000 tickets in a day – all of them over the counter, or through people calling ticket offices and all of them in ticket books, which is utter lunacy when you look back on it now. There were people queuing for tickets in Portsmouth, Plymouth – all over the country. To be around that was extremely exciting,” he states.

Promoting Oasis also gave York – who moved back to London in 2001 – one of his toughest days at the office when the generators failed on the first of three sold-out nights at Manchester’s Heaton Park in June 2009 (co-promoted with Metropolis). “Instead of living the dream, we were all of a sudden living the nightmare,” recalls Oasis manager Marcus Russell. “[There were] 75,000 restless and anxious fans and ‘gaskets were blowing’ backstage in both dressing room and production offices.

“Chris, however, was calmness personified in amongst the ensuing panic,” he explains. “Considerable contingencies had to be arranged with local authorities, police force and transport, as, if the show were to still go ahead, it would now be finishing well after the agreed curfew. Chris oversaw all of these rearrangements, as well as ensuring that the fans were fully informed. What he couldn’t do was personally fix the generator, but he did seem to do pretty much everything else that needed attending to in order for the show to still go ahead. Eventually, some 60 minutes later, the ‘gennies’ were fixed and the gig went ahead. Everyone went home happy and safely, if a little later than planned.”

“Most of the acts that I promote I’ve worked with since they began and I like to have an ongoing developing relationship with people who share that creative mindset”

For his part, York identifies the creative side of the job as the aspect he finds most rewarding. “Most of the acts that I promote I’ve worked with since they began and I like to have an ongoing developing relationship with people who share that creative mindset. Managers, labels and agents all have a massive input into the decision-making process but it’s nice to be able to offer an insight into things that they probably haven’t thought of. I think one of our main roles as a live producer is to be able to throw those ideas into the mix and make it happen for them.”

Touring the country
One project that called upon all his creative and promoting skills, not to mention his vast experience, was helping devise and launch Country 2 Country (C2C), a multiple-night country festival at London’s O2 Arena that was far from a guaranteed success when it debuted in 2013. “I’ll be the first to hold my hands up and say that in 2012, I was somewhat of a country outsider,” admits York, who was approached by AEG Presents CEO Jay Marciano (then head of AEG Live) to help deliver the marquee event. Nearly seven years later, the festival has become a tent pole fixture in the British music calendar with C2C events also taking place each year in Dublin and Glasgow.

“To go from a standing start to effectively creating a touring market for country outside the US is one of the things that I’m proudest of. The UK is now regarded as proper touring market by Nashville and part of that is down to us approaching it and developing it in a modern way, reaching fans through social media and partnering with BBC Radio 2 to make country accessible to new audiences.”

Another source of immense personal pride and satisfaction for York is his long-term involvement with Teenage Cancer Trust’s annual concert series, which he has promoted since 2006, working with live producer Des Murphy and The Who’s Roger Daltrey to bring the world’s biggest artists to London’s Royal Albert Hall. “I really love doing that. It’s a week of my life in the Albert Hall working with great people for a great cause.”

To date the concerts have raised over £29 million (€33m) for the charity – an achievement that Murphy says wouldn’t have been possible without York’s tireless commitment and hard work. “His support is incredible and he’s always a calm influence who is ready with a sensible solution to any potential problem. It’s a pleasure working with him and I’m glad to count him as a friend.”

“It’s a very competitive market out there and we’re not in the same landscape of promoting that we were 20 years ago”

You gotta roll with it
Looking ahead, York says the biggest challenge for SJM will continue to be competition from rival promoters, but calmly notes, “that’s always been the case, and competition evolves and changes in the same way that we constantly evolve and change.

“It’s a very competitive market out there and we’re not in the same landscape of promoting that we were 20 years ago. We’re now in a world of giant, multinational promoting companies and that presents both challenges and opportunities for a company like ourselves that is independent.”

Ongoing relationships with AEG on C2C; and Live Nation/MCD over many years on V Festival, T In The Park and Academy Music Group, the UK’s leading venue operator (which SJM has shares in), illustrate how the business can continue to thrive in a dynamic, highly competitive market, he says. “We have a very productive relationship with both of our main rivals. The secret to being independent in the market at the moment is understanding our strengths and understanding their strengths and how those work together. That model will hopefully continue to grow.”

Technology, too, will play a big role in determining how SJM, like every company in the live business, operates in the future. Gigsandtours.com, its own ticketing platform, was launched in 1999 – a market-leading innovation, instigated by York, that’s since been adopted by numerous other promoting companies.

“It’s an old adage that you always need to surround yourself with the most intelligent people in the room, and I think we’ve done that over the years”

“Obviously, everybody has got one now, but that’s the way of the world and it was good to be first. It’s been a very useful and well-received tool. When opportunities like that come along with new technology, you need to be open-minded enough to embrace them at the right time.” He identifies the “big black hole” of secondary ticketing as a particular problem that blockchain technology should “hopefully” eradicate in the next few years “and we can focus on what’s really important, which is putting on great events and delivering for our clients.”

It’s a philosophy that exists at the heart of SJM and flows through York’s three decades in the live business. Yet to turn 50, he envisages “many more years” at the touring coalface and says he remains just as committed, driven and focused on developing SJM as he was when he first joined 25 years ago.

“The day you stop having that inquisitive attitude, you start going backwards. Our goals are to keep progressing, stay relevant and keep competing at the highest level. It’s an old adage that you always need to surround yourself with the most intelligent people in the room, and I think we’ve done that over the years and will continue to do so. You should always try and employ somebody who will ultimately replace you,” he says with a hearty laugh. “That’s the sign of a healthy business.”

Further diversification into non-music areas is likely to be a growing part of the business going forward, he predicts. “I think now you’d probably say we’re an entertainment company because the spectrum of what we do isn’t just music. We’re always very opened minded about diversifying into new things, be it sport or TV-related or comedy, and we take on people to reflect areas that we think are going to grow, which aren’t necessarily areas that Simon and I specialise in.”

“The greatest pleasure has been working alongside Simon for the last 25 years. He is singularly the best music business leader of this generation”

Outside of SJM, York is the guvnor of a Cotswolds pub, where his skills have helped the hostelrie win numerous awards. But even The Royal Oak hosts an annual music festival so it’s clear that promoting remains his principle passion. Asked to pick some personal highlights from the last quarter century, York reels off a long list of names, events and artists – Oasis, Jeff Buckley and Morrissey among them – but reserves a special mention for the man that brought him to SJM.

“The greatest pleasure has been working alongside Simon for the last 25 years. He is singularly the best music business leader of this generation,” declares York. Standout memories from this summer’s touring schedule, meanwhile, include Foo Fighters’ gigs at London Stadium, which York describes as “two of the best rock shows I have ever seen.”

“There’s nothing better than seeing a live gig when it has that level of excitement around it,” he says. “It’s very intoxicating and it’s that excitement that keeps me inspired and coming back for more.”

WORDS: Richard Smirke

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

Read More Like This

Feature|25 Jul 2024

SJM Concerts director Chris York passes at 55

The live industry has come out in force to pay tribute to the award-winning UK promoter, who has died following a long illness

Feature|19 Jul 2024

Economist Will Page delivers his festival forecast

The former Spotify and PRS for Music chief economist offers his take on how the UK circuit can rebound from this year's struggles

Feature|11 Jun 2024

All Things Go detail inaugural New York edition

Reneé Rapp, Janelle Monáe, Chappell Roan, MUNA, Ethel Cain and Julien Baker are slated to headline the female-driven lineup