The Board
Graham Thrower (Chair)
What is your background and experience in the music industry?
After a career in corporate finance I decided in 2004 to follow my first love - music. Later that year I opened alt.vinyl, an independent retailer focused on the more alternative and underground strains of music. We are still in central Newcastle, have a thriving online business and a growing and acclaimed record label. Life in the independent music retailer’s world continues to be tough but I believe there is still a place for those who are genuinely passionate and knowledgeable about the music they sell. There is a global community of like minded artists, labels retailers and promoters out there and that is what we tap in to, whether they are in the North East or elsewhere.
I have been on the board of One North East, the regional development agency for the North East of England, since late 2007 - and I am pleased to say that regionally the support for the cultural and creative economy remains absolute; despite the current economic challenges.
Generator has exceptional recognition within the broader music industry, and an excellent base on which to build. I was delighted to accept the role of chair earlier this year, and it has been a busy time since then!
What is your connection to the North East?
Myself and my family have lived in the region since early 2004. Basically we came here and fell in love with the place, I think that it inspires a more visceral attachment than much of the suburban sprawl that extends over the South of England.
What are you listening to at this exact moment? What are your favourite records released in the last 5 years?
At this exact moment I’m listening to a mix cd for fabric nightclub, but thats only because a colleague put it on!
As for favourites of the last 5 years, it’s easier to name artists rather than releases. I would go for six organs of admittance, MV & EE, Wooden Wand, Boris, Jackie o Motherf****r, Will Oldham, Chris Corsano, Bardo Pond.
What are your favourite records released in the last 20 years?
This is really an all time classic list..again I’ll cheat and go for artists…but from the 60s onwards. I’d have to say any releases by Anne Briggs, Moondog, Karen Dalton, Speed Glue and Shinki, Selda Bagcan, Liquid Liquid, Fatu Gayflor or Keiji Haino would do it for me.
Which projects are you currently working on outside of Generator?
In the region various creative industry initiatives through One North East and with the regions universities. the major expansion of the alt.vinyl record label, and opening of an independent download store. Outside of the region, a new label, some online businesses..the list goes on..
What is your favourite live music venue in the North East?
I’m wary of upsetting any of the excellent venues I have used in the region. I would have to say however that the atmosphere at Morden Tower with Candlelight is hard to top..intimate and magical..the acoustic Zoviet France gig there a while back was unforgettable
Favourite Live Music venue in the UK?
I tend to go for atmosphere over capacity so venues like Islington Union Chapel tend to be favourites.
Best live music show that you’ve ever seen?
Cabaret Voltaire at Lanchester Polytechnic in (ahemm…) 1986!
What was the defining moment that made you want to work in music?
Just the buzz around The Selecter, The Specials and the whole Two Tone movement. For an impressionable teen the music, the images, the multiracial crowds were all so different from what most other music offered. That was the hook, wanting to actually work in music came a long while after as I dug down into different forms of music and was constantly amazed that the bands I really loved just seemed to not even register in the broader industry. It made me a lifelong convert to the independent scene.
Best place to discover new artists?
Recommendations from friends, store owners, other artists. Then the key is to dig. Who plays with them, who else has the label released. Just keep searching. It is an obsession. Either you share that wish to spend the time listening to lots of new music or you don’t…for me I ALWAYS do..!
Claire Dupree
What is your background and experience in the music industry?
I started my career in the music industry as a freelance journalist for The Crack, Clash Magazine, Culture Magazine, The Journal and Evening Chronicle. After a couple of years I became disillusioned working for other people so set up my own music magazine, NARC, in 2006. I’ve always had an obsession with music and wanted to run my own magazine since I was old enough to read them! NARC is a monthly music magazine for the North East, with a strong local aesthetic. NARC is the only magazine in the region dedicated 100% to music, particularly focussing on up and coming bands as well as artists visiting the region and featuring bands that we feel our audience needs to hear! I believe passionately that there’s so much great music in this region and it needs as much exposure as possible!
I’ve also been involved in working on PR campaigns for various local bands and have given coaching sessions on how to approach the press and on running a creative business in the North East.
What is your connection to the North East?
I moved up to the North East from my hometown of Reading in 2002. I became aware, pretty much straight away that the region was chock full of music – much unlike Reading at the time – and the obsession began…!
What are you listening to at this exact moment? What are your favourite records released in the last 5 years?
At the moment I’m enjoying the new albums by The All New Adventures of Us and The Lucksmiths. My favourite record of the last five years is probably Neon Bible by Arcade Fire, or The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me by Brand New or Love Songs For Patriots by American Music Club, Blackened Sky by Biffy Clyro, Wincing The Night Away by The Shins, Our Earthly Pleasures by Maximo Park…I could go on!
What are your favourite records released in the last 20 years?
It’s impossible to pick just one Queen album so I’d say all three Greatest Hits albums are among my most treasured possessions. I’m Your Man by Leonard Cohen also ranks pretty high.
Which projects are you currently working on outside of Generator?
NARC is always an ongoing concern, I’m also working on a compilation CD that will be given away with the 3rd birthday edition of NARC next year, and starting to think about the 3rd annual NARC. Festival in July next year.
What is your favourite live music venue in the North East?
I’ve seen so many fantastic bands at The Cluny that it’s always got a special place in my heart.
Favourite Live Music venue in the UK?
The Hammersmith Apollo is a fantastic venue – seeing Neil Young there earlier this year was amazing.
Best live music show that you’ve ever seen (Please limit this to one, no cheating!)?
It has to be Leonard Cohen at Glastonbury this year. I’ve always thought that every live gig I’ve been to has affected me in some way, but this gig was something else! I had goosebumps all over me and burst into tears halfway through the set, what more could you want?!
What was the defining moment that made you want to work in music?
When I was about ten, my Dad (bored of me pestering him) made me a mix-tape of music and sat me in the shed at the bottom of the garden – on that tape was music like I’d never heard before…Blondie, Meatloaf, Queen, Rod Stewart, The Kinks, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones…I think I wore that tape out and my Dad had to make me another one. Ever since that moment I knew that I wanted to work in the music industry – at that time, probably as a manager or record company exec. But as I found a passion for writing, I found my calling!
Best place to discover new artists?
I always think that my friends and colleagues are the best sources for new music! I’m in a rather privileged position as I get told about emerging artists before a lot of other people know about them, but I’m always learning new things from my friends. Music forums can be useful too (www.narcforum.com !!) and, while obviously NARC. is a treasured source of exciting new bands, I personally find that magazines are the last option, preferring the faster moving world of the web and niche radio shows.
Tony Wadsworth
What is your background and experience in the music industry?
I have been in the music industry all my life. Following my graduation from University, I was in a band for 2 years touring the UK and Europe, writing and recording and releasing independent singles. When the band broke up, I decided to try my hand at the business side of the industry and passed through a succession of small companies before arriving at EMI in the role of Production Manager . It was my job to ensure the records got pressed and the sleeves got printed and released on time.
That was in 1982. I remained at EMI until January 2008, and in that time was fortunate enough to get involved in most aspects of the business, and with some of the greatest recording artists in the world.
For several years my role involved creating compilations and reissues in all sorts of music genres, which broadened my musical horizons greatly. During that time I was responsible for coordinating EMI’s entry into the new format, compact disc, and saw it grow into the dominant format.
I joined the Parlophone label in 1987 and became its Managing Director in 1992. During that time we enjoyed enormous success with artists such as Blur, Radiohead, Queen, Morrissey, Pet Shop Boys, Foo Fighters, Crowded House and many more. As MD, I was now much more involved in the signing and A&R process, and enjoyed a close working relationship with artists.
From 1998, I took over the running of all of EMI’s labels in the UK, and during my term we added Coldplay and Robbie Williams to our roster, as well as launching Gorillaz, and more recently new artists such as Lily Allen, KT Tunstall, Corinne Bailey Rae and The Kooks.
Since 1992 I have been involved in industry affairs as a member of the BPI, for whom I chaired the Brit awards for 3 years, and have been the current Chairman of the BPI for the last 2 years.
I left EMI in January 08, but continue to chair the BPI, and am involved in several different commercial and non commercial music industry organisations.
What is your connection to the North East?
My NE connection is that I did my degree in Economics at Newcastle University and still have many friends in the town.
What are you listening to at this exact moment? What are your favourite records released in the last 5 years?
At this exact moment I am listening to Jimmie Rodgers ‘Miss the Mississippi’. I don’t know my favourite album from the last 5 years, but this year it would probably be Elbow.
What are your favourite records released in the last 20 years?
In the last 20 years - Gillian Welch ‘Soul Journey’ - Radiohead OK Computer - Blur Think Tank - Sigur Ros Untitled - Talk Talk Spirit of Eden - Bob Dylan Time Out of Mind - will be a different list tomorrow!
Which projects are you currently working on outside of Generator?
BPI chairman, Chairman of Brit awards ltd; I am on the board of a not for profit company called Julie’s Bicycle, which is committed to reducing the carbon footprint of the music industry. I am on the board of EMI’s archive trust, which manages emi’s incredible archive, and I am a trustee of the Music Sound Foundation a music education charity. I am also involved in some exciting start up companies in the digital world.
Favourite Live Music venue in the UK?
Shepherds Bush Empire
Best live music show that you’ve ever seen?
Little Feat Newcastle City Hall 1977; Leonard Cohen at the O2 in London this year wasn’t bad.
What was the defining moment that made you want to work in music?
Hearing ‘She Loves You’ by The Beatles
Best place to discover new artists?
New artists can be discovered anywhere. It would be easier to ask where can’t they be discovered?
Suzie Golding
What is your background and experience in the music industry?
My background in the music industry is more as an enthusiastic lover of music rather than in any professional sense. Professionally, I have worked on PR campaigns for Evolution festival in the past and also with the Pet Shop Boys on their production of Battleship Potemkin which took place a couple of years ago on the banks of the Tyne. Working at NewcastleGateshead Initiative for three years made these fantastic experiences possible.
But my love of music extends further back than any professional experience – from the moment I bought my first single (Jilted John) and saw Blondie on Top of the Pops in 1981, I was hooked. My hero-worship of Debbie Harry was spurred on by my granny remarking that she looked like her hair had been chewed off at the ends but to me she was glamour personified and the music wasn’t half bad either. A slight wobble in the early eighties of walking round a Gateshead housing estate with an Adam Ant white stripe should be forgiven but going to see The Mission and Fields of the Nephilim in my goth years definitely shouldn’t!
In the mid-eighties, I spent my formative years following a local band called Stik the Pig around various watering holes in Newcastle, getting up the courage to go into the Broken Doll pub to watch local punk bands and then graduating on to adopting local band Hug who almost made it as the ‘next big thing’. Now that I’m a grown-up, my tastes in music are much more varied and not as driven by fashion or friends as some of my earlier choices of band worship certainly were. My love of Northern Soul knows no bounds but I am equally enthusiastic about recent discoveries such as Santogold and TV on the Radio. I no longer feel I need to keep my love of great pop (Girls Aloud, Britney Spears) and soft rock (Fleetwood Mac) a secret and feel proud of the fact that I can pass on my own musical gems to my younger sister who has to share an office with me and often looks worried at the tunes that come on the radio and I declare as ‘genius’!
What is your connection to the North East?
As well as being born and bred here, I have spent my entire working life in the North East and wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
What are you listening to at this exact moment? What are your favourite records released in the last 5 years?
At the moment I am listening to Fleet Foxes, MGMT, MIA and Cool Kids. Favourite records of last five years:
Both MIA albums
White Stripes - Elephant
Girls Aloud - Chemistry
What are your favourite records released in the last 20 years?
Beastie Boys - Ill Communication
Annie – Anniemal
The La’s
The Futureheads
Hole – Celebrity Skin
Nirvana – Nevermind
Pixies – all of their albums
Guns n Roses – Appetite for Destruction
Every Kanye West album
Which projects are you currently working on outside of Generator?
Lots of public consultation & PR work for companies including Tesco, the NHS and Newcastle City Centre Partnership
What is your favourite live music venue in the North East?
Depends on the type of music – for anything where you want to move around and dance, it has to be the Academy. Otherwise for excellent sound quality it’s The Sage Gateshead.
Favourite Live Music venue in the UK?
It would have to be the now defunct Mayfair Ballroom in Newcastle – it holds so many great memories for me.
Best live music show that you’ve ever seen?
This is a tough one. For sheer drunken tomfoolery and brilliant atmosphere it would have to be Black Grape at Newcastle University Students Union many years ago
Best place to discover new artists?
BBC6 music is fantastic for hearing new stuff. I’m not a great Myspace user. I have lots of friends who are also really into their music who will often recommend an artist to me.
Robert White
What is your background and experience in the music industry?
I qualified as a solicitor in 1966. In 1969 I had returned from a year in North America and was in a standard job with George Wimpey, the industrial building company when I saw an advertisement by EMI Records looking for a lawyer. I telephoned for an interview and was told that the list was closed. Off the top of my head I said that I had just got back from San Francisco where I had worked in a record company. This was not true. I had never worked in the music business. I was asked to go for an interview and got the job without being asked about the US record company.
I worked at EMI for two years and then took up the job as business affairs manager at CBS (now Sony). I was the first business affairs person in the UK.
After 2 years at CBS I was asked to join Island Records and after 3 years there I was seduced by money to work for Arista Records. While there I persuaded the company to take an interest in an unknown band called ‘Simple Minds’ who were eventually signed to the company. I left the company to join Bruce Findlay and formed Schoolhouse Management to manage the band and some other bands in 1979.
We had great success with the management company before Simple Minds sacked us in 1991. Since then I have carried on business advising artists on their careers and negotiating agreements for them.
What is your connection to the North East?
My brother lived in Gosforth. When I started with the management project I did not know if it would be successful so I got as close to Scotland as I could so I could continue as an English lawyer in order to earn money. Berwick upon Tweed was closest and it has a very good rail service to Edinburgh and London.
What are you listening to at this exact moment? What are your favourite records released in the last 5 years?
Radio 4 news programme. The soundtrack of the film “Juno”, I love the first track.
What are your favourite records released in the last 20 years?
REM albums, Eddi Reader’s “Peacetime”, Faure’s Requiem, Elgar’s 1st Symphony.
Which projects are you currently working on outside of Generator?
Lots of legal work for musicians.
What is your favourite live music venue in the North East?
The Barrels Alehouse in Berwick upon Tweed.
Favourite Live Music venue in the UK?
The old Marquee in Soho, London but otherwise, The Barrels
Best live music show that you’ve ever seen?
I was at the Lyceum show in London when the Bob Marley Live album was made. If you listen carefully you can hear me cheering and clapping.
What was the defining moment that made you want to work in music?
Seeing the EMI advert and hoping that I might meet The Beatles.
Best place to discover new artists?
Live performances followed by a good demo.
Dave Cross
What is your background and experience in the music industry?
Like most of us on here, I’ve been passionate about music since I was this high (stretching arm down as low as it will go). So inevitably I started going to gigs and trying to produce new nights featuring bands that weren’t being booked to play by anyone else. That was in Scotland at first and was great fun – it didn’t seem to matter that it often didn’t make a profit at that time. I started earning more money in IT and I guess technology was my second interest, so while working with new computer designs by day, I started developing equipment and software that worked with sound and music in innovative ways too as a hobby at first and commercially quite quickly afterwards.
I lived and worked in London, Brighton, Brussels and a few other places during the 80s but realised that the North’s music scene was one of the most active in the country, but only a handful of our bands were getting noticed elsewhere. Many simply didn’t seem to want to move beyond the North’s circuit.
I was impressed by the attitude of Sting, whose demo for his first publishing company I recorded - he was determined to play the game the industry wanted just enough to get what he wanted, and that attitude intrigued me. I was then invited to work on massive-scale festival productions in the South East and overseas, and a spot of radio work, all of which must have helped me to find the bridges which local Northern bands needed to engage with the National industry. I guess it was all these factors which led naturally to me being so active in getting a local network of musicians and other music workers off the ground – the network that became Generator in 1991.
What is your connection to the North East?
Well it was a short-term job that brought me here – a computer project. I made it quite clear that I wouldn’t be staying, and to prove the point, I came with a residential caravan! That was in ’73. The caravan didn’t last long.
What are you listening to at this exact moment? What are your favourite records released in the last 5 years?
EMO bands. There are several of them rehearsing in the rooms around my office most evenings – I’m getting used to them. Gradually.
I was listening to The National before that and Beaumont Hannant before that –coincidentally, one’s from York and the other from New York.
Favourite recent releases might include Tinawaren, DJ Shadow, DJ Cheb I Sabbah and Banda Sonora.
What are your favourite records released in the last 20 years?
Why stop at 20 years? I was doing a band soundcheck last week where the guitarist and drummer broke into ‘So What’ (Miles Davis) when I reminded them that that tune was recorded 50 years ago this year! Anyway – LTJ Bukem gets several places in my list with Logical Progression and Journey Inwards, then there’s Sigur Ros, Arvo Part, Luke Vibert, Nils Petter Molaver, and some trance and techno, Jazz and international music and its fusions (such as the 2 albums by Gotan Project).
Which projects are you currently working on outside of Generator?
Is there REALLY life outside of Generator?
I guess trying to keep a grasp of the tumbling and interconnected financial house of cards is a pretty full time project, as well as keeping track of our nations’ music venues as they come in and out of flavour. I studied philosophy and try to keep up to date with my reading, but always fail. And then I’ve been doing a little guerrilla gardening in public places too – but don’t tell anyone about that.
What is your favourite live music venue in the North East?
The Cluny, in Newcastle. (I think I have to say that!)
Favourite Live Music venue in the UK?
Too many favourites – must I choose one? Okay then, The Thekla, in Bristol.
Can I have a second, please? The Tollbooth in Stirling.
Best live music show that you’ve ever seen?
Spearhead with Michael Franti. It wasn’t their music that makes this my choice but that man’s combination of charisma, social awareness and defiant and impudent relationship with his audience that makes him stand out. For one brief moment he made the whole venue absolutely silent with an embarrassed shiver. Eerie and moving. I wish more bands understood more about how they can develop a stage presence.
What was the defining moment that made you want to work in music?
Hmm. More like a string of defining moments. Might have been very late at night on an old AM radio hearing the Newport Jazz Festival, live.
Best place to discover new artists?
I honestly don’t know.
I’m so grateful to my friends and colleagues for introducing me to new stuff.
It’s a bit of a gamble going to hear an unknown name live, but if its possible just to dip in and out for 20 minutes then some venues can be a great way to find out what’s happening.
I listen to the radio a lot – BBC Radio 3 and 6 Music are often my first contact with new names, and on-line sites like EMusic, but probably its those radio presenters who I’ve got to know and trust to bring new music to me which I can follow up later by trying to hear more.
It was easier when John Peel was here to help us!
