How to Run an Indie Label

From founding Creation Records to discovering Oasis, a no-holds-barred rampage through gigs, clubs, boardrooms, drugs and booze that shows the wild spirit of the UK indie music scene.

'A true believer in the power of music and more importantly a believer in the people that make music' Noel Gallagher





'McGee was our Malcolm McLaren and Tony Wilson. An instigator and motivator, a born upsetter. I've never met anyone like him' Bobby Gillespie



Music is like no other business.



It's about being at the right place at the right time, following your nose and diving in feet first.



It's about being plugged into the mystical electricity and about surfing on the wild energy.



It's about how to fuck up and how to survive and be sustained by the holy grail of the high decibel.



It's about never being boring.



No-one captures this wild feral spirit better than Alan McGee whose helter-skelter career in music has made him a major force. His nose for danger and his ear for classic guitar rock'n'roll brought us The Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine, Teenage Fanclub and Ride before topping out in the nineties with the biggest band in the world, Oasis. His ability to start a raw power ruckus brought the visceral danger back to a moribund mid-eighties music scene.



This book tells you everything you need to know about how to be a creative force.



Alan McGee is the best-known label boss of the post-punk era. His label, Creation Records, has become iconic launching the careers of bands like Oasis, Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine and many others. He also manages the Happy Mondays, Ocean Colour Scene and many more. He is brilliantly quotable and has endless anecdotes about his time in music. In a time when music has become safe he is one of the last of the great mavericks.



Lessons in music from the self-proclaimed 'king of analogue'



This highly readable book tells the story of a larger-than-life adventure as wild as any musician's career ...What's great about the book is that it never undermines the myth but it has realism too. There are stories about excess but there are also stories about money and music. And lots about people, always central to all the stories.