www.musicweek.com FEATURE OH MERCY
10.08.12 Music Week 17
MISSION OF MERCY
Veteran manager Mat Schneck and A&R legend James Endeacott - the man who signed The Libertines - have teamed up to create a new management company, Oh Mercy. You might think you know what to expect from them. But you might well be wrong.
MANAGEMENT BY DAVE ROBERTS
Oh Mercy’s been up and running for about a year, but largely under the radar. How did you come together to form the company? Mat Schneck: I’d been managing for about 15 years on a solo basis. I met James when I was managing the Metros who he signed to 1965 Records. It’s been getting harder and harder for standalone
managers in the industry for the last few years. We became good friends and I figured our different skills would complement each other. Plus I was getting a little lonely.
What were your initial discussions about the division of labour and what James would bring to the table? MS:It was pretty straightforward in terms of what his role would be, and that’s acquisitions. It’s harder and harder for me, in suburbia with a family, to be out every night, let alone go up against the rapidly consolidating management community out there, all joining together into bigger and bigger companies with more impressive rosters. So James is a band magnet. He’d also been a manager [looking after the Tindersticks in the ‘90s],
ABOVE Power couple | Dylan-inspired Schneck and Endeacott says their talent remit is wide open
but most relevant was his experience working within record labels for 15-20 years. That brings Oh Mercy a particular angle. James Endeacott: I’d also worked at indies and at majors, and having that inside knowledge of how both camps work is useful. I never really wanted to go back into management after I stopped doing the Tindersticks in 1998, but I really liked Mat, plus he said we’d both have houses in Spain before too long, so I was in.
So the roster on day one was made up of the bands that you were managing on a solo basis? MS: I had a little bit of a clear out, looked at what was working and what wasn’t. The unfortunate reality when you work with a band is that sometimes you have to be honest. So the only two acts I carried over were Malachai and a band called Filthy Boy, who are young kids from Peckham that I’ve been looking after since they were 15. James knew both those bands, one of them is
quite established and one of them I think is definitely going to go places. At the same time we took on Eugene
McGuinness, who was already signed to Domino and was a couple of albums in. Laurence [Bell, Domino founder and boss] introduced us to him when he’d
just finished recording a new album that they’d invested 18 months in. They had high hopes and he needed a manager. We’ve also been acquiring bands in the year since (see separate box for full line-up). And that’s been mainly your job, James? JE: Yeah, I guess that’s right. Apart from the Swanton Bombs, who we met through Eugene. I’ve brought in a couple of things: Coves and The Death Rays are things that wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t been around, but Mat can find bands as well, it’s a two-pronged attack. MS:Yeah, we both have to love a band and see a future in them, but James is just more in that world than I am.
Is there an Oh Mercy house style? JE: I don’t think there is, no. We both love music, we both love Bob Dylan, we both love Ornette Coleman, we both love Gram Parsons, and everything in between. We’ve got very similar record collections and we
can both turn each other on to things. There have been a couple of occasions where I’ve been unsure or he’s been unsure, and if one of us is unsure then we won’t do it. I saw how Mat worked when he handled the Metros who were on my label and he was very
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