2013-2014 Summer Edition 5

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Festival is a testament to his versa-tility and tenacity in an unpredict-

able business.

When Galle talked to Pollstar,

it was the middle of CMJ Music

Marathon week in New York and

he still didn’t miss a beat. The Norwood, Mass., native

got hooked on the music business

as a teenager going to punk,

hardcore and hip-hop shows. But

becoming a rock star himself wasn’t

what grabbed him. Galle jumpedinto the business side without a

second thought.

“I had a lot of friends in bands.

I started going to local shows early

on, probably when I was 16 or 17,”

Galle told Pollstar. “Some of my

friends’ bands started to do well

and draw a lot of people. So I would

find local venues – churches, halls,

whatever – around Boston and set

up their concerts for them.”

His passion for the business

continued to grow, and while in

college, Galle would schedule his

classes so he was free to promote

and go on the road with his friends.

“It was tough to do at times, but

I did it and got good grades. I went

to Bentley University as an account-

ing major. My dad was in finance

and really wanted me to do that

but it was boring to me,” he said.

“I ended up transferring to Suffolk

University in Boston in 2000 and

graduated with a marketing degree

in 2001.

“My parents really wanted me to

graduate from college. They did not

believe the concert business wouldbe lucrative.”

That early experience has

since taken Galle to working with

acts including Piebald and My

Chemical Romance. His current

roster includes Austin Mahone,fun., We The Kings, Taking Back

Sunday, Boys Like Girls, Timeflies,

and Mike Posner. He also works

with producer/writer Matt Squire.

His promoting experience led

him to a job with John Peters at

MassConcerts in 1998 where he

expanded his knowledge and gained

festival experience programming

the company’s annual SkateFest.

Galle officially became an agent

in 2000 by opening The Kenmore

Agency with friend Matt Pike.

A pivotal year for Galle was

2003. He went to work for Ellis

Industries and, along with Andrew

Ellis and John D’Esposito, co-

founded New Jersey’s annual Bam-

boozle Festival that has featured

acts such as Foo Fighters, Skrillex,

Muse, Fall Out Boy, and My

Chemical Romance.

Galle’s growing interest in

offering artists a one-stop shop

for development was a catalyst to

founding Photo Finish Records in

2006, now partnered with Island

Def Jam. Its roster included 3OH!3,

which landed the label its first No. 1

song on the Nielsen SoundScan Top

40 chart with the single, “Don’t

Trust Me.”

Since joining Paradigm in 2008,

Galle’s ongoing mission to grow and

from a lot of agents that wantedme to put on concerts for their

bands when they came to town.

Some of my friends’ bands

would go on the road over the

summer, take national tours or

long weekends, so a lot of timesI would schedule my classes

Tuesday through Thursday and

go on the road with them and

help them out. Just go and ex-

perience how other things are

working, meet other acts and

promoters. I started to meet

people in different cities and net-

worked with them on how their

shows were and what they had

coming through.

From there, I started working

for John Peters at MassConcerts

in 1998. That gave me access to

the venues they went into. Agents

were calling me, so it was a lot

easier and I could use their insur-

ance and stuff so things weren’t

as sketchy.

How did that opportunity comeabout?

John would call me sometimes

when he had acts that he didn’t

have a place to put them and we

would promote some shows to-

gether. That worked out our rela-

tionship, and then he offered me

a job.

What experience did you gainthere?

I started doing a lot of shows

at The Palladium in Worcester,

which was their main venue, while

still finding places to do concerts

in Boston. Venues like The Middle

East, Karma, Axis, Bill’s Bar,

churches and halls.

MassConcerts also had an an-

nual, three-day festival I worked

on and did the programming for

called SkateFest held at The Palla-

dium.

I was also doing concerts any-

where from Maine, New Hamp-

shire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island

and Connecticut.

What led you to open TheKenmore Agency?

develop his clients continues to pay

off. He had the pleasure of seeing

fun. earn two Grammy Awards this

year – Best New Artist and Song of

the Year for “We Are Young.”

Your early days of jugglingpromoting and touring seemsto have helped your careerunfold.

I had already done full U.S. tours,

like “Tattoo The Earth” with

Hatebreed, Disturbed, and Slayer

around 1998. That whole summer

I was on tour with them and sold

merch and learned a lot of stuff

from that, as well as being on pop

tours.

Seeing a lot of my friends going

through the business and hearing

them talk about it – what people

liked about it and didn’t like – gave

me insight to be able to help and

work for the artists.

I’ve also done tour managing

and been a roadie. I just loved be-

ing at the concerts, seeing every-

thing that was going on, and being

on the road. I was like a sponge

just absorbing it and it felt like

that was what I was supposed to

be doing.

How did promoting local bandslead you to bigger things?

The shows started to have good

turnouts. While I was in college,

some of the national acts heard

about the shows and the good

turnouts, so I started getting calls

Matt GalleParadigm

To say Paradigm’s Matt Galle is great at

multitasking would be an understatement.

His career as an agent, founder of Photo Finish

Records and co-founder of the Bamboozle

Mere

dith

Tru

ax

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One of the agents that was selling

me shows was a friend of mine,

Matt Pike, that had grown up in

Massachusetts. He had moved

to New York to work at Artist &

Audience with Tim Borror. I had

been at MassConcerts for a few

years and was still doing concert

promotion.

Matt told me he wanted to

move back to Massachusetts and

start an agency together, and a

couple of the bands I was pro-

moting didn’t have agents at the

time. So Matt moved back and

MassConcerts gave us the money

to start The Kenmore Agency.

What was the first tour youbooked on your own?

One of the bands without an

agent was called Piebald. They

had done well but had broken

up and were planning on getting

back together for a reunion tour.

I told them I would book it for

them. That was around 2000.

How did that experience go?

Piebald’s tourwent well. I

was able to get

other promot-

ers and agents

to take my

calls and buythe dates from

me because

[Piebald] had

some sort

of demand

before theybroke up. This

was a reunion

tour, so people

wanted to see

it. That’s how

I was able toget my foot in

the door.

I already

had relation-

ships with

some agentsbecause they

knew me from

my promoting

days before I

transitioned to being an agent. People

who helped me out early on wereDarryl Eaton, Don Muller, Stormy

Shepherd, Margie Alban, Andy

Somers and Andrew Ellis.

Any lessons learned from thatfirst tour?

I would say the biggest thing was

to treat people as you want to be

treated. There were a lot of people

who doubted me and wouldn’t

take my calls. I try to be friendly

and open to listening to what

people have to say to this day.

I also learned how to tighten up

business deals and squeeze more

money out of a show for the artists.

How did you build your artistroster from there?

Piebald was on tour in Long Island

and at one of the shows, I met this

guy, Eddie, who had been with a

band called The Movie Life. He’d

left that band and started a new

band called Taking Back Sunday.

He gave me their demo tape at the

show and said they needed an

agent. I called them the next week,told them I loved it, and “Let’s go.”

They were my second act and

started to do really well when their

first album came out.

There were also a couple of

local acts I was dealing with thatI liked and was taking a chance

on and I had SkateFest going on

in, I want to say 2002. I was friends

with a group called Thursday and

they’d played the festival the year

before. I used to promote theirshows around the area.

Geoff, the singer, said “I just

produced this band’s demo and

they’re amazing. I’m putting them

on my label. My agent doesn’t

really like it and they need anagent to help them with touring.

The band is called My Chemical

Romance.”

So I talked to My Chemical

Romance and told them, “I want

to see you guys live. Can I putyou on my festival?” I put them

on SkateFest the following year.

Nobody knew them at all and

they totally won over the crowd.

I called them the following week

and told them, “I really want todo this. You guys are amazing,”

and they took a chance on me.

My Chemical Romance then

opened for Taking Back Sunday,

who was doing 1,000-2,000 capac-

ity rooms in 2003.

What was the toughest partof co-owning The KenmoreAgency?

The back-end stuff was thetoughest. It was just tedious.

We knew how to do it but we

liked the creative part. It was

taking time away from signing

another act or two, or developing

something else.And I felt like I kind of hit the

ceiling there. We were packaging a

lot of other stuff together in-house.

I could tell the artists were grow-

ing and I wanted to continue to

grow with them.

How did your move toEllis Industries come about?

Andrew Ellis and I had a great

relationship and he would sellme all of his shows when his acts,

such as Dashboard Confessional,

Alkaline Trio, and New Found

Glory, came through town.

My acts were growing and

I wanted to grow more. So whenAndrew asked me if I wanted to

come to New York and work with

him in 2003, I decided to make

the move. I learned a lot from him.

You also co-founded Bamboozlewith Ellis and John D’Espositoin 2003. How did that venturecome together?

Before I moved to New York,

John was a promoter in New Jer-sey. He and Stan Levinstone had

a festival called Skate and Surf

and we would sell them a lot of

acts for the festival and whenever

my artists would go through

MATT AND PARADIGM’S MIKE MARQUIS, who’s also VP of Photo Finish Records,

share a long history as colleagues, collaborators and friends.

MATT GETS READY TO JET AROUND the parking lot at

Meadowlands Sports CompleMeadowlands Sports CompleMeadowlands Sports CompleMeadowlands Sports CompleMeadowlands Sports Complex x x x x in New Jersey during 2009’s

Bamboozle Festival.

2013-2014 Summer Edition 7

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New Jersey. We had a great rela-tionship.

Around 2003, they had left

their company and John wanted

to start a new festival. He came

to Andrew and I because we all

liked the same type of music, hadsimilar minds on growing artists

and a concept for a festival that

we all liked. We decided to go in

on it and put up our own money.

I had festival experience from

before so we put the bill togetherand it did great. Every year it

seemed like it almost doubled

in size.

How did Live Nation becomeinvolved with Bamboozle?

Live Nation approached us in

2007 and wanted to buy 51 percent

of it from us. It made sense to us

because the event was growing

fast and it was kind of scary forus to put up our own money. We

were in Giant Stadium’s parking

lot doing around 80,000 people at

that point.

Despite Bamboozle’s success,it didn’t take place this year.Why?

It was time for a break from it.

There were differences with all

the parties involved, so we didn’tdo it.

It was supposed to be a colla-

borative effort but it didn’t really

seem that way any more. In 2012,

we did over 90,000 people for the

three days, so we’ll do it again ifpeople want it or miss it.

Where did your experienceat Ellis Industries take you?

In 2005, my artists, like My

Chemical Romance, really

started to take off. Both they

and Taking Back Sunday were

doing around 7,000 tickets a

night. At that point, Andrewand I became partners where

we would share the expenses

of running the agency and we’d

keep what we brought in.

That went well until 2007

where, again, the acts weregrowing, the back-end stuff

became tedious and some of

the artists wanted to branch out

into other areas like TV, literatureand film. So Andrew and I mu-

tually decided not to continue

Ellis Industries and go and see

what was out there with different

agencies. We both talked to other

people and had other offers butwe ended up going to Paradigm

in 2008.

Why did you feel Paradigmwas the best choice for you?

I like growing and being a part

of my artists’ growth in every

aspect – being able to answer any

questions my artists have.Some of the other agencies

that do territorial touring or

have like 10 people working

on it weren’t really of interest

to me. Paradigm had a vision

similar to mine and they allowedme to do what it is I do without

looking over my shoulder or

trying to change it.

I just want to evolve with

it and not be boxed in and feel

like there’s only one way to dothings.

You’d also launched PhotoFinish Records in 2006.What’s the backstory there?

In 2003, I started a label called

Kickball Records and I was a

consultant for Interscope. We

tried that for two years and it

was tough. They were on theWest Coast and I was on the

East Coast and didn’t have a lot

of control over things. I didn’t

like how that was going, so I quit

and let them keep the name.

I then drew up a businessplan the way I wanted to see

it and came up with the name

Photo Finish Records. I needed

my own core staff and funding

to get started so I pitched it to

a couple of people and got offersfrom Warner Bros., Virgin and

Atlantic.

I decided to go with Atlantic

and hired a staff of about six

people. We did really well. I was

with Atlantic for six years andmoved to Island Def Jam a year

ago.

Why add label exec to yourworkload?

I always found acts really early and

liked developing artists and music.

I wanted to be involved in making

albums and putting artists together

with different people.

I noticed we were developing

an artist and touring is what was

driving most of it until it was

ready to kick radio in. I needed

staff to help them get from one

to 10 on the marketing and radio

side. I already knew I could find

artists that would work on tour

and build a touring base.

I’ve also worked with and

managed a producer who’s

also a writer, Matt Squire,

for about nine years now.

He’s made albums with Panic!

At The Disco, Boys Like Girls,

3OH!3 and since then written

songs for One Direction, Ke$ha,

and Demi Lovato. I was familiar

with dealing with that type of

stuff for his business, and was

already doing a lot of the label

stuff.

How did your move to IDJenhance what you can offeryour clients?

MATT AND HIS PHOTO FINISH RECORDS STAFF have some fun during CMJ Music Marathon week in New York mid-October.

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They helped me beef up my

staff to 10 people so it’s almost

like having a staff within a staff.

An artist will have two teams

working on them to develop

them. And my touring expertise

and any other resources I have

are available.

And you also do A&R for IDJ?

Yes. They gave me a consultancy

position so if I want to sign

already-established artists directly

to Island, I can. I signed one act

called Timeflies. They already

had their own label that they did

self-releases on, so it didn’t make

sense for them to sign with Photo

Finish.

How do you manage to juggleso many responsibilities on adaily basis?

I try to plan ahead so my wife

is aware, my kids are taken care

of and I try not to travel as much

as I used to. I’ve been to Japan

and Australia three times each

and those are long flights. For

the artists I have over there, I

want to be there and know every-

body they’re going to be working

with.

It definitely takes a lot of plan-

ning. I want to take the time out

to take my kids to school every

morning and make sure to spend

time with them on the weekends.

I try to leave the office by a certain

time so I can see them before they

go to bed every night.

How do you keep yourself fromgetting burned out?

At those times I try to step away

from the phone and the computer

and not think about it.

What helps a lot is having

good people that work for you.

I have five people that work with

me on the agency team and we

all help each other. On the label,

I have a staff of 10, so being able

to delegate helps.

Mike Marquis has worked

with me on most of the stuff

I do and he’s like my right-hand

man. He’s had a part in growing

the label and we have a similar

vision.

Is it hard to delegate sinceyou’re used to being hands-on?

Not when you have people that

you can trust. You can put [a task]

into their hands and know it’s go-

ing to get done. But certain things,

I will always deal with myself.

What would you say are themost significant changes inhow you do your jobs?

With the Internet, you can doanything you want quickly. Any-

one can be an artist with a website

and music online, and get to the

top of a chart quickly by getting

a lot of hits.

And something that I’velearned over time, and been

doing more of, is to only work

with good people. I could like

an artist a lot but if the people

involved with the artist don’t have

a good reputation or is someone

who’s going to make my day

harder, I won’t work with them.

I want to have fun with what

I do and be happy when I come

to work.

I try to be picky about what

I take on so I can give new artists

the attention they deserve.

What has remained constant?

I think it’s still making strategic

decisions on who you want to

put your time and effort into.

I always go with my gut musically

on what moves me – something

I can hear and want to be a part

of – as opposed to trying to do

something that other people are

doing or following any trends.

You’ve got to stay true to yourself.

Have the changes in theindustry affected your strategyfor building an act?

I think it depends on the act.

Certain acts can crossover into

different worlds and will fit in on

certain festivals. Some acts have

electronic fan bases, but I also

have mainstream stuff that can

work for electronic or indie fes-

tivals.

When an act is further along

in their career headlining and

doesn’t want to support, I think

you have to be more strategic.

There are a lot of acts touring in

certain seasons. Maybe it’s just the

economy in general when you’re

not getting three major market

tours out of an album cycle. Just

be strategic in what rooms you’re

playing and how much meat on

the bone that you’re leaving so

you can come back.

Is it trickier now to set reason-able ticket prices for concertsand Bamboozle?

I think it’s important to graduallymove up your ticket prices but

not jump too fast. With service

charges and stuff, ticket buyers

pay attention to that. It’s important

to make your bill diverse and have

acts that are meaningful on it tomake it into an evening where

people want to go out and see a

whole concert, not just to see the

headlining act. It helps a lot if you

make your ticket a value.

It’s really important to besensitive in your pricing unless

you’re an established festival that

sells out in advance every year

like Lollapalooza, Coachella or

Glastonbury. In that case, the

name/experience alone sells.Still, it’s hard to predict.

What do you enjoy the mostabout wearing so many hats?

Working with an artist fromthe beginning, seeing that artist

really grow and take off and being

able to grow with them as part

of their team.

And when I come across an

artist and I’m really blown awayby their music but they already

have an agent, they may not have

a label.

What would you say are thehighlights of your career so far?

I would have to say one is My

Chemical Romance selling out

Madison Square Garden in

advance.

A second one is having aNo. 1 song on Top 40 on my

label – 3OH!3’s “Don’t Trust Me.”

We’ve sold 10 million singles by

them and close to a million

albums.

The third was watching fun.win two Grammys this past year.

Working with [lead singer]

Nate [Reuss] for 10 years and just

believing in him and seeing it

come to life, it was awesome.

They thanked me onstage, too,so I was even more excited.

Tina Amendola s

MATT, TWIN SONS CHARLIE AND PRESLEY, and wife HeatherHeatherHeatherHeatherHeather are ready to explore the

neighborhood for Halloween 2012.