How did you get into the business?
It's really an immensely long and convoluted story but basically, in my teens I was a really mediocre musician. My first job was as a travel agent, an occasional used car salesman, aspiring rally navigator, then a hotel and restaurant owner, mechanical music expert, indie label owner, band manager, studio equipment renter, record rental store operator, and finally a promoter. It was while I was promoting at a couple of small venues in Brighton that I met the lads from the Blue Box company and bought a few 'prototype' Turbosound loudspeakers. I had decided that the way to make a bit more money out of promoting live music was to own the PA in addition to being the sound engineer, doing the door, being the bouncer and booking the bands... I suppose I must have been reasonably good at at least a couple of these tasks as the promoting thing actually provided a decent income. However I was already on my second divorce so the concept of getting a 'proper' job with more regular hours seemed appealing. At this juncture I was invited to apply for the position of factory manager at the then new Turbosound factory. Of course I'd never managed a loudspeaker manufacturing business in my life but it seemed like an interesting challenge. However, in the course of the interview process one Allan Wick decided that I'd be better at PR! And the rest, as they say, is history... The date was February 1984...

Why did you move from the UK to the USA?
In 1988 I started a distribution company (First Audio) in the UK along with four other audio industry 'luminaries'. We handled Turbosound and Crest Audio products. Although we were successful in greatly increasing sales of both lines we were terribly under-funded so we decided to transfer the products to other distributors and shut up shop. Just at that point John Lee, then president of Crest Audio, suggested that I take on representation of Crest throughout Europe and so First Audio's office manager, Lee Wakelin, and myself became Crest employees. Crest Audio Europe was a great success. I created new marketing strategies and product suggestions for the company in Europe, which actually had quite an effect on Crest's global strategy. Over the three years that I ran the European office, I became a frequent visitor to the company's base in New Jersey. So much so that John Lee suggested, in 1993, that I move to the States permanently and become Crest's Marketing Director. I jumped at the chance of moving from seasons comprised mostly of variations of levels and type of drizzle punctuated by occasionally hot, sunny weather (but weekdays only) to a place that had real weather. OK so New Jersey weather wasn't quite so totally wonderful but I thoroughly enjoyed my time there.

You left Crest and joined Meyer. Tell us the story
Crest Audio had grown massively through the '90s. Many new products had been added to the roster including Crest Consoles and the Gamble EX 56. In 1998 John Lee decided to put the company up for sale. Peavey were successful in acquiring the company and me along with it. I think it would be fair to say that there was somewhat of a culture clash between the Peavey folk and myself. I'll never forget my first (and last) trip to Meridian, Mississippi. The outcome was that I was swiftly looking to extricate myself from the 'new' Crest Audio. I'm a firm believer in fate and that most things happen for good reasons. Although I was sad to be looking to leave Crest, I was immensely happy to be offered the position, in early 1999, as Director of Marketing at Meyer Sound in Berkeley, CA. John and Helen Meyer are inspiring, truly creative individuals as are so many of my colleagues here at Meyer Sound. The company has always pioneered new yet practical ideas and feeds on continually engineering and manufacturing audio tools that both advance technology and make it possible for the sound professional to do better work. Meyer Sound benefits tremendously from remaining an independent and successful organisation in control of its own destiny and is able to respond quickly to market needs. It's the ideal place for me to practice dynamic marketing. So you'd be right in thinking that I really quite like it here! That and the fact that wine country is just up the road and, as I often say to folk who ask me how I like the San Francisco Bay area: an Englishman with a palm tree and a swimming pool is one happy bugger!

What do you like/dislike about the audio industry?
I love the fact that it's still such a relatively small business and that it remains so friendly. Our main stock in trade is relationships and that suits me well. We are all lucky to be working in this industry. In recent years we've seen a number of independent companies being sold to/absorbed by larger corporations. This is common throughout the business world but it generally does not seem to benefit our industry. Often previously innovative companies and individuals lose their spark when ruled by less flexible 'professional' managers or faceless hierarchies. In the future I'm hoping to see more interesting developments in all spheres coming from fresh talent in fledgling companies.

Who are your mentors?
I don't think I have any mentors in the true sense of the word. However I've been influenced greatly by others over the years. If we are just talking about marketers per se then I'd have to mention Gaston Goossens who created industry leading concepts and campaigns in his time at Klark Teknik. I was very influenced by his "you don't have to see the products to know what it is we are selling" approach. Gaston has also been a great 'life' teacher to me over the years. There are a number of others who've had an effect on my comprehension of the audio business and aided my progress within it. Mark Burgin, the late Dave Martin, Todd Wells, Allan Wick, Chuck Augustowski and obviously John and Helen Meyer...

During your time in the industry, of what are you particularly proud?
I suppose I'm mostly proud that I'm still a part of it! And I suppose I should be proud that I seem to still have more friends than detractors (I don't think I have any actual enemies...) in the business. It makes the whole thing so much more pleasurable.

Any products/projects you were excited to be involved with?
I've been a part of the team involved in the development of the M Series at Meyer Sound. All seven models have been very successful and the latest - MILO - is proving to be a real winner. I'm very pleased with my small contributions to the QuickFly rigging system and product cosmetics on MILO and of course with coming up with the name! I totally appreciated the brief time I spent helping market BSS products back when Chas Brooke was there. His approach taught me so much about how to present complex technology in an easy to understand form. The work I did on 'polishing' the company's corporate image was tremendously rewarding. The look that we created back in 1986/7, the fonts used and the balance of nomenclature on the products themselves lasted quite some time. Although I enjoyed my involvement with amplifier development at Crest Audio - especially NexSys - it was with Crest Consoles that I felt most associated. The X Series and more particularly the V12 are consoles that I was very proud of. On projects, most of my favourites have been adverts. Starting with the very 'artsy' mid-'80s adverts for Turbosound, the 'notorious' double page Albert Hall advert (we didn't have venue image permission!), some great corporate adverts for BSS, Crest's CA Series 'Crest for Less' campaign and more recently the 'Empty Warehouse' Meyer Sound corporate adverts. These Meyer Sound adverts included a chap sitting in a warehouse knitting and another with him playing golf, no product in sight!. The most gratifying and effective advert so far for me is the new one for MILO. Involving children in any promotional venture is always fraught, but the result in this case was well worth the effort.

What's with the wine writing?
Outside of work it's my greatest passion. Well perhaps not 'greatest'. Coming up with ways to try and explain in print what you've just tasted is such a challenge. Some folk get way too wordy and use terminology that is hardly evocative of the subject matter and others get way too pretentious. Having learned a bit about wine in Europe gives me a somewhat different perspective I suppose. And having learned most from entertaining wine writers/presenters like Jilly Goolden and Oz Clarke helps a lot rather than being mainly subjected to Parker and Wine Spectator as most folk in the States seem to have been. There's little written here about good value wines and far too much hype about the pricey wines that abound in Napa. My wife Gediz sells wine for a living so that certainly helps expose me to a huge variety. And living 45 minutes from some of the best wine-growing areas in the world helps also.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years time?
Alive hopefully! And if that's the case I'd still like to be involved in the audio business. I'd also love to have developed the wine thing into something more than a passion. Who knows? And I have a tremendous desire to learn about cheese making. Artisan, 'boutique' cheeses are a fast growing business in America. I'm hoping to do a cheese-making course in Vermont in October. Wine and cheese. Now there's something (other than audio!) to get excited about...