10 Questions with ... Barry Lyons

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

Started out sweeping the floors / cleaning the toilets in the warehouse for a chain of record stores based in Buffalo, NY. By 1974, I was managing one of the stores. Fast forward to 1978, I had landed a regional promotion job with Elektra Records - first in Buffalo, then in Chicago. That was a glorious time. The people I've been blessed to learn from, to work with, to get to know - if I could get them all in one place, I could open up my own Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame.

1. What made you want to get into the music business and who were your early mentors and first job?

Growing up, my dad owned a chain of music stores in upstate NY, so I was always around music. I remember, when the Beatles were exploding, their 2nd album was about to hit, my dad had to get like 1100 albums split up and delivered to four locations. And they needed to show up at the 4 stores at the same time. Keep in mind, I was maybe 10 or 11 at the time, but that was when my dad gave me my first lessons in promotion - he hired some off-duty cops, had them turn the sirens and the lights on "max," and they made the deliveries. Sold 'em all out in an hour or two. Not long after that, I was at a Peter & Gordon show in Rochester, NY, my father was a co-promoter, so I got to hang out backstage. It was all rock stars and pretty girls - and I was hooked for life!

My first "real" job was doing National Sales for Amherst / DJM records, a small indie label. We scored a few modest hits - and it gave me a wider perspective on what was involved in developing and furthering an artist's career. I learned, quickly, that radio was NOT the be-all and the end-all. And my, how many times has THAT lesson come home to roost??

My first promotion job was at Elektra Records, when it was one of the coolest, most respected labels on the planet. The talent that went through there could fill a hall of fame all its own - The Eagles, Queen, The Cars, Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, Hank Williams Jr., Linda Ronstadt, X, Metallica, Motley Crue, Dokken, The Cure, Grovee Washinton Jr., Joni Mitchell. And the executive talent - to learn from greats like Joe Smith, Jerry Sharrell, Dave Urso, Kenny Buttice, Burt Stein, Mike Bone, Bruce Lundvall, Bob Krasnow, Denny Nowak, and Lou Maglia - was an education that could never be duplicated. I know a lot of those names might not mean much to your current readers, and that's a shame. We're all part of an ever-expanding project called life.

The nine years I spent there were unforgettable.

2. What came next?

In 1987 I was whisked off to I.R.S. Records as VP Of promotion, following in the very large footsteps left behind by Michael Plen. Proud to say I was there for the zenith of that company - R.E.M, Fine Young Cannibals, The Alarm, Concrete Blonde, and Dada. But one day I woke up and it was the '90s, the age of mergers and consolidation and corporatization and fucking up the entire business. R.E.M. left & so did I, headed to NY in 1993 for what turned out to be an abbreviated run at Chameleon Records, where I learned an important lesson - never work for a company where the owner is in of your bands. It tends to screw up your priorities. I then had a couple of years with Irving Azoff at Giant Records, followed by around four years in the Polygram group running rock departments for Polydor, and then Island. There had been plans afoot to set up what could have been an ultra-cool label situation by combining the Sire and London labels, and that's where (I thought) I was bound. But then Polygram got swallowed by Universal, and when they decided that the combined Sire / London would be better served as a dance / pop label. That's when I struck out on my own, starting RENT A LABEL in January of 2000.

3. During your years in the label world, give us a few records close to your heart that for one reason or another never broke through. What is your "One That Got Away" -- and what did you learn from that record?

Oh jeez, there's been plenty, too many to list. The lesson from all of them? One of the most valuable I ever learned, from Denny Nowak. He taught me that "They're all hits - it's just that some of them are bigger than others." One that I loved was from THE POGUES, "Tuesday Morning". (I'm a sucker for all things Irish). We made some good headway with it, but just couldn't... quite... push it through. CONCRETE BLONDE, we DID break them with the song "Joey," but the follow-up was an even better track, "Tomorrow Wendy." It was like we were all so exhausted from the work that "Joey" required, we didn't have the strength to break another one. And our major-label affiliate at the time, MCA was too busy working Tiffany or some such crap. If there's a lesson to be learned, it's a simple one: be prepared to stay in the fight for as long as it takes. Rammstein's "Du Hast" is a great example, a year+ on that one song - but boy, bid it pay off.

4. You mentioned QUEEN as one of the acts you'd done some work with along the way. This past summer, a QUEEN biopic played theaters. How did that make you feel? And did you think they got the character of Freddie right?

Well, it certainly made me feel old, but you knew that answer was coming! They did a great job of getting the "look" right - I went to Live Aid, I have pictures I took there. As for Freddy, let's just say that Brian May was an ok guy to deal with, and leave it at that.

5. How long ago did you launch Rent A Label and tell us about how your business model for this company works?

I came back from watching the millennium sunrise on top of Haleakala crater on Maui to find that Sire-London, the label I thought I was going to be with after Polygram was swallowed by Universal, was instead going to be, basically, dismantled. I'd been at four different labels or companies in less than eight years, only to see each either get swallowed by a bigger fish, or get di-assembled by forces beyond my control. And I resolved I wasn't going to do that again. So I started RENT A LABEL with a very basic principle: that artists or managers or independent labels operating outside the major-label plantation system should have access to services of the quality that was once the exclusive domain of the majors. I wanted to be involved in ALL aspects of the careers of the artists I was working with - touring, press, radio, video, and sales - just as I had been at Island or Polydor or I.R.S. The details have changed dramatically in the 18 years as virtually all dynamics of the marketplace have undergone radical change. But the guiding principle remains unchanged.

6. After working for years at labels, what are the advantages and also the challenges of running your own company?

The biggest advantage is I don't have to listen to idiots of the type that began to over-run most labels in the late '90s and early 2000's. Even better, I don't have to do corporate meetings, and I've cut the number of conference calls by 50% or more... Working with independent clients we are free to turn on a dime, to experiment. The biggest challenge, of course, is that most independent clients can't just throw silly money at a project, we're usually in a range that runs from underfunded to severely underfunded. So, we learn to be nimble.

7. Give us a rundown of some of the artists and bands you're currently working with and how they are doing at Rock Radio?

This time of year is when I'm usually setting things up for the following January, and that's where a lot of my focus is right now. Some terrific music, from all over the globe. We're starting to get some really good nibbles on a band called KRASH KARMA - two expatriates from Germany who re-located to the US and are starting to get interest with a hard-rock take on a kpop song. And if you know of anything that's more multi-cultural than that, I'd like to know what! We've got an act coming over from Russia, YOUR SECREAMING SILENCE that has some terrific songs. Small-market radio is where we live & breathe to begin wiih on most of our projects, and we're getting strong early feedback on a song we just launched, called "Stare", from MODERN MIMES. A little farther down the line, some great stuff lurking from ANYTHING BUT HUMAN and LOSING SEPTEMBER. And for those who think we can't handle a curveball, I've got a klezmer rock song coming just in time for Chacnuka! It sound like ZZ Top jammin' down at the local Chabad!

8. What are the most important tools/resources you use to stay on top of the Rock formats' growth and constant daily changes?

Ears and eyes - the one thing that hasn't changed.

9. You had some issues to work through not so very long ago. Care to update us on how things are for you now?

I had a rough eight or nine months starting around Sept. of 2017 - my brother was hit by a car and killed, I lost my wife to leukemia, I had pneumonia for the better part of three months, and a cancer scare. But before you can even get around to asking, I'm good these days, thank you very much. Life is short so enjoy it while you can. My daughter started at UCLA this past September so it doesn't get much better than that!. True, I don't go to as many rock concerts as I once did - but hey, now I go to whiskey tasting events.

9. You're known as the Doctor in many circles, yet I don't think you have an actual license to practice medicine. What is the origin of Dr, Lyons?

It goes back to a Christmas party in Rochester NY back around 1980 that included 12 local promotion people; 11 Spotify playlists; 10 bags of Don & Bob's White hots; nine bags of blow; eight decapitated rodents; seven boxes of cleans; six locked bathroom doors; five cases of bourbon; four calls to the cops; three mob lawyers; two eventual trade-magazine editors; and one very large peace pipe full of loco weed. The rest, like much of the early '80s, is lost to the murky mists of time.

10. Around this time of the year heading into the holidays, you're also known for your extensive collection of Holiday songs. What are some of Dr. Lyons Hi-Fi Holiday favorites?

Boy, that's a looooong list. Roy Wood's "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day" (although the research on that one is starting to show an increase in burn), Wall Of Voodoo's "Shouldn't Have Given Him A Gun For Christmas," The Bloody Stools "Santa Is Dead," Dave Philp's entire Christmas album THE LAST NOEL. Slade's "Merry Xmas Everybody" (there are several versions I like better). Red Peters' "You Ain't Getting' Shit For Christmas." And "I'm The One Who Gunned Santa Down," can't forget that! It's not the collecting of the music that gets me off (although it does), it's the sharing of it. If you aren't signed up for the DR. LYONS HI-FI HOLIDAY downloads, send a note over to rentalabel@gmail.com - it's never too late.