Tony Boyé MANAGEMENT
Tony Boyé
I have been working in the music industry for over 50 years and have a great love of music, embracing the new technology with a passion.
My musical career began in the 1960's as a folk singer at various coffee shops in Sydney with people such as Danny Spooner, before moving into the electronic era in the late 60's as a keyboard player with the Robin Sinclair Society, playing at French's Tavern and the Wayside Chapel in King's Cross.
Smaug Country Band began in the 1970s as a typical garage band made up of friend's, lovers and others. Smaug released an EP described as; "A laid back folk/Country rock feel with tinges of psyche induced by some lovely keyboard throughout." Smaug continued until 1975 when we went our separate ways.
From 1976 in Sydney I started working with Barry Farrell in a partnership called Farrell Music and Keyboards, later to become Orbital Music, opening the first Orbital Music shop in Brookvale, Sydney. By 1983, we also had stores in North Fitzroy with Chris Short in Melbourne and a shop in Canberra.
I supplied equipment to a number of very special musicians from whom I learnt even more, such as; Groove Myers who worked on 'The Last Wave', Chris Neal who worked on several recordings including 'Metropolis' and Eddie Hanson who did some early work on 'Dead Calm'. I was also involved in the Warringah Shire Council 1978 and 1979 National Youth Film Festivals and hosted the Chris Neal version of 'Metropolis' at our in-house film club called 'Fillums'. I conducted several Australian Summer Synthesizer Schools, Road Manager’s Seminars and pioneered the use of computers and electronic music throughout Australia.
Jason Scott, Bunna Lawrie and Tony at Yabun Festival 2022
Around 1993 after working with Sony, BMG and some smaller labels, Jon Wicks remixed the indigenous band 'Coloured Stone' track (Love is the Medicine) as part of the Wonderland team. The meeting with Bunna Lawrie kicked off my management career, and I spent the next years managing and touring with this prominent indigenous band.
The management of Coloured Stone, Alice Haines, Johnny Huckle, Desert Sea and Jason Scott included some prominent performances for; Prime Minister Paul Keating, HRH Prince of Wales, ACT Multicultural Festival, Canberra Festival, the Thredbo New World Music Festival and a performance at Parliament House on National Reconciliation Day. The ACT Multicultural Festival performance was a 90 minute Aboriginal Showcase called Australia Our Nation and included artists of the calibre of Pauline McLeod, Storyteller, The Imbala Dancers, Singer/Songwriter Johnny Huckle and Indigenous Band, Desert Sea, Jason Scott's band.
I toured with Buna Lawrie and Coloured Stone throughout Australia with Nigel Campbell to remote Communities from Tasmania to Darwin, from Cairns to Bunbury, performing at; Australia Day Survival Concerts, the Clean up Australia initiative, Clean Up The Nullarbor, recording and the release of two albums including video clips for ‘Barefeet Dancing’ & ‘Songs from the Nullarbor’. In 1994 Coloured Stone performed at 'Australia Today' in Indonesia for 21 days where Bunna Lawrie and Coloured Stone performed to over 90,000 screaming fans each night for two nights at the Jakarta Exhibition grounds. Later that year we toured with Coloured Stone and Alice Haines throughout N.S.W., Queensland, and the Northern Territory with 'Playing Australia'.
In 1995 I wrote and delivered the Wonderland Basic Music Industry Skills Course for Indigenous Performers supported by DEETYA. As part of the course Coloured Stone embarked on an Aids Awareness Tour throughout Western Australia; 30 gigs, 30 days, 20,000 kilometres from Bunbury to Halls Creek and back.
In 1996 and 1997 Nigel and I toured a lot overseas including; the Festival of the Pacific Arts in Samoa with Pauline McLeod, The Imbala Dancers and Footprince and the showcase Original Voices in Chicago as part of the Chicago Cultural Centre’s Original Voices event with Dorothea Randall and Lewis Langton and Australia Day Week in Vietnam with the Imbala Dancers, Jason Scott and Johnny Huckle.
Back in Australia I was the ACT Multicultural Festival Aboriginal Artist Festival Coordinator, featuring Desert Sea, Johnny Huckle and Christine Anu. We also toured to Carnivale in Lighting Ridge with the Bapu dancers, Johnny Huckle and Desert Sea.
After 1997 I started as a part-time teacher at the CIT, Canberra Institute of Technology, Music Industry Centre, teaching the Diploma in Contemporary Music.
1998 saw the emergence of a new Wonderland Studios in Canberra, fully digital and much more advanced. With Jon Wicks and Nigel Campbell back in the team as Suburban Sound and Vision, we remixed two tracks for the last Cold Chisel album and we managed and recorded a 4 piece vocal group called 925. 925 secured interest from Sony after they stayed at #1 and in the top 10 for 12 weeks in the FM104.7 local charts.
Between 1999 and 2004 I continued to run courses and teach skills for the Music Industry, Teaching at CIT, and CIT Solutions, Adult Community Education (ACE) and Quamby Remand Centre, teaching subjects like; Basic Audio, Using musical equipment, Studio Operations, Music Recording & Digital Mixing as well as mentoring and setting up Recording facilities for CIT students.
I also continued tours including Indigenous performances for Project 2000 and SCOG in Sydney, including the Torch relay, Concerts and Torch Lighting Ceremonies and a short tour to Adelaide with Desert Sea for the NAIDOC Celebrations.
I did a short stint in London, during which time I was fortunate to play with Peter Quentin in some local pubs and on several tracks for Peter Quentin's first album.
Around 1983 I moved to Canberra where I worked in retail and education, and set up 'Wonderland Studios'.
I joined and continued playing keyboards in the Canberra band 'Cactus Jack', performing several times at Tamworth, on various tours and at the Bruce Stadium. I also played with 'Steve Hoy and the Hoy Boys', opening for the Great Rock and Roll Revival Concerts with Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Herman's Hermits and others.
As an engineer and producer it is fantastic to have so much digital technology but I still have a firm footing in the analogue era. Music and vision are now more intertwined than ever and to be involved with the whole process at all levels is exciting.
At Wonderland Studios, the team of Tony Boyé, Nigel Campbell and Jon Wicks produced Advertising Jingles, music for films and documentaries, recorded and produced music film clips for Desert Sea ('From the Desert to the Sea'), Alice Haines (‘Emu Dreaming’), Johnny Huckle (Koori Love) and Jason Scott ('Reconcile our Nation'), and consulted to educators and industry groups including Sound on Stage in Sydney and Brash’s Music in Melbourne and Canberra. We had a number of hits including with the 'Gottani Sisters'. Jon Wicks also remixed Kate Ceberano's 'See right Through' track.
Robbie Thorpe, Uncle Jack, Tony, Selwyn Burns
Over two years in 2010 I worked with the Ngarigu Currawong Clan and set up to pursue the Native Title aspirations of the Ngarigu. The Ngarigu Currawong Clan were involved in Cultural and Heritage surveys pursuant to their Ngarigu Human Rights Complaint in ACAT
I continue to manage Bunna Lawrie and Coloured Stone, and currently manage his son Jason Lee Scott as well as run the business Art from Australia.