international news _ 18th January, 2007
Dave Clarke’s Paranoid Success
Text by Jonty Skrufff (Skrufff.com)
The Observer newspaper highlighted some of Donald Trump’s key tips for
success this week including ‘think big’, ‘be paranoid’ and ‘have a short
attention span’, to the (partial) approval of top British techno type Dave
Clarke.
“You have to overshoot- think big- to get to where you want to be, but I
don't believe in being nasty to other people to get there,” Dave told
Skrufff, “But am I paranoid? What are you saying about me?” he asked.
Less impressed by the US property mogul’s advice to ‘avoid the handshake
whenever possible’, Dave stressed he was joking about his paranoia though
admitted the condition is something to consider.
“Follow your dreams but also try and have a social life,” he recommended, “A
lot of successful people seem to be lonely with the people close to them
being there because of money and power and not love and loyalty. That’s
what contributes to their paranoia.”
Skrufff contributor and author Simon Napier-Bell (who previously managed
astonishingly successful rock and pop stars Marc Bolan, the Yardbirds and
Wham) also partially endorsed Donald Trump’s views, declaring ‘the artist is
the one who thinks big, the manager just needs to be practical.’
“And all artists are paranoid,” Simon added, “And a successful manager needs
a successful artist so paranoia (the artist's) seems part of the equation
for success. But for the manager, dealing with it can be a pain in the
butt.”
“With artists, they think everyone but them is responsible for every last
thing that goes wrong or doesn't go right,” he said,
“There was a great story (I used it in Black Vinyl White Powder) of an
artist in the 60s who stormed into the offices of Decca Records and
literally destroyed it - throwing files all over the place, turning tables
over, throwing chairs out the windows. This, he said, because Decca were
deliberately stopping his new single from getting radio play or being
stocked in the shops. Later, when he was safely behind bars at Vine Street
police station, he remembered his new single wasn't due for release for
another six weeks,” he laughed.
Simon also remained lucid enough to agree with Donald Trump’s quick thinking
tip, pointing out ‘it's difficult to bulls**t someone who has a short
attention span. Bulls**t takes time, so a short attention span works as a
great bulls**t filter.”
“My main tip for success? Be clever,” he concluded, “Managing an artist is a
delicate game of give and take. To be successful you have to make everyone
believe you are in complete control of your artist. But you must let the
artist think he's in complete control of you,” said Simon.
Related Article
Interview : Dave Clarke Interview with Jonty Skrufff (27/05/2005)
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