VOLT 2023: A Volition Archive

Vale Andrew Penhallow 24 January 1952 – 17 May 2023

Andrew Penhallow was truly a visionary and a giant of Australia’s music industry.

A graphic artist at the time, Andrew left England in the mid 1970s to meet up with his brother in Australia.

“I came out to Australia from England in 1975, and worked as a graphic artist for five years. I found myself buying a lot of import records that were coming into the country. And out of that I started picking up on a lot of the Factory stuff that was coming out of Manchester.

Eventually I got together with a few people with the idea of setting up a label that would actually acquire the licenses for releases of overseas product, and in 1980 we formed an independent label in Australia specifically to set up an outlet for independent labels from the UK.” [Andrew speaking to Les White in The Drum Media, 30 November 1993]

“Andrew was fanatical about music from when he was a boy in London. He had two older brothers who introduced him at a very young age to the groovy stuff. He obsessively followed music and loved everything about it – the music, the art of record sleeves and posters, the clothes, the culture. Somehow it seemed natural that he would follow his passion into the indie music scene in the 1980s, when things like a setting up a record label with nothing but good intentions were possible.” [Virginia M. Moncrieff, Andrew’s partner]

And thus Andrew’s career in the music industry in Australia began in 1980 with the establishment of GAP Records (Gardiner And Penhallow), with business partner (the late) Paul Gardiner who was Rolling Stone Australia Editor and publisher from 1984 to 1987.

Inspired by Sydney’s inner city indie music scene, Andrew took on the management of promising ‘post funk’ band Pel Mel, who had formed in Newcastle, New South Wales.

Apart from releasing records by Pel Mel, GAP’s biggest success was acquiring the Australian and New Zealand licences for UK independent labels Factory Records, Mute and Rough Trade.

“Paul Gardiner knew the CEO of EMI Australia really well and he was sure he could get us a deal. So we had a think about what we could release. One of the writers for Rolling Stone, Bruce Elder, was living in the UK and we’d catch-up whenever he was in Sydney. We ran the idea past him and he brought on-board another Australian in the UK, Arnold Frollows, who had just finished working for Virgin. He joined the dots for us and soon we were in contact with Geoff Travis at Rough Trade and Daniel Miller at Mute. We came close to a deal with Korova but lost them to Warners. Rough Trade came on-board and we also did something with Mute.

Tony (Wilson) said speak to Rob Gretton because he handled that side of things. Rob was very laid-back and said ‘Maybe’. I don’t know what convinced them but we did the deal. We didn’t know what we were doing – we just liked the music. In the end we did the deal and paid them an advance.

But it was really weird … Paul got $10,000, I got $10,000 from my then mother-in-law. Then Paul got another $10,000 from his wife’s ex-husband who was a brain surgeon. We pulled together $30,000 and set up GAP.” [Andrew recounting details of the licensing deal to Matthew Robertson for Scream City fanzine]

“Andrew really had no idea what he was doing when he and Paul Gardiner set up GAP records but they gave it a go anyway and just blustered through. Andy began to get more into the Australian independent music scene, which GAP as a label – aside from Pel Mel – really didn’t have an investment in.” [Virginia M. Moncrieff]

It’s also a little known fact that Andrew is responsible for a re-edit of Joy Division’s video for “Love Will Tear Us Apart” which became the video we all love today.

“Factory sent him the masters. He was notoriously finicky and particular about art and graphics. I remember he said it looked like shit, was out of sync, and there was something about the hand opening the door that he did… switched it, or cut it in somewhere else or something.

He got an editor to do it. They were very minor but important edits. Andrew wouldn’t destroy the original! He knew the Factory people pretty well so he was pretty confident they’d be ok with it.

He sent it back to Factory just to let them know, get approval, and they liked it and used his version. Whenever the video came on he’d look closely and say, ‘That’s my version!’” [Virginia M. Moncrieff]

In 1984 Andrew launched Volition with the label’s inaugural release Scattered Order‘s seven track live 12″ vinyl EP “A Dancing Foot And A Praying Knee Don’t Belong On The Same Leg” (VOLT 1).

1985 saw the demise of GAP, and in July of the same year Factory Australasia was launched, headed by Andrew whilst he also ran Volition. That year was also a big one for Volition, with the first releases on the label from Severed Heads, and follow up releases from Scattered Order.

“[There was] a small overlap and Andy was frantically busy spending most of his nights on long calls to Factory that seemed to go on forever.” [Virginia M. Moncrieff]

Factory Australasia was the most successful overseas wing of Factory, with a number of album and single releases reaching as high as the Top 20, Top 10 and Top 5 in Australian and New Zealand charts.

You can read more about Factory Records Australasia, including a discography of GAP and Factory Australasia’s Factory releases at the excellent blog A Factory Overseas Discography.

With his background in graphic design, at this stage Andrew was also doing sleeve design for artists both on and off the Volition artist roster. One of those artists not (yet) on Volition was Brisbane band Ups & Downs, who relocated to Sydney in 1985.

The end for Factory Records Australasia came in 1990 when Tony Wilson flew to Sydney and, together with Andrew, negotiations were held with several Australia based labels, with Festival Records (Australia’s only major label) the eventual bid winner.

“Factory, like everyone else around that time, was constantly teetering on the verge of financial bedlam, and in the end Andy brokered the introduction between Factory and Festival Records so that Factory could get a direct, real money deal.” [Virginia M. Moncrieff]

Andrew remained in a caretaker role with the new Factory/Festival partnership until 1992, going on to concentrate solely on Volition.

[More to come…]

Remembrance

“Andrew would want to be remembered for making a difference in people’s artistic lives, never burning bridges, and for showing that you can be kind, encouraging, invested and committed to the process, demanding of quality without compromising your integrity or tossing aside your principles.

He loved this line from Vissi d’Arte, an aria from Tosca, once saying he wanted it on his headstone: ‘I lived for art, I lived for love, I never harmed a living soul.’” [Virginia M. Moncrieff]

“Andrew was a true believer – in the music, in all the Volition artists he signed and nurtured – and was pure in this respect. He was also a perfectionist in all aspects of his work, whether it was the artwork, the music or the promotion. I’ll always remember his sense of humour and, more than anything, his faith in Robert (Racic) and I.” [Kathy Naunton, Mastering Engineer, dB Mastering]

“(Andrew was) just a fabulous person. Full of encouragement and humour. Meticulous with everything he worked on especially the design aspect. He remained true to the idea behind the label. Dedicated and loyal. I miss him.” [Mitch Jones, Scattered Order]

“Volition really was a big family in all its care and tension, but an incredible time and place that changed the landscape of what’s possible.” [Noel Burgess, Vision Four 5]

“Everything I knew about Andrew was through my brother or through my friends. Everyone spoke highly of him. In my mind he was always the man in Sydney who had met Tony Wilson. And for that I held him in reverance.” [Scott Millard, Crackerjack]

“He was such a lovely person. He really looked after us and treated us like family.” [Brenda Pua née Makamoeafi, Sisters Underground]

“He was funny. He was a geezer. He was brutally honest. He had a big heart. He looked after his own. Andrew and I shared a great love for the music of New Order and designs of Peter Saville, and this filled many of our conversations. I was so happy when he moved to the Blue Mountains and became a neighbour. We had many good times together in the last years of his life and I only wish he was still here to carry on the great friendship we had. He’s never far from my thoughts.” [Craig Simmons, design artist working for Volition and Sony Music, and close friend of Andrew Penhallow]

“He was just always great fun. And his enthusiasm, you know, his energy. He was always endearing and we were all very good friends.” [Suzie Higgie, Falling Joys]

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