WAM Festival Speaker Profile: Mike O'Hanlon

Name: Mike O'Hanlon

Organisation and Position: Hipflask- Vibe Guy.

How did you first become involved in the music business? A long time ago I was spending a good bit of my time writing music. I thought I was pretty good. I had mates who were doing great things musically at the time - really inspiring me. Jazz dudes, they were killing it. One night I showed the guys what I was working on, asking whether they wanted to turn my recording project into a band. My best mate put his arm around me and gently (firmly) told me that my music wasn't the sort of thing that he or any of the guys would want to hitch their wagon to. He did however give me an option, he said 'if you build a venue though, we'll all help with that'. I was a little bummed, but the venue idea sounded good. I ended up finding a cool spot in Northbridge that felt like it ought to be a pub. I took out a lease, rounded up the guys and we built The Bird. 

What's your area of expertise and what experience do you have? I guess my area of expertise is centred around the idea of trying to create value for other people that are critical parts of my projects. For me this typically means my business partners. 

What topics will you be mostly talking about at WAM? Understanding the scenarios where you create value for other people.

What do you hope to personally take away from the WA Music Conference and WAM Festival events? One of those '...and all I got was this lousy t-shirt' shirts.

What's one question about the music industry you'd love to have the answer to? 'Where's my money, man?'

One piece of advice to make it in the music biz? Johnny Cash once told me to talk really loudly and name-drop as frequently as possible.