We caught up with artist manager and PR extraordinaire Rob Carroll to chat about his latest venture, Good Loco.

There’s no doubt that it’s a nervy time to be starting a new business. With the pandemic only just in the rearview and the country’s economy looking less-than-healthy, opening up a creative space is probably not what the accountant recommended for Sydney musician manager Rob Carroll. Fortune, however, favours the bold and the Good Loco space is up, running and thriving.

When it comes to building a successful business from the ground up, Carroll has form. Two years ago, he founded Good Intent which lists artists such as Bagraiders, Bootleg Rascal and Harts on their roster, as well as some of the country’s biggest record labels. He’s teamed up with event management company Bingo Loco (hence Good Loco) in the new endeavour, with the birthing a space that satisfies all your video and photography needs.

Located in Marrickville, the Good Loco features one of the largest cycloramas in the area and a diverse range of cameras (Fuji, Cannon) and lighting gear (Profoto). The space is also fully fitted out with a make-up and dressing room, vocal booth, props on standby, bathroom, kitchen, bar and green room with recreational facilities, so you don’t have to worry about getting bored when you’re not in front of the camera.

Recognising that this period has been a challenging one for artists, Rob and the team have opened up Good Loco for free bookings throughout November for unsigned creatives and artists – just need to head over to their website, click the ‘Book Now’ tab, enter the code ‘Indie’.

For now, check out our interview with Rob below along with some pics of the Good Loco studio and be sure to book it next time you’re shooting anything:

Firstly congrats on two years of Good Intent, what have been some of the highlights since you started out?

Seeing our artists and team continuing to grow at the various stages of their career that they’re at.

Bootleg Rascal recently hit their monthly listenership peak of 245k on Spotify, and pre-covid were selling more tickets and receiving more festival offers than they ever have in their career – this is all off the back of no major radio support.

Down For Tomorrow continue to keep rising across the board with strong embrace from tastemakers and fans alike. They recently got a nod as an artist to watch from UK big hitters Rock Sound, plus continue to pick up regular support from the likes of Spotify, Apple Music, triple j, NME, Pilerats, Flux FM (DEU), The Rock (NZ), MTV and Rage. The numbers keep building, as do the heavily engaged fans.

Seeing our team members step up is super satisfying as well. Our head of PR, Nick Moran, started off as an intern and two years on, I am proud to call him a business partner who is a vital part of Good Intent.

What have been the major challenges?

Having enough time to do everything… I’ve always relished the thought of cloning myself to meet the demands of my workload.

Also, making sure the money is coming in to pay everything/everyone on time. This year has especially been a tough juggle trying to balance that and simultaneously accommodate artists who are going through a tough time. Somehow though, we always manage to make it work.

On paper, there doesn’t seem like there’d be much of a link between artist services and studio ownership. How are the two connected for you?

Artists continually need visually engaging content.

It’s been great to offer use of the space to our management roster to shoot photos, music videos and create content. We’ve also used the platform to give back to our local music community by offering up free bookings throughout the month of November.

Moving forward, we’ll always be providing the space to independent musicians at a very affordable rate, which will help tremendously given how valuable creating meaningful content is in the current climate.

I feel it’s a nice contrast for us to broaden our horizons, without venturing too far away from the core of our business, which is ultimately to provide value to Australian artists.

COVID-19 has had a pretty devastating impact on the music industry, how has it affected you?

We were hit hard on the management commissions revenue, as so many shows and tours had to be cancelled. We also briefly saw a downturn in PR campaigns right when the lockdowns first came into effect around late-March and April. Once everything stabilised a bit, we were fortunate enough to see business pick back up again, as artists quickly realised they needed to keep things moving forward by continuing to release music.

What made you want to branch out into studio management? How long was this an idea before it became an actuality?

While we’re heavily restricted within the live arena, we felt it was a great way to pivot and make good use of the time freed up by not being able to run events and tours etc. I also owned and managed a recording / rehearsal studio many years ago. I felt that a lot of the same principles apply in terms of the business management, so it was something I naturally felt comfortable pursuing again.

The motivation behind the project came from Down For Tomorrow shooting their clip in the space back in late-June. We started building around July, so it’s taken approximately four months from start-to-finish.

What sort of work did you have to put in to transform the site into what it is now?

We built a beautiful cyclorama, which is the pièce de résistance of the studio. We also had to do a lot of painting and upgrade general facilities such as our bathrooms and air conditioning, plus we built a dressing/make-up room and a bar.

The studio has pool and ping pong tables, which is super handy as anyone who’s been on set for a long shoot will tell you, it can be boring. What other features make Good Loco stand out?

A constant fridge full of beers, various video game consoles, board games and sweet Sonos sound system to bump tunes on. We have plans to nab some retro arcade and pinball machines in the near future too.

Marrickville is a great spot food-wise to be setting up shop. Where have you been eating/drinking around there?

My favourite restaurant in the area would have to be Khoi Eatery; a Vietnamese joint who I believe do one of the best Phos in Sydney. Other food options I’d recommend are Otoro (Japanese), Thai Paragon (Thai), Little Turtle (Vegan Thai Kitchen in Enmore) and Nutrition Station (A great café option for the health conscious).

In terms of great places to drink, I’d recommend Town & Country Hotel (St. Peters), Vic on the Park, The Golden Barley, The Henson and Lazy Bones; they also have great food options.

You’re doing free use of the space throughout November for independent artists which is awesome. What was your motivation behind that?

We understand that this year has been incredibly hard for everyone, and sadly musicians have been some of the hardest hit. While artists are off the road, there’s a real need to keep pushing out releases and content, so we hope that by offering some free time, that will help them save a few bucks and take some of the pressure off.

What other big plans do you have as we put this god-awful year behind us?

Haha, I think we’re done with big plans for 2020. Time to knuckle down, keep refining and fine-tuning the studio and focus on the 22 releases we have going on. That will certainly do us!