Get To Know Five Four Entertainment
Five Four Entertainment’s CV is ridiculously impressive…
They’re responsible for booking, hosting and promoting some of the world’s biggest acts and local bands across their two music venues, Lion Arts Factory and Hindley Street Music Hall (in partnership with Secret Sounds and Live Nation). They’ve organised three of Adelaide’s favourite festivals, Spin Off, Laneway Festival and Heaps Good. And they’re the brains behind Australia’s biggest club night promoter, Plus One Co.
In just over a decade, co-founders Craig Lock and Ross Osmon have turned their promotional pipedreams into reality and shaped a nationally respected company that’s now a cornerstone in South Australia’s music scene. “We’ve been in the background for a long time, working away at a lot of different things,” Craig says. “[But] when we first started, there were only two of us.”
The pair got their break in the industry by trying to recruit some of Splendour in the Grass’ line-up to play in SA. It was 2010, and Craig says the festival’s slew of sideshows never failed to leave Adelaide off the tour program. Determined to change that, the two began contacting international booking agents and asking Splendour headliners to play in Adelaide.
“Then we received a phone call from Paul Piticco,” Craig recalls. “He was like, ‘I own Splendour in the Grass. I manage Powderfinger. I hear you’re buying shows – what are you guys doing?’” Naively, they had circumvented Splendour’s exclusive touring and promotional contracts with national companies like Secret Sounds and Frontier Touring. However, Piticco saw the pair’s big picture and gave them the green light to try and secure the festival’s biggest acts.
“Those first sideshows were pretty amazing,” Craig recalls. “We promoted Foals – it was their first show in Australia and they were my favourite band. I remember being like, ‘What is going on? I’m driving [Foals] around in my car, promoting their show, it’s sold out, and we’ve made money – this is insane!’”
Not all gigs went so well, but their efforts put them on the map, and the Five Four formula was set: anytime the pair saw a touring act not performing in Adelaide, they’d try and broker a deal to get them to gig here. On a grassroots level, Five Four continued to book and promote local bands at the Ed Castle and Adelaide UniBar. Their two-pronged approach injected a new energy into SA’s music scene. “We really grinded for years just doing that,” Craig says. “Slowly, we started getting some traction.”
As Craig starts to reel off some career highs and lows, it becomes obvious Five Four’s strong suit is being adaptable.
At one point, they were responsible for managing some of Australia’s hottest acts, like City Calm Down, Japanese Wallpaper and homegrown star TKAY Maidza – who Craig worked closely with from her first play on the JJJ airwaves. Then, they pivoted from the promotional game and opened Lion Arts Factory in 2018 in the former Fowler’s Live building. That same year, they successfully re-launched Spin Off Festival after two failed attempts five years prior. Then, when faced with a global pandemic, they built a COVID-friendly music festival, Summer Sounds, featuring socially-distanced pods for punters to dance in.
Among all of this, they hired some 20 staff. “Hiring people was a really amazing moment because up until that point, we’d been working solo, doing everything and struggling so hard sometimes,” Craig says.
Now, Five Four is taking on its biggest project to date. Last September, they opened a second venue, Hindley Street Music Hall, in partnership with Secret Sounds and Live Nation. The 1800-cap venue bridges the gap between gigs at The Gov and Thebarton Theatre. Craig hopes the bands the stage attracts will be an aspiration point for up-and-coming Adelaide bands.
The duo’s roots run deep with the local scene (Craig played in a band, while Ross started indie club night, Transmission). They say they’re always looking for ways to give back to musos cutting their teeth in SA’s industry – whether it’s booking bands in support slots or hosting grassroots gigs.
Across Five Four’s decade-and-a-bit journey, there’s been a lot of risk, luck and resilience. But Craig’s final words tap into the company’s overarching philosophy: “You’ve just got to take your wins with your losses,” he says. “It’s more a game of survival than it is a game of success. Keep showing up, keep trying and don’t pigeonhole yourself. There were dark periods where it was like ‘maybe we should stop doing this?’ For whatever reason, we kept going. That’s the best piece of advice anyone can give someone in the industry: just don’t give up.”
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