A New Life: For a former chef, managing a band is like a dream come true, writes Conor Pope
It's funny how things turn out sometimes. When Bernie Gillespie left school in Donegal in the mid 1990s her heart was set on a career in the music industry and she had a place on a music management course in Dublin.
A year later, disillusioned and convinced by a steady stream of guest lecturers - albeit unwittingly - that she didn't have what it took to make it in the rough and tumble of rock and roll, she dropped out.
Now, a decade on, after lengthy spells as a chef in two Dublin restaurants and a third in Donegal, she finds herself doing exactly what she wanted to do as a teenager, having taken the scenic route to fulfilling her ambition.
When she dropped out of college, Gillespie didn't wait long before starting work as a chef. She had worked in hotel kitchens during her school holidays and had enjoyed the experience. "I always loved cooking and I knew I was good at it," she says, not forgetting to mention that the "money was pretty good too". She worked in restaurants in Dublin, including a spell in Bewleys, before moving home following the birth of her child, Nathan, five years ago.
In 2001 she had an epiphany of sorts. The Revs, then being feted as Ireland's next big thing, came to town and she was "blown away". Rather than adopting a star struck approach after the gig, she boldly approached the band and berated them for their failure to promote the poorly attended concert. "They said: 'well if you feel you could do better, give it a go'." So she did.
She joined Treasure Island Records, the small independent record label that signed the band, and started working as a gofer.
"I was responsible for handling press, booking shows, acting as tour manager, doing all the day-to-day stuff."
With two top five albums and a handful of top 20 singles in Ireland, things were looking bright for the Revs, she says. "But at the same time they had reached a point where while they were doing very well in Ireland, they weren't really making tracks elsewhere."
It is, she says, "very hard to break out when you're signed to a small label," and so dismayed were the band by the lack of international attention, they left Treasure Island in October 2003 and asked Gillespie to go with them. She didn't think twice.
Managing a successful band, one hailed at every turn, must be one of the easiest jobs in the world. Managing a low profile band with no record deal and a fan-base with a short attention span requires considerably thicker skin. Gillespie relished the challenge.
"There was a lot of goodwill out there and people were willing to help but at the same time at the start it was very hard. I'm actually really sensitive, I'm just a girl!" .
Although managing the band takes up a huge amount of time - even more than the long hours she was used to spending slaving over a hot stove - it doesn't faze her as she's essentially her own boss.
This status allows her make Nathan, now five years old, her number one priority. "I can take him, my laptop and my phone to the park and work from there. And he loves the excitement of being close to the band. I brought him to a photo shoot a few weeks ago and gave him a camera and he thought he was running the show. I don't have to go on the road and I'm not out at gigs every night."
Given that working as a chef is notoriously stressful, the more laid-back approach in the music business must be a relief?
"No, it's more stressful. I learned how to deal with stress as a chef. When you're serving up food you have to make sure it looks good and tastes good under great pressure. In a way this is similar."
Although once more on the cusp, the Revs have yet to make the breakthrough that seemed inevitable three years ago. Despite the long hours and the small cheques, however, she doesn't find it hard to stay motivated.
"We manage, basically. I give myself small targets every day when you achieve one target it gives you the momentum to move on and achieve something else and that's the way I work."
Right now, things are pretty frantic and Gillespie's main concern is getting word out about the Rev's eponymously titled new album due out in October. She has to organise the press, book radio shows and look after the band's schedule.
Making sure they know what they have to do each day "is sometimes the hardest thing," she says.
She is a realist and knows that it all might fall apart. "If this doesn't work, I'll pick myself up and try again. But I have great faith in the band, they're fantastic musicians and very talented. And the new album is really good."