Steve Forde

Can’t say that I am a fan at all of Steve Forde (Formerly of Steve Ford and the Flange). Yet despite, (or because of,) my lack of support, Steve is now an up and coming Australian Country Music Star. However that wasn’t always so and he had to work very hard at it, even to financing his own early recordings. He's since gone on now to become one of Australia's leading live acts and is among the most recognised personalities on the Country Music Channel here in oz. He's also helped establish a number of festivals and has been acknowledged for introducing a younger demographic of fans to country music, according to some in the industry.

That’s now. However, when Steve started out, everyone in the business shut the door on him, so he went out and created a career on his own. He financed his own albums, wrote his own songs and even started building his own stages to perform on - stages which other leading acts now also use.

I saw an excerpt on TV of how he designed his own Touring Bus complete with an Hydraulic stage, making touring and performing just that so much easier to do, with only himself in mind, to make things easier for a one man band situation. As such it was an innovation and an innovation that others also wanted access to because of its success and ease.

So much so that other artists started asking if they could hire his Bus for themselves.

What would you do if that happened to you? Tell them where to go, or hire it out to them?

Well Steve took a lateral take on the last option. He hired it out to other artists, complete with a free opening act. Himself.

So everyone who hired his bus and portable stage, hired Steve too as their opening act, and thus gave him far greater exposure than he would have got otherwise. Steve used some lateral thinking and benefited from it as well as helping others.

What about you, do you too make every chance a winner? Or do you try and keep the best to yourself, without being able to fully exploit it for your own benifit as well as others.

I may not admire Steve’s music abilities but I admire and champion his initiative in making every point a winner, when and where he can. Again can the same be said about you and me? If not, why not? And what are we going to do about it? Over to you! Walter