Exclusive: Shock Records has lost another Label Director

Shock Records A&R/Label Director Luke Girgis has exited the Melbourne-based independent, TMN can exclusively reveal.

Speaking toTMN, Girgis saidhe received ajoint venture opportunity for a music company, which he can’t disclose details on yet.

“I can’t say too much yet, but we are starting a music company which will have multiple branches working on some exciting ventures in a number of fields,” he said. “At the moment, nothing is out of the question.”

Girgis’ interim replacement is Shock Records Head of Sales,Simon McLaughlin.

Girgis, a ten-year veteran in label, tour and artist management, took over fromlong-time team member Mick Tarbuk in November. Tarbuk is now Country Manager Australia for global independent digital distributor and label services providerBelieve Digital.

During hisnine months at Shock Girgis built an innovative new business model for itsmusic department. “We were aiming to implement [the model] in the second half of 2016,” he said. “I hope the label still moves forward with the plan!”

Girgis founded his marketing and management company Be Like Children in 2006; it currently manages pop rock Little Sea and world-renowned YouTube tech vloggerSimone Giertz. It’s also the parent company to I Forget, Sorry!, the label management, promotions and publicity arm formed by Girgis and hip hop artists Chance Waters and Mind Over Matter.

“We are working hard on the new Little Sea release, releasing Cut It Out completely independently produced by Red Triangle (The Vamps, One Direction) and Fiona Beavan (Ed Sheeran, 5 Seconds of Summer),” he said.

“Simone Giertz has some very large scale creative projects in the works with a big multi national studio,” he added. “It’s keeping me up at all hours of the night but Iwouldn’t have it any other way.”

Girgis is the third head of Shock Records to depart in three-and-a-half years. Prior to Mick Tarbuk’s almost two-year reign heading up Shock Records, Craig May ended an 11-month tenure with the label in January 2014. May relocated to the UK and is now Marketing Director, UK & Europe at Red Bull Records.

Shock looks after more than 20 local and international labels, including Rabble Records, Razor & Tie, Distort and Earache Records. Among the artists on its roster are international acts Kitty, Daisy & Lewis, Fatboy Slim and Sonder, along with local acts Ocean Grove, Awaken I Am and Harts.

More than that though, its staff alumni are renowned for making impactful contributions to the local music industry. Its ex-Label Manager Stu Harvey and ex-General Manager Leigh Gruppetta have been running Cooking Vinyl Australia since 2013; ex-Label Manager Maya Janeska is making waves for heavy music in Australia at UNFD; Genna Alexopoulos (ex-National PR & Publicity Manager) runs PR company Super Duper and Rebecca Reato (ex-Media Manager) and Emily Kelly (ex-National Media & Publicity Manager) own Deathproof PR, which includes Frontier Touring, Universal and Live Nation on its client list.