Sophie Kirov, on being Flume’s Tour Manager

In 2011 under the moniker Flume, Harley Streten received mild triple j Unearthed success with his tracks Possum and Sleepless. In just five years Flume has gone from a restaurant waiter refreshing his SoundCloud profile to monitor the creeping streams, to a multi Platinum-selling chart success, spearheading an international resurgence of Australian music.

While electronic music producers are reaching their own career peaks every day from behind laptops, it takes a particularly tireless lifer to take online growth and translate it into ticket sales. Flume has done just that with the help of Sydney label Future Classic and its Touring Logistics Manager Sophie Kirov.

Kirov is a force of nature on the road. A typical day includes coordinating publicity, flights and venue load ins, liaising with venues, production houses, transport rental companies, caterers and hotels, driving at all hours, and, at times, physically helping the crew load heavy road cases.

“At a younger age I saw the apparent glamorous side of it but once you actually get in there…” Kirov pauses. “It’s not what I thought it was going to be.”

Her work with Flume since 2013 speaks for itself. His first-ever national headline tour that year (the Infinity Prism Tour), raised the bar for bedroom producers. The multi-screen visuals took cues from liquid, metal, and crystal structures and took three months to design and build. Flume’s show picked up the Best Live Act trophy at the 2013 InTheMix Awards and following showcases at SXSW, Flume was dubbed one of Fuse TV’s 30 ‘Must-See Acts’ at the festival.

Since then, Flume has played festival juggernauts like Lollapalooza and Coachella (which he’s booked to play again in April), won four ARIA Awards, including Best Male Artist, and toured the US five times in the year alone.

Along for the late nights and hours spent in hotel rooms and airports, Kirov entered the live sector because of her unyielding, and perhaps unsated fascination with music (Kirov herself isn’t musically-inclined). “[…] I still wanted to be part of putting on something that creates experiences,” she says. “That was quite fascinating to be a contributing factor to that.”

Kirov’s ceaseless work ethic inspired Future Classic to put her in charge of Touring Operations in November 2014. Prior to that, Kirov had her own company and was contracted out to different acts and promoters, working with artists such as Flight Facilities, The Cat Empire, Kimbra, Art Vs Science and Nina Las Vegas, and events such as Stereosonic.

Kirov says a large part of her job is to create a sense of normalcy for Flume. In fact, a cursory glance at his rider of champagne, sandwiches, dips and vegetables suggests a more subdued post-show agenda than some of his contemporaries.

“For the kind of energy that you have to put into touring, [partying is] just not sustainable,” Kirov explains. “You’re going to bed really late, you’re waking up really early, you’re moving to another city… airports, hotels, planes, more airports. It’s a lot easier if you’re a bit smarter about it.

“[…] You see so many artists who you think live this wild life, and then you actually get to know them and they don’t actually drink, or they haven’t actually drunk in ten years,” she adds.

Surprisingly, despite Flume’s agile live show, he has an on-road crew of just four people. For his Infinity Prism Tour the crew’s Production Manager was also the Lighting Director. “He kind of wore about four different hats and I was setting up the stage,” laughs Kirov. “It was a little DIY.”

Indeed Kirov and Flume’s relationship with travelling has changed since the Infinity Prism Tour, but it’s also been made easier by travel management companyThe Appointment Group(TAG). With their specialist music travel division, TAG Global Touring, the team of dedicated tour specialists works closely with artist management teams out of its offices in Sydney, Melbourne, London, Manchester, New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles and most recentlySingapore. This means that when Kirov needs make or change travel plans on tour, TAG has an on-ground team to respond at any time, day or night.

“The biggest advantage is there’s an emergency line, especially because a lot of the changes that do happen are out of the standard 9 to 5,” Kirov says. “It’s an amazing service to have. Otherwise you’re sitting on the phone to Qantas at eleven o’clock at night – it’s just not viable.”

Kirov found TAG particularly useful in June last year when the volcanic ash hovering over Indonesia meant electronic producer duo Flight Facilities weren’t able to fly out of Bali. The Future Classic signing were in the country to perform Sunny Side Up festivalat the famous Potato Head Beach Club.

“We were quite stuck and the notifications that I was getting through from TAG were actually more up to date than what was actually coming out of Bali Airport,” notes Kirov.

In 2016, as Flume readies the release of sophomore record Skin, there are plans to take his live production to new heights. His label are tight-lipped on the plans and logistics, as well as the release date for the album, but the new show will be presented at the seven Laneway Festival shows. They kick off in Singapore on January 30, before Auckland and its Australian run, which ends on February 14 in Fremantle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su9tda5VZDENaturally, Kirov will be leading the moderniser on his rhythmic adventures on both sides of the Pacific. As his workload increases, so does hers – albeit in a rather different way. Her occupation may place her as one of the most envied figures in the local industry, but it should be noted that her reason for being the first one up and last one to bed is crucial. When discussing her allegiance to touring Kirov says sweetly: “You do have those shows where you feel like you’ve been part of creating a memory for someone, and potentially have for years and years to come.”