Graham 'Scrooge' Madigan

As part of our commitment to capturing and sharing great Australian music stories, the Australian Music Vault asked some of the country’s most influential trailblazers and unsung heroes to open up about their lives in music.

Graham 'Scrooge' Madigan is of one of Australia’s most high profile roadies and road managers having worked in Australia and internationally with artists such as Daddy Cool, Little River Band, Billy Joel and Deep Purple. Scrooge grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick and left school aged 14 to get a job to help support the family. Scrooge was there at the birth of the term ‘briefcase roadie’ and was pivotal in introducing a new way of working for road crews across the country.

In this interview, Scrooge speaks to Brian Nankervis about his early musical experiences including seeing Normie Rowe and Bobby and Laurie performing at Melbourne nightspot The Purple Eye; quitting his job in a travel agency to pursue a career as a roadie for Daddy Cool, and the lightbulb moment when he realized that there was ‘life after roadie’. He shares the unpredictable nature of life behind-the-scenes (including the time that Queen’s Freddie Mercury knocked out a roadie with a flying tambourine at the 1974 Sunbury Festival) while also reflecting on the emotional and physical toll of insecure employment, relentless travel, late nights and substance abuse.

Interviewer: Brian Nankervis

Location: Melbourne Room, Arts Centre Melbourne, 2017