East West Presents is a local event operations company that have been carving out their own unique niche on the local gig-going landscape for the past three years. Owned and operated by Brad Hinds and his partner Shiloh Perry, they have most recently been involved as a major sponsor for the 2020 Gold Coast Music Awards. They were originally going to be handling the liquor licence and bar on the Awards night, but when it moved to an online event as a result of COVID-19 they remained on board anyway with their sponsorship support.
Chatting recently with Shiloh, she was able to provide a run down of how her and Brad started the company and how they’ve branched off into other areas outside of event operations.
“After working in the music festival scene in Perth for ten years, it was time for a change so three years ago I moved over to the Gold Coast. Rather than work for a company in a nine to five job, my partner Brad Hinds and I started East West Presents. The name is relevant to where we are from – the West Coast and the East Coast.
"Our main mission for the company was event operations, however it has grown into something bigger. We now have our own liquor license, Brad books a few venues on the Gold coast and we help out as much as we can with clients, doing anything from consulting through to full event delivery and operations.”
One of their biggest undertakings is the ‘Best Night Ever’ New Year's Eve event, held last year at Miami Marketta and featuring a bunch of killer garage punk acts such as The Chats, Bad//Dreems, Clowns and Being Jane Lane. Shiloh comments on their ever-burgeoning list of event involvements.
“Best Night Ever is definitely our love project. We love bringing the garage punk rock scene to the Gold Coast and we love looking for local bands to open the event. Everyone has a great time - it does get pretty hectic in the pit but I think that's an aspect of the event which everyone enjoys! Aside from that, East West Presents are also engaged for operations and event delivery for larger events like the Gold Coast Show, Good Things Festival, Festival X, Wildlands and One Love Festival.”
As far as how COVID-19 has impacted their business, Shiloh is pragmatic in regards to the need to tweak their repertoire in order to stay operational.
“Times have definitely changed for the music/festival industry and we are all reinventing ourselves and how music is enjoyed by everyone. We have definitely changed our mindset and are taking on new clients in multiple different roles. We are also focusing on working with more local community events. While at the moment business is quiet, I am definitely chatting with a few promoters on how we can slowly make events happen in Queensland.”
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Keep abreast of what East West Presents are up to here.
