Still Rockin' It - Cheryl Lee
Still Rockin' It - Cheryl Lee
What have the Manov Family been up to lately? OR Will there be a Country music and Rock music war on the high seas?
Join Cheryl Lee - That Radio Chick on STILL ROCKIN' IT for news, reviews, music and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians.
Today we share a recent chat with live music champions, in particular Australian music champions, in particular South Australian music champions Mick and Caitlin Manov from Choose Your Cruise.
Since their maiden voyage in 2010, they have hosted over 1,000 artists and bands on board various music festivals at sea. Many of these artists return to perform on multiple cruises ranging from Rock, Country, Disco, Motown, Opera and the Performing Arts.
We hear about the fledgling beginnings of this award winning company that has gone from strength to strength and is doing SA proud on the international stage (see what I did there!?).
Includes Songs:
Elvis - Blue Suede Shoes
Suzi Quatro - Devil Gate Drive
Cold Chisel - Khe Sanh
Dino Jag - You Make Me Feel So Good
Lee Kernaghan - Boys from The Bush
What are The Manovs up to at the moment?
Let's find out .....
Get out when you can, support local music and I'll see you down the front!!
Visit: ThatRadioChick.com.au
That Radio Cheek, cheryl Lee, here with you. Welcome to the Still Rocking Podcast where we'll have news, reviews and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians and artists. The music industry in particular was hit very hard by COVID, as were many industries, but entertainers and associated industries lighting guys, sound technicians, roadies, promoters have all suffered during the pandemic. Live music is back and today I speak to members of the Manov family from Choose your Cruise, entertaining Australians on the high seas. Proud South Australian family business. What have the Manoffs been up to lately? Let's find out. You're with Shirley, that radio chick, and I'd like to welcome to the Crabtree Studios well, the king and queen of cruisers, mick and Elaine Manoff. Mick is here today and the princess of cruising, their beautiful daughter Caitlin. Welcome you guys. Thank you.
Speaker 2:Pleasure to be here, absolutely.
Speaker 1:It's lovely to have you with us because all industries have been hit, of course, but our entertainment industry has been really, really knocked around the last few years with COVID and, of course, music cruises didn't escape that either. So it's been a tough two years. I imagine We've got some really exciting news about this year's cruise, but what I thought would do first if you don't mind, because of course you guys are from Adelaide, which is wonderful. Such an amazing annual event, you would think would be run by some big Sydney conglomerate, but no, it was born and bred and raised here in Adelaide. So I'd like to know how did it all start?
Speaker 2:Whoa, it was amazing. Obviously I was involved in the music industry in South Australia for about 30 or 40 years before this arrived. I've got a company called PM Sound that used to do production work around all the pubs and clubs around Adelaide and PM Sound had a manufacturing plant where I designed a lot of big concert production systems and manufactured them for around Australia. So that was the beginning of my life in the music industry.
Speaker 2:When you get involved in the music industry supplying production and dealing with a lot of different type of people, you do different type of shows and one of the things I did in the late 90s was the what's called the techno shows. We did that in one of the events. We used to charter one of the small ships from glenelda, used to go to kangaroo island and used to take about four or five hundred people. So we'll charter the ship, take four hundred people out for the four or five hours out of glenel and then come back and one hell of a musical event on board the ship. So that was one of the things I did.
Speaker 1:So, like a lot of these wonderful ideas, they started off small and they just organically grew from that.
Speaker 2:Funny to say, though, that was in the back burner. I never had the idea of doing chartering, cruise ships and all that. But myself, my wife and my kids. We loved cruising. We used to go cruising all the time, and one day at work, my second son, dylan, was there just chatting with one of the people that happened to be a cruise director for Royal Caribbean, and he said to him oh, don't tell my father that you are a cruise director, you'll never go home, you'll talk about cruise ships for the rest of your life, because I love cruise ships. And he said the way they're going on cruises, they must buy a ship soon or charter one. So as soon as he said charter, I was like whoa, I think I can do this. And for two weeks I couldn't sleep just working out how and all the logistics, because chartering a ship is not like renting a car no, it's not like getting an uber, is it?
Speaker 2:so it's. It takes a lot of logistics behind it you have to organize legally and stuff like that so it took about eight months but eventually got the green light for our first charter, which was Blue Suede Cruise in 2010 and that was a 1560s rock and roll. It was successful, sold out within two months. There was 18 months before we sell and the success was written. From then on, we just kept on creating new brands.
Speaker 2:What people want? Rock the boat that come up after Blue Suede Cruise, which is rock and roll music, and then rock music, and there's full-on party music, then Cruise, which is rock and roll music, and then rock music, and then it's full-on party music. Then Cruising Country, which is country music. Then we did Bravo, which is a cruise of performing arts, and another brand that we do is Cruising Groove, which is anything from disco, motown or if we've got some artists that's given to us, like we did Cruising Groove with John Farnham, and that was obviously sold out within weeks. To answer your question, yeah, it was unusual the way it came up, but if you ask us, yes, we are proud to be Adelaide. Yeah, and we are asked a lot when we go around the world dealing with some of the people who are involved in in the higher ranks in the music or in the cruising industry and say you're from Adelaide Really? And we just got this big smile and said yes, we are, and we love it. Yeah, love it.
Speaker 1:Still rocking that podcast with that radio chick, cheryl Lee. I think we should have a song now. How about Elvis' Blue Suede Shoes in honour of the very first cruise Blue Suede Cruise? About Elvis's blue suede shoes in honour of the very first cruise blue suede cruise. And if you are a music fan or if you are a cruising fan, you'll want to listen to more of the story of this great South Australian company after this song. Well, it's one for the money, two for the show three to get it ready.
Speaker 1:Now go cat go, but don't you step on my blue suede shoe.
Speaker 2:Cartman can explain to you some of our awards that we achieved.
Speaker 1:That would be great. So you've been going for 12 years, although the last couple have been a bit stalled, but a good 10 years and you have won some amazing accolades.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. We were so fortunate to be awarded, with Royal Caribbean's Charter, partner of the Decade, and that's something that's never happened to any other Australian business and we're so, so proud of that. And now we're rooting for it two decades in a row. Fingers crossed another six or seven years and hopefully we'll take the title again. But that was just incredible and, like Mick said, it all came from just a small little idea from the back of his warehouse when he was doing his production company, and the idea of, you know, hiring out a cruise or putting on a music festival at that time was just a little idea. And now it's turned into this wonderful family run business too, which is something that we're all so proud of. You know, we all get to work together and kind of make all of our dreams come true together and it's just, it's a really wonderful thing and we're really proud of it.
Speaker 1:And how many of the family members.
Speaker 3:Wow. So it's just, it's getting. You've got me and my wife. Yes, Mick and Elaine, so the titles are obviously me and my wife yes.
Speaker 2:Mick and Elaine, so the titles are obviously me and my wife, the CEO of the company. We've got another business partner, mario Sells. He is from Artist Network in Sydney and following up from that, then we've got Caitlin Manoff, which is my daughter. She's the project manager. Then we've got Dylan Manoff, who is the marketing manager, then we've got Chloe Manoff, his wife, then we've got Damien Manoff, who is the marketing manager, then we've got Chloe Manoff, his wife, then we've got Damian Manoff, who does the production stuff, then he and his wife, angela Manoff, and then we've only got one more person, which is our financial controller, susan. So yeah, Susan.
Speaker 2:Manoff, yeah, no we'll be trying.
Speaker 3:She might need to change her name she. She's got the hamlet you could adopt her.
Speaker 1:I love that. That is wonderful.
Speaker 2:The good thing about having a family business is, if we have to work hard, there's no knocking off time. We just finish the jobs and we do it and we get along well and we get all the perks of travelling and to be on board the ship and run the whole ship. It's a big task, but every one of them they're so good at it now and I just look back and I'm going they're getting better than me.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna get kicked out soon you must look back at the 10 12 years with such pride, because there has been some absolutely amazing talent over those years. Since your maiden voyage in 2010, you've hosted over a thousand artists that alone is incredible and bands on board with the various musical festivals at sea yeah so I think if they haven't performed on one of your cruises, well, they're not anybody, are they?
Speaker 1:you've had everybody, literally an a to z, here. We haven't got time in this interview to tell you all the amazing talent that these guys have had on their ships Uncanny X-Men, angry Anderson, baby Animals, boney M Clearway, it goes all the way through John Stevens, jimmy Barnes, john Paul Young, all the Js Ks, ross Wilson, swanee, susie Q, right to Zed the Zed boys. It's an incredible list of talent. Pop onto the Facebook page and have a look. Still rocking the podcast with that radio chick, cheryl Lee, going to play Susie Quatro's Devil Gate Drive. Now Music Cruisers are back and she will be headlining the Rock the Boat half of the Supercruiser that we'll hear about in a little while from fabulous South Australian business success story, mick and Elaine Manoff. We're talking to Mick and his beautiful daughter, caitlin. Hey, y'all want to go down a double gate drive? Yeah, rock your boat. How scary was it organising that very first one With organising all of this talent we didn't have. We were excited. Not scary, we were excited, we were very positive, obviously.
Speaker 2:You invest in large amounts of dollars. So you're not talking thousands, you're talking millions. So, yes, you know, obviously you've got some sleepless nights, but when you see the numbers Creeping up thousands, you're talking millions. Yes, you know, obviously you've got some sleepless nights, but when you see the numbers creeping up and then you're saying, oh, this is going to be fun. But the other thing I was going to add to all the entertainers that we do get on board, we always believe that we are South Australian or Adelaide companies.
Speaker 2:So our biggest looking forward of booking artists, we're always trying to bring or introduce our mainstream Homegrown talent Homegrown talent and we have introduced a lot of bands that as soon as they've got on the ship, they've spoke to the right people, they've opened some door work and all of a sudden they've got to step up their steps a lot quicker than what they used to. So that's giving us a big satisfaction that we can do something for these people, and it's not about being successful. It's about creating this family of musicians that love to perform for us and we love to have them, to give them a kick start in their career.
Speaker 1:I did actually notice and we've done a lot, you know, yeah, that you had a lot of South Australian bands on the bill Clearway and the Zet Boys that I've already mentioned, but Dino Jag also, and UK Blitz.
Speaker 2:Definitely who else. There's New Romantics.
Speaker 3:Yes. Oh God, oh, there's been a huge list, like Nick said, we always try and uplift as many South Australian artists as possible because we are a South Australian-based company.
Speaker 3:I love that yeah it's something that's been really important to us throughout the years to be able to bring in as much South Australian talent as possible and to uplift them and give them that world stage where they get to perform on an international cruise where you know the headliners could be anywhere from jimmy barnes to suzy quattro or the angels or foreigner. You know, yes, um status quo as well, so all of these bands might not normally have the opportunity to be able to perform on a lineup like that. So it's something we're really proud of and we'll continue to do that too, even into 2023 and onwards. We're really excited for some of the bands that we're looking at booking in the next year. Now that we're clawing back after COVID, let's pretend like those two years never happened.
Speaker 1:Yes, let's ignore the c word. Yeah, it's onward and upward from here. You know I have been on a rock the boat. You know, being a South Australian girl of my era, you know you have to be a Jimmy Barnes or a Cold Chisel fan. So I went in 2015 when you had Barnsey headlining oh great, yep. And Swanee his big brother, was there and I just absolutely loved it. I did not want to get off the boat, I just wanted it to go on forever and I'd go every year if I won the lottery. I just love it because any time of the day or night, you can go to any of the levels, any of the bars, and just see fabulous music. You do an amazing job.
Speaker 2:It's not about the music too? You see all the artists just walk around and having a drink together.
Speaker 2:Like a big family, isn't it? That's what we're trying to do is have the passengers meet the artists, but don't be into their face, so they can be comfortable to walk around, and after the first couple of days, all the artists just walk around, have a drink with everybody and talk about anything and everything, and it's an amazing feeling, and the passengers too. It's like the annual event. They can't wait until they get together in November or October or whatever the case is.
Speaker 2:So they can have their normal fix with music but enjoy their company and all that.
Speaker 1:It is. I have noticed that because, of course, since 2015, I've had friends who attend regularly that I get very jealous and very envious of, and watch all their posts on social media wishing that I was with them. But you do get many, many repeat customers, don't you, that are just loyal and go whenever they can. And you're right, great friendships were formed that we still have today.
Speaker 3:I mean, you're swimming in the pool with brian cad and having a cocktail with russell morris or ross wilson or having a red viamond glen yeah, I think the great thing about our cruises which is so different to if you were to go to a concert or a you know two, three day music festival is because you are on a cruise ship. It's large enough to be comfortable and to not feel like you're closed in. You know there's plenty of little nooks and crannies that you can go to for a bit of quiet space. But on a cruise like Rock the Boat why would you want that? That's right. But it's the overall atmosphere and it's that whole sense of belonging when you walk onto the ship and you know that even if you don't know anybody on this ship, everybody has a common sense and that is their love of music and I think that that's very important and something that we absolutely love seeing.
Speaker 3:That's one of my favorite things to see when it finally comes to boarding day, and everybody's getting on the ship no one knows where anything is, but it's okay, they'll figure it out.
Speaker 3:eventually, just as long as there's a bar and there's a band playing, everyone's good and it's a beautiful thing and and, like you said, you meet people on board that you end up being in touch with for years. And then we've had so many clients in the past that might've come on board with their partner or their husband or wife and then, further down the track, they end up being part of a group of 10 or 15 couples that all travel together and that becomes their annual holiday and it's just beautiful.
Speaker 1:we love that so much still rocking that podcast with that radio chick, cheryl lee. We're going to play a song mixed choice. Now k-san the legendary jimmy barnes out the front of cold chisel, bringing back wonderful memories of the year that I went on the rock the boat.
Speaker 2:One of the things that running a company like we do and it's very stressful and the work is humongous to plot everything and run everything I can imagine.
Speaker 2:Because once we leave Circular Quay we can't go back and pick up if we've got something or anything that breaks down. We bring all our production, we bring all our crew and spares. All that is done. But towards the end of the cruise you get a lot of people come around and say one of the best things I'll love to hear is you have got my life back again. I'm alive again, because this is something that I could never dream. I will do that again and saying that they come back and they start going out to all these different venues. We'll go and check up a band or artists and you look around it's about 20 or 30% of the people in there are from their cruises and you're saying oh, isn't that nice that you're doing something for people which they're saying they didn't have a life before. Now they have. They've realised that music was their life before in going out but there's nowhere to go. But now they've found I can't go somewhere.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they get a little bit of a taste.
Speaker 2:You know Ben will be playing or I'll just be playing and they'll come around. I saw you in the cruise.
Speaker 3:That's right.
Speaker 2:It's amazing, you know, and that's the good part about running a company you get this good vibe back and thanking us to putting something together for them, because it is a hard job to put it together.
Speaker 3:I bet it's a labour of love.
Speaker 1:That's just beautiful and it's true. You know, we we used to go to bands when we were younger. Then we've spent 24 years raising children, running businesses and just being busy surviving and living, and then maybe they get a little bit of independence. When the children get older, they go on this cruise. They're reminded that music is just the fabric of our life and if it gets them back out seeing UK Blitz and Clearway and Geno Jag and reintroducing them to their love of music, it's just an added bonus, isn't it in what you do?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's really special and, I think, also something that a lot of clients that might not have necessarily thought of going on a cruise prior to. You know a lot of the time it is the music that brings them on board to. You know, it's a lot of the time it is the music that brings them on board, or they're. You know people that have cruised prior and thought I'll give it a punt on a music cruise and they end up loving it too. But I think as a as a music fan going on into one of our cruises as well.
Speaker 3:You know we use Royal Caribbean ships, so the standard of the service and the food and everything that comes with it is just impeccable. So you know that you're gonna go on board a cruise for seven days, all your food's gonna be cooked for you, all your drinks are sorted, your room gets made up. Every day. You don't have to worry about anything. No washing up, no washing up. Your biggest questions each day is which venues am I going to and who am I seeing each day, and that's half the fun of it.
Speaker 2:Bravo was one of them. Bravo is a cruise of performing arts, as you know, and a lot of the clientele and passengers that get on board are a lot older than the normal music cruises that we do. But it wasn't just one, it was quite a few of the people who would come around to us and say you know, today I saw enough entertainment that I did for the last three years in one day. Because by the time they go to the opera house park, get something to eat, get in there, see the two-hour show, come back. That's a 10-hour journey for most of those people and that's the sort of thing that happens with all the crews. You don't have to get in the car, drive somewhere, park and where do I?
Speaker 1:eat. You don't have a breathalyser. Where do I eat? On the way home?
Speaker 2:You party and if you get a little bit over-toxic, you go and have a nap and you come back and you start again. But I don't know. I mean, I can say one thing.
Speaker 3:You don't stay drunk. You never get drunk. That's like how calories don't exist when you're in the middle of the ocean.
Speaker 1:I don't use sugar on board the ship when I cook other so it's been a wonderful history of the last 10 12 years, but you have got something extra exciting this year, set to make up for the last couple.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's something that we're very, very excited about. I think if there could be anything good that could have come over the last two years was in 2020, we had three cruises scheduled to sail out of Brisbane and out of Sydney, and then, unfortunately, march 2020 hit and our lives got turned upside down. We were forced to reschedule or postpone our cruises, with no real end in sight of when we actually would be able to sail, and the ships that we've used in the past being the Radiance of the Seas and the Rhapsody of the Seas beautiful ships. They hold about 2200 passengers at a time, and that has been what we have called home for the last 10 years. And we were actually going to be celebrating 10 years of rock the boat and cruising country in 2020, which was a real shame, but we're just going to postpone that and celebrate it this year.
Speaker 3:But we were given an opportunity with raw caribbean after covid happened, where we could have had the chance to combine both Rock the Boat and Cruising Country onto the one ship and create what is now called Super Cruise, which is where Cruising Country and Rock the Boat are going to be concurrently running at the same time on this massive, beautiful ship.
Speaker 3:It's the Ovation of the Seas and it's a much newer ship. There's so many incredible music venues and so many things to see and do around the ship and we're just so excited. We, we really, really can't wait and I think this is something that has kind of been a bit of a dream for Mick and all of us for quite a few years to level up the size of the ships for our cruises. But it's always been a question of logistically how are we able to, you know, run a cruise like this and being super cruise? But we all put our heads together and made it work and we're really, really excited to see how it will come to be in November. We've been working very hard and planning everything, so we're really, really going to have a comeback like no other.
Speaker 1:I'm sure of it it really is a super cruise, isn't it? It's like the cruise to end all cruises. It's going to be absolutely amazing. Get onto the google, I'm gonna have a look. You'll be like me and just want to get your ticket and be there or be square, I reckon. Still rocking the podcast with that radio chick, cheryl Lee. We spoke earlier about the wonderful South Australian content amongst the artists, so let's listen to one now. Dino Jag, you Make Me Feel so Good. I've never had a girl like you. I imagine, with the amount of organisation that goes into something like this, you've well and truly started planning for 2023. Yes, we have.
Speaker 3:We're in the planning stages now. Can you give us?
Speaker 1:a scoop. You heard it first here. Can you share anything?
Speaker 3:Well, with Super Cruise happening in 2022, we are going back to our roots of having specific cruises, so, unfortunately, we won't be able to have the two cruises on the one ship, so this is really a one-stop shop this year, but next year we are planning 2023's season at the moment and we're really, really excited that we're actually bringing back our original cruise, blue Suede Cruise, for the first time since its first cruise, the inaugural cruise in 2010. In 2023, we're doing Blue Suede Cruise Elvis Meets the Legends, so that will be a 50s and 60s rock and roll extravaganza and 60s rock and roll extravaganza, and it will also feature a huge lineup of Elvis tribute artists and everything from rock to rockabilly to 50s and 60s just everything, you name it. So that will be the first cruise that we'll be announcing in the next couple of weeks, and we also have some exciting announcements that will follow soon after that. So, yeah, it's definitely worth keeping an eye out and, like you said, going on to the choose your cruise facebook page or the website, and that's where we announce all of the cruise information first. So we're really, really looking forward to it and it's it's going to be wonderful and the great thing about our cruises too.
Speaker 3:You know the idea of booking a music cruise, a seven night cruise, it cruise. It's a full-fledged holiday and a lot of the times that the pricing and the idea of booking a holiday so far in advance can be a little bit overwhelming or a bit daunting. But the good thing about our cruises and that's something that we've offered to passengers for a very long time is that we do have time on our side and when we do have 18 months in preparation before the cruise leaves, we have the option that you could pay things off, you know, on a monthly payment plans and it makes it a lot more easier to digest, and by the time that you go on the cruise, it's all paid for and and you're all you need is spending money.
Speaker 1:That's right thank you so much for coming in and having a chat to us today. We're so proud of you guys being an amazing South Australian family knocking the world's socks off in the world of music cruises. We're so, so proud of you, thank you. Having been on one, I can absolutely recommend it. Get onto the Google-o-meter, check it all out and I'll see you down the front.
Speaker 3:See you next year. Thanks for having us.
Speaker 1:Still rocking that podcast with that radio chick, cheryl Lee. We played a Susie Q song earlier. Headliner of the Rock the Boat portion of the Super Cruise. I think we should go out with one of the headliners from the cruising countryside of the Super Cruise. How about Lee Kernighan Boys from the Bush? You're with Cheryl Lee, that radio chick. Thank you so much for joining me on the Still Rocking it podcast. Hope to catch you again next time. Get out when you can support Aussie music and I'll see you down the front.