As the subtitle states, Harvey Lee’s new book Backstage Pass is 50% Rock & Roll, 50% Business, yet it’s so much more. Part music memoir, part inspirational business manual, this book is a wild ride that takes us from the analogue age to the highest peaks of the tech world, while rocking along to the catchy beat of AC/DC. Backstage Pass is a book that reads like a heavy metal album; it’s a fast-paced, dynamic and rumbustious read, and one you won’t want to end.
Harvey’s early life will be familiar to many readers of The Midland’s Rocks; and what his prose does so well is give a real flavour of the times. Although the 1980s have been retrospectively airbrushed with neon pinks and blues, reality was far greyer and Backstage Pass sets the scene with disastrous schooling (including corporal punishment; how strange that seems now) and a future that promised a series of dead-end jobs. Like many of us, Harvey coloured his world with heavy metal (most notably a love of AC/DC), and it proved his ultimate saviour. Despite a faltering start to life, Harvey had a never say die attitude along with a tenaciousness that saw him through many difficult situations. There’s an interesting duality that weaves the narrative of the book’s first half, a tension between the often childish world of rock and roll, and the more regimented sphere of work, and Harvey’s secret was inhabiting the space between; sure he partied hard, but he worked hard too. In fact, there was a third component to his success; be flexible (such as working for Herman’s Hermits and stepping up at last moment as replacement bassist) and it was an openness to opportunity that furnished him with the skills that took him from rainy Manchester to the sun-kissed skies of America.
My only (minor) complaint with the first half of this book is that Harvey only skims the surface of his rock and roll exploits. While he paints a vivid picture of dodgy vans and cheap motels, you get the feeling that there are many more exploits still to be told. However, as you’d expect from a life fully lived, there’s a lot to pack into these pages so we can excuse him skimming the surface. On the flip side this means that the book flows exceptionally well, Harvey doesn’t get bogged down in detail and that renders Backstage Pass a very readable book. With wry observations and a neat turn of phrase, the reader is taken on a thrilling journey through the heady highs and despairing lows of Harvey’s life. The lively text that comprises most of this book is tempered by the Key Lessons that conclude every chapter. Nuggets of information learned the hard way that will serve you well in business and life, these Key Lessons are presented in a more prosaic prose and act as punctuation to partition the book.
From witnessing AC/DC on stage at Manchester’s Apollo Arena, to treading those very boards himself, before swapping guitar cables for PowerPoint tables, Harvey Lee has lived against the odds and is here to tell the tale. In truth, this is the type of book I wished I’d read 30 years ago, but as Harvey implies; it’s never too late to get your Backstage Pass.
- Backstage Pass: 50% Rock & Roll, 50% Business, 100% True is released via Definition Books on 14th February 2024 and is available here.
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