A decade ago, Sammie Walsh nee Anschau started a new boutique music PR company called beehive.
Launched as an avenue for indie musicians to engage with the Australian music media landscape in a meaningful way, and with Sammie originally running the company solo before recruiting team members and expanding to include offices in Melbourne and Sydney, heartfelt love for the craft was at the centre of every beehive project and campaign.
Now celebrating beehive's 10th anniversary, Sammie has grown the company to now incorporate the worlds of sport and comedy alongside a range of music genres.
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, South Summit, The VANNS, Dulcie, Eliza & The Delusionals, Yawdoesitall, Late 90s, Puree, The Tullarmarines, Greta Stanley and Evie Irie are some of the artists beehive have assisted in their formative steps.
Beehive has also represented established artists including Ziggy Alberts, Hollow Coves, Jet, Kisschasy, The Amity Affliction, Sam Fischer and more. While they've also curated album release and/ or tour campaigns for international names like Duran Duran, TLC, Matt Maltese, Frank Turner, Anberlin, George Clinton, Yellowcard and Wunderhorse.
Time flies when you're having fun; and that's the vibe of Sammie as we have a natter over Zoom. Some folk are warm and genuine, and not just because they're wearing a cozy knit jumper fit for the drizzle Sydney has seen for the last few months.
This is Sammie. A down to earth gem working in one of the most understated parts of our industry. Publicity. Before we get into it, we chat about Australian's music scene in general.
The hubs that have built a sound and also a community; she tells me Perth is the dark horse of them all. "It's just like, there's something in the water in Perth with the music that comes out of there. It's like, phenomenal; and they're so tight knit and close over there, they really show up for their mates, and I mean, amazing bands come out of that."
It speaks to the essence of what beehive is all about really, supporting each other in this musical landscape. It can get messy, and in truth, it's hard to be real when a lot of the evolution that comes with an artist is building upon that network.
Tapping into that honestly and with transparency is probably why beehive is notorious with bands wanting to work with Sammie and her team. So, how did it start? Opportunity knocked.
"I really genuinely love it. I love the wins. I love when you're with a band from the start, over years. Like, we've been with them from their very first triple j spin, all the way to feature album, Like A Version and Glastonbury.
"It's so special to be a part of it, a small part of it, but just to watch them grow, grow with them. You feel their wins. I feel like what we do genuinely makes a difference, and that makes me really happy."
So, as you can read from the above quote from our chat, there's a love here that you don't get out of the tin. As for the opportunity that knocked, Sammie got into it as a segue from working at Mushroom Group.
Why not do some PR for the bands, you've done it before, you're good. You know the spiel. Then you blink and it's been a decade. How does that happen again? "Opportunity knocked and I just took it, and I was grateful that it grew from there, and it became pretty clear that people really needed transparency with PR.
"Clients getting frustrated with the system, so we decided that our point of difference was that we were just going to over-communicate everything."
Sammie Walsh nee Anschau
My inquisitive face gave a look at this point, and I wanted to know how exactly do you do that and still win with that approach. "No matter what, you always had an answer. You always know where you stood. We were always available.
"This is a tricky game, right? Like you can't always get the wins you think someone deserves. They need to know you've hustled hard for them." That hive mentality hits the mark, this work ethic is integral to this model and any movement of a band making traction.
Building upon that starts with building the team. Sammie cuts right to it on knowing when to pass the baton onto a more suitable player. "It's such a small industry where there's so many great players for the right people," she says.
"We all work together all the time and we know, so, you'd actually be a fit over here or over here. It's really important that when you build your team, you build it with the right people, because everyone's right."
She goes on to name drop some of her cohort and the genres of their specialities in such a way I am enamoured. This is supposed to be a focus piece on Sammie and beehive, and yet, she's still sharing the table with her comrades in PR arms.
Why? I think it's within her speech. "If we're not the right team, we might be able to send you to them; and that comes with distributors, agents, labels, promoters, you name it. You should always be working with someone that can build your team around you."
Anyone else wanna join the hive? Me too, and that was my next question; how do you make that decision of who to pass on or play. "We have to be able to listen to a song or see a tour and be like, 'yes we can give you return on that investment'.
"If we don't feel like we deliver, we'd turn down the job. Or if we feel like someone else would be better suited to it, we'll send them that way. We probably turn down around 80 per cent of the inquiries. Maybe it's something for the future – we've had bands that come back and it tracks where you can build on that relationship. That's special."
If honesty is anything to go by these days, then that's all we're looking out for within this little industry we get to call the music scene. You come across a lot of characters, obviously, but the messaging sometimes gets mixed up in the delivery. No sense of that here with Sammie, the buzz is loud and clear. Heartfelt love for the work.
To wrap up our conversation, I suggest we rewind and fast forward for a second, her intrigue is now piqued. "Uh, oh."
So, if you could return for a minute and tell yourself something back then along the timeline, what would it be? "I would steal the great advice from Mel Robbins, like what if it all works out. I think it's always good just to take the risk and like just think, 'what if it all works out?'." Checks notes, it works out Sammie.
For the future post-it that's at your desk as a forgotten anecdote to keep when you've just found your next favourite band? "Fast forward, ten years goes by so quickly, don't forget to take a beat." That last line admittedly gave me chills.
It's humans like Sammie that make the scene buzz for bands you wished you'd heard ten years ago, but boy, aren't you glad you found them now. The lens often focuses in on the music and the artists, but zoom out a little. There's a whole hive out there we should give a nod to. Here's nodding at you, Sammie.
