IT’S PHILL WEBB

Welded to Electro-Voice

I vaguely knew Phill at CS Trilogy, an upcoming pro audio rental and retail shop at Enfield in the early 1980s. It became The P.A. People, and look at it now! Phill went on to work for the E.V. distributor and thus started a brand obsession that has led to an unlikely addition to the Webb family home at Menai in Sydney’s ‘southern shire’. 500+ EV microphones spanning the length and breadth of the storied maker’s catalogue.

Why, I ask? I gird myself for a lengthy but informative answer. You see, Phill has an earnest manner that is quite endearing, and a work ethic that makes me dizzy. Weekends mixing all kinds of club acts. Hanging with musicians. Being the straight guy.

I normally like to do these interviews at lunch, fuelled by demon drink, but Phill isn’t a lunch kind of guy. So we chatted on the sidelines of ENTECH NZ where he was supporting the local distributor. These days Phill is the brand specialist for Bosch, the German conglomerate that owns EV and Dynacord. They make damn fine dishwashers too. And security electronics – they were foundation supporters of the roadshow I created for the security industry some years back, called SECTECH. Which I no longer run, because …. that’s a story!

Back in 1973, young Phill aspired to be a guitar legend. He was quickly ordered off stage and delegated or demoted to the mixing console. Eventually in the CS Trilogy hire dept he discovered the firm favoured AKG microphones were inferior to the ‘rubbish’ EV mics. He saw the light and went to see the legendary Ian Johnstone at EV (Sydney) and got the Concert Sound portfolio: Midas, Klark Teknik and EV.

In 2005 the local boss Col Formston (RIP) of what then was Mark IV Audio (the importer) purchased the business. Eventually in 2007 Bosch bought it.

“Bosch is now in the process of selling us, but it’s a big transaction so it’ll take time.”

“I mix gigs on weekends to supplement my income. Illawarra Catholic Club since 1998, I must be doing something OK. Also, Revesby Workers since 2011.”

The microphones range from 1929. I ask whether this is a fetish or a hobby? “No, it’s a passion.”

“Many years ago, I went to the head office in Burnsville, Minnesota, was there four days and every morning the boss walked past me and on the final day he asked me why I was in THIS office? It was the microphone office. I said selling speakers is a job, selling microphones is a passion.”

Is there any other microphone in the world?

“I do own some other microphones, but EV have been doing it so long, I stick.”

I’m trying to get some emotion, so I ask Phill if, when he passes (he is currently 68 years old), he would like some microphones inserted in the casket with him. This produces a pause as he considers. Which would he choose?

Decision. “I wouldn’t like to see them incinerated!”

So hypothetically, I ask, what if you were offered the huge job but with an audio brand you didn’t like?

“Ah, well, fortunately I never had to make that decision!”

Would that be an existential decision that would change the fibre of your being, I ask?

“Possibly. Yes.”

Wife Shirley is a music teacher. Their 27-year- old daughter has a PhD in psychology, “the art of being able to better manipulate your parents. Doctor Webb to be exact.”

Phill, have you ever done anything BAD in your life? “I would need to think a long time about that.”

Hangover? “When I was a teenager! Avoid magnums.”

On the question of sound engineers; “With older engineers, it’s all about drums and vocals, younger; it’s all about the guitars and the bottom end.”

That seems to be a wrap. I’d like to get him drunk someday. Or even just see him wearing something other than his black Bosch uniform. I don’t think that’s ever likely. He is a good guy, and seemed OK with my line of questioning. He jumps up and heads back to the Music Works stand in Christchurch, to talk at length with a guy. About microphones.