Former Extreme drummer-turned-artist manager Paul Geary and longtime business partner Steve Wood have formed a new full-service artist management company, called Global Artist Management. The LA-based firm's launch roster includes Godsmack, Steel Panther, Hoobastank, Joe Perry and Hollywood Vampires (in tandem with Alice Cooper's manager Shep Gordon), among others.
Geary's career in artist management spans nearly a quarter of a century. He launched his management company PGM (Paul Geary Management) in 1995, a year after he left Extreme, and soon signed Godsmack to a contract. Other PGM clients included Fuel and Cold.
In 2005, Irving Azoff absorbed PGM into his company, Azoff Music Management, which then spawned AGP (Azoff, Geary, Paul Mgmt.) under parent company Live Nation Entertainment. That agency's roster included Godsmack, Smashing Pumpkins, Creed and New Kids on the Block.
Put in charge of AGP's touring division in 2007 was Wood, who first met Geary in the 1980s when he was tour managing Cinderella. Prior to linking up with Geary, Wood worked with a who's who of rock acts, including Megadeth, Stone Temple Pilots and Nine Inch Nails.
AGP was dissolved following Azoff's departure from Live Nation in 2013, after which Geary and Wood reformed PGM with a roster that included Alter Bridge, Steel Panther and Billy Ray Cyrus, as well as Geary mainstay Godsmack.
Geary and Wood's new partnership, Global Artist Management, is based in Century City, Calif.
