Paul Dowling - Director of Marketing, Go! Discs (1990-1993)

In this episode, Paul Dowling - director of marketing at
Go! Discs in the early ‘90s - tells the story of how he
helped Paul Weller find a new home and a fresh start after The
Style Council and Polydor rejected him.


A teenage Jam fan who witnessed the band’s energy first-hand,
Paul started work in an indie record shop job before moving in
marketing within the record industry and then landing at Go!
Discs just as the label was building on it's reputation for
artist-friendly culture and creative risk-taking.


Paul takes us inside the DIY campaign for 'Into Tomorrow' -
Weller’s first solo single - explaining how a tight team of
trusted industry figures and Weller’s own clear vision turned an
independent release into a Top 40 hit, and led directly to a new
label deal in the UK.


He describes hearing those early demos, smoking spliffs with Andy
McDonald, and realising just how wild, raw, and ready Weller was
for his comeback. Drawing on his unique perspective, Paul
reflects on the label’s role in supporting Weller’s creative
freedom, the transition through Wild Wood and toward Britpop’s
peak, and the sheer thrill - and surprise - of working with an
artist who had provided the “soundtrack of my life.”


He offers candid observations on Go! Discs’ staff, its culture of
collaboration and love of music, and the shared social and
political energy that ran through both the label and the acts it
signed. Paul also describes the magic of that era: small teams,
big nights out, and a sense that, somehow, the stars had aligned
for Weller’s reinvention.


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