Ken Usmar has no plans to leave his new hometown of Whanganui. Photo / Mike Tweed
After rubbing shoulders with AC/DC and the Sex Pistols in the 1970s, Whanganui import Ken Usmar is diving back into the music industry.
The former record label manager, journalist and employment advocate retired to Whanganui from Tauranga in 2023.
He is now managing three-piece blues act BB and the Bullets and has begun work on an autobiography, a lot of which “wouldn’t be allowed in the newspaper”.
Usmar said his first brush with the media was in an advertisement for Marmite at the age of 4, with the product claiming to build “a 1978 All Black”.
“I had glandular fever and was really sick, and all I could eat was Marmite sandwiches,” he said.
“My mother wrote Sanitarium a letter thanking them for having their product out and they asked if I wanted to be in an ad.
“Sadly, I never made it to the All Blacks. The best I got was a schoolboy team playing on Athletic Park.”
He got his start in the music industry at the age of 17, working in the stock room at Wellington’s Viking Records.
Viking released New Zealand music but also had the rights to the Elektra label, which gave Usmar his first taste of The Stooges, The Doors “and a whole lot of country music”.
While working at EMI in 1972, Usmar and the rest of the sales team were offered a free train ride from Wellington to Auckland and front-row tickets to a Led Zeppelin concert at Western Springs.
The only catch was having to wear T-shirts with logos from the band’s fourth album on them.
“Needless to say, nobody said no to that,” Usmar said.
“That was the first really cool perk of the job.”
The Auckland show turned out to be Led Zeppelin’s only appearance in New Zealand, with drummer John Bonham dying in 1980 and the band immediately splitting up.
In 1973, Usmar and other members of the Wellington music industry were flown in a private plane to see Carlos Santana play in Christchurch.
“Apparently, Carlos reckons that gig was the best they had ever played and, to this day, has a bootleg cassette of it that he still listens to,” he said.
Usmar left New Zealand for London when he was 21.
With “the optimism of youth”, he booked a hotel for three days, confident he would find a flat in that time.
He managed it and began working for WEA (Warner-Electra-Atlantic) Records in its distribution department before becoming the label manager for the Atlantic section.
“I had to liaise with the bands and their management and that’s when things got pretty exciting,” he said.
“AC/DC was one of them. All of the band, except for Angus [Young], came to my wife’s 21st birthday party at our flat in North London.”
Usmar ended up in Sheffield, managing the Virgin Record store and hosting The Sex Pistols for an in-store appearance.
“That [appearance] just went on and on and on. We needed to close the shop and [guitarist] Steve Jones asked where the nearest pub was,” Usmar said.
“He just said ‘Right, everybody come with us. Drinks are on us’.
“They were really personable, really nice fellas.”
Jones – with drummer Paul Cook, original bass player Glen Matlock and formers Gallows singer Frank Carter – will play in the Sex Pistols’ New Zealand tour later this year.
Now with a family, Usmar returned to New Zealand in 1981 and began back at EMI as a record presser.
“I’ve always had this theory throughout my career,” he said.
“You get a job at a place you want to work, then you find a way to get the job you want at that place.”
Within weeks, he landed a role as a sales executive for the lower North Island, regularly visiting the Jack Hodge store in Whanganui during his rounds.
Usmar went on to run Music Studio’s chain of record stores before two accidents forced him out of the workforce.
A leg injury was followed by serious burns to his arms and hands after an accident in the kitchen.
When he recovered, he formed CAN – Community Action Network – and advocated for people out of work.
That was followed by a stint with the Ministry of Labour.
“We were living in the North Shore of Auckland, which isn’t the cheapest place,” Usmar said.
“Getting a lifestyle block was a pretty romantic idea and we ended up in Ormondville, about 20km out of Dannevirke.”
He began writing for the local newspaper and, when the family moved to Tauranga to look after his elderly parents, that experience got him a job at SunMedia.
He went on to win best young journalist at the national Community Newspaper Awards.
“That caused a lot of amusement because I was 52 at the time,” Usmar said.
“It wasn’t actually about age, though, it was about how long I had been writing.”
He retired to Whanganui in August 2023 and stumbled on BB and the Bullets during a visit to the Whanganui Musicians Club.
The band is the brainchild of record label and studio owner Brian Baker.
“The way [Baker] played left such an impression on me I sent him an email that night,” Usmar said.
“Eventually, he asked me to manage them.
“I was enjoying being retired but, by the same token, what a dream gig. This is easily the best job of my life.”
The band’s debut album is due in the first half of this year.
Usmar said he loved Whanganui and its people.
“It’s got an amazing vibe and flourishing music sector.
“There is friendliness you don’t get in a major city.
“Unless I live to 130, I don’t think there’s much chance of me leaving.”
His autobiography My Extraordinary Ordinary Life is in its first draft.
“There is still quite a bit of work to do,” he said.
“I’ve packed in a lot.”
Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.