It was confirmed today that Portuguese “The Doups” have split with Manager Steve Bootland due to irreconcilable differences.

However, Bootland said,” I am not bitter about the split. During our time together it brought me closer to some top professional music business people in Portugal which has helped develop the International artist development/ Management service (ThePortugalMusicScene) now working on an International level with some of the best bands in Portugal. During the time with The Doups I managed to secure a production deal with a UK producer for them; found an agent, launched them to the Supajam FIB competition 2009 taking them to their first London show as finalists and I was responsible for securing the support for Franz Ferdinand which in turn helped me get them National and International radio play on a number of stations. I managed to get them invited to Canadian Music week and raised their profile in a few Countries. The Doups had received a proposal which took 6 months negotiating and were about to receive a contract from a label with distribution in Japan, US, Canada, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Sweden with the doors open for the UK but their decision to break their management agreement and try to contact the label themselves has caused unrest and mistrust within the labels and other parties associated with the deal and the October launch of the Debut Album worldwide has been dropped. It is a shame our split has come right before this but it has opened this channel for more Portuguese bands to follow.”

Bootland said “trouble started when some of the band and close family of one of the band disagreed on a relationship that started to form between myself and a close relative of one member. Things were never the same after our first heated discussion about it after a barrage of family interference and control tactics. Family interference got out of hand. I was never unfocused on the band however when various band members formed their own opinions about the relationship things got worse. Our close friendship disappeared and our age difference and life experiences showed. It was common knowledge within the family, friends and local gossip junkies that simple “teasing” from the other members added pressure to the situation by referring to me as Uncle Steve. After the Franz support our weekly “to do” list stayed the same for months and with the “buzz” of the Franz gig slowly fading, gigs could not be secured by the agent. It became a tug of war trying to get anything done which caused stress as it became a fight for the artist’s best interest not a team effort.. They band concentrated on their University courses mainly and showed no real commitment to our common goals and recording plans.

Instead of discussing problems they had, after almost 2 years of teamwork, the band bonded and looked for those around them that could offer a relief from the “root problem” and started to blame our differences on other new reasons..
Stories of being drunk in front of a radio DJ´s, being unprofessional and upsetting people by fighting for good gigs for my artists replaced the root cause. I have heard I wanted them to do gigs because I needed the money not because they had a new video out, an album coming and with 19 years of experience with both successful and unsuccessful bands, I felt maybe they should do a gig this summer. Far too much finger pointing and interference has taken the focus away from the main cause of our split and I am comfortable knowing the true problem as each one also knows.

This split allows me to concentrate on other great bands I am working with now. After four attempts to reconcile and save the offer for them, the only regret I have is that the stubbornness on both sides of the fence has lost them a good deal and put them in to a position where they have broken a contract which not only brings them legal and financial problems, but mainly damages their reputation that I fought to build in a big but small International industry. After all that time, it’s a shame and I wish them the best in whatever they do.. I’m sure they can do well.”