ABOUT US

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rock and pop tours is the world's first tour company specialising in boutique rock and popular music experiences.

Rock and Pop Tours recognizes the desires and passion of people who love rock and pop music and provides them with a unique travel experience. We group together like-minded music lovers to tour the popular music epicentres of the world in a fun but fascinating way. Each tour is carefully designed to provide an integrated musical experience. We will highlight the unique features of the local music industry and its impact on global music, focussing on the following three areas:

  1. The CRAFT of creating, recording music and delivering it to the masses.
  2. The HISTORY, development and the people behind the music.
  3. The LIVE music experience.

Rock and Pop Tours will provide fans with an access-all-areas view of infamous venues, studios and locations, as well as visiting some fascinating music museums and haunts.  We aim to give our participants a better understanding of their favourite artists and they will explore the myths, learn the truth and decide what really happened. We will go behind the scenes, in the studio, in bed, backstage, upstage, downstage and onstage, so you get a taste of what it really takes to weave a career path as a professional musician.  Evenings will be spent attending some great gigs of well-known and almost famous musicians. We may even meet a couple of them along the way- anything can happen on a Rock and Pop Tour...

 The team at Rock and Pop Tours has over 20 years of experience in the music, travel and event industries within Australia and across the globe. We have combined our knowledge of these industries to transport fans into the world of bands and musicians. Our planned destinations include:

  • Los Angeles
  • London/Dublin
  • New York/New Jersey
  • Seattle
  • San Francisco
  • Las Vegas
  • Chicago/Detroit/Cleveland
  • New Orleans/Memphis/Nashville
  • Manchester/Liverpool
  • Jamaica
  • Australia & New Zealand

There are many other pockets of musical history dotted around the globe and we will get there eventually…

behind the SceneS

Who is behind Rock and Pop Tours?

Rock and Pop Tours Pty Ltd is the brainchild of Ian Hunter Gray and Martin Contempree, who have combined their two passions of music and travel to create this boutique travel experience.

Martin Contempree

Martin is a Founding Director of Rock and Pop Tours, a co-Director of CCEntertainment, publisher of the CCE Magazine and co-founder of ‘Club Acoustica’. He has a background in traditional and new media, ten years as a Sydney radio broadcaster, has promoted over 100 successful ‘Classic Rock Concert Series’ shows and has worked as part of the management team for INXS. Martin is extremely passionate about music and possesses a wealth of knowledge across many facets of the music and entertainment industries.

Ian Hunter Gray

Ian is a Founding Director of Rock and Pop Tours and also has a personal and professional interest and passion for popular music. He worked a colourful 19 years in advertising, music and the corporate event industry in the USA, UK and Australia. He worked for two UK indie music labels, TMRC (founded by Dale Newton, who signed The Police at A&M records), and Big Orange Records (founded by Othman Muhklis, manager of Wee Papa Girls and Junior Reid). In Australia, he hit the ground running at  Larrikin Records (with Warren Fahey), Festival records and 5 years at EMI Music, where he was marketing manager  on a variety of artists & projects that include Garth Brooks, The Beatles, Cliff Richard, Deep Purple, Bonnie Rait, Kasey Chambers, Anne Murray and the venerable Slim Dusty. Ian then spent  7 years working in Corporate Conferences, Events and Incentives, but the pull of music was too strong to resist with the birth of Rock and Pop Tours.