Brent Eccles

Creativity, risk-taking, workability and a renowned sense of humour are things that Brent Eccles has brought to all the branches of his career so far: as a musician, radio presenter, artist manager, booking agent, concert promoter, and mentor. His ease of manner belies his ability to keep many balls in the air at the same time. There was a time when he was broadcasting on 7 major radio stations across Australia, was managing four bands, and playing in one while still looking for things to do!

Brent discovered and nurtured his passion for music from a young age, playing in many NZ bands including Space Waltz and Citizen Band. He then moved to Australia where his repertoire of skills grew into broadcasting and managing artists. Brent had a syndicated Australian music radio show “Homegrown” on the Triple M Network, discovered Mark Lizotte (then Johnny Diesel) and started managing him - the first album becoming the highest selling album in Australia that year.

Still pursuing the art itself, Brent both managed and played in the band The Angels and in 1999 Brent’s inducted into the Australian Music Hall of Fame for his part in The Angels. Internationally Brent is a respected musician - his former band The Angels being cited by many as an inspiration. (Guns n Roses, Great White, Pearl Jam).

Moving back to NZ in the year 2000, Brent was appointed the NZ representative for The Frontier Touring Company whose shows have included all NZ shows of Ed Sheeran’s, Foo Fighters’ , The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, The Eagles, Justin Timberlake just to name a few.

Also in 2000 Brent started Eccles Entertainment - a booking agency and promotion company for NZ artists. In 2019 he took the high-risk move of announcing SIX60 in Western Springs Stadium. They sold the venue out to a capacity of 50,000 - a first for any NZ act. They repeated this feat the following year, and then in 2021 SIX60 played Eden Park - another first, which sold out in 5 weeks. Eccles Entertainment now exclusively books SIX60, Marlon Williams, Kaylee Bell, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Troy Kingi, Ladyhawke and many more.

Having worked in the music business for over 50 years, and across so many facets of it, Brent is an extraordinary example of self-motivation, pushing boundaries and business tact. He is extremely creative and has a steady nerve, key contributors to his success.

If you are needing an inspirational and multi-faceted speaker, with some unbelievable stories, Brent is the orator for you.

Testimonials;

We booked Brent Eccles to speak at the Auckland Council Event Teams Away day at Eden Park in May 2024. Brent gave an inspiring and entertaining talk on his foray into music and 40+ years in the events industry. Having known Brent to be a wonderful orator it was no surprise the connection he was able to make with the audience. There was laughter at the many colourful stories of his time behind the drum kit and lots of “wow” moments from the team on his work with legendary rockstars over the years. In addition to Brent’s talk being highly entertaining and funny, he was able to provide the team with some powerful and inspiring wisdom. Having faced many challenges in the industry over the years, Brent was able to motivate and inspire the team with some fantastic examples of how he has overcome difficult situations working on large scale events. We wish we had more time with him on the day!

Glynn Leggat - Head of Events, Auckland Council

Each year Speedway New Zealand has their Annual Conference when delegates, promoters, Club Presidents, drivers representatives, officials, life members and observers from around New Zealand meet for two days.
For this year Brent Eccles was selected to be the Conference guest speaker because of his life experiences and promotional skills.
He was well received by the attendees who were enthralled by his life stories and found his advice on promotion of events and concerts extremely interesting.
Promotion and advertising plays a big part when it comes to a speedway event as many of the promoters struggle to get the public excited to attend a speedway race meeting and were pleased to have the opportunity of listening to Brent Eccles and his experiences.

2024 Speedway New Zealand Conference - Bruce Robertson