At 18 Rod Willis jumped on a boat for London, the Mecca for music and fashion in the 1960s.

A decade on he would return to Australia after working in the US and Europe with UFO, Savoy Brown, Fleetwood Mac and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. A burning desire to find an act that he could help take to the top led him to an unknown band by the name of Cold Chisel. Little did he know that when he took on the role of manager, Rod would begin a remarkably successful 32-year relationship. Along the way he would be forefront in establishing the trailblazing Dirty Pool Management Agency, which would change the local music industry forever.

Ringside takes you behind the doors of the studios and beer barns that were the breeding grounds for bands like Cold Chisel, revealing how they became the biggest band in Australia. After initial struggles, they struck paydirt with the 1980 album East, one of the highest-selling Australian albums of all time. Rod guided 'Chisel' until 1983 with their unforgettable Last Stand tour. In 1988 Rod took over the management of Icehouse on the back of their mega-selling Man of Colours album.

In 1996 he steered the band back into the studio and onto the stage: a remarkable-and seemingly impossible-return that would lead to the 1998 Last Wave of Summer album and the groundbreaking Ringside tour of 2005.

During his 50-year wild ride, Rod would encounter everything and everyone from The Beatles, notorious groupies, mobsters, to music industry legends while witnessing the creation of a musical catalogue that has become an integral part of the great Australian songbook.