People you can Trust: Steve Drewell

In this series, we're giving you an insight into the people that make RockWave the trusted partner that keeps our clients coming back for more. They are the people you will work with on your seismic project, so it helps if you know something about them before you start. Break the ice, so to speak. Don't forget to collect your RockWaver bobble-head at the end.

1) You’ve been in this industry long enough to be called “experienced”, but what inspired you to take this career path?

As a kid I had an interest in physical geography, and I also really liked watching Dallas (US TV series) where we often saw wide open planes and nodding donkeys, and I think that inspired me to get a job that would take me outside. The characters were all oil guys, so I presumed that must be the industry for me! I landed my first “real” job in geophysics… doing LVL surveys, whacking hammers, laying out spreads and driving Land Rovers over mountains in southern Italy. Of all the places to get your first job!

That was pretty cool. As a kid I loved fast cars, machines, things that go bang. So imagine how good it felt getting to drive this thing called a Hydrapulse (think that’s what it was called), which was a hydraulic hammer on the back end of a tractor. But because it's back-end heavy, it had to have a massive weight on the front to offset it. But even so, you go on a slight incline and suddenly you do wheelies and you've got no control of this massive device. But it was fun!

2) What specifically about RockWave appealed to you, and what keeps you here?

Good question. I would say, thinking about this for a while now, and the answer is still the same, it's the people.

As you know, I was already in a job when I applied to RockWave. It was a good job, it was well paid, but there was this new company made up of people that I thought were a fantastic bunch. And, yeah, I had previously worked with you for 13 years or more. You're all familiar from that point of view - strengths, weaknesses, whatever. So, I knew who you were.

But...

And I mentioned it to Pete years ago, during lockdown when RockWave was born, that I thought that each one of you, 5 directors and founders, was ideally suited to the roles that you're in within RockWave. I thought everything's like a perfect match. All the stars have aligned effectively within RockWave.

So, yeah, the people. I mean, there's no personality clashes. Everyone gets on. And I think we all work well together because we're all driven by the same desire to do a good job, whether that's in your sales roles, marketing, or geophysics and processing.

There's only 10 of us. We've got the right people, that’s great, but also… if there were any slackers, like you sometimes get in big companies, they would stick out like a sore thumb!!

3) When you’re working on seismic projects, what does “doing a good job” mean in practice?

It's going to sound cheesy, but here goes anyway….

Keeping your clients happy by meeting or exceeding their expectations, that's doing a good job!! Can I get away with just saying that?

How do we meet or exceed expectations. Well, I guess that is the hard part. For me, I focus on the data quality and the details that get you to a final image that you can be proud to present.

Can be difficult sometimes with deadline pressures on UHRS acquisitions, especially when covering a very large area and the client needs a ‘one-size fits all’ processing sequence. In those cases, it’s about keeping close communication with the client so they’re onboard with the constraints.

It is much nicer when you have a solid acquisition though. Green Volt was a great example of that. Acquisition was really good and that helped me get a really nice image of the Witch Ground mud. Before the marketing team decided to take my work and graffiti it with “the Green Volt” witch for scale! To be fair I do really like our marketing – a nice blend of technical and not taking itself too seriously.

4) Can you think of any standout examples of a time outside geophysics when you experienced exceptional service. 

I don't know whether you can call it exceptional service, but...

It was basically a friend who did me a massive random act of kindness. This was back in 2006, so nearly 20 years ago, just as I was about to embark on my life-changing trip around the world for a year.

Anyway, I initially flew out with BA from Heathrow to Nairobi in Kenya and you queue up at the check-in desk and hand over your passport and boarding pass as normal.

And they went, “OK, did you know we're upgrading you to first class?” I went, “oh, thank you very much.” I had absolutely no idea why, but anyway, I was pleasantly surprised and thought it would be silly to ask them to double check whether they had this right! I boarded the plane and was there sitting in my massive first class chair, admiring the metal knives and forks and all the free stuff they give you. Then I was approached by a steward, and he handed me a note. Opening it up, whilst thinking how incredible and strange all this was, it all became clear.

The note was from a friend of mine who was a BA air hostess at the time. And it turned out she was the one who had arranged the upgrade using one of the free perks they give their staff. It was an easy thing to do and didn’t cost her anything, but for me, it meant the world.

It actually turned out to be a godsend, because the flight was delayed for four hours once already seated. Ordinarily sitting on a runway for four hours would be a horrible experience, but in first class… it really isn’t so bad!

I guess the takeaway from that experience is that if doing something costs you just a little, or even if it costs you a lot, but it means the whole world to someone else, then I think it's worth doing.

5) Desert Island Velocities: If you had a week of velocity picking on a desert island, what one audiobook or podcast and what one album/artist would you bring?

I don't listen to audiobooks or podcasts, probably because I'm a bit too old school. But in terms of a proper book, I mean, it's a bit of a tough choice but Jack Higgins is an easy and enjoyable read. Some might say it's not overly technical or anything else like that, and there may be better authors, but it's not strenuous, it’s just easy going. I could pick any really, but lets go for ‘The Eagle has Landed’.

On music..

I might be taking this a little bit too seriously, but when I've got music on here and I'm trying to solve a problem or come up with something in terms of a workflow, then I just couldn’t concentrate.

But I guess picking velocities is different, isn't it? Because, as you say, it's a visual thing – and also you’re not actually sending me to work on a desert island, I presume…

Ah, blimey, ok, if I had to pick velocities – and only if it was an easy trend without much thinking needed, then I’d probably pick Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd, cos that would pretty much sum up how I feel when picking velocities!

But if it was really, really tricky, then I'll probably turn the music off again to pick in silence then give the music my full attention afterwards and relax.

But, if I had to fall asleep on this desert island as well, then I would fall asleep with Katie Malua in the background. She's got that sort of nice, soft voice which can pretty well send you to sleep.

And why not, lets take a food out there. I like all sorts of food, but if I had to pick one type of food that I'd have to eat forever, it'd probably be Thai, so that’s what I’d eat out there..

Read Steve's RockWave profile here.