The Players
(Information as of November 2005)
Southern Lord Records
Website: www.southernlord.com
Label start date: 1998
Number of employees: 3
First album released: Thorr’s Hammer - Dommedagsnatt CD (April 1, 1998)
Latest album released: Haemoth - Kontamination CD and Picture Disc LP (August 26, 2005)
Number of acts on roster/number of active acts: 7
Total number of titles: 66+
Small Stone Records
Website: www.smallstone.com
Label start date: November 1995
Number of employees: 1
First album released: Various Artists - Detroit Rock City
Latest album released: Greatdayforup - Flores de Sangre (November 8, 2005)
Number of acts on roster/number of active acts: 32
Total number of titles: 60
MeteorCity
Website: www.meteorcity.com
Label start date: December 1997
Number of employees: 2, plus a lot of independent contractors and freelance labor
First album released: Various Artists - Welcome to MeteorCity (May 1998)
Latest album released: Spiritu/Village of Dead Roads - Human Failures (January 2006)
Number of acts on roster/number of active acts: 15
Total number of titles: 37
Daredevil Records
Website: www.daredevilrecords.de
Label start date: 1999
Number of employees: 4
First album released: Calamus/Duster 69 - Extra Heavy split 7" (March 1999)
Latest album released: Sunnshine - No More Forever (August 2005)
Number of acts on roster/number of active acts: 24
Total number of titles: 30
Buzzville Records
Website: www.buzzville.be
Label start date: November 30, 2000
Number of employees: 2
First album released: Cowboys & Aliens - A Trip to the Stonehenge Colony (November 30, 2005)
Latest album released: Artimus Pyledriver - Self Titled (June 20, 2005)
Number of acts on roster/number of active acts: 9
Total number of titles: 12
Arclight Records
Website: www.arclightrecords.com
Label start date: March 2003
Number of employees: 2
First album released: Super Heavy Goat Ass/Southern Gun Culture - Split CD
Latest album released: Player’s Club - Coextinction
Number of acts on roster/number of active acts: 6
Total number of titles: 13
Elektrohasch Schallplatten
Website: www.elektrohasch.de
Label start date: May 2003
Number of employees: 1
First album released: Colour Haze - Los Sounds De Krauts (May 2003)
Latest album released: Ugh! - Meat Fairies (October 2005)
Number of acts on roster/number of active acts: 9
Total number of titles: 15
Introduction
“It`d be crazy to start a label from scratch knowing how tough it is – but we were naive enough to have no idea what it really took to run a successful label, and there`s that saying, ‘It`s amazing what one can accomplish when one doesn`t know what one can`t do,’ which is a good insight into how we got going.”
- Jadd Shickler, MeteorCity
“We basically wanted to start a label to put out music that we felt more people should hear. We never thought it would be something that would make us rich…or even we could make a living off of.”
- David Elizondo, Arclight Records
“I wanted to unleash disease, perversion, and chaos upon the unsuspecting masses.”
- Greg Anderson, Southern Lord Records
It’s a given that playing in a struggling band, driving to a gig in a van that’s gasping its last breath and leaving random, probably vital parts alongside the highway, is a labor of love. Like Bon Scott said, “Gettin` old, gettin` gray, gettin` ripped off, underpaid/Gettin` sold second hand, that`s how it goes playin` in a band” – and like just about anyone who’s loaded up and headed out will tell you, if you’re in it for the money, you’re either a fool or in need of serious psychiatric help. You do it because you have to, and for no other reason.
Having interviewed the owners of seven independent labels that have each carved their own positions in the realm of unknown and under appreciated rock and metal, it’s obvious the same applies to running a record company. When asked if they were rich or crazy, the answer was almost universally the same – they had dreams of helping bands get their music out there. None of it was based on making a profit. Rather, they were creating an outlet for bands and music they enjoyed (and in some cases, bands that the label founders played in).
Evolution
“I grew up with all that underground demo stuff (Metallica demo, Death demo, Annihilator and Morbid Angel demos) before they got big and [after] all that time I’m still based in the underground. So what is better to help great bands releasing their stuff?”
- Jochen Böllath, Daredevil Records
”I had this notion in my head that I was going start a Detroit version of Sub Pop in my head… before garage and techno took over as of late, Detroit and Ann Arbor had a very good music scene going on… bands like Big Chief, WIG, Slot, Mule, Morsel, Speedball, The Laughing Hyenas, etc.”
- Scott Hamilton, Small Stone Records
MeteorCity, Buzzville, and Daredevil grew directly from the stoner rock scene that evolved in the wake of Kyuss’ demise and the internet’s growth. As MeteorCity’s Jadd Schickler said, “selling and/or releasing music from bands in the vein of Kyuss was a hell of a lot more appealing and exciting than working at Borders, Structure, and Merrill Lynch (the first three job opportunities I passed on to start MeteorCity instead).” Buzzville Records grew from a rock/metal magazine that ran a series of articles on stoner rock, specifically the underground bands in Belgium who had “an international quality standard.” Among those bands were Cowboys and Aliens, who submitted their recordings. After a few weeks of establishing the actual label, their A Trip to the Stonehenge Colony became Buzzville’s first release. Daredevil Records had the same pattern, at first being an offshoot of Daredevil Magazine. The demos of bands like Dozer, Mustasch, and The Awesome Machine served as the impetus for creating this label.
For Elektrohasch, it was the easiest outlet for Colour Haze, founder Stefan Koglek’s band. Colour Haze never had a strong label connection, so Stefan always had to take care of things on his own. It was a logical next step to start a label and to use the contacts he had made to help other bands he liked, and who had the same difficulties getting their music to the people. As Southern Lord’s Greg Anderson so succinctly put it, “I think putting out my own records is very rewarding and the most effective way to see our music/art represented properly. Like the old saying goes, ‘If you want something done right do it yourself.’ NO label is going to look out for your best interest than your own.” And while it may seem difficult balancing a band and a label, those with bands don’t have an issue with it. “If anything,” said Jadd Schickler, “I`m probably more conscientious about only wanting what my band earns on its own merits than lots of other musicians. Perfect example: the next MeteorCity release is, coincidentally, the next Spiritu release, with four new songs from us on it - I could`ve released it as an EP to keep it all Spiritu and give us all the attention, but I was more interested in creating an intriguing package that`d be appealing to buyers and listeners, which is why we ended up making it a split release with four songs from Erie, PA`s Village of Dead Roads along with our stuff.”
Principles
“Our principle was/is to go for quality (instead of quantity), without being limited to one genre or one specific kind of music. We also wanted to give band and label some space (meaning that we didn’t/don’t work with aggressive contracts that force band and label to work together for a long period of time). We actually saw ourselves as a ‘runner up’ label, a record label that could be the start of a great career for a band.”
- Peter Peeters, Buzzville Records
“Apart from only wanting to release real top notch stuff in this genre another point is the release must also match the spirit of the whole thing. I want to help to build up a scene that bases on the love of music, friendliness, freedom, friendship and good vibes. So I don’t want to get annoyed by any ego-trips and bullshit-attitudes of people who didn’t get yet how things are running today and what is possible and really necessary.”
- Stefan Koglek, Elektrohasch
The guiding principle behind these labels is all the same – they’re looking for artists who are dedicated to their craft and who fit the mentality of the label. That allows for flexibility and growth. As Jadd Shickler said, “our vision has changed a lot over the years and continues to change. For instance, our original entrance into the world of underground rock was Kyuss, along with Monster Magnet and Fu Manchu. Then we started to branch into more metal-tinged stuff when we encountered Solace, Blind Dog, Abdullah, etc. For a long while it was simply about music that moved us personally. Then we started to change the focus in wanting to build up the roster primarily with acts that toured consistently. Finally, in the past few years, I began to realize that not much of the Kyuss-inspired straightforward stoner rock moved me the way it did in our first couple years as a label. Lately, I`ve been noticing that my tastes in heavy rock reside much more in the realm of stuff that doesn`t have an obvious retro aspect, whether it`s the atmospheric, spacious, movement-based music of bands like Isis, Mouth of the Architect, and Red Sparowes, or the more aggressive, dissonant, boundary-pushing stuff that Meatjack, Mastodon, Trephine, and Unsane do. I`ll say that the guiding principle is to put out music that`s RELEVANT, both to myself and to an increasingly younger audience.” As they have better distribution and marketing than the bands going at it by themselves, these labels have a say in how the market evolves, but Jadd’s comment makes it clear that the labels are still at the mercy of an unpredictable and moody market. As online communities dedicated to music continue to grow and there’s no end to peer-to-peer file sharing, the internet plays a distinct role in how bands can survive.
The Internet
“I think without [the] Internet a small label like Daredevil could not exist!”
- Jochen Böllath, Daredevil Records
“The internet is a great virtually free form of promotion. Although I don’t think the internet has hurt our business, it has made it possible for any yahoo with a guitar to put out a CD and flood the market with watered down crap and mediocrity.”
- Greg Anderson, Southern Lord Records
“The internet has leveled the playing field for indie labels vs. majors. Since indies do not have the same resources as majors, the internet has allowed indies to stay alive and grow in the game.”
- Scott Hamilton, Small Stone Records
While major labels run in circles, proclaiming the end of days, these independent labels view the internet as a useful tool for promotion, as well as a source of income. While Southern Lord, MeteorCity, and Buzzville claim traditional brick-and-mortar stores as their primary source of sales, the others note that the majority of their business is done either directly through their sites or through online stores. Daredevil Records is fortunate enough to have German distribution through Sony, which gives them more of a marketing push, but they still rely on online stores for the brunt of their sales. Online word-of-mouth helped make Magnified Eye (Daredevil), Book of Knots’ debut, and Super Heavy Goat Ass’ 60,000 Years (both Arclight Records) strong sellers. The same can be said for Toadliquor’s The Hortators’ Lament (Southern Lord), which Greg Anderson described as “extreme brutality and sickness incarnate.” It could be argued that it would be more difficult for that sort of extreme music to generate sales without internet buzz.
All the labels drove home the point that the best place to sell merchandise is at shows, a win-win situation for both the label and the artist. According to Scott Hamilton, the biggest seller among the Small Stone artists is Five Horse Johnson, especially in Europe, where the band has toured over ten times. Elektrohasch’s biggest seller is Los Sound des Krauts, a fact Stefan attributes to the band’s touring cycle. MeteorCity hit pay dirt early on with the release of the Unida/Dozer split. “It was the first music anywhere from John Garcia`s second post-Kyuss band, Unida, and it came out right at the beginning of the stoner rock explosion. I mean, think about it - an entire burgeoning music scene launched by an online community of Kyuss fans, with GQ and Rolling Stone and Spin all writing articles about the ‘new Stoner Rock movement,’ and we released the new band featuring Kyuss` own singer! It was pretty cool to be able to do that, and the response was huge because it was all so new and was a huge deal to all the fans back then, because the number of bands in the scene was so small.” But that sort of fortuitous timing is an once-in-a-lifetime deal, and MeteorCity’s focus has now turned to bands that can actively tour.
The Mainstream
“…I don’t think most of the music we work with has a market in the mainstream right now. A few have songs from some of the releases might work well for radio or some niche show like Headbangers Ball…but not widespread acceptance. Just a sign of the times. Like that band Jet... they are doing a watered down, glossy version of what a lot of bands we dig do. Who wants Rock Lite? Not Mauro and I, not the bands we work with, not the fans that support all of us.”
- David Elizondo, Arclight Records
“I`d love nothing more than for one of our bands to break through into the next level, even if it means leaving us, but most of the bands we`ve worked with have been content to just make great records and have MeteorCity release them while they play out locally, which is *not* gonna lead to success. The Atomic Bitchwax is a notable exception, by the way - those guys work their asses off, and good things keep happening as a result. A work ethic like theirs gives me hope for them (and worthwhile underground bands everywhere).”
- Jadd Shickler, MeteorCity
And what about mainstream success? For the majority, it’s not a factor. Greg Anderson makes it clear - “I don’t work with bands/musicians who are concerned with being mainstream. In fact the very core of our existence is to be the anti-thesis of the mainstream. If I wanted to be involved with that bullshit I’d take a job at a corporate major label.” And for labels that have acts with mainstream potential, the deciding actor is, not surprisingly, money. According to Scott Hamilton, ‘Money… you need $1 - $2 million dollars to break an act in the USA these days. Radio pay offs, retail pay offs, magazine pay offs… It is no secret, that is how that game is played, I mean paid.” It’s a sentiment agreed by the others. Success has to happen through gig after gig.
Touring
“Playing live gigs is, without any doubt, still the best promo tool available.”
- Peter Peeters, Buzzville Records
“Look at Clutch or Fu Manchu… they both seem to tour constantly.”
- Scott Hamilton, Small Stone Records
For touring, Europe has an advantage over the United States. The general consensus is that European audiences are more receptive to new underground music. According to Stefan Koglek, there are “more people on a smaller place, shorter distances, bigger cities, a more vivid scene, lots of cool venues, shows get paid, bands are treated nice by the clubs… All the better known US bands want to tour Europe to earn their bread. And from what I’ve heard from European bands [that] went to the US, touring there must be a pretty frustrating experience.” The Euro-centric focus on touring, however, has created a new problem – overbooking. Jochen Böllath stated, “But at the moment every band will break into that European music scene and it gets more difficult to find good venues. Most of them are booked for months!”
Since not every band can afford to go on a four-week tour, and the logistics (and money) involved with booking an overseas tour can sometimes be insurmountable, the other option for mass exposure are the music festivals. South by Southwest, Emissions from the Monolith, and Roadburn were all praised. Even though with the larger of the festivals, it’s possible for a band to get lost in the shuffle, the labels felt they were good investments of time. Again, financial issues for long distance travel prevent some of their acts from appearing.
The Music Industry
“I don’t care about the music industry. I care about music. The music industry just reflects the society and people’s consumption habits - if you want to see something changed, change that first …and that’s what I’m already working on in my tiny little garden.”
- Stefan Koglek, Elektrohasch
“The music industry is a big lying fuck!”
- Jochen Böllath, Daredevil Records
While most of the labels eschew the mainstream, they are still part of the recording industry, and thus are subject to the problems inherent in the business. When asked what they would like changed in the industry, the overwhelming response was fewer bands of dubious talent (and for Greg Anderson, less mainstream involvement altogether). Scott Hamilton thinks it’s a lack of creative people at the major labels, and that, combined with Jadd’s opinion that the majors choose safe and homogenized bands, leads to a wall of white noise between the bands and a receptive audience. There’s simply too much out there, and most of it is crap.
On the underground level, though, there’s a wide array of labels these seven admire. Even though business models and groups on the roster are noticeably different, Small Stone, Relapse, Hydrahead, and At a Loss were mentioned, and Scott Hamilton and Jochen Böllath looked back to labels like Blue Note and Earache, respectively, as they were indies that carved long-term niches for themselves.
Man`s Ruin
“Be careful who you deal with…especially distributors. Try not to put out to many releases, especially if they are sub-par.”
- David Elizondo, Arclight Records
“…Man`s Ruin`s closing forced me to take a look at why we were doing things in certain ways, and consider whether it was possible to maintain noble motives and keep the music priority one while putting solid business operations a very close second priority. I mean, bankrupting one`s self for the sake of the bands doesn`t serve them very well once the money is gone, does it?”
- Jadd Shickler, MeteorCity
“[Don`t] let your ego get in the way of your business.”
- Greg Anderson, Southern Lord Records
It would be remiss to talk about underground labels without mentioning Man’s Ruin Records. They were at the forefront of the initial stoner rock explosion, releasing classics like the early Queens of the Stone Age splits and Dozer and Beaver albums. And then one day, the label imploded under its bulk. It was a case of too many bands, and not enough attention paid to each one. In the wake of Man’s Ruin’s demise, labels are more money conscious, focusing their assets on a smaller stable of bands. And while the label may have ended prematurely and caused all manner of grief for those involved, Stefan Koglek offered this apt and fitting observation: “Seen in the whole, though, Man’s Ruin was really groundbreaking for this scene. As many searched so hard for this music after Kyuss disbanded, the releases and style of MR actually laid the [groundwork] for what we are into now. Therefore I think they did everything right even if they didn’t succeed economically in the end. Creating a new scene or establishing a new way of artistic expression should be rated higher than some figures on an account.”
Conclusion
“We learn from every release we do. And every label has its ups and downs. That the way the game works. The evolution of Buzzville Records is going step by step. And that’s the way we like it…”
- Peter Peeters, Buzzville Records
“The age-old adage applies, that if we hadn`t made all the mistakes we did, we wouldn`t necessarily have had the benefit of learning what we did from them. Would I like those twenty or thirty thousand lost dollars back? Yeah. But you can always find a way to make more money. I can`t think of much I`d change, no.”
- Jadd Shickler, MeteorCity
As for doing things differently if they had the chance, all said no. To be sure, there are minor things, such as the final mix of Dixie Witch’s last album, which Scott Hamilton wasn’t happy with, but they view each release as a learning experience. In the case of Small Stone, the problem with One Bird, Two Stones resulted in Greatdayforup’s latest being sent back for another final mix. A mistake was made, but Small Stone made sure it wasn’t repeated. In the end, they all remain optimistic about what they’ve done and what they’re going to do. As Greg Anderson put it, “I feel like this label is constantly evolving and in this growth process mistakes are made. Hopefully those mistakes and pitfalls are being avoided in the future.”
