IndieHQ / Article Detail

April 26th, 2007

Recap of our Label Interview Series

Interview with Greg Ross from Go Kart Records
Interview with Darren Walters of Jade Tree Records
Interview with Seth Hyman of Negative Progression Records
Interview with Derek Hogue of G7 Welcoming Committee
Interview with Chris Wrenn of Bridge Nine
Interview with Ross Siegel of Reignition Recordings
Intervew with Ray Harkins of Abacus Recordings
10 Questions with Virgil from Suburban Home Records
Interview with Craig Ericson of Rise Records
Interview with Sonny Kay of G.S.L.
Interview with Dr Strange Records
Interview with Mike Park on 10 Years of Asian Man Records
Interview with Equal Vision’s Dan Sandshaw

Since I am waiting on a number of labels to get their interviews for me, I thought now would be as good as any to reflect on the interviews we have done. I am pretty happy with the interviews that were done so far. I thank all those for taking the time to do the interviews as they can be a pain.

I think the most shocking answers from these interviews would have to be the fact that G7 dragged their feet when given the chance to release Refused’s “The Shape of Punk to come” and Scott from AltPress commented that Jade Tree once passed on signing Interpol. Pretty crazy if you ask me.

I think that as a band looking to get signed, the general consensus with regard to answering what labels look for in bands are bands that are hard-working, self-motivated, and self-sufficient. It seems as though sending unsolicited demos may not be the best way to get a labels attention. Instead, touring, working hard, and becoming friends with other bands may work better. If you have a band on a label who champion what you do, they can be your best method for getting a label’s attention. All that time spent on sending press packs and contacting labels might be better spent on doing all the things you want a label to do on your own band and if you attract more and more fans, labels will come sniffing around.
At this point, I would love to hear your thoughts good and bad. Are there questions that I should ask that I haven’t been? Are there labels that you want to hear from? Note that I have emailed a number of labels and I assume that my interview questions just got buried in their inbox. I will continue to try to ask these folks for an interview, but it might take some time.  Ian Mackeye and Fat Mike won’t be able to do email interviews, but I hope to schedule a time to do interviews over the phone. I will keep you posted.

Written by Virgil Dickerson