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September 6th, 2007

Interview with Ken Cheppaikode of Dirtnap Records

I am really glad to finally bring you this interview with Ken of Dirtnap Records. I have known Ken for probably close to 10 years now. He had gotten in touch with me in late 99/early 2000 about possibly doing a single with one of our bands, the Gamits. For whatever reason, it never came to be, but it alerted me to the label which has put out some of the greatest power-pop/punk records this side of the 2000’s and one of my favorite all-time records, the Exploding Hearts “Guitar Romantic”.

Ken has put out releases for the Briefs, Epoxies, Ergs, Toys that Kill, Soviettes, Selby Tigers, and many many more and although many of the bands could not sound more different, there is a commonality with their releases that finds fans coming back for more. Throughout Dirtnap’s tenure, Ken has worked with Mordam and left right before their merger with Lumberjack for Red Eye. We have had numerous talks about distribution these days and it dawned on me, why not interview Ken for IndieHQ.

Thanks Ken for taking the time to do this interview and sorry it took me so long to post it. Please read on as Ken has some interesting outlooks as he not only worked for a distributor (Mordam), in addition to running a label, he also owns a record store.

IndieHQ: When did your label start? What inspired you to start the label? Where is your label based? Do you do the label full time? What don’t most people know about you/your label?
DirtNap: first release came out in early January 2000, although I had been thinking of starting a record label for a few years before that. it came out of an internet radio show called Dirtnap Radio, which first morphed into a (rather half-assed) mailorder, and then into a label………..I had been playing lots of obscure stuff from all over on the radio show, and several bands contacted me as a result of that.

So I guess that was the initial inspiration, but the focus quickly shifted to the then-burgeoning local NW scene. It seemed like every time I went out I was stumbling (sometimes literally!) across a great new local band. So there was tons of good bands around, but it seemed like there were NO local labels that were documenting ‘em…………

We were based in Seattle until early 2005, when we packed up and moved to Portland to take over a local record store here, Green Noise Records, that some acquaintances of mine were looking to get rid of.

Yes, I do the label full time, haven’t had a full time day job since late 2002, when I was working at Dirtnap’s distributor (at the time) Mordam Records. Half the money coming in, though, is from the retail store. So instead of having one marginally profitable business, we have two!

I don’t know, I am always surprised when people don’t know what the name means!

IndieHQ: What active bands are on your label?
DirtNap: seems like that is changing from day to day, but as of this second the active bands are:

Busy Signals
Beat Beat Beat
The Ergs!
The Girls
High Tension Wires
The Revisions
Riff Randells
River City Tanlines
bands we have done stuff with in the past but are either inactive or have moved on to greener pastures include:

Exploding Hearts
The Returnables
The Briefs
The Epoxies
The Spits
The Triggers
The Marked Men
The Mind Controls
Modern Machines
The Ends
Mind Controls
Charming Snakes
Soviettes
Toys That Kill
and lots more………

IndieHQ: What do you look for in a band? Have you ever signed a band from a demo? What advice do you have for bands trying to get your attention? What band or bands would you kill to work with?
DirtNap: just active bands that I like that at least sorta fit in sound wise with the rest of the bands on the label. and it helps if they tour! It seems like I must have signed a band from a demo at some point, but I really don’t remember. 99% of the time, bands on Dirtnap are bands that we are already familiar with, especially these days when we are doing less singles and more full lengths.

here are some of my favorite bands from the past few years that are not on the label: Clorox Girls, Observers, Tranzmitors, Career Suicide, Off With Their Heads, Tyrades, Lost Sounds, Hunches, Reigning Sound, King Khan and BBQ Show, Dead Moon, Riverboat Gamblers, and tons more.

In particular, I recently passed on releasing the new King Louie and the Loose Diamonds LP, and now I don’t remember what I was thinking cause it’s pretty much my favorite record of the year!

IndieHQ: What one marketing/promotions tool do you find is your greatest asset? What vendor/manufacturer that you work with do you recommend the most?
DirtNap: I dunno! I will say this, though; we have been doing alot less print ads the last couple of years, and it hasn’t seemed to affect sales a bit! but other than that I have no idea what sells records! if you figure it out, let me know!

IndieHQ: What release is your best selling title? How many has it sold?
DirtNap: Exploding Hearts - Guitar Romantic. About 25,000 and very much counting. Not bad for this day and age………… also, I know of 5 current bands that have named themselves after songs on the album!

IndieHQ: Music retail is tough these days, what steps, if any, have you taken to adapt in the post-file-sharing/post-Tower Records music retail landscape?
DirtNap: We’re a little pickier about what we put out these days. Whether or not we can sell a certain band is an increasing factor. Things used to be a little looser in that regard, seems like it was a little easier to just pump out CDs and then coast along on cash flow. Nowadays, though, stuff that doesn’t sell REALLY doesn’t sell. With records (and especially CD’s), it’s continually getting easier to record and release ‘em, which is resulting in SO many new releases coming out every week that it makes it harder to actually SELL said releases. the market is hopelessly oversaturated, and it’s getting increasingly easy for stuff (even good stuff) to get lost in the shuffle. in other words, the diminished post-file-sharing/post-Tower Records music retail landscape doesn’t seem to be stopping anyone! This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. if nothing else it pretty much fulfills the DIY promise of making both the production and appreciation of music accessible to just about anyone. It’s really only bad news for those of us trying to make a buck off this shit! and punk rock does NOT owe any of us a living…………

IndieHQ: Who handles your distribution?
DirtNap: Redeye since early 2005. before that Mordam.

IndieHQ: What do you see as the future of music sales?
DirtNap: I have no idea. I will say, though, that I am probably more optimistic about this stuff than I was a couple of years ago.
while the old business model of

1. sign band
2. get their CD’s made and ship the entire pressing to your distributor
3. wait 90 days for the checks to start rolling in
isn’t really working as well these days, things are actually looking OK for us right now.

Website sales are WAY up from a couple of years ago, digital sales are WAY up , licensing is WAY up (actually we weren’t even doing it a couple of years ago)!, vinyl sales are doing fine, and sales at our retail store are increasing at a time when most of the other stores in town are seeing their sales decrease.So we’re in pretty decent shape right now.

I’m having fun with this and hope to be able to continue for awhile. I’m not college educated and don’t come from a middle class background, so it’s not like I’m overflowing with options here, this is pretty much all I know. Despite that (or maybe because of it) I also have no illusions that the indie music scene owes me a living. I’ll do this as long as I can, and if in the end I gotta crawl back on my hands and knees to my old warehouse job, then that’s OK, too. And actually, the older I get, the less sure I am that I WANT to be doing this when I’m 50. Damn, I ought to learn a trade!!!

IndieHQ: Are your releases available on Emusic? Why or Why not? Are your releases available for streaming on sites like Rhapsody, Napster, and Urge? Why or Why not?
DirtNap: Yes, but I am probably the wrong guy to ask about this stuff. I am really not that engaged with the digital music world, probably far less than I should be. I’ve never downloaded an album, legally or otherwise, in my life………….

IndieHQ: If you could tell the world to buy one release on your label, which one would you tell people to purchase? Why?
DirtNap: Exploding Hearts! It’s one of my favorite punk records of all time…………..

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Written by Virgil Dickerson