Having spoken to two of the emerging underground label of
late, it was only a matter of time, before we hooked up with Granite House
Records. A relative newcomer to the
scene, Granite House have released 3 records thus far, Meek Is Murder, American
Heritage and the excellent new release from Canadian Sludgers, Pyres. I actually have all 3 releases, so I was keen
to find out more about the man behind Granite House. So without further delay, check out this edition
of 20 Questions with John i.e. Granite House Records
Interview :
John, How are you? I appreciate you taking the time to talk to
talk to us, here at the Sludgelord. Kudos to you, as I am are big fan of what
you’re trying to do at Granite House records and your support of underground
music.
Thanks a lot, man; I
appreciate it! Things are going great!
SL) Where are you up to at the
moment and what are you doing in terms of the label? Pyres have been receiving
rav reviews for their debut long player, you must be stoked about that?
At the moment I’m
enjoying a fine, artisanal ale by the name of “Imperial Pumpkin.” Also hoping
the Royals and Pirates make it to the playoffs in some fashion.
As far as the label’s
concerned, it’s still trying to figure out what to do for 2014. Doom?
Proto-metal? Psych-folk-jazz-fuzz? Either way there’s going to be plenty of
solos and riffs; a veritable “major rager.”
And yeah, I’m
super-mega-stoked on the rave reviews for the new Pyres! I knew they’d be
getting some good words, but the overload of positive responses has been
incredible.
SL) I have spoke to two other cool guys about their labels, Dan at Easy
Rider and Steve at STB, I think its cool to get the lowdown on the grass roots
of how their labels started. For those
people who are not familiar with you or your label, could you tell us a little
about yourself, your label and why you decided to start Granite House Records ?
It is your opportunity to tell the world about
your label? .
I guess it all started
back when a buddy of mine dubbed me a copy of Spine of God; which was, what...
October ’91? Around this time I became what some may call a “music snob.” Also
listened to Master of Reality on my walkman during study hall, experimented
with The Pod, and saw a video about dead embryonic cells.
The “Death Metal Winter”
of ’92 unfolded. Obsessions over Oasis and Electric Wizard soon followed.
Introductions to Atomic Rooster, Truth & Janey, and T2 snuck in along the
way. S.F. Sorrow was born. The vinyl addiction had peaked.
‘Round 2009 or so, I
started whining about bands that only had CDs or mp3s, but no vinyl for me to
buy. The seed had been planted, but there wasn’t a catalyst at this point.
SL) What made you start the label and were you involved with bands
before?
Noticed a column in
Decibel magazine called Needle Exchange. Shane Mehling had reviewed a 3-way
split called “Lose/Lose/Lose” that was released by Brutal Panda. It featured
tracks from Kowloon Walled City
I never was involved with
bands that much. I was a door guy at a small music club for a bit and ran into
a lotta random people as an attendee at SXSW over the years, but no higher-up
connections.
SL) You’re a music fan first and foremost,
given that music seems to be so disposal at times, it important to offer a
great package to your fans of your artists, and yet not alienate them by
producing something which is not affordable.
What is the ethos behind what you’re trying to do with the label? (My view is quality at a affordable price)
My ethos is one word:
quality. I’d rather release a quality product and let it collect dust, than put
out a piece of shit that sells out in minutes. The ultimate bummer is paying
$10-$20 for a new record and it sounds like a VG+ garage sale item.
Two of my releases are at
$18, which isn’t cheap, but for what you get, it’s totally worth it.
SL) What / if any bands may have
inspired you to start the label or was their a specific reason you felt you
wanted to support the bands you have for example ?
I wouldn’t say there were
any bands that “inspired” me. Like, I didn’t listen to a bunch of Fugazi and
then run out and start a label. However, there were a couple bands that I heard
and thought, “Wow! This’d be great to hear on vinyl.” “Sum of All Fossils” by
Flourishing and Pallbearer’s first demo come to mind.
I don’t have a deep,
philosophical reason for supporting the bands I work with. It’s all about the
music for me. I release what I want to hear on vinyl. I’m a selfish bastard.
Maybe I should listen to more Fugazi?
SL) Is there a specific person or
persons that you looked up to in terms of modelling your label upon?
Like I mentioned earlier,
Brutal Panda was a big influence when I started out; I dug their simplicity and
directness with their releases. Daniel Hall (who started Easy Rider Records)
helped me out a ton with some initial start-up questions I had.
SL) In your experience, how easy/difficult has been to get coverage for your releases? I’m guessing press coverage does help, but does that necessarily translate to selling units?
The first two releases were a real bitch, quite honestly. Mostly because the vinyl was released after the main PR push for the CD release, I had just started the label, and no one knew who the hell I was. Definitely not bitter about anything though, and am categorizing those releases as “learning experiences.” Haha!
Pyres, however, has been a totally different experience. Even though I didn’t use an official PR firm, I was able to organize a bunch of coverage by simply asking people for it, and trying not to be too pushy in the process. I’m sure I failed in that regard a couple of times. haha! But, in general, I think I succeeded. It was kinda fun!
As far as selling units, I’ve noticed that press helps, but what really drives sales for small labels are vinyl nerds (like myself) that hang out on Instagram or in internet forums like Vinyl Collective.
SL) What do you look for in band, in order for you to say ‘hey id be interested in releasing your stuff’, specifically Meek is Murder, American Heritage and Pyres?
With Meek is Murder and
American Heritage, I loved their newly-released albums (Algorithms and
Sedentary, respectively) and also liked that they were working with seasoned
producers like Sanford Parker and Kurt Ballou. I knew that I’d be dealing with
high quality standards from the start.
With Pyres, I had six
beers and randomly happened upon their demo on Bandcamp.
I don’t really have any
logic behind my decisions when looking for a band. It’s always an immediate
“holy-shit-this-rules” kind of moment when hearing the band’s tunes for the
first time. Then I send an email. Then, on a personal basis, I find out if the
band is cool with me, and if I’m cool with the band.
SL) Based on your own experience, what do you
think is the most important thing for a new label to do in order to promote
themselves?
Pay $5000 to a PR firm
and keep the champagne chilled!
For reals though, I’d say
develop your online presence/following before you release anything. That way,
people know who you are, and it’ll be easier to create a little buzz for what
you’re trying to sell. *takes off marketing suit*
Also, email a few labels
that you’ve bought records from or industry people that you like or seem
approachable and ask for a little advice. There are a lot of super-nice people
out there.
SL)
A particular frustration of mine and most fans of music is the cost of postage,
as this cost is often above and beyond the cost of the product. What are some of the
difficulties/frustrations of running a label, because there are many other
commitments such as family, work etc, that perhaps restrict the amount of time
you can dedicate to the band? Not to
mention the financial pressure?
I can sum up the U.S.
I can sum up
difficulties/frustrations of running a label pretty easily: Unreturned emails.
A great way to offset the
financial pressure of running a label: Don’t do it for the money (at first???).
SL) How valuable are blogs and social media? What are your thoughts on
changes in the industry over recent years in terms digital versus CD/Vinyl?
Some label perhaps do not advocate including DD codes for example?
Shit. If it weren’t for
Instagram, Bandcamp and Vinyl Collective, I know for a fact I wouldn’t have
sold out of the limited versions for Meek is Murder (white vinyl) or Pyres
(black and caramel swirl vinyl) as quickly as I did. Twitter’s fun, and it’s a
great way to meet people and learn about obscure proto-metal, but I don’t
generate a whole lot of sales from it. I think it’ll be really cool to see
Google+ take off in a couple years, once more music people get involved. Blogs
are cool too, because they help with the scenario of: “well, so-and-so liked it, and I trust their
judgement, so maybe I’ll think about buying it.”
I think it’s great that
vinyl sales increase substantially from year to year. Still a small sliver in
the pie though. Kinda reminds me of the relationship craft beer has with macro
beer. Some people bag on digital, but not me. Love me the Bandcamp where you
can get FLAC or 320 kbps if you want! Only drawback to digital, though, is the
growing trend of people only listening to a single or a couple tracks from an
album, which ends up diluting the strength of an awesomely-constructed
full-length piece. Because of this, I can totally understand why some labels do
not advocate digital downloads. However: Your label? Your rules! I offer
digital downloads, but if I work with a band in the future, and they say,
“Dude. No digital downloads. We wanna be #kVlt,” then I’m not gonna
automatically disagree with them.
CDs? Not really sure what
those are?
Also: Glad to see that
taping did not kill the music industry, as older record sleeves had previously
indicated!
SL) Is there a massive cost in terms of signing the band, manufacturing
the music and the promoting it? Is
running a label sustainable financially and can you make a living do it?
I can’t really get into
the millions of dollars that I use to acquire talent for my roster, but I can
say that manufacturing is a big part of the cost. Promoting is free, when you
use social media, so no cost there for me! Maybe someday there will be a cost
for promoting... if a PR firm returns my emails? Running a label can be
sustainable financially, yes. You can also make a living doing it! But, I,
alas, do not make a living doing it... yet!
SL) Lets
concentrate on your recent releases; our blog recently reviewed Pyres as many
many others have done and Steve interviewed the band. Their new record is amazing and they’re great
guys. How did your involvement come
about and what are your thoughts on the final result in terms of Year of
Sleep? Was it pleasing to see it finally
released and what are your thoughts on how it has been received?
Thanks a lot for the
review and the interview; we greatly appreciated that! Like I said earlier, I
found the Pyres demo on Bandcamp. I emailed ‘em, got a conversation going,
found out they had some new songs in the works, they had a solid timeline for
when the songs would be ready for recording, and we went on from there. Final
results? Excellent. I knew their stuff was good, but getting great reviews and
a couple “best album of the year” nods is always icing on the sludge cake!
SL) Given that you have a number of releases under your belt, how do you
measure the success of future releases, are you reliant on selling all of the
record to release the next one ? Why didn’t you release Salem’s Pot yourself ?
As long as the buzz and
the press coverage increase a little bit with each release I’m happy. I like to
sell a good chunk of one release before moving on to the next one, but I’m always
ready for a surprise. As for Salem’s Pot, I absolutely love the band, but
wanted to keep my label geared more toward riff-metal for my 3rd
release. I could see myself releasing stuff like that in the future, just not
at the moment. Definitely stoked that Easy Rider Records put it out!
SL) Labels such as STB and Easy Rider, place a significant importance on
the releases having a sense of being a collectable, with Standard and Die Hard
Editions. Whilst Year Of Sleep wasn’t
released in this specific format, e.g. Die Hard editions but you did have a
standard release and the caramel vinyl release.
What do you feel is the significance of releasing such a packages ?
My stance on die-hard
editions is kind of like my attitude towards digital downloads. I could go
either way. Not using die-hard editions isn’t a personal “choice,” per se, I
just haven’t done one yet. Maybe for a future release I’d do one? Like I said
before... Your label? Your rules!
SL) If you could have released any record past or present, what would it
be and why?
Wow! My answer could
change hourly! This is the hardest question in the explored universe! British
Steel? Seven Chalices? Seven Churches? Dopethrone? Symphonies of Sickness? Kill
‘Em All? Definitely Maybe? Hell Awaits? Shit. My mind = blown. Can’t compute.
Meltdown. Okay, fine, um, I’ll chose Truth & Janey “Erupts!” because it’s
one of the best live albums of all time. So fresh. Raw. Solos. Power Trio!!!!!
SL) What are your thoughts about free legal downloads (I am referring to
bandcamp) and the difference between buying a physical copy? Is that helpful to
you?
I’m down for some free
downloads. Who isn’t? Free downloads let you check out and absorb an album
before you decide to purchase. With so much crap music out there, who can you
trust except yourself?
SL) IMO Year of Sleep is your best release to date, that caramel vinyl
is one of my favourites of the year.
What are your plans for the rest of the year and 2014? Any exciting
releases to keep our eyes on?
Thanks man! Glad you dig
it!
Plan for remainder of
2013: release limited 7” which will feature two bands from the Denver Black Sky
(https://www.facebook.com/DenverBlackSky) festival in December, here in Colorado, U.S.A.
Speaking of die-hard editions...
Plan for 2014: Prepare
for an epic release. Band unknown...
SL) Thanks for answering my questions, but one final question, you got
anything you like to say to people who buy your records?
Thanks for giving me the
opportunity to say a few words. People who buy my records: thanks a bunch; you
make me want to wake up every day! #WPUKD
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