LABEL OF THE MONTH /INTERVIEW
RED LEADER RECORDS
by Christer Davidsson, May 2008
Posted on May 5th, 2008

Hey Matt! How are things over at the Red Leader headquarters?

Hey, things are going really well actually. It's sort of funny to be a record label that is "happy" in this day and age, but I'm pleased with how things are going.

I'm starting up this "label-of-the-month" thing here on the site. How does it feel to be label number one?

Wow, yeah. It feels really awesome. I'm always a little conflicted on stuff like this. I feel kind of awkward and weird doing interviews, but I am really proud of all the music we put out so it means a lot to me when other people seem to like what we do also. Anyway, thanks, it's an
honor.

Who are the people behind Red Leader?

Well, Myself and my girlfriend Claire are the "owners." A large group of people do work though, sort of too many to name. We don't have a paid staff or anything, but all the bands help out and do some work, a lot of friends. Lately our friends Chip and Casey who played in Saturday Supercade, and our friend Ben do our webstuff. Greg from Polar Bear Club does graphic design. Our friend Ricky Saporta takes pictures, Bill Henderson masters our records, Jay Lilley does various ad stuff. Oscar from Nakatomi Plaza, Randy from Dear Tonight, and Aaron from Attica! Attica! all do tons of stuff. It sort of suprise's me that there
is still stuff for me to do.

How did you come up with the label-name? Is there a story behind it or does it just sound cool?

Well, I'm not sure it even sounds cool. I came up with Red Leader because it's sort of ambiguous. I really like Star Wars a lot and Red Leader in Star Wars was always a favorite character of mine. He isn't in the movie for very long, but he is just really noble, to an extent that even startles the main characters. I also really like the fact that invokes images of socialism. I would never claim we were a socialist label at all, but certainly with the way we run things economically and the communal sense we try to foster between the bands and ourselves is far from an ideal capitalist model. Also, lots of other nerd stuff I like has Red Leaders in it too, like Final Fantasy, Tron, just tons of stuff. You have to call your label something.

Doing reviews on-line I've come across a lot of Red Leader releases during these past two years. One thing that has always struck me is the quality of the stuff you put out. Bands on Red Leader seems to have a very sincere, down-to-earth feeling about their music. Am I right?

Yeah, I am really excited that you get that. I think we really pride ourselves on the quality of the recordings, art, and presentation. We really try not to spare any expenses on that stuff. I think in this day and age anybody who actually buys a CD or vinyl deserves for it to be really nice. As for the bands, we sort of only work with bands we are friends with and bands who are playing music for the right reasons. I can honestly say all of our bands play what they play because of what's in their hearts and sing about things that are important to them. None of our bands are trying to use their music to get famous or have sex or look cool, it's just a lot of people doing what they love. That's something we feel pretty strongly about. If you are going to put all of your time and money into something, it should be something you really want to do and believe in. Basically we work with friends who make music that moves us.

You got 17 releases out so far, right? For how long have you been doing this label and which release was your first?

Well, we have been doing the label for a long time, longer than people would expect. The thing is a few years ago we just got really burned out on the business end of things and we basically called it quits, we weren't putting out that many releases and it was just really taxing in every way. About a year after that our old friend Aaron, who sang for a band we put out called De La Hoya called me and said his new band was playing and I should come see them. His band was called Marathon and they were just so inspiring and amazing. They really reinvigorated my passion for what we could be doing. We put out their first release and worked really closely with them for a while. After they left the label we really realized that we just wanted to do more and do all we could to help bands we really cared about get their music out there. In late 2006 we put out rlr-9 and now we are up to rlr-17. I even know what up to about rlr-22 will be. So although we started the label a long time ago, I see the real, new, starting point as the release of the Marathon CD. Not that I don't love all the stuff that came before it, but the label as it exists now began with Marathon. As for our official first release, it was a band from New Jersey we feel did us wrong. We don't really talk or make mention of that record anymore.

How did you get the idea to start this thing up in the first place?

My roommate at the time had put out a compilation on Lookout Records called Punk Uprisings. When she started working on Punk Uprisings vol. 2 (GoKart Records) I picked a bunch of the bands and did some of the work of putting it together. I had worked at a bunch of different labels, and we just decided to start a Punk Uprisings Records. We were going to alternate picking releases, but she was coming up with amazing releases from bands like I Hate You and Committed while I was looking for releases. After a while we just decided to go and do separate labels and Red Leader was born.

Running an independent label like yours must take up a lot of time and energy. What keeps you going?

I have a posi answer for this and a negative answer for this. Both are true at various points in a day. The posi answer; Pride in what we and our bands keeps us going. The music itself inspires me. All creativity and passion is a pretty great motivater. I sort of take everything I come across as a bit of inspiration, whether it be great film, great bands, other labels, even just people getting out and doing stuff. Activism and politics are a big influence on me. Maybe it's a cop-out but I think putting out music that has activist roots or political messages or whatever is a pretty important thing and a good way for me to contribute my voice.
As for the negative aspect; there are a ton of shitty bands and shitty labels that kids really love. There are a lot of people who come to great success doing soulless, awful music while great bands and artists can't afford to tour or make the records they want to make. When you stop and look at some bands that have everything handed to them, but have never come up with an original or interesting thought or musical idea... Yeah, you just feel driven to help good music.

Lately I've heard some terrible as well as some great news involving Red Leader Records. The bad news is the demise of Dear Tonight, who decided to call it quits this spring. I think "We're Not Men" (2007) is one of your best releases so far. How do you feel about their break-up?

Well, to be honest I feel fucking awful about it. Those guys are five of my very close friends and I love that band. I have known some of those guys for 7 or 8 years and I have watched that band grow into what I think is a truly amazing and important voice in hardcore. The thing about Dear Tonight, and I don't want to speak out of turn or misrepresent them, I'm sure they all have their own thoughts that are quite different but, they were each so crucial to that band in ways that most band members aren't that they just turned out to be very fragile. They are five very passionate, volatile, opinionated guys and that can just tear a band apart. All the angst and doubt and passion in their lyrics were very real. I think that's the trade off, they were this explosive, intense group of guys and what made them a great band also made them an unstable band. That's the sort of trade off you have to make to get music that honest I think.
It's really hard for me because I honestly think they had a record in them that could stand with some of the most important records in punk. We are pretty close to our bands I feel, what we may lack in resources and ability we make up in other ways. So, when a band breaks up I immediately feel like there was more I should have done, and undoubtedly there was more I should have but I just didn't see it coming. I know all five guys have great things in them still. Pete and Randy play in the band Young Hearts (with Chip from Saturday Supercade), Marc is playing in a new band with the drummer for Boy Sets Fire, Dan is playing part time in Love Or Perish (x-PeeChees and Bratmobile), and Ryan is an insanely busy dude. He hosts an amazing show on VBS.tv called Practice Space, as well as just sort of popping up everywhere. The guy is 50 feet tall on a billboard in Times Square. Ryan is just brilliant and has the opportunities to do a lot of amazing things if he wants.

The good news, and perhaps the best news ever from Red Leader, was the release of Polar Bear Club's "Sometimes Things Just Disappear" (2008). Damn, those guys are good! Are you happy with the way it came out?

Yeah, I love the record. Polar Bear Club is funny for us because I fell in love with their demo and we started talking to them about doing a record when that came out. Chris plays in Achilles who are good friends of ours and I knew Jimmy was in the Disaster who I always liked. It wasn't until they were getting closer to writing that Nate and Emmett from Marathon joined the band and we love those guys. I think the PBC record is really amazing, everyone just adds their parts perfectly. Jimmy is a great lyricist and one of the best singers in punk today. Chris and Nate are amazing guitarists, and Emmett and Greg (and now Goose) are just such a strong and versatile rhythm section that the brilliance of their record is really a product of the 5 of them, which is awesome to watch as a fan of music.
I think their EP is really great and I am a huge fan, as a lot of people are. I think when they wrote this record they had some concerns as they were growing as a band and trying to stretch themselves that they would alienate people, but that didn't stop them. I think that's a huge testament to who they are as a band. Personally I love the record and listen to it all the time, but I am especially excited that kids were willing to grow with them as they tried new things, brought in new influences, and just switch it up a bit.

Polar Bear Club is a band I've heard a lot about this past year. Everyone seems to love 'em. How come you decided to put out their records? What's so special about the band in your opinion?

Well, firstly, I pretty much listen to PBC every day. I am a huge fan and the chance to work with them is an honor of course. More than that I think all the guys are great people and some very good friends. One of the things is we started talking to Chris about working together well before there was all this "hype" or whatever, we just wanted to do it because they are great songwriters and we believed in the band. To be honest I didn't think very many people would care about the record early on. I knew it would be brilliant but those guys all have a history of being in awesome bands that don't get their dues. I just wanted to do my part in helping Chris and Jimmy get some of their music out there. One of the things I really love about the band is that they aren't just hyped from nowhere. With bands like Achilles, Marathon, The Disaster, Spark Lights The Friction, None More Black, Standfast, Tamiroff, those guys have been playing awesome music in upstate New York for so long that they totally deserve this attention. They have put in the work. Besides all that, the record is just so good. Anyway, hopefully now people will look beyond PBC also and see all these other awesome upstate bands like White York, Another Breath, Dasha, Red and Black, Sam Weir, Like Wolves. All of these bands that are from the same scene and are also doing a lot of great things. Personally, three of my favorite bands (besides red leader bands) right now are always playing with PBC. I think Summer People, Sakes Alive!! and Achilles are three of the best bands in the country right now.



I think I heard something about a vinyl release of the PBC album. Is that right?

Yeah, we are releasing a 12" version of "Sometimes Things Just Disappear" hopefully by late summer. It's going slowly, because us and them want to make sure it's a really cool record...and it will be. Also, we are going to be releasing "The Redder, The Better" EP as a 10" later this year too. I guess we didn't really announce that before but people can look forward to that. It will also be a very cool record.

That's some good news right there! What other Red Leader releases are your favorites.

I would say our last 7 bands, being Marathon, Scream Hello, Nakatomi Plaza, Dear Tonight, The New Dress, Attica! Attica!, and Polar Bear Club all vie for the top spot. People read into the fact that I have Scream Hello and Marathon tattoos, but that doesn't really settle it. I think I have a special place for Marathon's "Songs To Turn The Tide" because it just totally reignited my passion for music. The Dear Tonight CD means so much to me, because I feel so attached to every song. I remember when each one was written, how they changed, it was really special to me. The Attica! Attica! record is the same way. I probably spent 100 hours on the phone with Aaron discussing lyrics, ideas, arrangements, everything about that record. It has a really special place.
Nakatomi Plaza are still writing their new record but it has a good chance of being one of my favorite records ever. The Polar Bear Club CD is obviously such a jam, and I listen to it all the time. That's a pretty awesome feeling to put out a CD you can listen to every day. Scream Hello's upcoming full length is one of the most beautiful and complex things I have ever heard. I seriously am blown away by what they accomplished. Every time I listen to it, I hear new things, pick up on new ideas. Lyrically, musically, everything about that band right now is miles ahead of their competition. I am so proud to have been involved with a record that is so near perfect for it's time and place. If Scream Hello aren't on a lot of people's top 5 of 2008 I think it's safe to say I don't have any idea what the fuck is going on in punk rock.

What about The New Dress?

That's my other favorite for right now, and probably the converse of the Scream Hello is "Where Our Failures Are" by The New Dress. Bill and Laura have made this record, and in so many regards it is just a small record. We recorded it cheap and fast, I hadn't heard most of it before I got the final copy, and to be honest there are about a million things I would change on it. They are a better band then that CD shows. But at the end of the day, that record can make me cry, for all of it's flaws it is two people just baring so much and writing these anthems that rival and surpass their heroes that inspired them in the first place. Their new songs are breathtaking and I hope and pray every time I see them play that we get a chance to put out those songs. But when I put on that CD it just floors me. I have played that CD for people and have had them walk away with a shrug and not get it...but a week later they tell me that it's all just stuck in their head. They just write songs that feel like they have always been a part of your life. Seeing The New Dress play in a basement where everyone is singing just as loud as they are and it is just the best party you have ever been to is cathartic. One of the best and proudest moments I have ever had running a label, or even in my life.

I really love The New Dress. I like that folkish stuff a lot. The same goes for Attica! Attica! You put out a lot of different stuff. How important is it to be diverse as a label?

Well, we don't go out of our way to be diverse. We put out stuff that we love from people we love, but certainly we aren't trying for a "sound" or anything. I think our passions are always rooted in punk rock and we won't ever do anything that doesn't partially or completely come from that but we do listen to lots of different stuff. Certainly the labels I grew up loving weren't afraid to do whatever they wanted, and I think they are better labels because of it. The labels we look up to; No Idea, Jade Tree, Saddle Creek, Merge, Dischord, Ipecac, etc., those labels are fearless in what they put out and yet I feel totally comfortable buying a release from them knowing that the quality is a huge priority. I hope for some kids out there Red Leader is like that. Dear Tonight and Marathon are pretty far removed from The New Dress but I think it all comes from the same place. I know all of our bands play together a lot and the same people sing along for every band.

Which record, of all times, do you wish you had released and why?

Well, it would be easy to say things like "The White Album", "Nebraska", "Sketches Of Spain" or "Fear Of Black Planet" but those are sort of obvious and don't have a direct connection to what we do really. Obviously bands like The Clash, Minor Threat, Fugazi, Sonic Youth, Gorilla Biscuits, Superchunk, The Replacements, and on and on, are huge influences but my pick would be FAITH NO MORE's "King For A Day, Fool For A Lifetime". They are my favorite band of all time and that record is so amazing. After their success on "The Real Thing" they totally challenged their audience and critics on "Angel Dust" proving what a diverse band they were. It was only on their next record did they cement their place in my mind as one of the best bands of all time by continuing to grow and change. If you name a genre or style of music, Faith No More pretty much played it well and made it their own. "King For A Day..." is so diverse and challenging, yet it's still one of the most cohesive records of all time. An amazing band at their prime.

Apart from the music, how important is the "look" of the final product? Do you spend a lot of time on artwork and packaging. Do you as a label have an input or is this something you leave up to the band?

I think the look is really important. We don't design anything ourselves really, but we make sure the bands are doing exactly what they want and getting the product that they will always feel proud of. Again, I think if kids are going to give you $10 for a CD or LP rather than just downloading it they deserve good quality art, packaging, and recordings. I have loved tons of releases with terrible art and terrible recordings, as I am sure everyone has. But if we have the chance to make it look nice and sound nice we should do it. I don't really think it pays off as "nice" art tends to cost more, but at least we are all proud of it at the end of the day.

There are some fantastic people within the punk/hardcore scene doing amazing artwork and packaging. I mean people like Richard Binino aka Horse Bites Design and companies like Pirates Press MFG really make music look good. Do you have any favorite designers/manufacturers?

Horse Bites did the Polar Bear Club stuff and he is always awesome. I like everyone who has ever done art for us pretty much. I am not going to list them as I don't want to leave people off but we usually have friends do stuff and they take the time to know the band and the music and you can feel that in the art. Greg, the old bassist from Polar Bear Club runs www.gregodomdesign and he's great. As for our packaging, the folks at CD Forge do all of our CDs and generally save our asses. A lot of my favorite designers we don't really work with because we don't really make a lot of "red leader" products. Pretty much 99% of my favorite band photos come from Ricky Saporta these days. www.ricardosaporta.com When we need a picture of a band he's the dude I ask first.

What's the next step for Red Leader Records?

Well, we just put out a 10" picture disc comp for Claire's birthday that has Nakatomi Plaza, The New Dress, Scream Hello, and Attica! Attica! covering songs by Built To Spill, The Carter Family, Superchunk, and The Mountain Goats. Scream Hello's new EP "Smart & Stupid" just came out. The next few releases will be new full lengths from Scream Hello and Nakatomi Plaza, a split with Scream Hello and End Of A Year, the De La Hoya discography, and we are putting out Polar Bear Club, Scream Hello, The New Dress, and Attica! Attica! on vinyl. Hopefully we might do a 7" for Achilles if everything works out. Other than that you'll have to wait and see.

Thanks you very much for answering and good luck with everything. Is there anything else you'd like to say to the readers of MutinyZine?

Please care about where your music and art comes from. Support independent record labels, independent bands, and independent record stores. Watch: www.rooftopfilms.com Listen: www.Thisamericanlife.org Read: Ex Machina by Brian K. Vaughan. Thanks for the interview, hope I wasn't too boring.

RED LEADER RECORDS LINKS:
MySpace Profile | Official Website | Red Leader at Interpunk

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