OneDaySavior Recordings on Canadian Releases

OneDaySavior is actually a New York based record label, but Christ Tzompanakis has worked with quite a few Canadian bands that I wanted to interview him about his encounters and relations to Canadian hardcore. Also being one of my favorite record labels ever, it really was a pleasure talking with im once again about his label.

In all the label worked with six Canadian hardcore bands on eight different releases. Here is the rundown:

ODS001 1998 – Ignorance Never Settles – Within the Vast Realms of Dying (split with Incision) 7″
ODS003 1999 – Confine – The Beginning of the End CD
ODS016 2002 – In Dying Days – Life As a Balancind Act CD
ODS023 2002 – Boys Night Out – Broken Bones and Bloody Kisses CD
ODS026 2003 – In Dying Days – After the Fire CD
ODS028 2003 – Jude the Obscure – The Coldest Winter CD (with Defiance Records)
ONR040 2006 – Rosesdead – Stages CD (with Black Box Recordings)
ONR042 2008 – Boys Night Out – Broken Bones and Bloody Kisses LP (with Forge Again Records)

So when you first formed the label, where were you located? And how far from the Canadian border was that?

The label was started in Williston Park, NY, which is located on Long Island. I believe it’s about 8 hours from the Canadian border.

Right because you were still in SkyCameFalling. Did you tour with the band to Canada?

Yes, we did one show on our very first tour in Ottawa. We booked the tour ourselves so we were pretty excited that we actually were able to go to play there.

Who played there, if you can recall? And did you see any other shows while up there at that moment?

It’s been quite a long time, so in all honesty if I named any bands it would just be me guessing. I am fairly certain that Matias, from Buried Inside, did the show. Unfortunately we were in and out so we did not have a chance to see much else. I remember being concerned about crossing the border.

Why is is that so many bands have problems crossing the border when they come and go from Canada? I constantly hear stories of memebers not passing through, more in the 90s than now. It would seem legit for a band to come play a show no?

We actually had heard a lot of stories so I think we were more scared than anything else. For the most part we used the excuse that we were just crossing through to Detroit every time but once. We tried to go the legal, working paper route on one occasion which unfortunately was the only time we were delayed several hours and almost denied. I assume they caught on to what bands were doing by sneaking in and playing and eventually tried to put a stop to it.

What was the first Canadian hardcore record you heard?

It was more than likely Chokehold “Content with Dying”.

That’s in the top 5 classics of Canadian hardcore. When you decided to do the Godlike Communication Group around 1997, you originally contacted Confine for a compilation. Did you also contact other Canadian bands for this?

I think I originally intended to release a compilation. I’m not sure exactly what bands I was hoping to include but I am pretty sure it was the first few artists from the original ODS releases like Ignorance Never Settles. A lot of the bands I communicated with was over vic-chat, which many of you remember as the Victory Records chat room. It’s where I first started talking with Mike Charette of INS.

They were going through their Bloodlet type of phase. And you were lucky enough to release their split with Incision. Did you find it funny that there was also a pre-Grade band also named Incision? It was a little confusing for me the first time I read about Incision, trying to figure out if there were actually two bands, one from the states and one from Canada, but the one from states was doing the split with the Canadian band…

I actually did not know about that Incision until after the split was released. I am not sure exactly how I became aware of it but I do remember seeing ads after the 7″ was already out for a re-released 12″.

Yes that was the Grade/Incision split in around 98-99 from Workshop Records. It was a vinyl issue of their second demo from 1993. What side of the split do you feel did better? Ignorance Never Settles or Incision? Were more copies sold in the mid-west or in Canada?

There were only 500 of the records pressed. Most of those copies I ended up trading with other labels rather than selling them. With the label being so new at the time and bands also being fairly new (at least in the states), I was really just trying to get the name out there.

I never actually heard early INS so I can’t really be sure exactly how that material stacked up against their earlier material. I was amazed by the Incision track as well as their demo. The INS material definitely reminded me of Bloodlet or bands of that ilk. The bands definitely complimented each other really well and I was quite pleased with how it turned out.

Both bands were really great indeed and matched perfectly. So in 1999 you once again contacted Confine about working with them. Did you also want to work with Avarice (who also shared a member of Ignorance Never Settles) as they had done the split with Confine that you loved oh so much!

I dont remember if I ever communicated with Avarice with the intent of releasing a record for them. I am not sure why exactly. I did like the split as well as their demo. Actually the first time I remember hearing Confine was on the split when Skycamefalling was staying at a house that Avarice had stayed at a few weeks earlier.

The Confine record you released actually featured four new songs and three songs from the mentioned split. Why did you or the band decide to have those on the CD rather than just have a short EP of only new songs?

I am not sure who suggested it or how it came to be but what I do recall is that the topic was the subject of some drama. I was under the impression that the label who released the split, Red Star Records, had given the okay for the tracks to be used. Years later I came to find out that they had not. I never communicated directly with them which was obviously my fault as well so it was definitely a bummer when I learned that they were upset about the situation. I am sure the record would have been fine with just the new tracks. I dont think there were any ulterior motives.

In 2002 you released In Dying Day’s second EP “Life As a Balancing Act”. How did you first hear about this band? Was it because they released their first EP on Re-Define Records, who were supposed to release the last Confine EP in 2000?

Yes, it definitely was through the Re-Define EP. I was really impressed with them and contacted them almost immediately after hearing it. I was already friendly with Phil who was also in A Death For Every Sin. Phil explained to me that they were thinking about signing with Good Life when I offered to release a record for them.

That’s right, they had a live performance featured on one of the GoodLife videotape compialtions.

I think they also had a song released on one of the Good Life samplers too.

You think they were enjoyed in the states, or most of the records were sold in Canada?

I know they had quite following in Canada. I definitely think the first EP gave them quite a bit of exposure here in the states. Unfortunately the crossing the border for touring was always troublesome so they definitely were not able to tour as much as they could have. Still, I definitely think they were poised for something great. It’s a shame they never reached that point.

Boys Night Out only had their EP “You Are My Canvas” prior to you releasing their first ep “Broken Bones and Bloody Kisses”. How did you catch their breeze and what made you want to sign them up?

Scott Sheridan, singer of Blue Skies Burning, who helped me out with the label from time to time, happened to hear of them. He sent me the links to check them out and honestly I was floored. There was something about them that was really unique. At the time the whole singing/screaming thing really hadn’t caught on and the fact they blended it more pop/punk with hardcore and dark imagery really appealed to me.

I instantly called Ferret after contacting them and he was just as floored as I was. So we worked out a deal that they would sign to Ferret and ODS at the same time.

That’s really cool! I didn’t it was done at the same time! How did the release of “Broken Bones and Bloody Kisses” come through?

Well I emailed the band and we chatted on the phone. Once Ferret heard You Are My Canvas he was on board so we set up a show for them in NY and they came down and played and we all agreed on an ep with ODS and full length(s) with Ferret.

I had them come down to Long Island to record at a studio here. I picked the 3 songs for them to re-recorded since I really loved those tunes and they recorded 3 new ones they had written.

How many pressings of that album have been made over time?

Somewhere around 10,000 I think, give or take a few thousand. It was by far ODS most successful release.

In 2003 IDD were ready for their last EP “After the Fire”. How did that go down?

IDD was already breaking up which I was bummed about. They had a pretty big buzz going at the time, they played Hellfest. But getting into the states and touring was always tough. So that side of things never came together. And in my opinion, it really slowed that buzz down. They had the tracks written and asked if I would be into releasing them. I really loved the band so I agreed. We did one pressing and much like any release that comes out after a band is broken up, it was a slower seller. But I am happy I did the release.

I gotta tell you, the first time I heard the next release, Jude the Obscure’s album “The Coldest Winter”, I was blown away. Canada really had the best noisecore/mathcore bands. Apart from Dillinger Escape Plan and The Chariot, we had it all in the 2000s (Spread the Disease, Maharahj, Buried Inside, The End, The Abandoned Hearts Club, The Separation Suicide, etc)! How did you first hear of JTO?

JTO was first introduced to me by Portland who worked for Ferret. They had received a demo from Jude and didn’t really have the time/money to work with a new band so they sent it my way and I was blown away by it.

The album was recorded before you signed them?

Yup. It came together pretty quickly once their signing was announced to the actual release.

I believe this was the first time you co-operated with another record label to release an album? It was pressed and distributed by Defiance Records in Europe?

Right. Defiance and I were always sharing new releases. They were good guys and I really loved a few bands on the label. They came to visit in the states and we met up. I gave them a Jude record and they loved it so they asked if they could release it in Europe, which I agreed to.

Alright now Rosesdead’s album is actually my all time favorite Canadian album. Its such a masterpiece! They were already signed with BlackBox Recordings when you co-released their album “Stages” with them, how did you get involved in the picture?

Well I was a huge fan of Fordirelifesake, and when I found out Wedge was doing another band I contacted him. They put me in touch with BlackBox and I asked to license the record for an official release in the states. I loved that record. Definitely another one of my favorites. There is a certain feeling that record conveys.

The last thing you released from a Canadian band was the LP reissue of Broken Bones. This was after the band had broken up, what made you decide to reissue this?

So Justin from Forge Again always wanted to release BNO on vinyl and I guess he attempted to contact both Ferret and ODS some time ago. Unfortunately for whatever reason, we never actually ended up discussing it and Ferret was not really licensing their records for vinyl anyway. So when Justin and I actually did sync up, we decided to release it together. We took advantage of a deal that United had for vinyl, which basically was a set number of records on any color vinyl they picked and we went with that for a pretty limited run.

So what was the pressing info for that release?

First press was around 500. Then there was a second press which included some 180g copies and a few other colors.

Thanks for this great interview Chris! Any last words on working with Canadian bands?

Canada always has always been churning out some incredible bands. I feel fortunate to have released those records and worked with those bands. I am excited to hear what the next generation of bands will sound like.

Redstar Records

Redstar Records was a record label operated by Brendan Munn and Paul G. from Hamilton, Ontario. Their best remembered release was the Confine/Avarice split CD, but everything they put was amazing and did really well in hardcore (as you will read). After trying to trace down either of the owners for nearly two years, I finally got to talk to Paul, and he had some tremendous information to give about each releases! Redstar Records would for sure have become a top Canadian hardcore label had they stuck around for a just a few more years. I hope you all enjoy these great memories!

The Redstar catalog:

RSR001 Garbagedrink – Storyforest CD (1995)
RSR002 Avarice – Demo tape (1997)
RSR003 Avarice/Confine – split CD (1998)
RSR004 The Sound and the Fury comp CD (1999)
RSR005 Dead to the World/Kid Gorgeous – split CD (2000)
RSR006 Darker Day Tomorrow – No Sleep in Forty Days CD (2000)
RSR007 Budget Sampler: It’s All About the Money comp CD (2001) with Goodfellow and Surprise Attack

Let me start out this interview by saying that it’s a huge pleasure to finally do this, after trying to trace you down for a couple years now! Redstar was an amazing record label! What is the origin of Redstar Records, and how did you guys come together?

Brendan and I met in high school in Hamilton. He played drums in the school jazz band and in a couple of indie rock bands. He was acquainted with some friends of mine, and we met through them. Hamilton has a great indie scene – everyone sort of knows everyone – so it was inevitable that we met, and that’s how it happened. In terms of founding the label, Brendan founded it with his indie rock band so they could release a CD. The name of the label was a not so veiled reference to communism. Basically, each person, through pre-ordering a CD, would communally pay for a large percentage of the record’s manufacturing costs and, in return, they would get two additional CDs to sell to some other friends who, hopefully, didn’t go to our school. If they sold their two CDs, they’d get their initial investment back, and people in other places would know about the band/label. It was a communal idea with a capitalist kick in the ass. But it worked out well for them. For small labels, “worked out well” meant you approached breaking even. That’s what you hoped for.

In the next few years, as Brendan was involved more and more in the hardcore scene, and in playing in hardcore bands, he wanted to have a label to release this music. I pointed out that he already had one, though it hadn’t been used for a while. In the meantime, we were running a distro through Sonic Unyon Records that sold hardcore records at shows and by mail order, and we needed a name for that too, so we used the old name and moved into a new genre. The label was something I could contribute to. I had time to do it. I wasn’t in a band and have no musical talent. Brendan worked, played drums in Avarice and Ignorance Never Settles, and commuted to and from the University of Guelph. I was just working and going to McMaster. Our first release was a demo tape for Avarice, and then we put out a split CD for Avarice and a band from Oakville called Confine.

The Avarice demo is now a forgotten release, mainly for the reason that it was so horribly recorded (according to the band), and you mentioned that it was a very DIY type of release. How did you and Brendan team up for this tape release? How many copies were made?

The demo WAS badly recorded. It was done in a studio in downtown Hamilton that a guy ran out of his basement. We could barely load all of the equipment down there. It was tiny. The guy who ran it ended up specializing in hardcore bands, not that he intended to, and not that he wanted to, but his equipment was so bad and his room was so small, that the only music that could even begin to hide the poor recording quality had to be loud, thrashy, screamy, and heavy. A lot of incredible music came out of that place. Left for Dead recorded all of their songs there. Chokehold recorded their Tooth and Nail 7″ there. Haymaker did some of their stuff there. Ignorance Never Settles recorded their demo there which, remixed and remastered, became the split CD with Mark of the Devil, and the song for their split 7″ with Incision also came out of that session. It’s too bad, because all of the songs on all of those records were great, and they would have benefited from better production – although it’s hard to say that anything about those Left for Dead songs could be improved. But the studio was incredibly cheap, and bands could do a lot of takes and not have to worry about how much it was going to cost, so it was a great place for bands to go, which is likely the only reason anyone went there – aside from it being local.

I think we made about a hundred copies of the demo, at the most. We had some CD-Rs of the songs made, and then we dubbed all of the tapes on as many tape decks as we could get our hands on. Brendan and I did as many as we could at our houses, and the guys from Avarice were dubbing them too. It was a collective effort that took a long time. We did the typical handmade, photocopied black and white inserts – totally inspired by the Left for Dead demo, on the same brand of cassettes they used too – and just kept making them and selling them as they played shows. We did the layout on a really slow computer and it took ages. Brendan found the cover photo in a book of photography documenting the casualties of the two World Wars and we really liked it, so we scanned it and he modified it in Photoshop.

Most of the songs on that tape were good songs, and the band re-recorded many of them for the split CD with Confine. When Brendan and R.J. recorded the Avarice songs for the split 7” with Daemon’s Jaded Passion, from Germany, they re-recorded another song from the demo so, in the end, there was only one song on the demo that wasn’t re-recorded, because it was the worst song on it. So it didn’t make sense to make the demos anymore. Why would anyone want poorly recorded, slower, sloppier versions of the songs when better ones were available?

I saw on a very early design of the Avarice/Confine split cd the label was spelled “Red Star Records”, and it also had the catalog number of “CD 001″. Was there some changes of the spelling of the label name during its run? And how come the original design was labeled as “CD 001″ while the released one was “CD-3″? Why was this artwork never used?

The label was always Redstar Records – spelled that way – so the spelling on the early design was a mistake. In terms of the catalogue number of 001, that was also a mistake. When Gordie Ball, who played guitar in Confine, and James Hamilton, who later went on to do Re-Define Records, did the layout for the CD, they weren’t aware that Redstar had already released an indie rock record, or that our first hardcore release – admittedly amateurish – was the cassette we did for Avarice. The Avarice/Confine split CD was our third release, so we asked them to change that.

The early design wasn’t used because, frankly, a couple of the guys in Avarice didn’t like it. I think Gordie did the artwork for the cover, and James did the layout, but what we ended up with was so much better, I’m happy we didn’t use the early design. James and Gordie were a bit frustrated to go back to the drawing board, but they did a great job on the second layout and, from a design perspective, it is much more unique and creative. The first design was pretty plain, and it was similar to a lot of things in the scene in those days, but the second one is aesthetically more professional. Gordie’s sketch on the final layout is darker, and we really liked what James did with it. Those two guys are really creative people. Back then, Gordie was a solid guitarist, a great artist, and a terrific photographer, and he’s probably even better now. James is a computer genius. Literally. And he’s one of the most creative people I know. He can paint, draw, you name it. The nicest, kindest, most sincere person you’ll ever meet.

The split with Confine and Avarice was incredibly well received both in Canada and the states as well as Europe, getting Confine signed to OneDaySavior and Avarice to Alveran. How do you look back on this fantastic release? There was also some issue with three Confine songs that were reused on their OneDaySavior album “The Beginning of the End”?

The record WAS well received and, please don’t take this the wrong way, but we knew it would be. The songs were recorded by Fred Betschen in Buffalo, New York. This was a huge step forward for both bands. Fred had recorded so many great hardcore bands – Snapcase, Slugfest, Zero Tolerance, Brother’s Keeper, Despair – so Avarice and Confine were really excited to work with him. Acacia had just recorded their Untune the Sky EP for Goodfellow Records with Fred, and SeventyEightDays were working with him on their Trustkill Records EP, Revolution Through Anonymity, and when we heard those records, we knew that our bands would be well-suited to his production style, and we couldn’t wait to hear what he’d do with their songs. When we heard the recordings for the first time, we were blown away and we knew we had a great record in our hands. We couldn’t wait to get them back from the pressing plant. That was always simultaneously the best and worst part about running a record label. When you got the copies from the pressing plant, you were always thrilled. We always had good experiences with that. But waiting to get the records? Torture.

We knew that the CD was a quality release, but we were definitely surprised at how quickly we sold them. We pressed 1000, and we sent them all over the place. Chris Logan at Goodfellow Records was our hugest supporter, and our most valuable ally. He had lists and lists of contacts at distributors all over the world, and we shipped boxes of records to anyone he recommended. We didn’t get ripped off by anyone on that first CD, and we learned to trust the people in the scene to help us out. And they did. Overwhelmingly. Sadly, as time went on, things didn’t stay that way, but it was a great initial experience – completely positive. The bands played a lot of shows, and did some small tours, and they sold a lot of records themselves. Everyone who runs a label wants their bands to tour more, but we were pleased with what they did, and we couldn’t support them financially in any way, so wherever they could play, whenever they could play, was really a bonus for us. We did some advertising in zines, but only if they promised to review the record, and we made up some flyers to hand out at shows, and we sent out some tapes of the CD for college radio play. Our distributors sold the records quickly. The reviews certainly helped, and the advertising didn’t hurt, but we certainly didn’t expect orders for the CD to come in from all over Europe and South America – even Australia. But word gets out in the hardcore scene, and that’s what happened with that record. I don’t think we could have done better. Selling a thousand CDs was a good accomplishment. It was our first professional release, and we knew a lot of bigger, established labels didn’t sell that many copies of some of their records, so we were happy.

The thing with Confine re-releasing three songs on the Beginning of the End CD they did for OneDaySavior was that they pretty much killed our CD off. We were hoping to repress that record, and to keep it in our catalogue going forward, which we would have done had Confine not re-recorded those songs, or had Avarice not broken up. But, that being said, Confine paid for their own recording, so they were free to do what they wanted, but we were disappointed that they didn’t really talk to us very much about it beforehand. It seemed like it was a done deal by the time we heard about it. I wasn’t angry with them. I understood their position. They wanted a solid record that they could tour behind, and that would stay in print, and they got one. I was, however, quite angry with Chris Tzompanakis at OneDaySavior because he didn’t ask us, or even talk to us about it at all. He was re-releasing three songs from our record to beef up what was essentially an EP for his label, which meant that he could sell it for a higher price and it wouldn’t cost him a cent to do that. It would make pure profit for his label. I thought that was pretty unethical, and he didn’t see it that way, and we were involved in a fairly heated e-mail exchange that lasted some time, but, in the end, he sent us some free copies of his records, and we sold them, and that was that. In hindsight, the irony, of course, is that Confine was about to break up anyway, and the title of their record pretty much summed it up. So it was much ado about nothing, because we wouldn’t have repressed the CD either way, as things turned out. It’s a shame that Confine wasn’t able to release the CD they recorded after The Beginning of the End. Neil, Sparky, Gordie – nice people in a great band. If anyone has a copy of that record, or if it’s floating around online someplace, I’d love to hear it.

Now the next release for Redstar was the mind blowing compilation “The Sound and the Fury”, which features one of the most amazing line-ups I’ve ever seen: Another Victim, As We Once Were, Avarice, Chokehold, Chore, Dead Season, Dead to the World, The Death of Us, Every Time I Die, From Here On, Ignorance Never Settles, Kid Gorgeous, Left Behind, SeventyEightDays, Sinclaire, Sinsick, Subsist, The Swarm aka Knee Deep in the Dead and Withdrawn! How did a masterpiece like this come together!? And who was the band that did the bonus song at the end?

The compilation was a huge leap for us. We weren’t just releasing Brendan’s music anymore, although two of his bands are on the compilation. Since you asked, the band that recorded the bonus song for us was The Swarm. They gave us that as a special treat and we thought it was hilarious. The compilation was also the first time I took a bigger hand in the label, as I’d made a lot of contacts with the bands by doing shows in Hamilton and by distributing the Avarice/Confine CD. We’d done the first Every Time I Die show, in Hamilton with Buried Alive headlining and Kid Gorgeous as support, so that’s how those bands got involved. They recorded blistering songs. We were floored by them. And Chris Logan liked Pincushion so much, he signed Every Time I Die for Goodfellow immediately after he heard it the first time, as soon as we got the CD-R in the mail, and he released The Burial Plot Bidding War EP for them shortly afterward. Buried Alive were going to give us an old demo song, and we were really excited about that, but even though Scott Vogel really pushed for us, the other guys in the band didn’t want to release the song. Then they were going to record a cover song, but that didn’t materialize either. That was the only disappointment with the record. We’d done a lot of shows for them, and they were easily my favourite hardcore band at the time – it would have been incredible to have them on it.

But we got Another Victim to do it – they’d played a show in Hamilton with Endeavor and they gave us a song, even though we didn’t know them very well. That would change, obviously, when we got the opportunity to do the Darker Day Tomorrow record, and then we got to know a lot of people in Syracuse. Avarice went back to Fred Betschen and recorded a song with their new lineup, but with Chris Colohan from Left for Dead/The Swarm doing the vocals, and that is one of my favourite songs on there. Sinsick was basically the Burst of Silence guys giving it another go, and they were a short-lived Hamilton band. We met Dead to the World through Mike Charette of Ignorance Never Settles, and they played a show with Disciple in Hamilton, and we became close friends with their drummer, Mike Jeffers – the hardest working man in hardcore. Period.

From Here On sent us a CD-R, looking for a label, but by the time we got around to writing them about it, they’d already broken up. Some of those guys went on to form Between the Buried and Me, and they signed to Victory, selling a ton of records. But they said we could use a song, and the song we picked was absolutely crushing. There are so many great songs on that record. The Swarm track, Lament, is my favourite song they ever recorded, and the Subsist track is an epic metal masterpiece. The Chokehold song was ancient, and pretty bad to be honest, but a lot of people liked it and we got a lot of letters about how happy people were to hear them record a Breakdown song. Chris only gave us that so we could sell more CDs, and we appreciated it. Europeans love Chokehold, and they ordered the record like crazy. We got money orders from all over the place because of that song. I know Chris hated the song, and Jeff Beckman was disgusted with it, but it helped us a lot. We also wanted a new SeventyEightDays song, or an unreleased one, but they had already broken up, and they didn’t have anything in the vault, so Chris gave us a previously released one, as the Canvas EP was already out of print, and it was the title track and the best song on that CD.

The Dead Season, Chore, and Sinclaire songs are out of place on what is basically a metal record, but I love those songs. They were well-recorded flawless rockers. Sinclaire signed to Sonic Unyon shortly after that, and Chore got an offer to demo some songs for Revelation Records because of their song, but they stuck with Sonic Unyon. They didn’t like hardcore and they weren’t a hardcore band. But they are one of my favourite bands, and they deserved to be much more successful than they were. As a side note, they recently reunited, just for fun, and played their two biggest shows ever – opening for Alexisonfire and Wintersleep.

I did the layout for the compilation with Sandy McIntosh at Sonic Unyon, and it took a long time. I wasn’t sure what to do with it, but we had a lot of ideas and we finally came up with something we were happy with. Brendan was in Guelph, e-mailing suggestions, and we mastered the record with my friend Toby on his computer in his parents’ attic. It was all totally DIY. We did everything ourselves with that record. Everything. We had a record release show at a two-day festival in Oakville at a community centre. Many bands on the compilation played that show, doing the songs from the record, and I think we sold 150 of them in two days there – maybe even more. We sold out of it quickly. We ordered 1000, but ended up with 1120, and we sold every single one of them. We thought about repressing it, but so many of the bands had released the songs, or had plans to release the songs, on records of their own, so as much as we would have liked to keep the CD in print, it just didn’t make sense.

But, at this point, the distributors we had were working really well for us, and we were lucky to know so many honest people. Tim and Mark at Sonic Unyon hooked us up with a pressing deal that saved us a lot of money, and we were fortunate to know them too. We ended up renting an office in their building – they gave us a huge break on the rent – and we shared it with Goodfellow Records. My parents were happy I was moving all of those boxes out of our basement, and Brendan’s parents had stuff stashed away at their place too. Chris and I started working at Sonic Unyon around then as well. At the time, it seemed like we lived in that building. We worked at Sonic Unyon during the day and at our own labels at night, helping each other with whatever we could. And Brendan was there on the weekends working away too. We had a lot of fun together doing that stuff.

Two bands from the compilation, Kid Gorgeous and Dead to the World did a split for Redstar in 2000. How was this split received and how did it compare to the Avarice/Confine split? I also read that there was supposed to be a special edition repress of this split in 2001 that featured an additional song from each band, was this ever released?

That CD was another successful one. We ordered 1000, and I think we got 1100 or so. We sold all of them. It was well received. It got good reviews in all of the magazines that reviewed it. I’m not sure how to compare it to the Avarice/Confine split CD. I did the layout for this one again, again working with Sandy, and I took a lot of photos for it, so it was more in-house, in terms of my involvement with it. Fred Betschen played a part in it, as with the Avarice/Confine split. He mastered the record, and he did a great job with it. He also recorded the Dead to the World songs. Kid Gorgeous recorded their half with Doug White at Watchmen Studios, who’d also worked with some heavy hitters: Another Victim, Buried Alive, Every Time I Die, Disciple. The record sounded slick. Both producers were always good. You could depend on them to deliver a quality recording. We were pleased with the way everything came together with that CD.

Kid Gorgeous was a solid band, and Brendan and I liked them a lot, but they didn’t get many shows outside of their area, until much, much later, and by then they’d already replaced their drummer twice, and their vocalist once, and I think a guitar player or bassist – or maybe both. It’s a shame too, because they had the chops to be a bigger band. But, I have to tell you, my favourite experience from that record, and from running Redstar, was getting to know Mike Jeffers, the drummer from Dead to the World. He played drums in Union before Dead to the World, so he was no stranger to touring and to working hard. He is a true hardcore kid through and through. His work ethic is incredible. They toured behind that split CD non-stop. They played everywhere and anywhere they could. Every weekend they were off someplace. They sold more records for us than any other band we had on our label. I mean, we always sold out of everything we pressed, but they sold a lot on their own, aside from what we moved through selling records at shows, through our distributors and through mail orders. It was a big help to us at the time. If every band was made up of guys like Mike Jeffers, running a label would be a piece of cake. He was always appreciative of whatever we did for them. We did a lot for that record. We did a lot of press, a lot of radio, and we advertised it in a lot of magazines. It was distributed by every major distributor at the time, and by a lot of minor ones. You could get it anywhere. Mike found it in huge record chains all over the place when they were touring. He was so pleased with that. But, sadly, not everyone is like Mike. So many bands think it’s up to you to sell their records, and not up to the band at all. Their job stops at recording. Once the record comes out, it’s up to you. What nonsense. And then they’re on you to print posters for them, and stickers, and shirts, and who knows what other stuff, but they don’t tour, they don’t play many shows, and you can’t argue with them. What’s the point? This always frustrated Chris at Goodfellow too, because Chokehold was in a van every time they had the chance. It paid off for them. It’s sad that Dead to the World couldn’t maintain a solid line-up. They had three or four different vocalists, and I don’t know how to even guess at how many guitarists and bassists they’d replaced before Mike finally packed it in. When their LP came out on Stillborn Records, the label run by Jamey Jasta from Hatebreed, they got a lot of good press, and they could have been a bigger band than they were if they’d just been able to keep it together. Poor Mike. He had a chance with that band, but he couldn’t keep people working as hard as he did. And we certainly knew what that felt like.

About your last question, we may have planned a special edition of that record, but I’m not sure we would have actually gone forward with it. My memory of this is hazy at best. I think Dead to the World had already broken up, and Mike had already formed his new band, Herod, by that time. Kid Gorgeous had already signed to Uprising Records, and they were going to do a big tour for their new CD, so perhaps we thought they might have sold more of our CDs if we re-released it, but I can’t imagine we would have done that. We might have re-pressed the original version of the record so they could take it with them, but I’m not sure that we would have done even that. We were already working on the new Darker Day Tomorrow CD by that point. I assume Kid Gorgeous would have recorded any new songs they had for their Uprising CD. We may have floated around the idea of including each band’s songs from The Sound and the Fury compilation on an updated version of the split CD, but that would have meant that each band would have had to re-do the vocals on those songs with their new vocalists, as both bands had already replaced them by this time, and to include a song from each band with a different singer than the ones featured on the original version of the CD would have been terribly confusing for any listener. We also would have had to make a new master plate for the CD, and we would have had to make new films for new artwork, so although I think we may have talked about doing that, I’m not sure it would have made financial sense to do it. Especially with Dead to the World dead to the world..

“No Sleep in Forty Days” was the only full length album (apart from the indie band) released by Redstar. Was there a special approach to this?

Yes, it was our only full-length album. Darker Day Tomorrow had already released a short EP on Alone Records. It had three songs on it, and a short interlude. Brendan and I liked the idea of split CDs because, essentially, you got a full-length record with two bands on it for only a few more bucks than an EP. When you got an EP, it was nice because bands made sure they recorded their best songs for it – think of Burnt by the Sun’s self-titled EP, or Dillinger Escape Plan’s Under The Running Board, or Disciple’s No Blood, No Altar Now – great records, but, unfortunately, an EP was always nearly the same price as a full CD, and it was only half the length. Plus, from a label point of view, if you released a split CD and one band broke up, you still had one band to sell the CD for you – which wasn’t possible with an EP. And, in hardcore, bands were breaking up all of the time, so this made a lot of sense to us. You can see what I mean from the other split CDs we did…

But getting back to Darker Day Tomorrow, their first CD was actually only their demo tape re-released on a CD with new artwork, so they were looking to do a full-length. I’d known Tony from when he played drums in Another Victim, and I bumped into him at a few shows in Buffalo and Syracuse, and he gave me a copy of their demo. I really liked it, and I thought it would be great to work with him, because he was another guy like Mike Jeffers – he’d been around the scene for a long time and he knew about working hard. He’d played in a lot of bands and he knew the ropes. He is another stand up guy. Always appreciative of everything you did for his band. He told me that he thought we worked his band harder than any other label he’d worked with before, and he’d worked with some big ones before us in his other bands. That was a huge compliment. The other guys in his band were creative, and they were really smart, socially aware people. They had great ideas for the record. They were professional to work with. They did an intro and an outro on the record, which was pretty cool for a hardcore record. We loved the songs on that CD and it was a progression from the Damnation-esque songs they had on their demo, although you could obviously still hear that influence behind what they were doing. That seemed to echo in a lot of what was going on in Syracuse then. But on No Sleep in Forty Days they used a lot of different guitar effects, probably inspired by Earth Crisis I’d imagine, and we were thrilled when we got the CD-R. I mentioned before that Doug White recorded it, and we were happy, as always, with his work.

I read that you had t-shirts made for this release? Was it the only merch made, and was this the only time you made merch for a band on the label?

In terms of your second question, we did make shirts for them for this record, and we made stickers and posters too. We pushed that record harder than we’d pushed anything before it because people knew these guys were in good bands before, so they were interested in seeing what their new band was doing, and we knew they would be. Distributors ordered more consignment copies of that record than any of our previous records, and they sold them more quickly than any of our others. I think the music on the record was a huge reason for this. They were older guys and experienced musicians. We also knew a lot more about what WE were doing by this time, and our contacts were well-established and we had more of them by then. Dead to the World sold way more records on the road than Darker Day Tomorrow did, but Darker Day Tomorrow sold more records through our distributors. But DDT also played some big shows with bigger bands, and the word got out about them too. Mike Jeffers talked us up to Tony at a show in Buffalo, and he called me afterward, saying, “You have to fucking sign these guys. They played here last night and they were great.” So that was that. In any case, we sold out of their initial pressing of 1200 copies, but they ended up breaking up pretty quickly after their next record came out on Lifeforce Records, so there wouldn’t have been any point in repressing that one. Do you see a pattern developing?

Back to the second part of your question, we had made a few t-shirts for Avarice, but we didn’t make merch for Kid Gorgeous or Dead to the World, aside from some giveaway stickers promoting the CD. Dead to the World made their own merch because Mike knew their band would make more money that way. And they did. They had so many different shirt designs, and all different kinds of merch. That was all Mike. The business-minded hardcore kid with the work ethic to do it all. I’m not sure if Kid Gorgeous had their own merch when that CD came out. I’m sure they must have had some at some point, but I honestly don’t remember. We also made shirts and stickers for the label. We sold a lot of those shirts. I don’t know how many.

When and who came up with the idea of the 3-way split-label compilation “It’s All About the Money”? Which of the bands on the compilation came from Redstar, and what was the goal with this sampler? The majority of the material was non-exclusive, or was planned to be released by the labels in the future correct?

The compilation you’re talking about was a low-budget sampler that we did with Goodfellow Records and Surprise Attack Records from Erie, Pennsylvania. We all came up with the idea together. We’d talked about doing it for a long time, as we wanted to work together on a project. Eric had always distributed our records, and Goodfellow records, in the States, and Chris, Brendan and I had distributed his records here. At the time, we were still looking to get wider exposure for our labels and bands, and we thought selling a cheap sampler CD, charging enough to basically cover our costs, was the best way to do that. It was a CD in a plastic sleeve with a black and white glossy CD insert – the typical one fold CD booklet. It was much cheaper for us to press the CDs and booklets separately and stuff all of CDs into the bags ourselves, so that’s what we did. And, yes, it took a long time to do it that way, but it saved us money, so we did it. I did the layout for that with Sandy again, and everyone was pleased with it. I loved how clean and simple it looked. We used photos that a hardcore kid took that he posted on his photography website, and he was happy to have his art on someone’s record.

We didn’t sell them through our distributors, as mailing them out would have cost us too much. We gave them to our bands to sell, we dropped them off at local record stores, and we sold the majority of them at shows. We sold most of them to people standing in line outside, waiting to get in to see bands play. It’s embarrassing to say, but I’ll admit that sometimes we didn’t even go to the shows at all. We kept boxes of the CDs in the trunk, and if we saw metal dudes waiting around to get into some show, we’d grab a box and try our luck. It was only two bucks, in Canada that’s only one coin, so most people were willing to take a chance on it. It worked well for all three labels – we certainly had more visitors to our websites – and we did sell more records via mail order following its release. The title, It’s All About the Money, was a reference to the fact that we were selling them so cheaply, we wouldn’t make anything at all by doing it. But it was cheap advertising – better than doing expensive ads in magazines, that’s for sure. I can’t remember how many we pressed, but I think it was 3000 – a thousand for each label.

All of the songs on that CD were on records that had just come out on our labels, or that were coming out soon. We were excited to have a new Poison The Well song on it, as they were absolutely huge then. Trustkill was cleaning up with their records. I’m sure that’s one of the main reasons we sold so many of those sampler CDs. And, the funny thing is, I don’t think they ever ended up releasing the 7” they were supposed to release with Eric. I think it was supposed to be a split 7” with Throwdown, actually, but I don’t think it happened. The Redstar bands were the ones on our label I’ve already mentioned, except for The Swarm. We took their song from The Sound and the Fury compilation CD we’d released. They weren’t ever on our label, but not for lack of trying. We talked to Chris Colohan about releasing a CD of all of their vinyl-only releases and compilation tracks, but he said he thought Var at No Idea should do that, if anyone was going to do it, and we agreed, as he had done a lot for them, and he had spent a lot of money on The Swarm. But I don’t think that CD ever came out either. I wish it would have. I have digitized versions of those songs that I downloaded someplace, but they don’t sound very good…

After both splits and the full-length sold out, and both of those compilations doing extremely well, the label ended? How did it end? Were there any releases that were supposed to come out but didn’t?

The label ended for a number of reasons. The first nail in the coffin was that Brendan’s new band broke up very abruptly. After Avarice and Ignorance Never Settles finished, he formed a new band called Funerary. That was an amazing band. He played drums, Chris from SeventyEightDays/Chokehold was on vocals, Christian McMaster of The Swarm/Left for Dead played guitar, as did R.J. from Avarice/Ignorance Never Settles, and Tom Piriano, soon to be a founding member of Cursed, played bass. They played metal influenced hardcore. We were listening to a lot of At The Gates, Carcass (Heartwork-era), In Flames, Soilwork, Meshuggah, Converge, and a bunch of other metal bands – and Logan had just signed a similar sounding band, Shogun, to Goodfellow. But Funerary was great. Really technical. But they broke up, and Christian was already playing in Haymaker, so that was that. Brendan was upset. He’d put a lot of work into that band. And the other guys were upset too, especially Chris. He said it was the best band he’d ever been in, and he wrote good lyrics for those songs. I know he would have loved it if the band kept going. I was disappointed too because Redstar was going to release their first record – it was going to be a five or six song EP – and then they were going to see where that took them. They probably could have done a record for any label back then. They had the talent, that’s for sure. Obviously that didn’t end up happening. Redstar also had plans to release a full-length CD for Rise Over Run, who’d just released a split CD with Society’s Finest on Goodfellow (Chris already had a full release schedule planned and bands he’d committed to, so he couldn’t do it for them), but we didn’t have the drive to do anything after Funerary broke up, and they were fine with that. They ended up releasing that CD on Ironclad Records, which was run by one of the guys in Unearth, so it was probably better for them anyway. They also broke up soon after.

Around this time, I stopped working full-time at Sonic Unyon because I got a full-time job teaching English and History, and that job, between preparing lessons and marking papers, left very little time for anything else. I’d always wanted to teach, and I wanted to do a good job with that, and if you want to do a good job doing that, you have to put in a lot of time. I certainly did. Brendan was on his way, or soon would be on his way, to do his Masters Degree in Engineering at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and he was going to have his hands full with that. As you can probably imagine, that’s a pretty tough task. We talked about the future of the label, and it seemed like it made sense to pack it in, but I guess we didn’t conclusively decide that. I sent out an e-mail to everyone we’d worked with letting them know that we were calling it a day, and then Brendan sent me an e-mail saying he was planning to continue the label on his own. I didn’t have a problem with that. I was happy he was going to do it. It was his label at the beginning, after all. He wrote me a cheque from his line of credit for the small balance I had on my line of credit, and he started to make plans for the next release, which was going to be a CD for a band called At The Mercy of Inspiration, which played music inspired by the same bands Funerary was inspired by – Tom from Funerary was also in that band – but Brendan didn’t end up releasing their CD. I’m not sure who released it. I think someone did. Brendan ended up selling the rest of the stock we had, and that was the end of the label. It made sense to stop then. Chris was doing really well with Goodfellow Records by that time, and he had a lot of releases planned, and we were happy for him. We still went to shows and we helped Chris whenever and however we could, and I still worked here and there at Sonic Unyon in the summer and on the odd weekend when they needed someone to work in the store, so we were still contributing to things. I still did shows occasionally, including a few for our friends in The Swarm when they started Cursed, and for Tony from Darker Day Tomorrow when he started The Funeral, and for Mike Jeffers when he started Herod. It was great to help old friends. Why wouldn’t you?

Structure Records

Structure Records was a short lived record label ran from Hamilton, Ontario by two hardcore legends, Jeff Beckman and Chris Logan, both from Chokehold. They put out three releases, and then ended, but those records are still considered gems by collectors. This interview was conducted with Jeff Beckman alone. Hopefully Chris Logan will conclude the Goodfellow interview at some point so it can posted as well!

What year did Structure Records start out and who’s idea was it to start a label? Did you operate it with Chris Logan for any specific reason?

Maybe in 92, it was a collaboration between me and a at the time roomate. We both thought it was a good idea I guess.

Why did you chose the name Structure Records?

Sounded like a cool 90′s hardcore name, thats about as deep as that goes.

At the time you and Chris had both been playing in Chokehold for a couple of years, but the label’s first release was the Burst of Silence demo. How come you didn’t start out releasing something from Chokehold? In fact you never released anything from Chokehold during the existence of the label?

No we didn’t, well, we had people chasing us around to do stuff with Chokehold, so that was a no brainer, we wanted to put out stuff we liked and no one else was doing… It was the era of 20 million little labels then , there was a lot of great bands getting no attention at the same time.

Now about this first release (the Burst of Silence demo tape), how many copies were made, and how did you set about distributing it? Did BOS play often with Chokehold?

I think, well I know for myself, I had no experience doing a label. Chris and I had done a zine for a little while in the early 90′s, we just used our connections with the band (Chokehold) to move the records, it’ didn’t take long to get rid of the small pressings we did. We played with a few shows together, we shared members off and on so… and being from the same circle of friends… we were close.

Can you describe the zine that you and Chris did? What was it called, how many issues, and what was its philosophy?

I believe it was called “Within Reason”. At the time we were young optimistic sxe youngsters, the zine reflected that, maybe we did 3 issues… I would love to do a zine again… Do kids even read zines? Or just bullshit fucking blogs,??? But music art, mayhem, on paper, I love zines, ours at the time was like a diy vibe, not overly preachy about the edge, but I am sure there was some shit in there. Probably embarrassing to look back on, but I’ve moved so many times I don’t think I own any. Every idiot and their retarded brother did zines back then…

The next release was a compilation tape that featured “Breakthru, Burst of Silence, Cinderblock, Conviction, Earth Crisis, Framework, Forethought (who became Autumn) and Support”. What can you recall about the making of this fantastic compilation, and how did you put this together?

I don’t even remember that one……. seriously.

Chris Logan also did not have memories of this tape compilation, but Sand Robertson came to me with information

I basically did it on my own. The Sean [listed in the cover] is Sean “Mo” Moriarity who was one of my bestie’s. I cant’ remember how we came to using the structure records name because this came out before the Slugfest 7″. That I’m sure of. I think I did this when I was 16. That’s me in the back of the pic too.

The label’s third release was the Slugfest 7″ “Buried Alive”. This record is still a gem for anyone who’s into early metalcore. Do you know how many copies were pressed, and how many colors were made of it (I read of some on black, blue and clear)? There was also a very limited different cover, what was it for?

I think it was 900 black, 80 blue?, 20 clear?, 4 test presses. I could be wrong, I know I had a blue one, but never a clear one. The limited cover would of just been copied quickly on xerox, probably waiting for the offset printer to do all the cuts/dies, blah. Printing is much much easier now, way fucking cheaper too. But this record is a classic, one of the best hardcore bands of that era… and still no one cared too much about them until years later.

Finally you worked with Bloodlet, all the way from Florida. How many copies of “Husk” were made? How would you compare the making of this 7″ to the Slugfest one? How did this record do in Canada?

I made a thousand; I made 100 on deep blood red, 400 were confiscated at the boarder as I tried to sneak them over not paying duty, cause we were broke as fuck and the Canadian Dollar was worthless then… Anyways yeah customs took 4oo copies off of me, so that meant there was only 6oo copies, I never got them back, they must of destroyed them, as they wanted a ridiculous $$$ fee to recover them. I later repressed 500, but ran out of covers, I owed the printer like 500 bucks so I never got the original art back. I still have a few boxes of the 2nd press on black here somewhere. Plus Victory Records repressed it on the singles comp “Eclectic”. Whatever… great record, good dudes. Unfortunately I learned hard lessons from that experience, and they (the band) suffered more than I.

Apart from the four releases, did Structure records ever press any merch?

Nothing.

How and when did the label end?

Somewhere in between Slugfest and Bloodlet I think we just stopped telling each other what was going on or what we were gonna do…

Have you considered doing another record label, since Chris Logan went on to do Goodfellow Records?

No, Chris was cut out for that kind of stuff, I am not at all. I am a procrastinator, lazy, and inconsiderate… Bad qualities to run a label, mind you I would do it in a heart beat if i knew I wouldn’t fuck it up… I love vinyl… I collect records and love the aesthetics about every one I own, I have great ideas for layouts and comps, but no drive. So many great bands that should of seen the light of day.

Do you have anything left from your record label days?

Yeah, a bunch of Bloodlet 7″ and a stack of money orders and letters I never sent out… hahaha worst label owner ever…

Thank you Jeff for this great interview!

The complete Structure Records discography includes:

Burst of Silence – Demo (1992)
Structure Records Hardcore Compilation (1992)
Slugfest – Buried Alive 7″ (1993)
Bloodlet – Husk 7″ (1993)

Jeff still has some Structure Records vinyls left as well as records of the bands he was in. Here is what he has and what you have to do to get one of these rare copies left!

Alright, since all the bands I have ever been in has been paid with records, not money, I have a shit ton of everything left. Email me at haymakerwillkillyou@hotmail.com we will talk prices. There is a good chance I will not email you back, so be persistent if you want the shit!

Bloodlet – Husk 7″, first press pre-order covers 10$ postage paid
Left For Dead – Live LP
Haymaker – everything except the LP
Pick Your Side – Suicidal Prayer 7″ , every colored vinyl and test press
Our War – random stuff
Chokehold – Tooth and Nail/Jawk Records 7″, some test press

Workshop Records

This was a great little record label based in Campbellville, Ontario in the mid 90s to early 2000′s. They were known principally for giving Grade their debut release, as a split with Believe (later repressed as the split with Incision). But the label also worked on multiple releases with The Jazz June, released the only 7″ by Union Young America and put out great records by Jersey, Franklin and Mid Carson July. Mike Wessel is a great dude and here’s what he had to say about his days operating the label and his implications in the hardcore scene.

How did you first get into hardcore?

About 25 years ago, I made the transformation from Heavy Metal to Thrash music. The first couple of bands I listened to were Metallica, Slayer, Nuclear Assault, S.O.D, M.O.D, Anthrax and stuff like that. My friends’ brother at the time was a skinhead and he introduced us to Bad Brains, Agnostic Front, Minor Threat and that started us out.

Can you remember the first hardcore record you bought?

My first hardcore/punk record was maybe 7 Seconds – “Walk Together, Rock Together”, SNFU – “If You Swear…”, Septic Death, Agnostic Front – “Victim in Pain”, Minor Threat – “Out of Step”, D.R.I – “Dealing with it”. Something like that. I bought a hand full my first time around.

How bout your first concert ever?

My first concert was Gwan at Ontario Place when I was a kid but the first show I really went to was KISS at the Maple Leaf Gardens when I was 10 or 11, I can not remember.

What were your first implications with the local hardcore scene?

When I started hanging out with Kyle, Sean, and Greg from Incision, I was friends with these guys from high school. They played shows at House for Zak in Hamilton and from there Kyle started doing shows at the Yellow Sub. After awhile I started to help out with getting them to and from shows in my VW Golf.

You used to put up a lot of shows at your house. Did you do this before starting the label or just after? Can you state a few memorable shows? How did your parents feel about all these events taking place?

I was already running the label at the time. I was doing shows in my garage. My mum was okay with it, not crazy about it, but still let me do it. I think my brother wanted to kill me for doing it, mostly because the bands would stay with us for a night or two. One show with Franklin, Fracture and Still Life we had 18 people sleeping on our basement floor and all those mouths to feed as well. It was fun but my mum and brother did not think so. I only did about 5 or so shows at my place before my mum said no more. We did shows for Rye Coalition, Chisel, Grade/Sparkmarker, Franklin/Fracture/Still Life, a Jersey Halloween show and some other local stuff.

Did you play in any bands yourself?

I tried to sing in a couple of bands but nothing ever worked out. It just was not my thing.

How did you settle on calling it Workshop Records and were you based in Campbellville when you started it?

Kyle from Grade came up with Workshop Records but I first called the label Big Rig Records. I changed it when I found out that the name was taken by one of the guys from Mighty Mighty Boosetones. It was really in Burlington but my mailing address was Campbellville.

The first release by the record label was the split with Grade and Believe. How did you come to know each of those bands, and how did this record end up coming together?

The guys in Grade and Believe just recorded some demo tracks for free at Sheridan College. The guys had no money to put the demo tapes together so I put up the money and we ended up putting together the lost Incision recording on a demo tape (which later we put onto vinyl for the Grade/Incision split LP) and the Grade and Believe demos. I think we started out with 50 demos of each. Next thing you know Grade and Believe were in the studio recording the split CD for me to put out and that is how we started.

The first batch of these CDs had different colored sleeves and artwork. Who did the artwork for them? Why were there so many different versions and how many copies were made and how fast did these sell out?

The first bunch of CD’s, I think 50 to 100. We screen printed the covers (the art work was taken from some book which I can not remember the name of). That was a lot of work but we had to get more together quickly for some shows so we went to Michael’s and picked out some ink stamps. It was just faster and we could put them together on the fly at the show or on the drive. We did that to keep the cost down. We really wanted to sell the CD for the price of a 7″ at the time, which was going for $2 to $3 which did not happen. We ended up selling the CD for $5. We did this for the first and second pressing and then we had enough of putting this together by hand so we put it to print with a jewel case.

I think we ended up selling 6000 copies and then I sold the rights to Victory, that was when we put the label to rest. I just repressed this CD when I had the extra money and I was not in the middle of putting anything else out. The final cover which was printed was a picture of Johnny from Jersey/Believe fighting another goalie during his Jr. hockey year in Musk.

In 1995 you released Union Young America’s 7″ “Kill the Man in Everything”. Was this as well received as the Grade split? How many copies were made of this record?

It did get great reviews and I sold out of the first 1000 in a years time frame. Instead of repressing the record we were going to put the money towards a new recording, but the band broke up just before they were going to go into the studio. So I just put the money towards the Franklin record and never ended up repressing the Union 7″. So we just made 1000 of that record.

How did you first hear about Franklin?

I drove out to Cleveland, OH. to visit a friend and also to go see Still Life. One of the bands playing before Still Life was Franklin and they were great live. Kyle from Grade was with me and he picked up the band info. It was not until one year after that show that I got in contact with the band and started to talk to them about doing a record with them. During that time the band had almost called it quits due to no bites from the labels which they were sending demos too. They were thinking about putting out a record on their own label but they really wanted someone else to do it and I happened to call at the right time. My wife and I drove out to Philly to meet everyone in the band and to work out the details.

Having released their first full-length album, how do you feel the release hit the scene? This time being a band from Pennsylvania, did you seek external hlep for the distribution of the records? Was the show at your house for the record release?

There was some really good feed back and reviews for the record and most of the distros were moving them. Most of my distros were in the US already so we just tried to build from there. The show we did in my garage was after the “Go Kid Go” record was out. It came out just before they left on tour.

When you decided to press the CD version, you treated this a completely different release. Was the LP sold out already by then?

I believe I had a few of the third pressing left but not many. Distros had stock on hand still.

How did you manage to get all those extra songs from the first few 7″s, compilation tracks and even some rare material on there? And who did the selection for those tracks?

The band put all the tracks together. All of that material, the band paid for the recordings themselves, which meant that the band owned the rights to the recordings. They were kinda concerned about the guy who put out the 7″s coming after them but I told them to direct his calls my way and I would deal with him. Nothing ever did happen and we put this CD together and I was very happy with it. To this day I still love to listen to that CD.

In 1997 you released Jersey’s first album, “No Turning Back”. The band was fronted by Greg Taylor, and from reading about the band, its often mentioned that it had immediate success due to its Grade association. How do you remember the album doing when it came out? Was it all it’s hyped up to be now? Did you repress it multiple times?

So Jersey was in the studio recording the “No Turning Back” record for me which at the time I was running a bit short on money so Greg was going to help out paying for the pressing part of the record and I would pay him back. While the recording sessions were going on, in comes Chris from Raw Energy (a want to be Epitaph label). Anyways these guys asked Jersey to sign with them and they would put out the CD and I would do the vinyl. So the guys really wanted to work with these guys because they could offer things I could not do. Raw Energy really tried to play the Grade card but Jersey was nothing like Grade so ya I put in a bio that Greg was in Grade and Believe. Jersey started out as a three piece with Kevin (drummer) and Johnny (bassist) both played in Grade at one point but really Jersey was made up of Believe so I kinda tried to play it like that.

You also have to remember at this time vinyl was not selling to well. I always tried to to do vinyl with every release because I thought it was important and still some people only bought vinyl. So anyways the Jersey record did not fly out the door as you might think. I believe it was a one time pressing of 1,000 and I did not sell all of them. I did not like the way everything went down with this release and working with Raw Energy was a nightmare. Talk about a bunch clowns. That is a hole other story in itself.

I’ve actually never come across the CD version of “No Turning Back”. Did that ever actually come out? If you care to elaborate on the story of the “clowns at Raw Energy”…

Raw Energy was a shit box label that tried to be bigger than they really were. So here is how the label worked or at least with Jersey and myself. I paid for the recording, mastering, and the layout of the record because I was already doing it before these clowns walk through the door. They had a distribution deal with a company which I cannot remember the name of. Anyways the distribution would pay for the printing and pressing of the CD’s and distribute it across Canada for them. Great for the bands but at this point Raw Energy has not paid a dime for anything and the record was done.

So they call me up to ask for some of the LP’s which was cool and then they ask for all my disrto. Info. Which was okay but I was like I will pass it on to you when a get the vinyl in (at this point I did not need Greg’s help with money because I was only doing the vinyl). CD was out at this point as well. So they started to lean into me about I thought you were about the bands and we need this for Jersey. It is like no you need this for you and the rest of your label because you do not have any American or European distro’s. So not only do they not pay for anything or have any of their own distro’s they start give me the gears, it for Jersey. I felt like I was starting their label up and doing all the work for them and riding on the coat tails of Grade. After all this and a few fights on the phone I gave them what they needed and said never call me again.

After some time went by the label was screwing Jersey around and the guys had a offer from Vinnie (less then jake) at FBR which they really wanted to do. I do not blame them. A really label. So after talking with Greg I called up his old manager for Grade to see if he could look over the contract, to see if Jersey could walk away from it. We discovered that the contract was a joke and would never hold up in court. Grade’s manage called up Raw Energy and laid into Chris and told him that Jersey will never work with them again and if there was any problems that they could deal with his lawyer. It was over. Jersey’s next recording was on FBR. Raw Energy did not last to much longer after that.

You were later supposed to do a split with Jersey and Mid Carson July. Did you also have any implications in the Jersey/Outspan split that came out in 1998?

The Jersey/Outspan split was put out by the bands and I believe any money raised went to a suicide help foundation. So I had nothing to do with it.

The Jersey/MCJ split was one of the last recorded material for Workshop before we called it quits. Looking back on it I wish I put it together but it meant continuing the label that much longer and I was not about to put something out and half ass it until the record died down then call it quits.

1997 also saw the release of the first full length album by The Jazz June, one of PA’s best emo bands. Prior to that, they only had a 7″ out on Keystone/Ember Records, which was those label’s first release. They turned out to be the band you most worked with as far as releases. How do you remember the time you started working with them?

I met and first heard these guys in Pittsburgh at a small fest. I also met the MCJ boys that weekend as well. The Keystone 7″ was the first record they did and I think they recorded a song for a split 7″ they did with MCJ but not sure of the time frame on the release if it came out before my release or not. I really enjoy the two records they did for me and to this day I still listen to it from time to time. The guys were cool and I became pretty good friends with Nathan who seemed at the time to take care of most of the bands dealings. It was a quick decision to do the record and the guys had most of the songs together and was ready to record and it was good timing for me so we got it done. They knew where they wanted to record and have it mastered so I just went with and I think the record turned out good, the “They Love Those Who Make Music” CD was my best seller.

The LP was also co-pressed with Choke Records. I think this was the first and only time you co-released something with another label? What was the idea in doing a cooperation, and what did each label bring to the release? Who did the colored vinyls?

I did not have the money at the time of the release to do the vinyl, plus vinyl was not selling to well for me. So we left it out for the time being. The band was approached by Choke to do it and the band wanted it put together and I liked the people over at Choke so they put it together, it was really as easy as that. Choke had a great distribution at the time as well. Choke did the color pressing on a mixed black/orange. Look really nice. Not too sure on the number of color vinyl pressed. If I was to guess I would say about 150.

How would you compare the work you did with their first record, “They Love Those Who Make Music” with their second full-length that you also released a year later, “The Boom, the Motion and the Music”?

“They Love Those” was doing well and the band on some time off had a couple of songs kicking around which ended up turning into six songs. We talked that it would be great to follow the record up with another release to keep the momentum going. Looking back on it this should have been a 12”ep but we spent more money on this recording then the first so I considered it a full length. I was happy with this record. I really think both records turn out good and helped me move the label to a new level of doing things. Not so much cut and paste which cool too, just a lot of work.

This time around, you released both CD and 12″ at the same time? The band was also featured on Deep Elm’s “The Emo Diaries” that year, do you think it helped the band get more immediate national exposure?

Deep Elm help the band out for sure. Those comps made it to a lot hands. Nathan was a work horse for that band and made a lot of connections. This was a great compilation for them to be on and fit in well with the other bands on it.

Both of these records were actually re-issued by Initial Records in 2001 (along with almost all of the bands other material). You had a quick assosication with that label in 2000, also due to The Jazz June, for their third album “The Medicine”. Did you sell the rights to Initial, or how did that go down?

The guys had an offer from Andy and it was the next step for the band. I was really happy for them. Andy from Initial asked me to put the vinyl. I was happy to do so. It was kind of like a thank you from the band if you will. Most bands move on and do not look back unless they have too (there is a story here but I cannot tell it and it has to do with another band I worked with). So Initial gave me the right to put “The Medicine” out on vinyl only. Initial vinyl sells most of been down as well to shop out the rights to do so. Although Initial did the Jazz June 7”. Who knows.

When we decided to stop doing the label I tried to sell all the releases so they would not go out of print. Especially for the bands that were still active. Initial picked up the two Jazz June records.

Mid Carson July had done a split with The Jazz June back in late 1997. Tell us about your first encounter with the band.

I first heard these guys live at the Pittsburgh fest. Picked up the 7” and demo tape. I do not think the split was out yet. I started to talk to them to see if they wanted to play shows in Ontario. I got to know them more as they toured with The Jazz June often. Sometime after we met, MCJ played in Toronto and they asked me to come out. They ended up staying with me and that’s when we started to talk about doing a record. These guys were good dudes. My favorite band to work with by far.

I was just talking to Bryon the other day while I was in Chicago. He was on tour with the O Pioneers. Bryon would be if we lived closer a good friend of mine along said Ralph from Franklin. Great people that I would have never met if it was not for Workshop.

By the time you released their album “Ten Years on Autopilot” in March 1999, had they moved to Florida, or were they still based in PA? If so, how did that affect the album?

They were still in PA. which was cool because we would drive out to their home town to hang out and they would come out and play shows and stay to hang out with us at well as hit the casino. “Ten Years” was recorded in Toronto. They did not have a studio that they wanted to work with so I suggested Signal to Noise Studio. I liked working with Rob.

Was Mid Carson July’s last full-length “Wessel”, named after you?

Yes. The guys surprised me with that. If there was a band that I connected with on all levels it was MCJ. We really enjoyed being around these guys. They were like family to us. It is to bad we do not talk as much as I would like to but life some times gets the best of us.

In 1998 (or maybe early 1999?) you released the final version of the Grade/Believe split altered with the second Incision recording session replacing Believe. What was the reason for this switch of bands?

Believe was broken up and I had a few people asking about the Grade stuff to be put out on vinyl so I asked the members from Believe if they mind that I switch this release up and put Incision on the flip side. At the same time we thought it would be cool for any Grade fan to hear some of this. Grade was made up of four guys from Incision.

Was there a reason for doing this on vinyl, as all the previous pressings were on CDs?

Just liked the idea of keeping it on vinyl due to the fact that I did not change the Grade/Believe splits CD’s. It was more for the collecting idea I guess.

You also mentioned earlier that after this you sold the rights to Victory Records. Why did you choose to do that, and why did they want the rights to the early recordings, this being only around the time the release of their first album with the band?

Victory tried to pick all of Grade’s recordings but Dan from Second Nature did not want to sell. I needed the money to do all those records I had planned to put out.  Grade was selling but not enough to keep on pressing it and have all that extra stock on hand and wait awhile for it to sell. So that was the logic. Shortly after this transaction we decide to not do the label any more and put this money towards our house down payment.

What about The Jazz June’s “The Medicine” LP, that only made it to the test press stage (this was in 2000 I believe), and later ended up being released by Initial Records?

Initial did the CD version and asked me if I would be interested in do the vinyl. Andy was slowly getting away from pressing vinyl at that time due to vinyl sells be down. So I asked if I could hear the record before I made my decision which he was cool with. I liked what I heard, told Andy that we will do it and then got in touch with the band to work out the details. I had 10 test presses made (not like today when labels will press as many test presses as the actual pressing to make some extra money for themselves, or so it seems like that) and all the cover art work proofs were good and this baby was ready to get finished up.

Was this planned as the final release for the record label, or did it just get caught up with the other unreleased records in a closing down situation?

At the time we were putting all these records together we were still talking about other recordings like MCJ putting together a full length record later that year. We were not thinking about closing the doors on the label but rather looking at how we could get finances together to introduce screen print into it so we could do stickers, posters, shirts and record cover for the bands and labels.

How did the label end up going down?

The label was starting to get a little more complicated. One thing that really pissed me off was one of the bands was completely screwing me around and I was not happy about that. Another band was riding my ass about some things which was not to cool in my mind. I know I am being a little vague here but I still have friends in some of these bands and do not want to bring up names and steer up trouble with something that happened a long time ago. Plus I was having bands send me demos with demands of having contracts and things like that. I was thinking that I was helping bands out by putting out there music and in hopes that they could move on to bigger and better things not being tied into contracts. The final nail in the coffin was Victory screwing me around for the Grade tracks and taking forever to pay me, which I had to get a lawyer involved to help get my money, which did me no good and ended up costing me money for nothing. So I did not like what I was seeing the future or where the scene was going.

What were the factors and what was your personal life like at this time?

At this point of the label it needed to have more attention then what we were giving it, so my wife and I sat down and broke it all down. So it meant that I would have to quit my job and make the label a full time thing if it was going to go any further. Which means that if we wanted to start a family it might have to wait a while due to the label probably not making any money for some time and introducing the screen printing element to as well.

So with all the headaches we were having as well as what the scene was becoming and where we saw us going with everything. We decided to stop doing the label. We started a family and saved up for a house and put everything we received back for the label and towards our home. This was the best decision we made. Now we have two boys a nice home and a lot of great memories.

Were you growing out of hardcore and the connecting scenes?

No. I still went to shows and bought music after that and I would still jump in with the bands like I always did for weekend trips and fun stuff like that.

Can you tell us about some of the releases that never happened?

We had a split record that was recorded but as we were putting it together both bands broke up. It was the first release for both bands so we did not see the reason in putting more money in something that will not move. It was with a band from Pittsburgh, PA called Flood and SlingShotDavid from California.

Also a Mid Carson July/Jersey split was recorded and art work was finished but that was as we closed the doors on the label and the record was shelved. I believe the bands rerecorded these tracks.

We also had a song from Pele out of Milwaukee which we were going to do a split 8″ with but did not nail down the other band, although AMFM came close to being the other band. This was recorded at the same time as the Mid Carson July/Jersey split so it was canceled at the decision of closing the doors on the label. Pele ended up using a rerecording of the song for a Polyvinyl compilation.

Some time after this you put together a Workshop Box Set that included various of the past releases, and a great deal of the unreleased material (mentioned above). What was the idea in making this box set, and how was it put together? What was it packaged in, and how many copies were made? I read that not all the sets comprised the same material? Can you also explain why some of the catalog numbers changed on the vinyls, such as The Jazz June’s “They Love Those Who Make Music”?

Basically it was a goodbye package. We had left over stock and a fun small run of my favorite songs from the Franklin CD which we put on vinyl. Jodie started to screen the boxes for these and we had two colours down and she got pregnant, so we could not finish the boxes. The following year when we came back to it, we went to start screening the boxes again and the ink we already put down caused the boxes to shrink. So that put an end to finishing the box set. It was put into storage until The Jazz June did the reunion fundraiser show in January 2007. We just put it together with everything we had and donated to the band and the fundraiser. I repressed “They Love Those” on my own, not with Choke Records to complete the box set. Choke was no longer active at this time and the record had been out of print.

The packaging was a mailer box screened on with our new logo. We kept it closed with velcro. I think we put together 50. Not sure if The Jazz June sold them all or not. Some sets were the same and some had extra stuff in it. We put what ever was left in these sets. It usually included:

• • Grade/Incision split LP + stickers
  • Franklin – 16 favorite songs LP in black sleeve
  • Jersey – No Turning Back LP
  • The Jazz June – They Love Those Who Make Music LP in black sleeve
  • The Jazz June – The Boom, the Motion and the Music LP
  • Mid Carson July – Ten Years on Autopilot LP + stickers
  • SlingShotDavid – A Human Sorrow for Freedom CD-R
  • Union Young America – Kill the Man in Everything CD-R packaged in 7″ sleeve
  • CD-R of the Mid Carson July/Jersey split and the Pele track for the split with AMFM
  • Workshop Records stickers, a poster and a colour copy of Workshop’s new logo which was never used.

How bout some tour stories of all the dudes you worked with over the years? A lot sound like they had fun on the road.

I have a ton of stories when bands hit the road they see and come into a lot of situations. A lot of good times and a lot of bad times. I went one weekend to Montreal with Jersey and had a great night out at a little hole in the wall punk bar. Listen to old school punk rock and circle pit into the early hours of the morning. I know as a story it does not sound like much but I was with my friends having some drinks and dancing around with everyone in the bar having a great time. There is no bar around here like it.

Jersey’s van breaking down in Arizona, I think it was, and the band with no money left had to find a job, which they did making tie-dye shirts and I am not sure but maybe someone help by wiring money to them as well.

Selling a hundred CD’s one night in Boston for a Jersey show with these three girls as my cheer leading section.

MCJ always had the best stories like the Bryon and Eric who are brothers getting into a fist fight in the middle of the street and the cops picking them up and putting them behind bars for the night. They also got locked up for firing of bottle rockets in FL. one night. With last bit of money they had on tour they went to the casino to double it which did not work out to plan. I love these guys.

Chris from Union Young America taking bricks from parliament hill. Late night café runs. Guelph was still a great city at that time.

At the end of the day I really appreciated everything this bands did by hitting the road, making and recording music, spending time with us to become a family and just doing something we all love doing be a part of the small scene and keeping it diy. The true working class hero’s. Kids coming together and helping each other out weather you made the music, put on the show, put a band up for the night, or the kid who bought the merch. and support us all.

Since the ending of Workshop Records, have you had any implications in the music industry? What do you do nowdays and how do you look back at all the amazing releases you’ve put out?

We have no regrets with the label. We met a lot of nice people and some we still talk to, like Ralph from Franklin we are going to visit with the whole family. He has not met our kids yet so it should be fun. I have not done anything else in the music scene. I still buy records and go to shows just not as much as I used too.

Nowdays I like to collect art and vinyl toys by some of the artists. Some of the artists I collect are Pushead (I have collected his stuff for 20 years now), Nathan Jurevicius, Jeff Soto, Luke Feldman, Usugrow, Mike Sutfin, Gary Taxali, Caia Koopman to name a few. Music as of late I just bought the Roger Miret, Smoke or Fire, Social Distortion and enjoy listening to Chuck Ragan, Tim Barry, Drag the River/Jon Snodgrass, Austin Lucas, Elliott Smith, Strike Anywhere, New Bruises, The Jai Alia Savant and things like that.

I do not really look back on the label until someone like your self comes a long and ask me about. I listen to the records from time to time. I am sure I will when the kids get a little older.

To finish, here is the complete discography of the record label:

WR-001 Grade/Believe split CD (1994, first press), (1995 second press)
WR-002 Union Young America – Kill the Man in Everything 7″ (1995)
WR-003 Franklin – GoKidGo 12″ (1995)
WR-004 Franklin – GoKidGo CD (1996)
WR-005 Jersey – No Turning Back 12″ (1997)
WR-006 The Jazz June – They Love Those Who Make Music 12″ (1997) with Choke Records
WR-007 The Jazz June - The Boom, the Motion and the Music CD/12″ (1998)
WR-008 Mid Carson July – Ten Years On Autopilot 12″ (March 1999)
WR-009 Grade/Incision split 12″ (1999)
WR-010 The Jazz June – The Medicine 2×12″ (2000) last release, canceled. only 10 test press exist
WR-011 The Jazz June – They Love Those Who Make Music 12″ (2002) white label for box set
Workshop Box Set

Fans of Bad Productions

This label was very special, so I did a special type of interview. It was more in the sense of a conversation with Chris Iler. It was great to do and the guy is a dictionary of knowledge of the whole Canadian scene. This label really helped a lot of smaller bands be remembered thanks to  his compilations. Over the years Chris has played drums with Ten Dead Men, 26 Letter Prison, Bag of Nines and Velvet Claws.

You may contact Chris about getting what’s left of the label’s releases at chris.iler@sympatico.ca. The list of left overs is at the end of the interview.

Here is the complete release catalog of the label

FOBP1 “Summer Squash” compilation on tape with zine, 1990
FOBP2 “Made in Michigan” compilation on tape, 1990
FOBP3 “Ya Ma Bzzz” compilation on tape, 1991
FOBP4 “This Ain’t the Hot Fudge Show” compilation on 7″, 1991
FOBP5 “Attack & Decay – Squirrel Sonatas in the Key of C” on 7″, 1992
FOBP6 “Dirty Bird – A Good Burn” on tape, 1992
FOBP7 “Chicken Milk – Chicken Milk” on 7″, 1993
FOBP8 “Fuck the Commonwealth” compilation on 12″, 1994, on CD and tape, 1995
FOBP9 “Go!” compilation on double 12″ and CD, 1997/1998
FOBP10 “Frenetics/Nakatomi Plaza – Split” on 7″, 1998
FOBP11 “Drunk – …Again…” on CD, 1999
FOBP12 “Drunk/Goat Boy – Split” on 12″, 2000
FOBP13 “The Street Enters the House” compilation on CD, 2000
FOBP14 “Killed by Canada” compilation on double CD, 2006
FOBP15 “Velvet Claws – Quarantine” on 7″, 2007

Fans of Bad Productions interview with Chris Iler

Alright well lets start with how you came to get into punk and hardcore. What was the first band you got into, and your first show and year if you remember that?

I used to live in Windsor…my home town and I by chance tuned into a radio show called The Imperfection Hours on CJAM out of the U of W. The Imp Hours was a punk show and they used to play stuff like Minor Threat and Dead Kennedys…this was around 1984. First punk show was around then too…SNFU and Sudden Impact played the U of W pub called The Subway.

What was your first punk/hardcore record?

Misfits Walk Among Us

How did you first get involved with the scene? Was that with the zine you started? Or was there implications before? Did you play in bands?

I never did a zine although I have contributed to many. I guess I got into the scent largely through a guy who I met through CJAM named Paul Abrash. We both put in a proposal to the radio station to do a metal/hardcore crossover radio show…we were teamed up to do a weekly show called SHREDDING INTENSITIES. I did not play in bands at this time…that came later when I moved to Victoria in the 90′s.

Ya Paul Abrash from Crisis of Faith. So at that time you had already moved to Toronto. And was it through this radio show that you decided to start releasing material? Can you explain a bit how the “Summer Squash” tape came about?

Paul and I were both from Windsor and met there. We became good friends and moved to Toronto in 88. We started a new radio show out of CHRY (York University) called DEATH METAL UP YOUR KILT. A few years later I stepped out of the DMUYK show and started co-hosting a show at CHRY with Stephe Perry called FAST & BULBOUS ION THE SPOT…my tastes were changing and I preferred punk to the death metal thing. Stephe was compiling a tape comp at the time called ONTARIO YOURS TO DISCOVER…I helped him out w/art for this project and it inspired me to do a tape comp…SUMMER SQUASH was a 100 minute tape and photo zine that documented the punk scene in T.O the summer of 1990.

Can you recall the majority of bands that were on that tape?

There were 20 bands in total. I recorded them live off the board at various venues in the city at the time. The bands were ROCKTOPUS, SUPERFLY, SONS OF ISHMAEL, KINGPIN, PHLEG CAMP, TENT OF MIRACLES, DEEP END, EPILEPTIC BRAIN SURGEONS, GUILT PARADE, SHARK GRAFFITI, MSI, ONE BLOOD, TOTENTANZ, SUCKERPUNCH, CHANGE OF HEART, 5 FT NOTHING, NO IDENTITY, 4 1/2 REASONS FOR RETROACTIVE ABORTION, LIQUID JOY & MUD. 400 copies were made.

And was that officially released on Fans of Bad Productions or independent at the time?

That was the first FOBP release.

How did you come to use that name of the label?

Stephe worked at a student newspaper and he helped me with the production of the photo zine part of the Summer Squash comp. One night hanging out there he said he was a fan of bad production as apposed to a slickly produced record. It stuck.

At the time he was just starting to do Raggamuffin Soldier. Did you consider doing a label together?

No but we both certainly helped each other with each other endeavours over the years. Stephe was and still is a hugely influential person in my life.

The label’s next release was another compilation called “Made in Michigan”. How did this compilation come about? Was it still only bands from Canada?

That tape was basically a bootleg compilation with Detroit bands. I accumulated lots of demo tapes and stuff from Detroit area bands when i did radio in Windsor (border city w/Detroit) a couple handfuls of dubs were basically given away to whoever was interested.

Did any of the bands on the comp take it seriously or asked to work with you on an album release?

Yes…Paul and I were friends with one of the Detroit bands called ATTACK & DECAY. They released a demo called Lunchbox Philosopy. It made a great 8 song 7-inch!

Which was one of the labels next releases. Did the band often play in Ontario or were they solely known in Michigan?

They played Windsor 2 or 3 times before breaking up. They changed their named to INTACT but recorded nothing and fizzled out soon after. Because Paul and i did that record together the label was a split release with FOBP and the one time ever label name known as SPAM DAGGER.

The next release for FOBP was another tape comp called YA MA BZZZ. it came out in 1991 and featured 7  Toronto bands. LIQUID JOY, MUD, CRISIS OF FAITH, MOURNING SICKNESS, GODS MOM, HI DUMMY, CHICKEN MILK. The idea for the YA MA BZZZ tape was that it featured some new bands that weren’t around at the time the Summer Squash tape was put out and it featured more than just a live recording of each band. It was the first time songs from Crisis of Faith with Dave Lake on vocals was released. The YA MA BZZ  comp. was more of a release of friends bands.

There was then another compilation, “This Ain’t the Hot Fudge Show”…

After the YA MA BZZ tape came the Hot Fudge 7 inch comp… the labels first vinyl release… featuring 4 bands with the common link of members from each band attending the Ontario School Of Art. HI DUMMY, LIQUID JOY, MUD, CHICKEN MILK. 500 copies were pressed on red wax.

At this point you started releasing one band eps. The first was the “Attack & Decay” 7″, which we discussed earlier, and then followed by Dirty Bird’s “A Good Burn” tape and Chicken Milk’s self titled 7″. Did you find it harder to sell solo bands’ records than compilations? Or did it not matter because they were usually close friends bands?

Most comps are label samplers but FOBP comps are more of a documantation of canuk scenes and timeframes. All the comps did well. The Dirty Bird tape was called A Good Burn. Adam who was in Crisis Of Faith was a good friend and thats how FOBP came to release the tape. 200  copies were made. 1000 EPS were made of the 7″.

At this point you moved to Victoria, B.C. You then released “Fuck the Commonwealth”. How did this massive compilation come about? Why did the LP and CD feature different bands?

I moved to BC in 93…Fuck the Commonwealth came out on shortly afterwards. The  commonwealth games were taking place in Victoria at the time…which is how the name came about. First of all the LP format came out and I wasn’t planning a CD version at the time. The record sold out quickly and I decided to do a version on CD… the format allows for more material so I added stuff.

Bands like M Blanket actually changed song on the CD version… why was that?

M Blanket’s Bangles cover was deleted for legal reasons… We were just afraid of potentially getting sued for the use of a cover song. Kid Collision repleced In Your Room. Kid Collision could possibly be the first unofficial Ache Hour Credo song…

There were a lot of bands that became pretty important from “Fuck the Commonwealth” and “Go!”. Were all songs exclusive to the comps to begin with?

Not entirely. but this was still at a time when bands put out tape releases…  so some of the stuff on those comps were previously only available on small run cassette releases. Lots were exclusive to the comps though.

Did you come to work with Dave Drown of Slow to Burn when you moved to BC?

Victoria is a very small town and the punk community is very close knit and incestuous. My first ever show on the island was in a small town up-usland from Victoria called Duncan. Dave brown and Wade from STB picked me up in their van and we went to see M Blanket and Shutdown and Slow Children Playing at a place that was a convenience store in the front and a small room in back w/ a half pipe and the bands played on the floor. It was SO COOL i can’t even convey how rad it was. I became great friends with Dave and Wade and we started a band called TEN DEAD MEN. The STB rooster at this time was only a SHINER EP which those two guys were in.

And you would both end up working with a lot of the same bands…

Yeah… Goatboy, M Blanket, Ache Hour Credo, Daddy’s Hands, Render Useless, Gus, Benchwarmer, Black Market Fruits, Dillinger Mob, Hudson Mack, Submission Hold and Ten Dead Men.

Now Go! is the release you are the most remembered for. It was a massive compilation, and featured a lot of bands that are stuck in the importance of Canadian hardcore and punk. how did you get all these bands together? was it just from collecting demos or did you contact them about new songs for this comp?

So the idea as i recall was to do a Canadian comp to end all comps. The CD version had 47 bands… the double LP had 50. I would ask bands to contribute an unreleased song (at the time) but if all else failed and it was an important band to me i would take anything just to have them represented (example the Propagandhi song had been released on a split 10″ w/ I Spy but fuck i had to have them!). This was at a time before internet..it was a ridiculous challenge! Also VERY FRUSTRATING! But so worth it.

How long did it take to put this together?

Lots of letter writing and phone calls. Inside a year i guess. Lots of formats were mailed to me everything from tapes to DAT s and some CDs. Gathering art was another massive hurdle. The 2XLP format of GO! was released after moving back to ontario in 97. 1000 of each format was made and i still have copies of the 2XLP! I always like to tell people it was the first time Danko Jones was released!

Now what differed from Go! to The Street Enters the House?

When i moved from Victoria to Kingston in 97 i wanted to do another canuk comp… another coast to coast thing w/bands happening at that time… but more of a release that was easier to compile and easier to digest as a consumer.

Because it featured more mainstream bands?

Not not more mainstream… just something that wasn’t as massive because Go! was SO much work…. i tackled another 50 band comp a few years ago with killed by canada which was much easier due to the internet. It had some repeat appearances from bands like Submission Hold and Goatboy but some newer bands like Led By Regret and Manner Farm.

How many copies of that comp were made then? Where did you sell most of these?

I could also put The Street comp out fast and cheap and sell it really cheap. 1000 were pressed and most were sold in Toronto and Montreal… a bunch in Kingston and through the mail. Bands got a bunch to sell in their towns too. I still have copies left.

Alright what came next was two collaborations with Drunk from Sweden. Why did you decide to step away from the Canadian scene and go straight to Northern Europe? How had you come across the band before?

Drunk were from Oslo, Norway. I was a pen pal with Roger from Drunk when he was in a previous band called LIFE BUT HOW TO LIVE IT. Roger is in my opinion the best guitarist ever. Anyway when LBHTLI broke up and Drunk Had a few EPs out in Europe I offered to do a CD release of all the songs. That’s how it started.

So it was a compilation of all the already released material?

The Drunk …again… CD was a collection of four seperate 7″s previously released on various europeon labels. The SPLIT LP w/GOATBOY came next and those songs were new and unreleased.

Was it already then pre-planned that Drunk would come do a Canadian tour with Goatboy?

There was talk then about them coming to Canada yes… but Goatboy didn’t go on the tour. Drunk came to Canada in August 2001 for 2 weeks and played in Ontario and Quebec only. Most of the Quebec shows were with Born Dead Icons. Ontario shows were with 2 Pump Louie and Frenetics.  We used the BDI house as a base..it was a lot of fun! Drunk is now broken up… they put out a third release called Company Tie and then broke up. Roger and 2 other Drunk members are now in a band called Danger!Man.

Lets talk about the Frenetics/Nakatomi Plaza split. Where were each band from and what made this split happen? Was it done due to the success of the previous split, or what?

The Drunk/Goatboy split sold poorly… still have copies. It was a bad decision to pair those 2 bands… basically it’s cause both bands had material but not enough for an album for each and so they were put together. As for the Frenetics/Nakatomi Plaza split, Malcolm from Frenetics played w/Nakotomi Plaza and suggested them for a split 7″. I agreed. The Frenetics track called Countdown radio is probably the best song on all their FOBP titles. The Nakatomi Plaza track is forgettable in my view. In hindsight i would’ve done that differently too.

Did that sell better?

A bit better but still not great…still sitting on a 100 copies or so.

So about four years later you went back to compilations with “Killed by Canada”. Yet again another massive compilation spanned over two discs. What was the wait in due of?

10 years had gone by since the GO! comp and there were so many great canadian bands that I felt it was a perfect time to do another 50 band huge comp… a good time to document what was going on from coast to coast in the form of another collection. It came together really fast compared to the other comps. It was really well received and sold really well.

Did you find it sort of put FOBP back on the map?

Well my intent was really not to make a comeback but to more out go out with a bang… I don’t have the time and desire to continue doing releases all the time… the label is on the backburner in my life right now.

And the next release (and last at the moment) was Velvet Claws ep, which you played in.

Yeah we wanted to do a seven inch and Sticky, my bandmate, and her husband run a label called Music Maul so we split the costs etc and did a co-release. I played drums in VC, it was a drum and bass duo. Sticky’s claim to fame was as a member of Weeping Tile.

Did you have any plans to release full length or ep material from any of these bands? Anything that came really close to happening but fell through?

I wanted badly to do an M Blanket discography and a Ache Hour Credo 10″. I put together an un-official M Blanket discography that i make available on CDR for traders. It’s all over the internet now. It includes the first demo and a great sounding live show w/unreleased stuff. It would have made a great LP. I also wanted to do a series of re-releases of older canuk bands but things never worked out. Bands like Youth Youth Youth and Sudden Impact.  Schizophrenic Records outta Hamilton is having more luck on that front.

And the label is now completely inactive? How many of the releases do you still have available?

Basically i still have a handful of the Velvet Claws EP, The Frenetics/Nakatomi Plaza split, the Drunk/Goatboy split LP and the GO! 2XLP. There is a myspce site for the label and a facebook page and through those and some consignment in stores in Toronto. The label is not actively doing releases at this time… as for the future who knows! The Summer Sqauash tape came out 20 years ago ! thats a long time to do a punk label! I feel like i did my part ya know.

Ragamuffin Soldier Records/Dirty Kidz Records

Not many people may remember this label, but this about to change after you read this fantastic interview with Stephen Perry (who sang in One Blood and Countdown to Oblivion). He still has copies left of the Mexican Power Authority album “Haiku… Gesundheit!” on CD and 2xLP. You can contact him to get copies! equalizingXdistort@ciut.fm

Ragamuffin Solider Records/Dirty Kidz Records interview with Stephen Perry

Where was the label founded and where did you run it from when it began?

Well I have always lived in Toronto. I grew up in North York and so the label first started out there. And a lot of the releases that came out on the label came out while living in various parts of North York. But I did the Blundermen and MPA releases after re-locating downtown. And maybe these subtleties are lost on folks outside of Toronto, because North York is just a suburb of Toronto. But if the question is about figuring out what releases happened when I think the first release was a comp tape called “Ontario: Yours to Discover”. I did this tape when I still lived with my parents in North York. Technically this wasn’t on Ragamuffin Soldier Records, but it led to the label and was the first thing I put out. The reason why I did a comp tape at the time was because there hadn’t been a tape comp in some time from the Toronto area but there was a whole new generation of bands. So the first wave of the Toronto scene was captured on the “Toronto Hardcore ‘83” comp which was a comp put together by Brian Taylor of Youth Youth Youth. By the time I was getting into the local scene none of these bands were around. I was reading MRR pretty religiously by this point and was ordering tape comps in from other parts of the world. I had no idea how to do a record and just figured it was way beyond my means to do something like this, but a tape comp seemed like it was something I could tackle. I started getting to know all the bands playing in our scene and I started finding out that they had songs that they had recorded but didn’t have anything to do with. A comp seemed like it needed to be done. So I did one. And as I started compiling tapes and artwork from bands, I also started gathering advice from other folks who had some experience with doing a comp. The best advice I got was by a guy named Ken that did a comp tape called “How to Tune a Guitar”. This had a lot of the more rock based punk bands from Canada on it. He gave me some contacts of some other people to include in the tape. He told me about Flag of Truce and Porcelain Forehead from Ottawa so I was able to get them on the comp. This was helpful because I didn’t have a lot of bands on the tape that didn’t play in the Toronto scene. These contributions made it more representative of the other scenes in the province. Ken also put me in touch with an industrial band named Sucking Chest Wound. Not only did they have an interesting hardcore song, but they were also artists and were totally into sharing experience with me on how to duplicate tapes. They told me a lot about how to do the tapes myself. So I bought a double tape deck and some metal quality tapes which were the highest sound quality tapes that you could buy commercially and I used those as masters. They also told me not to duplicate more than 50 copies from one tape so I kept count of how many times each tape was used. They had great advise on how to make the master as well. When all was said and done and the tape was together, I bought an ad in MRR and sold the comp. I also sent in a copy to get reviewed and I gave each band a copy of the comp. I was able to get my dad to photocopy the book at his work as I needed copies. I don’t know how many got sold but I didn’t take into consideration all the expenses of the tape so it sold for less than what it cost to make. But I didn’t care. It was just great to get something out and to feel like I was doing something to help the scene.

Then I moved out and we started a punk house in North York. It was called I Ata Pi, the anti-frat. Everyone in the house had a band and we started to practice in the basement and then started doing some shows down there. One of the bands to develop out of that basement was Crisis of Faith. Not many people knew about them, but I was in a band called One Blood and our guitarist and drummer started Crisis of Faith. I thought they were a great band and they had just recorded some material. I had saved up some money from a job that I had so I offered to do a 7”. Then I had to figure out how to do a record. By this time we moved out of the anti-frat and had a new punk house near a place that would become Downsview Station on the Toronto subway line. So the address on the back of that record was where we lived. At this time we were influenced by the political nature of the scene. Vermiform had just started up and we brought Born Against and Rorschach here. The drummer and I did a zine called Drastic Solutions that had some political stuff in it and Crisis of Faith had a political message while still retaining a raw hardcore sound. I was a production manager at the university newspaper at the time and was able to use their light tables at so I put together the cover and centrepiece artwork for the record. Everything was cut and paste back then. So this became the first official record on the label.

I moved downtown a little later and then we put together the Blundermen 10” and later the MPA release. But you can say this has always been a label out of Toronto. One of the many to come from here.

What made you want to start a label? Were you a musician yourself? If so, what bands have you played in before and since? What exactly does Ragamuffin Soldier stand for? Is it a political stand?

When I did the comp I was not a musician or in a band. I just wanted to be able to contribute to the scene. Fair Warning from Montreal had released an LP called “You are the Scene” which was a real expression of the DIY ethic that is so much apart of the scene. Bands like Sons of Ishmael and the Nunfuckers and Problem Children, and Negative Gain and Social Suicide were so awesome. Very few people knew about them outside of our area. The intention has always been to bring some attention to something great happening in our area.

As for bands I sang in a band called One Blood. This is where the name of the label comes from. Ten years after One Blood broke up I would co-sing in another band called Countdown to Oblivion. But at the time when One Blood was going I had dreads. The dreads were a way of me committing to the anti-racism cause. I had just gone to Jamaica with a friend of mine who was from there. When I was leaving to come home I walked to the airport and a security guard started laughing at me and called me a Ragamuffin Soldier. I thought this would be a great name. My friend Chris Iler, who would later start up Fans of Bad Productions label was an awesome artist. He made me a logo. It was me mixed with the Circle Jerks skank guy. I loved the logo. Anyway the name is more personal and partially political.

Sometime then you released a cassette tape compilation called “Ontario: Yours to Discover”. I don’t have the compilation, so could you tell us what bands were on this comp? What motivated you to release this compilation? How many copies were made?

The bands on the comp include the bands in the late 80’s who made up the Toronto scene like Sons of Ishmael, M.S.I., D.O.G., the Nunfuckers, Hype, Negative Gain, Problem Childrne, Social Suicide, Godcorp. and some others. I was finding that a lot of these band had releases, and they were great bands. It was time for the city to have a new comp which would capture some of the music from this time. But some of these bands weren;t really from Toronto, like Hype and Negative Gain came from Oakville. And the Nunfuckers were from kitchener. Social Suicide were from Brantford. So I started thinking of the comp as a province wide comp. Ken Rentner had some material for his old comp by Porcelain Forehead that he said I could use when I got in touch with Porcelain Forehead they recommended Flag of Truce and the Trapt. So the comp just grew. It took two and a half years to make. It was the first release. I think I made about 150 copies of the tape. A while back Chris Iler, who did the artwork for the comp, transferred the tape onto CD. Ed Pyves was telling me about how the “New Breed” comp was up as a download from a blog. And when your interview came in I thought I should make the tape available for download. So you can now download the comp song by song and the booklet up at our blog under

http://equalizingxdistort.blogspot.com/1988/07/various-artists-ontario-yours-to.html

When I made the comp I think I sold about 150 copies so not very many.

Your first release was Crisis of Faith’s “The American Dream…A Global Nightmare” 7″. How did you come to work with Crisis of Faith? Was this before or after they had done their split with Chokehold? How many copies were pressed?

So when we lived on Embro Drive, One Blood practiced in the basement. Crisis of Faith started working out their line up and they recorded ten songs in a studio. Dave Lake had replaced Heath on vocals and Lee, the bass player left. I released an ep. But the split came out at the same time and was from the same recording session. The drummer, Paul Abrash and I and Chris Iler all did a radio show at York University. Ted Wong was one of the other co-hosts. Ted decided to do a label with Spencer Mak, who was a DJ after our show. He also had a history of releasing tape comps. But both releases were sort of a product of being part of the radio station, CHRY. We all came to know each other through campus-community radio.

How was that 7″ received? Was there a buzz at the time about COF?

I think the 7” was sort of received. But they didn’t play out a lot and they broke up shortly soon after so that didn’t help either. But the recording was great. I still loved the recording. It was still worth putting out.

Your next release was the Blunderman 10″ vinyl “Blunder on Bikini Island”. This band was more punk rock than Crisis of Faith. Was this a genre you preferred? How did you come to work with them? How many copies were made of the vinyl?

The Blundermen was from the next generation of bands to come out. Those guys were totally into older punk and oi and so were there followers. They used to do a 4-Skins and a Stiff Little Fingers cover. They did an awesome demo which I loved and went and recorded some new material. They were having trouble trying to get someone to release it. So they approached me about doing the release. It had been quite a few years since I had done a release and I wasn’t really thinking of continuing to do anymore records. But they were having such a hard time getting someone to put this out and I thought they were a great band that should not go unreleased. I was really busy with work at the time and so the band really did all the grunt work on making the release happen. The record had to be a 10” because we didn’t have enough songs for 12” vinyl and we had too much for a 7”.

I really love that record. Do you think a lot of people have unfortunately forgotten about them? Was this the bands only release? I don’t think they toured very much…

I don’t think many people know about them unfortunately outside of their friends and the scene at the time. But I mentioned that the band recorded a demo. More recently Jon had made me a CD with a number of other recordings that the band did. They have loads of recordings that would make for an awesome CD release. Someone needs to do a discography for the band. I was hoping that the band would take it on, but they have all gone their separate ways. John still dabbles with music and I have even heard of a possible reunion show. I think it might happen. John would go on to start two more bands along the same lines as the Blundermen. He is super talented. One of those bands was called the Blastcaps and they self-released a CD.

The label’s final release was the Mexican Power Authority compilation “Haiku… Gesundheit!”, which was a compilation of 3 or 4 of their demos and eps I believe? Who’s idea was it to make this compilation?

My friend Chris Iler had moved to Victoria, BC. One Christmas I decided that instead of hanging out at my folks house I would go to see Chris and his partner Jenn. They were doing Fans of Bad Productions out in Victoria. I had ordered the MPA cassette “Haiku Gesnundheit”, but didn’t really think about going out there to meet these guys. I was starting to learn about the Neos and the significance of this band, but figured that they were part of a scene gone past. The singer Jason, found out I was coming and so he arranged with Chris for me to come over to his place and hang out. Jason was showing me some of the old tape releases from Victoria and we got along great. And I started realizing that MPA were so much like the Neos and that was because Kev Smith was in the Neos. I knew how great the Neos were. They were funny and unpretentious but they were also fast as shit and I was into bands like Larm and Heresy at that point so I knew this was Canada’s answer to this kind of hardcore sound. We just started talking about how the first three cassette releases were so great and one thing led to another and again I thought it was such a shame that nobody knew about this band outside of Vancouver Island. I figured by putting this on vinyl the release would bring some attention to the band. I was not into doing CDs but the band talked me into it. So reluctantly I released the CD at the same time. The band did all the heavy lifting with getting the recording mastered and developing the artwork for the release. I got everything printed. But a double LP is expensive. And MPA wound up breaking up. They weren’t much of a touring band. I still love the band and this material in particular. I just don’t think people made the connection.

MPA was from BC, compared to the Ontario bands you had previously worked with. How was it working with a band all the way on the west coast? Did you find it difficult to make it to their shows or sell their merch?

Normally when distance is involved with a release it becomes an obstacle. And there was periods of not knowing what was happening with the release, but Kev and Jason really took the bull by the horns and got everything done. There was a lot of stuff I didn’t even think about that they did to make the release a quality sounding release. Same is true of the artwork for the covers. One week I thought this was going to take months to get out and the next week they called me and were just finishing up the final touches on the art files for the covers and sending me everything. These guys had thought of everything right down to getting a test press sent directly to them. These are the kind of details that might get lost on a band, but MPA were totally excited about getting this out. And so was I.

This came out on CD and double 12″ vinyl. To this day it’s probably the most available of all your releases. How many copies of each were made and how well did this sell?

I only did 1,000 of each. I printed 2,000 jackets.

How was the label doing at the time? Was it getting recognized, and were you getting contacted by many bands?

There was so much time between each release. In thinking about it now, I think there was different generations of the scene happening between each release so there was no continuity to ever establish the name of the label. Plus I didn’t have a lot of money to get more releases out in between. You really had to rely on saving enough money from your job because none of these releases would ever pay for themselves.

But the label ended up going under… How come?

The label didn’t really go under. I just needed to put my money into my life. I got married and bought a house and couldn’t really afford to keep a label going.

In 1997 you started a new label with your friend Ted Wong called Dirty Kidz Records. This label ended up only releasing one CD, Acrid’s “Eighty-Sixed”. Was it intentional for this label to only release this or it just didn’t happen as well as you hoped?

Mexican Power Authority came out to Ontario and played a few shows before Jason moved to Europe. I put on the show for them here. There was a short lived space in Kensington Market called the Laundrymat. Only a few shows took place there, like a Danko Jones show and a Deadly Snakes show and a Teen Crud Combo show. It seemed like a great space and the show could have beer and be all ages. So I tried to get a good cross section of the scene having Armed and Hammered play the show with Acrid who were a new school straight edge band that used power violence for their sound. All the bands were very different. I even had one of Toronto’s first hip hop DJs come spin some records, but he spun hardcore records instead. It was a crazy night. Anyway, that show kind of made me appreciate Acrid. Those kids went in to the studio and recorded and Kyle Bishop said why don’t you put it out. I didn’t have enough money and so I asked Ted Wong if he wanted to help me with it. I think Kyle came up with the name Dirty Kidz for the label. He was designing the artwork with Matt and they just came up with the name. I don’t think we were going to do anything else after the Acrid release. Kyle convinced the guys from No Idea to release these recordings onto vinyl so we sent them the files to Var and he put everything together for a vinyl release but that was a year or two later.

That album was huge! And Acrid is still well talked about nowadays, no doubt due to the Cursed connection. But that album was a masterpiece, and the fact that No Idea repressed it just shows you it was well worth material. How many copies of it was made? How did you handle this release? Did you tour with the band to support them and help sell the album?

Well the original line up for the SWARM had Mike and Kyle from Acrid in the line up. ACRID formed with Kyle leaving that original line up. And the drummer Mike played in both. The singer Neil was a guy who used to do a lot of the shows out in Oakville. They were great kids. Very enthusiastic about the scene and did everything to make it happen. It was great to be involved with them. And they did tour but I didn’t go with them. I was working and couldn’t get away and I don’t think there was room anyway. We were never asked to go on tour but it was understood that we couldn’t go. The band just took the CDs and sold them on tour. We trusted them completely and had good reason to. I think we only made 1,000 of the CDs. I was recently doing some research on the vinyl pressings on the No Idea site and I think Var pressed 1,500 of each record. The Acrid / Left for Dead split had loads of different presses, which is all available on the No Idea site.

Have you ever made any other merch other than the albums for any bands you worked with, such as shirts, posters, etc?

I never really did merch for any bands. I did have a job as a silk screener but it was for a guy outside of the scene so we didn’t do jobs in the punk scene. And I have done loads of zines. Drastic Solutions was the first one that I helped with and the radio show zine is the one that I still do to this day.

How do you look back on the days you had in the record label business? If you had to do it again would you change anything? Were there releases that were planned but never happened? What bands would you have really wanted to work with?

It was a lot of hard work. And it was pretty thankless. But you did it to try and help the scene. I did want to try and do a compilation of bands doing songs that were criticizing Coca Cola because I did a lot of research on how awful they were. And I put some time into trying to do a bootleg LP that would have the Toronto punk bands on them. Kind of like a Killed By Death comp for Toronto. That one should come out. And now that the Toronto scene is being written about, the comp is overdue.

And finally, what are you doing now with your life?

Every Sunday we do a two hour radio show. I spend loads of time putting work into that. We host a blog site related to history on the scene in Toronto and throughout Canada and we do a zine whenever we can get them out. You can tune in at 89.5 FM in the Toronto area every Sunday night between 10:00pm and midnight or you can check out the blog at http://equalizingxdistort.blogspot.com/ for downloads of the show and other tidbits on the scene.

Winter Records/Rhythm of Sickness Records

Winter Records (later changed name to Rhythm of Sickness Records) was a short operated record label ran by Paul Bright of Shoulder. I really think that this label shouldn’t of gone under, but it did, and well, i just hope that some day these get re-issued digitally.

Winter Records/Rhythm of Sickness interview with Paul Bright

You first started Winter Records in 1994 in London, Ontario. Where did you run your label from the time? What made you settle on the name Winter?

I ran it out of my room in my moms basement, I think i was 16 so i still lived at home. My friend Ben and i were talking about starting a label and we were walking down the street one cold winter night and i thought that the name “winter” was as good a name as any for a label.

What made you decide to form a record label? Had you worked with record labels before, even in your own bands? What was your goal in creating a label?

It just seemed like the logical next step for world hardcore domination. Bands i had been in since 1990 had put out cassette demos but we really wanted to put something on vinyl and didn’t really want to wait for someone else to do it. I had just been to the “A New Hope Hardcore Festival” in Madison, WI and i realized that there were a lot people my age (teens) that were doing labels so i asked around and found out where you could get records pressed and how much it cost….  and then just did it.

How did you end up working with Ignorance Never Settles, which eventually became one of the most important bands from Ontario 90′s hardcore.

I think the singer of INS went to school in London, Ontario  at the time and Scott the singer of As We Speak had their demo. The song on that 7″ by INS sounded like Chokehold, a band that was universally loved by everyone so we though it was a good choice for the other side of the 7″. Our song was a lot faster, much like early 90′s midwestern hardcore, like Endpoint or Spit Lip.

How was that first 7″ received? How many copies were made? As We Speak didn’t last very long after, and the band sort of evolved into Shoulder right? You then once again worked with your own band on Winter, by co-releasing the first album “Touch” with Conquer the World Records out of Detroit. How was the collaboration with CTW at the time?

I think Maximum R&R did a review of the AWS/INS 7″ and it was good, but the As We Speak cassette demo was way better than the 7″ and the last unreleased stuff we did with Bry (who ended up being in Shoulder) was super good. I still have a vhs of the last As We Speak show… pretty heavy. Mike Warden from CTW was like a kind of psychotic uncle erie ( The Who reference ) type figure for all of us in the scene in London.  He came up to London with all the midwestern and Detroit hardcore bands to and we would go down to the Grounds Coffee House and places like that to see Detroit hardcore shows. I distinctly remember seeing the Strife, Earth Crisis and Snapcase show at the Ground Coffee House at the University of Detroit in 93. Those bands had a tremendous influence on As We Speak. Mike and i eventually put out the Shoulder lp.

The labels 3rd release was your only time working with a none Canadian band, Fieldtree. How did you come in contact with this Michigan band, and what was the reception of this release 7″?

Fieldtree was a band from Michigan, I like the recording and just though it was a good thing to put out, i don’t remember much more about it.

You then worked with Holocron, releasing their 7″ EP. This would end up being the labels last output under the name Winter. How was this release welcomed? I assume that when the band released their split with Reversal of Man later that year, it managed to get more copies of that record sold?

People liked it. There were a lot a amazing crusty, hardcore bands from Quebec at the time that were getting a lot of attention from HeartattaCk magazine. People were into that shit at the time. They were from Guelph  and Toronto. That was a really screamy and intense record, one of my favs. It still holds up.

In 1996 you changed the name of the record label to Rhythm of Sickness. The name was taken from a Shoulder song (Kindling to be exact). Why did you decide to change the name of the label? Did you find a set back when doing this or were the same people still following? By this time you also had a different address, where were you operating from by then?

Around this time the band Shoulder came in to the world and we were writing and recording quite a bit… one of Bry’s lyrics in the song “Kindling”  were “all the kids are dancing to a rhythm, a systematic rhythm of sickness….” and for some reason i change the name of the label to “Rhythm of Sickness” or ROS, kids used to call me ROS the boss. I think by that time i had moved out on my mom’s basement. At that time i opened a record store, with the ROS name.

You were then working on a various artist compilation. What can you recall about that? It never came out, but can you remember who was supposed to be on it?

I know Drift and Jonah from quebec contributed a song each and Propagahndi was going to give me a live song… Holocron as well and Shoulder recorded the song “This Is Not An Exit” for it.

The name of the LP was “The Cold Front” and it was all Canadian bands. The cover was going to be a group of 7 paintings but then I changed my mind about the artwork after seeing an album cover by a hardcore band called Threadbare. T tracked down the artist that did the painting (Jordin Isip) and went to meet him in NYC. After that I got invoved with the art scene in NYC  and started to phase out my music activities. I went back to london and transformed my record store into an art gallery and the comp never came out.

The first released album by the labels new name was your next Shoulder release, the Kindling 7″, which was once again co-released by Conquer the World. However this time only a vinyl version of the album was made, as compared to almost all CTW releases which had a vinyl and cd version released. What was the story behind that and how was the involvement with the label by then? Mike Warden (of CTW) once told me he had plans to release this ep with bonus tracks of compilations and demos. Was this part of the original plan?

Around that time a lot of people were out to get Mike, like kill him. One time me and him were literally barricaded inside his loft in down town Detroit by these dudes from Florida that wanted to kill him. I think he tried to kill himself. It was crazy. His old loft used to be Funkadelic’s jam spot. Mike was going through some hard times then, he probably could not afford both vinyl and cd.  hahah

What came next was one of the most notorious splits of Canada. I read that this split, Chokehold/Left For Dead, was originally meant to be a Shoulder/Chokehold split. The split did become huge and is now very hard to find, as everyone who has it, keeps it. How many copies were made of that split? Both bands had broken up by then but were doing reunion shows, or was this released before their breakups?

This was released while both bands were still active. 1000 were made. I sold most at some fest in Toronto in 96? I just remember absolutely fucking worshipping Chokehold, they could have mailed me a turd and i would have released it somehow. LFD were a bit different. I know it sounds crazy now but at the time they kinda seemed like some kind of throw back band, like to a different era. They were amazing though. I remember seeing DRI when i was 13. It was me and my friend Ben, and this huge native american guy and that was the pit. Just us 3. He would basically just crack me and Bens heads together but we loved it. “Thrash Zone” from Left For Dead had that vibe.

What occurred then was total change in musical direction for the label. You worked with Wooden Stars first and then with Snailhouse, which both were bands by Mike Feuerstack. At the time the bands were residing in Ontario and not Quebec, but how did you hook up with them and decided to release material from indie bands rather than hardcore and emo you had been focusing on until then?

I just was tired with the bullshit hardcore scene in Ontario. I was 100% emo….!!!! And so were the Wooden Stars, in fact Bry still jams out with Mike. You have to be careful of what kind of barriers you put around you. I always though The Afghan Whigs were one of the greatest emo bands of all time…..

Both of those releases were pretty well received from the reviews i read, but yet they were the final output for the label, which has been on hiatus since. How many copies of those CDs were made?

I made 1000. I changed the ROS label and record store into an art gallery. Still totally DIY.

How do you look back on your days running the label?

Ya i miss all that shit. I still am exactly the same. Still totally DIY, hardcore, fuck everything and everyone. I still have never had a real job, never voted, never been to a strip club. hahah i have a lot of extreme bitterness and resentment towards the world. I bough a book on amazon the other day about emo.
We put out records and distributed them, booked tours, set up shows for bands from all over the place, started a  scene, no cell phones, no internet or computers. no email. I don’t know how we did it.

What was the complete discography of material released by Winter/Rhythm of Sickness?

WIN-001 As We Speak/Ignorance Never Settles – Split (1994)
WIN-002 Shoulder – Touch (1995)
WIN-003 Fieldtree – Fleas in His Collar (1995)
WIN-004 Holocron – Celestial Sphere (1996)
ROS-002 Shoulder – Kindling (1996)
ROS-003 Chokehold/Left For Dead – Split (1996)
ROS-004 Wooden Stars – Rise Up and Get Down (1998)
ROS-005 Snailhouse – The Radio Dances (1998)

Thanks a bunch for taking the time with this interview man!

Upheaval Records

This is the second interview in a series of Canadian record labels, and this is one of my all time favorite record labels! Everything released by this dude was amazing! And it definitely stands the test of time!

Dan actually has copies left of the New Day Rising 7″, Lockjaw CD and Day of Mourning CD. You can email him to acquire some copies for your own.
endangered999@yahoo.ca

Upheaval Records interview with Dan Krbavac

When was the label formed and where was it located originally?

The label was formed in 1996. I ran it out of Hamilton. At first, I would trade my releases with other labels from all over the world, so the whole room would be just packed with records. It was kind of neat where it was my fantasy equivalent to business people who dream of wanting to roll around in money. I didn’t actually want to roll around in records, but I loved having boxes of them everywhere. It was a great way to hear of some new record from somewhere else that was so good it would end up in my personal collection. You get enough records that end up being not so stellar as well, though.

Why did you decide to form the label? Had you worked with labels before or did anyone help you out to start the label? And how old were you when you formed Upheaval?

I was really into collecting records ever since I was in my single digits. By high school, I was got into punk, hardcore, grindcore, etc. By 20, I thought it would be fun to put out records. So, I started to draw finds from my savings that I acquired from working an insane amount of hours at Zellers.
I didn’t know of anyone in relation to the scene. There was only one guy in high school who was also into hardcore. So I didn’t grow up with those who basically comprised the scene in Hamilton. They all went to different schools, so I had no scene related connections. Through the one friend in High School who actually liked the same stuff as me, I was led to a show at the House of Zack. Great night. Cease Fire (Bill from Lockjaw, Buffalo was in that band years before I ever met him), Mayday who were just phenomenal and Edgewise were also great.

Like I said, no connections, though. No clue what I was doing which was totally evident. Especially the social aspect which I find is similar to working in a corporate environment to this day.

Were you a musician yourself? Did you play in any bands?

I played drums. At the time, I played in a band called Drive By. The era when I was putting out records was overcome with a lot of screamy emo bands in Ontario. Drive By was great for me because they were heavy and not trying to do any of that. They were all relatively younger than I. I was in college, they were in high school. It was a band more influenced by Roadrunner bands and stuff like the Deftones etc. More metal and post hardcore I guess. It only lasted for a year. It would have been great to see how much better we would have gotten. Musically, I got to use my double pedal, so I was pretty happy. I really like the people in the band, especially looking back. I miss it, actually. The lot of them were great as far as human beings are concerned. It was pleasantly different from some of the DIY emo kids I would cross paths with when I started putting out records, truthfully.

Upheaval Records. What was the inspiration for the name?

The name Upheaval? A friend of mine actually came up with the name. I thought it was great. To this day, everything about this world is just wrong and is in need of being turned upside down in order to be fixed. I don’t only blame the powers that be, the general population doesn’t do anything about it, either.

Can you state the complete released discography of the label?

New Day Rising double 7” – Less than 2000 copies
Ignorance Never Settles CD – 1000 copies
Lockjaw “A Lesson in Hate” – Less than 1000
Day of Mourning ST – 1000 copies

Your first release was New Day Rising’s double 7″. How did you choose to work with NDR as the label’s first release. What was your relation with the band?

Before I put out records, I started a distro to break the ice with people at shows. I remember bringing a box of records to sell at a show that was going on in a Church basement in Mississauga. It turned out that a member of New Day Rising was a family friend of mine. So naturally, we were talking and I said that I was interested in putting out their record. So he hooked me up with the powers that be in the band.

A double 7″ isn’t something you see often, how did that happen, and what was the reason for it? How did it represent your label at the time, since NDR already have a few releases on Moo Cow that were doing very well. How many copies were pressed of this album?

It was only supposed to be a single 7”. Someone else was to put the other one out but they backed out. I think my release was their first post demo. Truthfully, I wasn’t a huge emo fan. It was my least favorite era of punk and hardcore. It was rather disappointing that there were not more faster bands. I like all the subgenres to some extent or another, but there was very little fast and heavy bands in the area and I had no connections to the bands in the US at the time. That is why I found myself crossing the border with whomever into Buffalo a lot to see bands like Snapcase, Sick Of It All, Agnostic Front, Spazz, etc. The show that was the true highlight in Ontario was when Catharsis played with Ascension and Morning Again in their original line up. Funny thing is, Rye Coalition ended up bailing on their location elsewhere to play that same show. This was probably back in 1996. I think it was 1998 when an early Converge did a show at the same location in Oakville. It was rare for the heavier US bands to come here at the time because the emo kids led by the more prominent emo bands often ridiculed the more heavy sounding bands, especially if they were not as popular, and to those who would want to dance to them at a show. They kind of acted like John Lithgow’s character in the movie Footloose when he made a law against dancing. I am being totally serious.

Back to New Day, despite not being an emo kid, I thought they were a great live band in the beginning. There are close to 2000 copies of the double 7”. Some still remain in boxes somewhere. Some were thrown out because of space.

Second release, the Ignorance Never Settles CD. A band that even today, is recognized for its importance on the Ontario hardcore scene. How do you look back on that release? What can you tell us about that album? Can you also recall the pressing amount of this album?

INS were a lot closer to what I liked, musically. Despite not having fast parts to their music, they were heavy and really enjoyable in the studio and live. Because of their kind of sound, the label went CD as a lot of their audience were not in on the vinyl thing. That was an avenue I regret going down, especially because the planned vinyl release of the their album never came to fruition. Only 1000 copies on CD. Most sold to Germany and its surrounding countries. I tried to encourage Mike from the band to get INS to go there, but they weren’t too motivated to do much touring locally as it was. Too bad, I felt they would have had a better run if they put in the effort.

Now in 1997 you decided to work with an out of Canada band, Lockjaw, from Buffalo, NY. How had you come in contact with this band? How was it working with a band from a different country (even if its was still pretty close). How did that album do? It seems to be the most obscure one of the releases by the label. How many copies of this cd exist?

Lockjaw was finally the kind of band that reflected what I enjoy listening to. Fast and heavy while not afraid to put in breakdown parts. They found their way to a show in Mississauga, so was I ever happy when they started playing. Unfortunately, it was still the tale end of the emo situation here, still. The heavier situation was in full swing States side, but unfortunately, the band broke up not long after the CD release, anyway. Notice a trend here? Needless to say, that album did poorly. Despite that, I ended off on a good enough note with the band. I still see Bill (vocals) from time to time. Good guy. It helps not caring about the financial loss of a release when the go to person from the band was good to you when everything was said and done.

Finally you put out the debut Day of Mourning album, which was a total masterpiece. What was your feeling towards working with DOM?

Day of Mourning. Overall, I really liked my release of their CD and they were pretty good to work with. Along with New Day Rising, they were the hardest working band as far as touring was concerned. They never caught on like they should have despite their efforts. I was going to release their next record as well, Your Future’s End. However, I was growing exhausted of my personal experience with the label-band dynamic as a whole, not specific to Day of Mourning, by this release. So I quietly just kind of fizzled out of site when it came to putting out any new records at all, anymore. Saying that, Your Future’s End wound up being released by Sounds of Revolution and is such a remarkable feat. Just unbelievable. I am happy to see that Domenic is now in the US doing his thing. That is where he belongs and hopefully he is happy where he is at with all is efforts. The last time I saw him was years back in Hamilton. The show line up was an early Fucked Up, Out To Win and Integrity who didn’t show up. Dom was in great spirit which really helped me get over some of the disappointment over the whole label experience.

I’m sure the record did really well even back then, because it is still the most easy to find release from your label to this day. How many copies were pressed?

Only 1000 copies of my Day of Mourning CD were made. I still have about 40. None of my CD releases went beyond 1000. The extra pressing of the New Day double 7”s wasn’t necessary, either.

Were you the type to tour with the bands you signed?

I would only venture out with a band the odd time for a single show in a single city. For example, I went with New Day Rising was scheduled to play the Clevo Hardcore Fest back in 1996. We went up with one of the members in my car, the rest of the band in another vehicle. I remember walking in to the place. Catharsis was playing. I just got in a few copies of their first 7” released by Endless Fight earlier that same week and was really into them. So I already felt at home. Emo bands were the minority there, not the majority. Plenty of hard dancing without emo kids and emo bands standing off to the side, making fun of the heavier bands and the kids having a good time on the dance floor during their set. The same evening, Integrity did a kick ass set. It was a Clevo fest, and they were a Clevo band. Needless to say, they owned the place. Once their set was done, they brought One Life Crew on stage, uninvited by the girl putting on the fest to what I recall. That was the night OLC went barreling through the audience to beat up a kid who was giving them the finger as they began Pure Disgust.

To give you an idea as to how busy I was, I was playing in a band, going to school, and have to find the time to get records pressed or whatever. I would literally be falling asleep at the wheel while driving around, from city to city, to get things done.
So typically, I would go to shows across the border with whomever, but never toured with the bands. Hell, two of the bands never really toured, anyway.
Consequently, that was THE detriment to the label. See next question for further explanation.

How did you distribute the releases throughout Canada and the States back then?

I was distributed in Canada through FAB and relied heavily on the bands taking the releases on the road, which was the reason I’d never see much of my share of the money from sales. There was always a reason with certain members of some of the bands as to why they did not have my cut when they came back from a tour or out of town show. I’d get mad, so some would try to make me out to be a capitalist which is a no-no in the scene. In reality, my cut was only to cover the manufacturing costs of the releases. My releases were beyond the quality of photocopied covers, after all. So every new release was more out of my savings from working at Zellers because I could never recuperate financially from the previous release. I couldn’t tour with bands to really supervise the sales of the CDs. So I actually had to trust people. Big mistake. Now I won’t even give to a charity.

Ironically, Kyle from Grade took a bunch of my INS CDs with Grade to a Florida gig, once. Get this, he actually sold all the stuff of mine he took there and actually gave me the money when he returned. I couldn’t believe it considering doing anything for me would be of no benefit to him as I had nothing really to offer a band of Grade’s status. I will never forget that as some of my own bands were not that honorable. There is some good in the world.

In the US, my releases were carried by Very Distro and Ebullition, to name a few. Then there was Green Hell out of Germany.

Did you ever press other merch for bands, other than the albums? If so, what?

I had shirts made for Ignorance Never Settles. The first incarnation were terribly made and faded after the first wash. The second incarnation was done by someone else and looked slick. Half sold in Canada, the other half was sent to Europe. I was told that bands touring Europe couldn’t help but notice kids wearing them from one town to another.
Free bumper stickers for Lockjaw.

What were some of the planned releases that never happened or releases that you talked about doing but didn’t happen?

Planned releases that never came to? There were some bands I was casually talking about a possible release with. I only lasted for four releases, however.

What was the story with the Blake/Gates of Dawn split 7″? It was even advertised in the HeartattaCk zine as UP003.

The Blake/Gates of Dawn 7”. I remember putting that in an ad. Blake ended up not being part of it for whatever reason I cannot remember. No drama there. However, we were still on for a full Gates of Dawn 7”. I was pretty excited. I really liked them and it was a chance to get back to releasing vinyl. So I went to the studio with them to record the tracks. Later that week I think it was, a third party tells me the band decided to do the release with someone else who did not even have a label. The last I heard about that Gates recording, one of the songs from that recording session appeared on a compilation because the 7”, of course, never happened with the other party. I know this sounds lame but I was really disappointed in them. The couple of them that I knew somewhat did at least put some effort into leaving off on a good note, which I did appreciate.

When and why did the label fold? Have you worked with any other labels since? Is there any future plans for Upheaval, or with the already released material, which is now pretty hard to find?

The label basically folded in 1998. At this point, you can tell why. No plans for any new releases. With the exception of Ignorance Never Settles, I have spare copies of everything else, so they are not as rare as you would think.
It is highly unlikely I will ever put out another release again. If I were to put out more records, it would be under a different name, much more limited runs and far less involvement in funding the studio recording. That way, if a band wants to bail for any reason, I have so little invested I could care less.
Finally, thanks for your kind remarks, Alexandre. I really appreciate your interest in the label as it was a really tough go. All the best.

13th Day Recordings

Alright I had been telling some people that I had something big coming up. And I’m really excited to finally introduce it to you guys. What I am starting up is a series of posts concerning Canadian record labels. This is the first post of the series, and I’m honored that Domenic Romeo took some time off to answer my questions. I hope you guys will enjoy it!

x13th Dayx Recordings interview with Domenic Remeo

When was the label formed and where was it located originally?

Hmm if I remember correctly I’m going to say 1997.  So many bands, shows and records have happened since then, it’s totally a blur.  But I’m going to pin-point it to around the time when Day of Mourning started.  It was always located out of Malton, Ontario which is where I lived at the time.  A small suburb sandwiched walking distance between the airport and the railroad.

Why did you decide to form the label? Had you worked with labels before or did anyone help you out to start the label?

I just liked the idea of being able to put out whatever I want, nothing more than that really.  It’s still the same reason why I release records to this day.  My friend Dan who did Upheaval Records helped me get set in the right direction as did James Hardtime who used to do Sounds Of Revolution.  We all kinda figured things out together and would help each other along.

The label bared the straight-edge symbol (x13th Dayx). Was it a straight edge only label? Did it have any other affiliations such as vegan or militant ideals? In general, what was the label ABOUT?

Just a nod to things I loved at the time.  At 20 I was all about being SXE and horror movies.  Not much has changed I guess, although the edge definitely got dull over time and violent horror movies kinda weird me out nowadays.  I credit Baltimore City on both accounts.

You decided to release your own band’s material on the label. What made you decide to do this? What did it bring the bands as compared to staying with Sounds of Revolution or Upheaval which had released your prior albums for Day of Mourning?

Once again, just not having to answer to anyone/anything and do things as I pleased.  SOR and Upheaval were both run by friends of mine who wanted to do records for Day of Mourning and help the band out.  It was great having records on so many labels and having them all work together and not be competitive or whatever.

Can you state the complete released discography of the label?

• Day Of Mourning – Guilty Innocence Roaming Demo Tape, 1998
• Coalition Against Shane – It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold My Cack Demo Tape, 1998
• Day of Mourning / Red Sky – A Move Towards Ascension~Forsaking Redemption CD, 1999
• Coalition Against Shane – Down with the King Tape, 1999
• A Death for Every Sin – God’s Final Descent CD, 1999 (split with Sounds of Revolution)
• Coalition Against Shane / THOR – Keeping the Dogs Away CD (split w/Carmichael Records), 1999
• Day Of Mourning / Clenched Fist – Split CD, 2000

I think that is it, it was fairly short lived.

What were some of the planned releases that never happened and why (if you recall)?

Coalition Against Shane had a 7″ worth of music laid out that never saw the light of day.  It was going to be called ‘Turban Discipline’  Day of Mourning had a full length laid out that would have probably ended up on there as well.  Other than that, I don’t think so.

How did you come to work with Thor, which even at the time was a pretty old band.

Everyone in XCASX were THOR fanatics. I remember there was a first song on the demo about how much Mike hated this dude John Moran who was the Q-107 DJ at the time. He would get on the mic at hardcore shows and try to like pump up the crowd, and throw free CDs out etc…Mike hated that guy sooo much haha. So, somehow the middle of the song turned into a parody of ‘Keep The Dogs Away’ by Thor.
Fast forward to one of the most amazing concert experiences of my life. THOR at some weird mob type bar in Scarborough. He rocked us all senseless, and even took the time to hang out with us afterwards (as well as these two weird twin brothers that kept staring at Pantera’s boobs). We gave him a demo, and somehow managed to get in touch with him/got him to agree to do the split.
I’ve run into him randomly over the years, including when Mike XCASX and I were in Vancouver for Jay’s (Day of Mourning) wedding last year. Funny enough, he will be flying to Baltimore for my birthday this year and performing a set of all my favorite THOR hits with Pulling Teeth as his backing band. Should be wild.

When and why did the label fold? You then founded A389 Recordings after being relocated to Baltimore, Maryland. Was their any other label involvement in between this and x13th Dayx, as A389 was founded in 2005 i believe?

Yes, that sounds about right. X13DX folded around 1999 when I decided I wasn’t going to do a label or bands for a while. Day of Mourning and XCASX were both on their last legs, so I kinda had to re-assess everything that I was doing.  So I moved away, started new bands and a new record label.

Thanks for taking your time to answer all this Dom, and i hope you continue on with A389 for a long time, and i hope to see that Day of Mourning compilation soon!!!

Thanks for the interview Alex.  Long live the goat.  I miss that guy.
D