The Michigan Daily - Weekend etc. - Thursday, December 8, 1994 - 7 * Independent Reptiles and the real world By TED WATTS In the wilds of Minnesota, Minne- apolis to be exact, there lives a record label. That record label's name is Am- phetamine Reptile Records, or AmRep forshort. With its logo of those words super- imposed over the word "noise" in big letters being borne on some of the best indie sounds around today, AmRep is fine place to examine them there inde- pendent labels. "It basically just started as a label to put out my own band's stuff, nothing more than pretty much straight vanity pressing," explained Tom Hazelmyer, head of AmRep and guitarist and vo- calist for the now disintegrated Halo of Flies. "Itjust started snowballing. Did another friend's band early on, the Thrown Ups, which were like the Mudhoney guys before Mudhoney was around. Then we started getting tapes from the three or four things we had out. Got a couple things from there. It ,ust started snowballing. We were strictly seven inches early on." And while it has moved up to tapes and even compact discs, AmRep has not turned its back on vinyl. "It's pretty much becoming a lost cause, but I'll stay in those trenches until we're over- run," said Hazelmyer. They have even done special vinyl releases for the Melvins and Helmet. "At that point, the majors had killed vinyl as couple of sears prior. We still had a good rela- tionship with (Helmet), and they real- ized that the major was not going to be doing any vinyl, soit was a'Why don't wedoit9' kindofthing."Thereleaseof "Meantime" was not all that groundbreaking, but the fact that the "Betty" vinyl release contains three bonus tracks not available on tape or CD demonstrates the usefulness of the indie to the fan. But connections to the majors are not necessarily positive for Haze. "With few exceptions, we've become good friends with our bands. We obviously believe in ourbands so (seeing them go to major labels) is not something we want to see happen. I would rather continue working with them than see them go over to that realm." He also feels the bigger companies can't give as much to the bands. "You watch some indie labels get so large, they just lose their soul. You're not personal friends with the bands any- more, you don't give a shit if it grows to that size. And that's the biggest thing about people talking about major la- bels that seems to be missing. That's their biggest drawback, that they're a corporation. You may be friends with one or two people there, but Joe Blow in accounting doesn't know you from shit and couldn't care less. That atmo- sphere never exists here." The personal work that goes into the output certainly shows in things like the AmRep "Dope, Guns and Fucking in the Streets" series of com- pilation vinyl singles. Presenting great artists from both the label's stable (Cows, Helmet and Helios Creed among others) and cool bands from other places (Boredoms, Tad, Superchunk and the Jesus Lizard to name a few), the DGF's show just how high compilations can climb in terms of content, even if the name is a bit hard to explain to yourmom. And that'snot even mentioning the syringes, dildos and condoms that are featured as the cover art. "It was never suppossed to be a series. It was going to be a one off single for a friend of mine's fanzine and that's why we crammed four bands Tom Hazelmyer, head honcho of Amphetamine Reptile Records, is seen here a few years ago in his band Halo of Flies. on there. Man that was a long time ago. And then his fanzine never happened. I was sitting on a box of 500 singles for four or five months and finally said 'Geez Mike, I'm sorry but fuck ya."So I ended up just making a sleeve for it and slapping it out. I don't think that magazine ever did come out," remi- nisced Hazelmyer. Relatedly, a whole mess of AmRep bands were featured on a Sub Pop double Single of the Month called "Smells Like Smoked Sausage." "Early on in the 'Dope' series I set some ground rules, which were no repeat bands. Those on 'Smells Like Smoked Sausage' were all AmRep bands that had already done 'Dope' tracks. Itjust made sense since Sub Pop was talking to a big chunck of the bands about doing individual singles, and so why not do it in one shot." How can this small indie label have such a fine output, while majors with greater resources might not? "You get to do what the hell you want," ex- plained Haze. "Commercial aspects are never really a big consideration be- cause you can run without budgets, per se. There's a lot more flexibility. A major would never do four fifths of what we pull off because of the money. If we get a demo in the mail and it really blows us away we'll crank out a single for shits and giggles. A major would have to send them to a studio for $100,000, start the $70,000 ad campaign rolling, and the radio, and the $40,000 video. This is a whole nother mentality ... The major draw- back is the money, too, heh heh. Like when you're trying to balance the checkbook and pay for printing on this or what bill gets paid." But the financial ups and downs of indie workings are taking their tolls. "It's starting to look pretty grim out there. I'd be surprised if it's going to be as healthy as it was five years ago five years from now, by a long shot. The harsh part is that the whole indie network, if it's not being swallowed up, is being shoved out. The mom and pop store network is definitely taking a beating right now, which does not bode well for indie labels, since we're not going to be pushing our shit in Musicland any day soon. The bigger chains, someone like Tower, would never have called us up back when we were doing 500 singles. It was the mom and pop stores that did it." Let's all work towards surprising Hazelmyer. Independent record labels booming as listeners flock to low-hype bands INDIES Continued from page 1 the right moves. They don't make poor decisions, though." Touch and Go's roster of bands, which currently *ncludes Seam, the Jesus Lizard, the Mekons, Steve Albini's Shellac and Detroit natives Mule, "get personal contact with all of us," Conde as- sured. "They know they can come in to sit down and talk to Corey (Rusk, the label's founder)." Touch and Go, like Matador and Sub Pop, is a larger indie, and it car- ries with it the same advantages. "We *re well-staffed in promotions and sales. As far as indies go, we've got all the bases covered," said Conde confidently. With the promise of honest and approachable label management, not to mention a more advantageous profit split and much-desired indie credibil- ity, why do many bands still sign with the majors? Conde offered, "There's lways the temptation of making a wetter living. I know for a fact that some bands on Touch and Go still have to work day jobs. Because of the nature of the business, the machine, there's only so far we can take them. It takes a lot of money to get mass exposure, money that indies don't have." Matador managed this problem by forging a joint relationship with major Atlantic, which more popular musicians like Phair, the Fall and Yo LaTengohave utilized.Orr explained, "Matador still calls the shots, but those artists are taking advantage of what Atlantic has to offer as well." This advantage can result in greater mass media exposure for Matador's artists along with a bigger paycheck. Big money, however, is far from reach for many artists who take the initiative to start their own labels. "We make $200 a month," said Jenny Toomey, lead singer for the Wash- ington, D.C.-area band Tsunami and co-founder of Simple Machines Records. She sighed, "Itpays the rent." Toomey and partner / bandmate Thompson run Simple Machines out of their house, releasing recordings by her own band and friends like moody folk duo Ida. Stated Toomey proudly, "During 'Working Holiday' (an impressively rostered Simple Machines compilation now available) we put together 36,000 seven-inches in our living room." Toomey and pal Brad Sigal began the label in 1989 as a mail-order cata- logue. She recalled, "We'd recorded a bunch of songs, and they weren't in the style of the more established la- bels so I didn't think we'd have a chance of getting asked to be on those. So we decided to do it ourselves." Thompson stepped in after Sigal's departure six months later and be- came Toomey's legal partner. Re- membered Thompson, "When I actu- ally met people our age who were putting out records on their own I realized that this was something al- most anyone can do. There are a lot of people in this area who are doing it themselves, even on a huge scale like Fugazi (lead singer Ian MacKaye runs the ferociously independent Dischord) and Minor Threat." Toomey and Thompson quickly learned that operating their own label gave them complete mastery over all aspects of the projects they released, including their own. Elaborated Th- ompson, "You have control over how many records you press, what they look like, where they get sold. It's a direct line between the band and their listeners." It hasn't been easy for anyone, though. Toomey said, "Two days a week I work at Kinko's from mid- night to 8 a.m. I wake up at three and start working (at the label) again." Thompson handles much of the art and computer business herself. Two other paid employees and two "shiny- faced interns with bands," as Toomey describes them, keep Simple Ma- chines running smoothly on a tight budget. Commented Thompson, "Jenny and I have each put in about $1500 of our own money, total. But printing posters and CD covers alone costs a lot." Simple Machines does receive oc- casional financial support from Dischord to help cover costs. Ex- plained Thompson, "Dischord loans us money for the big LPs that we'd never have enough to pay in advance for. We pay them back right away, as soon as we've sold enough to cover it." That attitude among area indies results in a flourishing local scene. It's an enviable situation, one which major labels and even the big indies must envy. 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