Nevin from IFB is an awesome guy who runs one of the best
d.i.y. labels and distros around. He caught my attention a few years back when
he started releasing records for Cloud Rat and Old Soul, two of Michigan’s best
bands who also happen to include some of our very finest people. A little while
later I started checking out his distro, only to discover that is stuffed to
the gills with some of the best international hardcore, screamo, grind, crust,
post-rock, etc.; all at the cheapest prices you’re going to find anywhere.
Nevin doesn’t have much of an internet presence; no Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram, any of that, just a simple website where if you want to buy
any of his stuff, you have to actually send him an email and communicate one on
one. He also relies a lot on trading (thus the distro) to get his records out
there. All in all, the way he runs things harkens back to an earlier time where
punk and hardcore really were about community, interaction, and building
friendships.
I really respect the fact that he is able to run his label
in such a fashion, and do it in a way that sees the label thriving. Oh yeah, he
is a teacher to boot! Anyway, enough of my rambling, read on!
Describe how you
stumbled into the punk and hardcore community. When did you know it was
probably going to become a permanent fixture in your life?
I came to punk
through metal. It went from Metallica and Megadeth to Sepultura and Fudge
Tunnel and I started getting into some of the politics I'd hear (mostly from
the Sepultura). And then I bought the Napalm Death - Scum tape because it
was the coolest looking tape at the store, and was not ready for that. I
still can't get into it. I wasn't that raw yet, and guess I never will
be. Anyway, I was constantly drawn to the underground for some reason -
looking at the thanks lists and trying to check out bands I didn't see at the
store etc. I became aware of Lookout/Fat/Revelation/Victory etc. at some
point and bought a few of those releases, but got into DIY punk from this dude
who did a distro out of a backpack downtown. He carried stuff from
Ebullition, and that sealed the deal. When I got that Downcast LP I think
that would be when I was hooked on the DIY underground - so much passion and so
much to say and think about - it was overwhelming but it was probably the best
turn my life could have taken.
I’m glad you mentioned Ebullition because
one of the things I really appreciate about IFB is you really seem to be
carrying the torch of a label like them in terms of d.i.y. packaging, having a
big distro, being more political, etc. It seems like in a lot of respects the
scene (broadly speaking) has become more "professionalized" so to
speak and certainly less political for the most part. As a person who has been
around for quite a while, what do you attribute this shift to?
Ebullition was
definitely a big inspiration for me - I modeled my website off of them in terms
of just having a list (though I add small descriptions) rather than a
"web-store" with PayPal buttons and zillions of pages to load just to
scan through the distro. I don't like that format myself, so I didn't want
to replicate it. Anyway, I deplore the professionalization of punk in
terms of "professional" business ideas and models. We all love
a great looking record that's well recorded and looks great, and that's not
what I'm talking about - more the change to capitalist style marketing of
limiting things, hyping them up, over the top advertising. In terms of
advertising, I would rather see label ads in zines etc. that show the releases
and have little blurbs about them or something, not ads imploring you to act
fast or you'll miss out, or how limited it is, or how it's the best thing in
the world. Just relax a bit - it's punk, and it rules on its own, and all
that glitz and bullshit just ruins it. I can buy a Rihanna CD if I want
all that nonsense. I don't think I will though. I think the cause
of all this is that HC/punk is more mainstream in that it's much easier to find
and more widely available. Nobody has to read thanks lists of bigger
bands and play hit and miss to find more underground bands. This ease and
availability makes it less of a die-hard club and attracts people that don't
really understand or care about any of the larger ideas of punk or DIY.
That would be my guess anyway. With all cultural changes, though, I'm
sure there are 1,000 other factors at work.
What could have possibly prompted you
to think it would be a good idea to start a money pit (record label)?
I really just started
it because I wanted to release stuff from my bands (When All Else Fails, and
Jiyuna at the time in 1998). I had already fallen in love with the whole
DIY ideal, and was buying emo and HC records and loved the handmade
packaging aspect of it, so we just did it. I actually never lost money on
the label overall - I'm very organized with stuff like that, and we would
usually sell enough of one release to make back the money, and then drop it on
another release. It went that way for years, until I really started doing
the distro and selling used records and trading releases. Then I was
able to generate more money and kind of get ahead. At this point I only
have to put my own money into the label if I say yes to too many things at
once. I don't ever take any money out of the label, so it just kind of
goes on with its own financing at this point.
When you consider
signing/working with bands, how do you balance your own personal feelings
towards the band and their music with what you see as the potential for the
thing to actually sell a few copies and for you to recoup your money? Which
generally takes precedence?
If I like a band, I
will release it without thinking of sales. The fact that the label money
is not my money probably helps in that calculus because I'm not putting myself
out or relying on the label to pay for anything. I have a pretty wide
array of labels that I trade with, so by selling some, trading some, and hoping
the band buys more for tours etc., I usually make the money back. I do
lose money on some releases, but it gets evened out by others that sell well
and repress, and the used records that I do. I really only think about
sales figures when considering how many copies to press. I try to get a
sense of how much touring will be going on with the band and if they're known
at all and then decide how many to make. Lately I'm doing a lot more
split releases which really helps with each label being able to take fewer
copies - it kind of spreads the record around instantly and makes it less of a
financial burden for each label.
What gets you more
stoked…..getting YOUR copies of a record in from the plant, or hearing the
BANDS reaction to getting THEIR records from the plant?
I get the most
satisfaction out of making the packaging actually rather than the record.
When that first screen-print comes out and it looks great, I really love that
feeling. the 500th screen-print elicits a different feeling, but that
initial sense of "this looks great" is really nice. I'm lucky
to have my friend Joe (www.fmprintcorps.com) who does professional screen-printing
to help prepare my screens. I just do the grunt work.
In your experiences,
what are the best places to press vinyl/get your jackets and inserts printed,
and what are the worst places? Why?
I've been very lucky
with pressing plants - I've used a number of different ones over the years and
have never had a problem. I pick pressing plants for different reasons -
I usually use Archer and United. I do a lot of Michigan bands and Archer
is in Detroit, so lots of times the band can pick them up themselves which
saves lots of shipping money. United has always been good to me, but
won't press a record with samples. I've used Rainbow a couple times since
they had a deal going with Lucky Lacquers and he did some of my lacquers for a
while. As far as printing goes, I do all the screen-printing - any pro
printed covers were done as split releases, so I didn't handle that part.
There's a great local printer in town that does my inserts/orders paper for
me. He pretty much does it at cost and is an awesome guy. He was
somewhat of an activist in the 60's from what I gather, so I think he likes the
stuff that I'm doing, not because he likes hardcore, but that it’s
counter-cultural and artistic, and that's much more interesting than the lawn
service and real estate ads which probably constitute the bulk of his business.
Your fairy god mother
grants your wish and you get to put out a split with any two bands on the
planet. Who shares the wax and why?
Christie Front Drive
and Left for Dead? Makes no sense, but those are two very influential
bands to me in totally different areas. I have ripped off CFD's drums big
time, and ripped off LFD's riffs for the beginning of Merkit. Both
rule.
Talk about the most
frustrating and the most rewarding things about running a label.
The most rewarding is
certainly all the friendships you make. After doing this for so many
years, I know people all around the world - booking tours is so nice because
there are people all over I already have relationships with and don't have to
rely on random unknown contacts. Also, getting to meet those people
(especially overseas) is really rewarding. Doing the label really makes
me feel plugged into this massive international scene. I don't really
have any frustrating parts of the label. There are tasks that I don't
really enjoy - mostly typing up the records onto the website, and updating the
website/blog. I don't enjoy the internet oriented tasks, but they do help
because after I spend all that time making an update email, I send it out and
then start to get orders and feedback, and that's the more rewarding
part. I guess it’s like painting a room, where the prep work and painting
sucks, but then you look at it and like the way it turned out.
For people who are
considering jumping in and starting a label, what’s the one essential piece of
advice you would give them?
Do a distro as well
as a label - this allows you to enter the world of trading records, which
allows you to form relationships with other labels and kind of plug into the
larger network. You get to know label folks for split releases/advice
etc. The label really got going once I started to trade and do a
distro. Also if you play in a band, taking a decent size distro with you
on tour is a huge help - some towns don't have any local distros/good punk
record stores, so kids hit the distro hard and it really helps make up for
shows where no one shows up. Another piece of advice I'd give is to try
to keep the label money separate from your own as soon as possible. This
might take a while, but it definitely takes a source of stress out when you
don't feel like the label is eating up all your money. Also don't take
the label money for yourself - it’s also a source of stress to have to rely on
it for paying bills. With the money being separate, you can relax with
the label, do what you want, and not have to worry about it so much. If I
wanted to take a year off of the label/distro, I could just stop and start up
again whenever I want - it's all paid for with its own money and I don't use
any of it for my bills, so it’s no stress.
You tend to do a lot of split label
releases, often with 3 or 4 labels involved, often with labels involved that
are located on different continents. How do you manage to delegate and
coordinate everything when there are people all over the world with their hands
in the mix? Also, do you tend to press the vinyl all in one country and then
ship it to the other labels involved or do you press your copies in the U.S.
and for example Moment of Collapse presses theirs in Europe?
Most of the time
there's one label kind of heading up the project and actually does the work of
getting it pressed/printed etc. Then the other labels kick in for however
many copies they want to take. The Old Soul records for instance - I
pressed/printed etc. and then sent copies to the various European labels that
have been involved in that. Other records like the Resurrectionists/Lich
LP, Gentle Art of Chokin' LP, Lentic Waters LP, Drainland LP etc. that I was
involved in, I had nothing to do with the work of getting them pressed, I just
paid for my copies and they were sent from the label heading it up.
The Cloud Rat - Moksha LP actually had a separate US and European pressing -
that's the only one that I've been involved in to have 2 separate
pressings. Cory from Halo of Flies and I handled the US, and he got the
records pressed and printed the booklets while I made all the covers - we kind
of split the work on that one. It really is a great model since it takes
the full financial burden of pressing vinyl off of just a single label, and it
allows the record to be distributed/traded by a number of different groups
which gets it in people hands faster and easier. As a small label, I will
have a hard time selling 500 copies of almost anything, but if those 500 copies
are split around the world, they'll spend less time sitting together in closets
and more time on folk’s record players.
As a fellow teacher, I'm curious to
what extent you bring punk and hardcore into the classroom/your relationships
with colleagues. I tend to talk about it from time to time with my kids and
peers, but if anyone (particularly my co-workers) say they want to come see me
band, I tend to get nervous and say something like "Uhhhhhh.....I'm not
really sure you wanna do that" haha.
Pretty much the same
drill with me. Because in the end, I honestly don't think they want to
sit through it. They would have to stand around at someone's house in a
rough neighborhood all night with all these weirdo’s walking around and would
most likely just feel out of place and uncomfortable, so we're probably doing a
favor by keeping it a bit under the radar. I guess I just don't want a
lot of drama at work. As far as interactions with the kids, they know I'm
in a band and stuff but I keep it minimal talking about the band. It's
just weird I guess - kind of like my other world that I live in. I do try
to bring the ideas in my class though. We talked yesterday about how
uncool the anti-gay laws were in Russia that just passed, and I am always
questioning power/privilege/money etc. Just kind of throwing some ideas
in the mix that aren't always represented. They end up knowing about
vegetarianism and when talking about issues of racism or something, I just am
really explicit that it's just not cool at all. The good thing is that
most all young kids are not racist, and they're not homophobic either. A
lot of that prejudice will be gone in the next 20 years - it’s that slow
cultural change thing again - unfortunately some of these things just take time
as well as effort.
Obviously you love
every record you put out or you wouldn’t spend thousands of dollars on them,
but let’s be real here; what’s the one record from your catalog that you listen
to the most/that has the most value for you and why?
A different day might
produce a different answer here, and I'll eliminate my own bands from the
running because your own output holds a different kind of space in your
heart. So I'd have to say the first Cloud Rat LP right now - I really
feel they're the best hc/grind band in the country right now and are just great
people. Their music has the perfect blend of hideous filth and sincere,
powerful emotion.
On the theme “Baker’s
Dozen”, what do you have cooking for the rest of 2013 and into early 2014? Give
us a virtual taste of what we can expect from you.
The
next release will be a new Old Soul LP - it’s a massive epic dose of post
rock/screamo goodness. I just started working on an LP for a Kentucky
band called The Elsinores - it’s kind of dreamy melodic punk - not the kind of
thing I usually do, but when you hear it you'll know. It's just so
good. There's probably another Cloud Rat split 7" on the horizon as
well as more Old Soul stuff. I'll have a split LP with my band Autarkeia
and Me and Goliath as soon as we get off our asses and record too. I'll
probably kick in on a few split releases, but honestly don't have a ton planned
right now. I just got finished with a shit load of records kind of back
to back, so I'm taking it a bit easy and not seeking stuff out too actively for
a bit.
Thanks a ton for the
interview - Peace, Nevin
For all things IFB related, go here: http://www.ifbrecords.com/
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