New times, new forms. How do you interview a record label collective with more stars than your average Premiership football team? How do you make sense of a shapeless explosion of creative mayhem?
By email of course! All at once!
Wrath is not so much a cult label as a cult. It’s based in Leeds with 20 or 30 wide eyed and totally sussed out optimists who take shit from no one. If it’s facts you’re after, or details about how to sign up for their genius Super Sevens vinyl subscription deal go to their web site. ( www.wrathrecords.co.uk obviously). The following insights serve only as pointers to the precarious psychologies and creatively tense nervous headaches that emanate from the State of Wrath ...
The interview? I was in the virtual presence of:
Steven Morricone (SCARAMANGA SIX), Eric the Who (GALITZA), Stuffy Gilchrist (SCARAMANGA SIX and STUFFY AND THE FUSES), Stevie Gonzales (GALITZA), Dave Procter (FARMING INCIDENT and LES FLAMES!), Henri les Flames! (LES FLAMES!) and Dave Mays (FARMING INCIDENT). I could feel the presence of unnumbered and unnamed others (BEING 747 among them) as I read the separate replies. I could see the spelling corrections and the improvements flickering in the digital gloom ...
And this is how it went:
W&H: Greetings all Wrathlings. I come in pieces. Please answer these dumb questions with humour, intelligence, truth, insight and engaging anecdotes. Failing that, get anyone with half a brain to fill them in.
W&H: What's the Wrath Mission Statement?
SM: 'Celebrating 86 glorious years without a mission statement'.
EW: Make no shit. Take no shit.
SGc: You've had the best, now try the rest.
SGz: Lie about everything.
DP: What??
HlF: You wouldn't fuck with us but you wouldn't half fuck us.
DM: To the best of my knowledge it has none.
W&H: No, seriously. What drives you to do this? When did you decide to do it and why?
SM: It's partly out of determination and partly out of desperation! We just decided one day that 20 heads were better than one, so we pooled resources. The drive behind it is to become self-sufficient and show people that the constant wait for the pipe-dream of being 'signed' by some label is a crock. If you like, we are the Tom and Barbara Goode of music!
EW: The music biz is a cesspool of phonies, creeps and assholes. One look around the room and we realised we were perfect to do that kind of work ourselves.
SGc: Obviously not very fond of making large amounts of money or obtaining a high credit rating with Equifax.
SGz: I didn't I was made to do it.
DP: We decided about 16 months ago - keep complete control of output ourselves - get like minded individuals to combine efforts.
DM: My band leader (Dave Procter from Farming Incident) decided, and I agreed. I guess it’s the age-old idea of a bigger pool of shared resources being able to achieve more than several discrete, smaller ones. I play in the band because I enjoy making rock music, and for the pussy.
W&H: How many people have to agree on major decisions?
SM: Everyone seems to have their own version of this policy - that's something we haven't really agreed on yet. The general principle is a that of a democracy with a vote, but generally anyone who is more passionate (and practical) about an idea can generally gerrymander the rest.
EW: We work by consensus at meetings. If you're not at the meeting, you don't get to speak. Whoever shows up is the Law. This is the way of Wrath.
SGc: Steve makes all the decisions and if you disagree with him he runs around with his fingers in his ears shouting "LA LA LA LA I'M NOT LISTENING. OH TO BE THE ONE WITH THE WIND UP LEGS THAT LOOK JUST LIKE HIS TOOTHY PEGS!!!" or something...
SGz: Whoever can be arsed to turn up to a meeting gets a vote.
DP: generally a democratic majority at meetings.
HlF: whoever can be arsed to make the meetings.
DM: As far as I can see there has been no major decision, as regards to my financial status, coming from Wrath. It appears to me that the Morricone Brothers make Wrath's strategic decisions, with occasional but nevertheless *extremely* limited input from their bands and even less frequently the other Wrath band. This is good, as they are much better at that sort of thing and born to lead, just as we are born to serve.
W&H: Even drummers?
SM: Yes, even the stick-wielding variety of Wrathster. They are usually the ones with the transport anyway.
EW: Especially drummers.
SGc: Drummers are too busy and important to make decisions about "pop records" or to talk to stupid dumb arse journalists who wouldn't know a paradiddle from a paraplegic.
SGz: They don't turn up as a rule.
DP: yep, they occasionally have ideas.....
HlF: no.
DM: One of the Morricone brothers is a drummer, so yes, definitely. Providing you’re a Morricone.
W&H: Who is the quiet voice in Wrath that you ignore at your peril?
SM: Nobody gets ignored apart from that nagging, niggly voice of doubt that seems to chew away at all of our thoughts - we especially ignore that fucker, even if it means peril. We laugh in the face of Peril!
EW: Count Simon's cock.
SGc: Proktaur (DP).
SGz: Me.
DP: Quiet voice - no such thing.....
DM: The bassist out of Les Flames!
W&H: What difference does geography make? Would you be any worse or better off in London or Manchester? What about the European market?
SM: Hmmm, I think it does make a difference in the eyes of 'the industry' we may be better placed in somewhere like Manchester, but fuck it. Who wants to live in Manchester and especially London anyway? Leeds and West Yorkshire has the most vibrant musical culture I have ever seen - this is the place we want to be and we aim to help make it the place that others want to be too. I also think it helps to keep our output distinctive and un-pretentious being away from the big smoke.
EW: Where London and Manc are often similar, and I mean in terms of the music biz, is in the Triumph of the Wide Boys. In Yorkshire, on a daily basis, the average person is confronted with less bullshit, and is less likely to disappear up his/her own arse.
SGc: Larger overheads I think you'll find. However, the possibilities for all night photo copying are endless. What about the European market? Lower interest rates.
SGz: I’d like us to be based in the South of France, the music is so shit there they wouldn’t know what had hit them. No one would come to gigs of course, but the cheap wine would more than make up for that at rehearsals.
DP: I suspect better off in Manc. I couldn't stand being in London, and I'd love to be in Europe.
DM: Living expenses are greater in London, and I'd be commuting to work (in Sheffield) from further away, so I guess I'd be better off in Leeds. Leeds is a booming WA town, tha knows.
W&H: If so many bigger labels are collapsing and sacking artists, how can a small one get established and thrive?
SM: Easy - put out decent music instead of spending vast amounts on mindless drivelly wannabes that nobody will give two farts about in a year's time. The big labels are in trouble because they are not investing in music with a long-term future. I think hard work has something to do with it too.
EW: We don't care, and neither should you. Wrath doesn't spend money and time on "fragile artist" egos or indulging them by booking out country house studios for years on end. If you're with Wrath then you get in and out of there within 24 hours and get the bloody job done. We don't pay you to sit around on your fat arse waiting for inspiration to hit you like a dump truck. In fact, we don't pay you.
SGc: By using our collective brain power and contacts.
SGz: Don’t invest in shit bands.
DP: Because we're concerned with music, not shareholders. Also, none of our bands are shit, so we'll never have to sack anyone.
DM: I don't know about thriving, but enthusiasm must count for something… perhaps with our enthusiastic approach (and the oodles of money we each chuck at it) we'll be able to continue enjoying our current approach. My personal opinion is that I'm too old and too ugly for fame, so ticking over is Good.
W&H: What's the difference between selling your own CDs from a shoe box and actually running a label?
SM: Nothing at all. We more-or-less do sell from a converted and very plush shoe-box. We also have a Wrath merchandising coat which can be worn in a flasher-mac style, then opened towards punters to reveal a wealth of quality Wrath records attached to the insides of it.
EW: Painting a logo on the side of the shoebox.
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SGc: We don't have a shoe box.
SGz: Nothing, we sell our CDs from a shoe box.
DP: You have to have a lot of meetings and email discussions when doing a label......
HlF: not much, just a bit of a bullshit front and a smart suit (Steve).
DM: We get the social contact on Wrath Record social nights (oh, and we get the kudos from being larger and so having a more extensive brand offering better musical services to our listeners and supporters).
W&H: From a band's point of view how important is the label these days, compared, say, to management or a publisher?
SM: From our band(s) viewpoint, the label is very important. We are no longer wasting our time trying to get a label to put out our stuff, but can concentrate on building up all the contacts to do it ourselves. Management is not something that is a priority either - you find that people take you a lot more seriously if you represent a label (with an impressive roster and presence) rather than just your band. Publishing - I dunno, might be handy.
EW: the label is ENTIRELY made up of people in bands, not people sponging a living off people in bands.
SGc: It's always nice to be able to spend someone else’s money I guess but then it's also their right to then bleed you dry emotionally, financially and sexually (probably).
SGz: We wouldn’t know, not ever having had a deal of any sort.
DP: we are the managers really, and the publishers....
HlF: not overly important, just provides a professional front for sticking the records out and getting heard of. You also get taken that bit more seriously if there’s a label attached to everything you do.
DM: My band has no coherent point of view, we are definitely individuals in a competitive/co-operative mix of mutual/self-interest in a Darwinian system with some egalitarian values.
W&H: What's this Street Team malarkey all about then?
SM: I suppose this is a bunch of kids handing out our flyers - they will all be paid in kind by Henri les Flames.
EW: some Dickensian street-urchin scam of Les Flames!, ain't it?
SGc: I don't know, I shouldn't really be filling out this interview you know. I'm just a drummer.
SGz: don’t know, what is it?
DP: Don't know sir....
HlF: a load of cheap student slappers we found who'll do anything for a bit of Henri les Flames!
DM: Don't know. Can you tell me what *you* think it's all about?
W&H: No.
W&H: What have been the worst things about running a label?
SM: Nothing. I can't think of a single bad thing, oh apart from having to polish all the gold disks all the time.
EW: When none of the girls show up to meetings and you're just sat around with a load of dodgy blokes.
SGc: The long hours, the 2 broken marriages and 1 illegitimate child. Not to mention a peptic ulcer and an unnatural interest in sports wear.
SGz: Putting up with the other knobs on the label.
DP: endless time it takes to get things organised while working full time.
HlF: Having to be nice to Farming Incident.
DM: Having to attend the Wrath Records social events and talk to the other band members.
W&H: What have been the high points of running your own label?
SM: Getting that smug feeling when things go well, knowing that it has happened due to your own hard work - bit of a serious answer that one.
EW: I get giddy when I see our logo on stuff. Also, I love bringing other bands into the loop; like with the Super Sevens thing. That's cool.
SGc: See the worst.
SGz: The Xmas party.
DP: it's fantastic - no-one tells what to do, except ourselves...
DM: Going to London and playing there. I've only seen London a few times, and mostly during the day, so seeing the bright lights was quite and event for me.
W&H: Doesn't running the label get in the way of creating the music itself?
SM: No, I believe it enables the creative process to flow freely as we are building our own outlet. Sometimes rushing about with flyers for this or boxes of CDs for that etc can get very time-consuming but it all helps to give a sense of purpose to the creative process.
EW: No, it's an incentive.
SGc: Yes, of course.
SGz: An occasional meeting in a pub doesn’t really get in the way of anything.
DP: Shouldn't do.........
HlF: No, without one there wouldn't be the other, or would there?
DM: No! How… you just dedicate more of your free time to it, or let someone else take care of that. Doh.
W&H: Is Wrath going to quietly sell a controlling interest to Fat Corporate Bastard plc when the time and the price are right?
SM: I've not come across them yet, but I heard they made their fortune from embezzling snails from their shells. Even if we did, we wouldn't do it quietly - we don't do anything quietly.
EW: Definitely. Soon as my dad wins the lottery.
SGc: That's for us to know and for you to shut up and wait to be spoken to.
SGz: I should think so.
DP: not while I'm in it no.
HlF: Piss off.
DM: Not while I'm here, or unless the deal looks good to the Morricone Brothers. In them we trust.
W&H: How about Fairly Well Apportioned Corporate Nice Guy?
SM: Is there such a bloke?
EW: Yeah, if my mum wins.
SGc: Like Eric Hall you mean?
SGz: I’d happily sell out to Fat Corporate Bastard plc.
DP: Nope. We discovered the problem with music - and it's these sods ruining good things as soon as they start to threaten sales....
HlF: Unlikely.
DM: as above.
W&H: Whose musical career would Wrath most like to get its hands on?
SM: The comeback of Dean Friedman.
EW: When the King is Reborn, we will be there!
SGc: Stuffy/The Fuses - That band shits talent.
SGz: That lad that sang “Donald where’s me trooosers”.
DP: The Libertines (personally)
HlF: [name removed to prevent needless personal injury to HlF], so we could end it quickly, virgin radio cock sucking nice harmonied wankers.
DM: Kylie Minogue.
What should I have asked you?
SM: Probably loads of stuff about what fantastic records we are going to release, the Wrath Super Sevens singles club, (see www.wrathrecords.co.uk for details) lots of touring and Wrath gigs etc.
EW: ~.
SGc: Permission.
SGz: Whats your favourite pie?
DP: do you want some free beer and gin.
HlF: out.
DM: These are good questions, don't get me wrong, I think all I'd have like to have been asked that I wasn't was my state of health, and how this relates to the Wrath Records gigs, social events, etc.
W&H: What would you have said if I had done?
SM: Probably a load of bollocks.
SGc: Alright then, but make it brief I have a plane to catch and I'm already running behind schedule. Pass me that bag would you? Martini?
SGz: I don’t know, it changes on a daily basis.
DP: yes please.
HlF: Any time Sammy babes, I'll sleep with any journo for good press.
DM: Mind your own business!!
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