Hey! Little Red Rabbit Records
Hey! Manchester first got to know Little Red Rabbit through Last Harbour – we put them on at our monthly Kro bar night alongside LRR’s Crazy Man Michael who did a great job of filling in a short notice. We invited them to play at our stage during last May’s Sounds From The Other City, and they’ll also be supporting Great Lake Swimmers for us at Dulcimer on 19 May.
The Little Red Rabbit roster also contains familiar local faces Anna Kashfi, Kalbakken and Cambridge’s Fuzzy Lights. Below we speak to LRR’s David Armes and showcase tracks from the label’s artists.
First up, when was the label launched and who’s involved?
About a year or so I guess. We did a couple of home-made tour-only EPs for Last Harbour in 2005 and 2006, and gave them the Little Red Rabbit name, but it only really became a functioning label in early 2008. There’s a small collective of us involved – between us we cover working with each artist, sorting out the manufacturing, art and design, doing the press, working with our excellent distributor (that would be Forte), looking after the website, paperwork etc. The broad idea though is that, being a collective, the people behind each release also work hard on it. There’s meant to be exchange of ideas and not just a rigidly defined ‘band makes music’/'label releases music’ dynamic – it all crosses over.
Why did you decide to go down this route rather than looking to sign with another label?
Some of us play in Last Harbour and the label we were on at the time couldn’t commit to when they’d release the next already-finished record. Rather than just sit on a record we were really proud of, we decided to take the seize the mettle and release it ourselves, at the same time creating an outlet for all the other work we’re involved in too. Part of the label’s remit is to release records by bands from this city. We like that community aesthetic of people like Constellation, Dischord and I suppose Factory too; they’re inspirations certainly. It’s the age-old tale of wanting to take control and work hard, work with people you know and whose work you respect, which leads neatly on to your next question…
What are the pros and cons of releasing your own music?
Pros: control; the sense that you are the only one responsible for your work, it succeeds or fails on your graft and skills; the satisfaction that comes from realising a project; just seeing your record in the shops or reviewed in a magazine you like is great; working with other people on how they see a project; personally, I like working hard too and that’s its own reward. Must have a latent Catholic work ethic.
Cons: it’s a ton of hard work, if you want to do it properly and not just be into the idea of saying ‘I run a label’; the potential to lose money is always there but we’ve tried to be sensible so far and not spend money we haven’t got; a record not getting the attention you think it deserves is always going to be tough to take; plus, no one really likes doing spreadsheets… do they? Weirdos.
And how easy is it to set one up – do you need considerable financial backing, people with a range of skills etc?
I think it goes in levels really, depending on how serious you are and how much time you’ve got. There’s always more you could do. Sorting out distribution was really key for us and we’re lucky that our distributors are behind the label – otherwise you can get records into a handful of shops but no further. It was easier to do that with Last Harbour and Anna Kashfi both having released records before so we had a kind of track record. We got a small grant from the PRS Foundation to help set up and put some money in ourselves too. So far, it looks like each release will make its money back, which means there’s the money to make the next release and so on. There’s a lot of work involved in doing press, and a lot of cul-de-sacs, so you have to pick carefully and decide where you’re most likely to do well and focus on that. The mechanics of simply getting a record made can be complex too. Has it been mastered? What formats and which manufacturer is cheapest? Is it cheaper to get the whole record made by one company or do you get two or three places to make different parts? What’s an AP2 licence? Is the band MCPS registered? But, we’ve done it so it’s clearly not rocket science! Oh, last point – plan a long, long way ahead. Six months for an album, easy.
Briefly talk us through the artist on the label – how would you describe the style of each, for example?
Ha! Do you want a ’sounds like band X on drug Y on planet Z’ cliche then? Ok, in order of release:
Last Harbour – a lot of people, often 5 or 6, sometimes up to 9; pretty epic at times, minimal and sparse at others.
Anna Kashfi – beautiful-sounding songs at first til you realise they’re all hopelessly bitter; Sian’s got one of those pure voices that sounds nicely aged as well and James produces sensitive arrangements around it, always with lots of washy organs, mellotrons and violin.
Crazy Man Michael – probably the most trad-folk of all the releases but you’d expect that with them being named after a Fairport song; straightforward passionate, literate songs with some stunning string arrangements.
Fuzzy Lights – minimal drones and reverb washes to clattering noise-outs; if you were an idiot you’d say they were post-rock but there’s a lot more going on; much more psychedelic and dreamy.
Fuzzy Lights stand out as the only non-local band. What attracted you to them?
Last Harbour played with them in their home town of Cambridge last year and we were pretty blown away instantly. They have a kind of heavy dreaminess to them; it’s good for hot days looking at an unchanging horizon. Maybe that’s just because they’re from a flat part of the country though. They have this fantastic build to their songs where the elements keep winding round each other getting more and more tense, but they also know how to rein it in and not be indulgent. Plus, their new songs (not on the ‘A Distant Voice’ album) are much heavier and nastier – it feels like they’ve got a lot to say and will only improve. It’s been a total pleasure working with them.
Would you consider adding to the roster in the future?
Yeah, definitely. We already have but we’re also wary of taking on too much – we want to be able to do every release justice and not throw things out carelessly. Each release has its own world around it. We think far enough ahead to already have second releases planned by bands who we’ve already released. Oh, I’ve just realised all the records so far have violin on them so clearly you need a violinist to be on Little Red Rabbit.
Tell us about what you’ve got planned for the months ahead.
The next two releases are out in May and are the most complicated packaging-wise – they look pretty special so far. There’s the debut album by Kalbakken who a lot of people will have seen over the past couple of years in Manchester. They’re a sibling duo who play their own interpretations of Scandinavian folk songs. This is the real deal though – it’s not nostalgia-folk. Kirsty and Dave are half Norwegian and it all started with relearning songs their mother taught them as kids. They’ve trawled the library archives in Norway for these songs and it’s raw, pure stuff. We’ve done it in an amazing hand-letterpressed sleeve too with handprinted lyric translation/story book.
The other release is a 10″ EP by Last Harbour – one song from last year’s album ‘Dead Fires’ and three others from the same sessions. It comes in a beautiful hand-screenprinted sleeve too with artwork by K Craig who’s done a lot of the artwork for the label. Part of the thinking is that CDs are dead so it’s on vinyl for those who care about the whole package and download for those who like their music to appear in crushed zeroes and ones on their desktop. Can you tell which we prefer? Our bank may yet disagree with us. After those releases in May we’ve got another album or two planned for Autumn plus a new Anna Kashfi EP ahead of their new album early next year. Thanks for your interest Hey! Manchester peoples – much appreciated.
Possibly related to this: Tags:
crazy man michael • last harbour • little red rabbit records • little red rabit • record labels
2 responses to “Hey! Little Red Rabbit Records”
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May 18th, 2009 at 7:58 am
hi, loving the blog, i’m moving to manchester in a couple weeks, it’s great that there’s real vibrant stuff goin on, i’m trying to get a few open mic spots or something of the kind, i’d really appreciate it if you gave me a quick listen,
http://www.myspace.com/jackcracks
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:09 pm
Hello,
I’m writing to invite you to the album launch party for Serpentine Pad in conjunction with FictionNonFiction
Serpentine Pad are a Manchester 5-piece who play incredibly innovative, furious punk-rock. They have just finished recording their first album proper; ‘Panic’ and are celebrating by showcasing their brand of 3 guitar wielding sci-fi anxiety on July the 30th at Tiger Lounge. The band are starting to create a buzz in the music press and the Manchester scene in general:
“At first glance, Manchester five-piece Serpentine Pad appear almost confoundingly chaotic, their tunes writhing and slithering all over the place in a viper’s nest of coiled guitar lines and tangled bass…There’s definitely a nod to Sonic Youth and Pixies in there, as many have already commented. Perhaps even stronger influences come from the likes of Captain Beefheart and Shellac (imagine a cross between the two, and you’re approaching the ball-park…just about). Far more importantly though, there’s also a generous helping of originality – Serpentine Pad don’t sound quite like any other band around at the moment, and that alone is worthy of high praise”
- Metro (2008)
Serpentine Pad announce themselves as “Manchester’s purveyors of the tastiest riffs” and yes, they’re half joking, but their frenzied three guitar attack of mathematical surfpunk noisepop (no, I’m not sure either, but it made sense at the time) is rather excellent. It’s always a delight to see a band who don’t fit any pigeonholes but are equally devoid of any pretentious and obvious attempts at avoiding such. One ancestor would be the relentless onslaught of Mission Of Burma – let’s hope they’re looking after their ears. You get the feeling they would like to be playing louder, anyway. Despite playing quite a lot of songs their set seems to race by – “two songs to go and then you can go home” – sadly quite a few have already, but it’s getting near last bus time I suppose – and they pull out a belter; all Dinosaur Jnr guitar mangling and a breathless rush of vocals.
- Cath Aubergine (music-dash.co.uk – 2009)
Tonight’s event focuses more on the dirtier, nosier factions of avante-garde rock. Local quintet SERPENTINE PAD brandish three guitars, a bass and drums as they execute a combination of skittered riffs, that veer off exciting drum slapshots. Each track is a charged rush of post punk, math-processed melodic onslaught. So, there’s plenty to bob along to as they pluck at Sonic Youth chord changes and punished bass lines that suggest that the influence of punk and new wave (via the Pixies) is never too far away. In essence though, It’s Serpentine Pad’s driven rhythms intermingled with the great instrumental passages, that get the blood flowing, coupled with the fact that each number comes in within a two to three minute barrier. Lessons for everyone else out there really.
- manchestermusic.co.uk (2009)
I’m available to contact by phone on 07860 520 870 or email joeycrone85@googlemail.com – give me a shout with your details and I’ll put you on the guestlist for what promises to be an exhilerating night of visceral, complex punk-rock fury.
All the best
Joey
http://www.myspace.com/serpentinepadmusic