WITH SACRED BONES

Two weeks ago saw the release of the awesome new album from Zola Jesus. It’s a record a lot of people have been clamoring for all year and it says a lot that Zola, who was courted by a number of BIG labels chose to stick with that label that had supported her from the beginning. That label is Sacred Bones, a capital I Independent label from Brooklyn founded by Caleb Braatan and run by label manager Taylor Brode. With a decade long slide in sales, last month’s massive warehouse fire in London and many lifelong artists now contemplating forced retirement, these are nervy days in music. In the past an artist and label’s back-catalogue was their pension fund which not only allowed a little security and a chance to make a living once touring slowed down but also a chance for an artist to exist well bellow the radar and for the discovery of ‘lost albums’ discovered decades later to change the fortunes of risk taking artists and labels alike. As fans’ sense of ownership has changed so too have the rules for artists and labels and the demands on instant profitability just to keep things going. At the same time, we’re kind of living in a golden age, with more really good bands, more people sharing music, engaging with the history of it and aware of wider and deeper currents of records well beyond the tastes of mass-culture. The chance for a label to get the word out and get their artists heard may be better now than at any time in history.

THITH: Congratulations on all the success with the new Zola LP! How long has the label been going and how did it start?

Caleb Braatan: Thanks! 2012 will mark Sacred Bones’ fifth year of existence. It started as anything really does- it just happened. A friend wanted to release a 7″, I’d worked in record stores forever, so I just thought I’d give it a shot.

THITH: How do you make it work?

Taylor Brode: We cry a lot, rarely sleep and only eat food you can buy from a bodega.

THITH: Is there an ethos behind the artists you look for and the events you want to be a part of?

T: We like to only work with people with whom we feel a personal affinity towards. In other words, “no assholes.” Everyone on the label is family. Caleb and I have both worked at record stores on and off for the last 15 years. We aren’t necessarily “elitist” but we certainly aren’t very easily impressed either. Neither of us care much for “indie rock” and we tend to both gravitate towards artists/bands who are either redefining genres and/or are the leaders in their genre.

THITH: With more ways to make better sounding records for less and less money–with the abundance of blogs and social sites exposing more and more artists–in a lot of ways it seems this might be a golden age for independent bands but at the same time it seems all anyone wants to focus on is the lack of profit and the “end of the biznezz”. Reminds us of this Louis CK bit:

T: That Louis CK bit was amazing, the co-modification of music and the MP3 has certainly created a lot of ADD-style “non”-listeners but i also think it has brought about a newly dawning golden era of vinyl purists rebelling against that which the label is certainly benefiting from.
We aren’t in this for the money. We both know it is near impossible to run a label that is both ethical and profitable. We tend to err on the side of not-profitable but yet utterly transparent every time. We don’t bullshit our bands or tell them they are going to be “rich” unless they are ready to quit their jobs, tour seven months a year in what are often grueling conditions, and write albums that are going to appeal to the masses (read: “bland”).

C: Indeed, it is harder and harder to make music a full time job.
think of that Louie CK bit every time I fly. The man is a fucking genius.

THITH: As a label, what do you think is the balance between commerce and art making?

T: We are figuring out the commerce part every day as we go. The new Zola Jesus album just charted on the Billboard Top 200 and we were interviewed during CMJ by the “Billboard Biz” section. We started doing large run presses on album jackets at an actual printer instead of screening each one by hand. That was probably the largest artistic concession we have had to make thus far.

C: This is a good follow up question to the last actually. Since we realize that everyone in the world can get any record they want for free, we make sure that the actual physical product is in itself a piece of art (or at least we like to think that).

THITH: Are there things you think are available to artists and labels now that we all do not take advantage of enough?

T: Nothing really comes to mind…Caleb had a genius idea the other day which was “what if mediafire downloads counted towards Soundscan?” This could be the future but it could also end physical product as we know it which would be terribly sad.

C: I don’t know, are there government grants we can get? http://www.leskobooks.com/

THITH: At the same time, we often think about the parallels to when vaudeville died in the teens and went from being the most popular form of entertainment to non-existent within 15 years. There are some extraordinary financial pressures put on labels and bands these days. With that in mind, Are there ways in which you feel the art itself suffers because of financial pressure?

T: Absolutely. The fact that bands have to take their audience into consideration really sucks. The fact that all of my friends in bands who have had kids in the last few years have had to sacrifice watching them grow up so they could get in the van to earn a living is also kinda pretty harsh.

C: The artist suffers without a doubt, but sometimes the art itself excels. Having to work hard for something usually makes the end result better.

THITH: what is the most difficult thing about running an independent label?

T: Not sleeping or eating, crying all the time.
C: Paying rent/bills.

THITH: When you were younger, what were the labels you loved and why?

T: Wax Trax cause I was born & raised in Chicago and that label and store defined my taste in punk music and does to this day.

C: Factory was probably the first label that really made me realize was a label was. Peter Saville’s design was revolutionary to me. Joy Division was also one of the first bands whose records I started to collect.

Support Sacred Bones here.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 26th, 2011 at 09:21. It is filed under Zine Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.