From The Desk Of The Brian Jonestown Massacre‘s Anton Newcombe: “I was asked to be a guest editor for MAGNET, one of the few publications I still respect since it was founded, so kudos for that. I was told I could write about anything in the world that interests me. So I am going to focus on the rebirth of the do-it-yourself music labels. Just like me and my own label, A Recordings, they have a strong belief system about releasing vinyl. I wanted to present seven labels and what they are up to right now. My questions were very simple: Who are you, what made you want to buck the trends, and what inspired you to release physical products. Enjoy.”
Newcombe: Rocket Recordings …
Chris Reeder: In 1997 when we first decided to start Rocket, there was no internet*, no email, John Peel was still alive, it was a different time. A lot died with Peel! That may seem dramatic, but I truly believe the real appreciation of the outsider, the brave, the non-conformist was really lost with him. So when we set the label up, it was still a very exciting time and my love of music and the format of vinyl was my biggest passion. And being a non-musician setting up a label was the inevitable thing to do—and it wasn’t by choice, I don’t think; it was something we just had to do!! Anthropropph, whose second album Outside The Circle is just out now, started as the solo project of Paul Allen, the chief songwriter and fuzz professor in legendary Bristol psych band the Heads. After Paul added psych noise duo Big Naturals as his backing live band, Anthroprophh transformed into quite a nasty power trio and the first results from this can be found on the compilation Crystalized: Celebrating 15 Years Of Rocket Recordings. Outside The Circle is hard to pin down; it is like a long lost gem from the famous Nurse With Wound list. In my mind, it puts Anthroprophh in the same list as Chrome, Faust, Butthole Surfers but with a very distinctive British sound with it’s execution.
*Editor’s note from Anton: There was an internet in 1997, and I was wasting time downloading UFO crap and Masonic info on Netscape or whatever 🙂
