In the run up to Audio Antihero’s release of the Wartgore Hellsnicker ‘Moderate Rock’ EP on 30th May, we’ve been lucky enough to score an interview with the destined-to-be-legendary Jamie Halliday; the man behind the label. Here we learn about the history of Audio Antihero, the artists which make it magical, and what exciting prospects are still to come..
Welcome Mr Halliday! Readers of Resonance UK are probably becoming quite familiar with seeing the name Audio Antihero plastered over reviews, but now’s the chance for them to find out a little bit about it. We should probably start with some background on the label. How did it come about?
Boy gets born. Boy meets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy hates girl. Boy joins band. Boy quits band. Boy inept. Boy starts label. Boy is superstar. Boy proves EVERYONE wrong. Boy interviewed by Resonance UK. In a nutshell…except I lost a few more girls and a couple more bands.
Talk us through your process of signing. Do you find the artists, or do the artists find you?
“Signing” is such a strong word! I’ve pretty much found all the artists thus far…Nosferatu D2 were teen-hood heroes, Benjamin Shaw I met on the way to my throne, Jack Hayter came on recommendation and legacy…and the others were a mix of the above.
Some of the folks who appeared on the “Bob Hope would.” Japan charity compilation were folks who’ve approached me in the past, which was quite nice really. I had a big pool of talent to draw from to do something decent and right with. For a change.
There are facts I’m withholding. Soon I’ll be full blown lying…and that’s what will build my legend.
What draws you into signing someone? Is there a certain style of music that you look for?
I probably look for a style of artist rather than a style of music. Pretty much every genre in the world is awful so there’s never any good place for me to start looking!
Jack Hayter suggested we all put together an ‘Acoustic Night’ and I said “it’s a nice idea but the problem is there’s only about 6 acoustic artists in the world I want to see” and the same thing with Broken Shoulder really…his music touched my soul and punched me in the gut for reasons I can’t explain…but it’s not normally something I follow.
The only time I’ve ever sought a genre came in the shape of Wartgore Hellsnicker. I wanted to rock and there isn’t a better band on the planet for that.
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt from running the label so far?
Life is all about the small victories…and that the ladies aren’t as impressed by the music industry now as they have been in decades gone by.
The release of Nosferatu D2’s debut album was welcomed by followers after two years since their parting. Why then, and why them as the label’s first venture?
It’s one of my favourite albums of all time and when you’re as unremarkable as me you have to be aware that whatever you do has no guaranteed future…so why was it the first album? Because it could easily have been the last album!
Nothing had changed in the run up to when it finally did come out. I just released it when I could, which was sadly a bit late.
We all just started from scratch with that record and some stuff happened. Largely because Gareth of Los Campesinos! liked it enough to say some nice things and consequently some young people got excited. Which is the whole point of music, really.
The irony of Nosferatu D2 is that had they not broken up, I’d probably never have had the chance to release something by them and without that I might never have started a label…or at least not one anyone would give a chance.
I think I’m prouder of the album than the band are.
And along with Nosferatu D2, the wonderful Benjamin Shaw was released to us..
I sometimes say Benjamin Shaw is the best on the planet…and just because I don’t say it other times doesn’t mean I don’t think it. He was a slow seducer for me…’singer songwriter’ often means ‘irredeemable’ in my dictionary so for awhile I didn’t think I could like what I was hearing as much as I seemed to be. But I did and I do and I’m so lucky to have that spellbinder of a songwriter on the roster…I just hope I can do right by him. I recently told him to change his name to “The Long Sufferer” as he’s quite tall but he didn’t bite.
There are definite similarities between their music, do you purposely intend on releasing as many singer/songwriters as you do bands?
Not at all. I just want noise…whoever can do it best gets aboard the Jamie Gravy Train to Broadway. Someone referred to Audio Antihero as an “acoustic label” once…I was quite offended. I hope that doesn’t happen again…The Gore will set them all straight.
There should also be a mention of Jack Hayter too, whose music is equally as obscure and delightful. How did that partnership come about?
When Benjamin Shaw was a pup he was a big big Hefner fan, with whom Jack Hayter came into prominence. Ben’s worship followed Jack into his solo career so that’s how I came to know him. Eventually the stars just aligned and we cut one of the industry’s most talked about deals over Myspace. Using Myspace for something significant was so retro it felt like a ceremony.
Jack might be the nicest man in music, to my face, at least! I think he resuscitated Audio Antihero a bit…I nearly had a meltdown figuring out how to follow Nosferatu D2 and Benjamin Shaw. He probably doesn’t know what he did for the label…I certainly won’t have told him.
He claims he stole the Cutty Sark but I don’t think he did.
So now’s your chance to plug the up-coming release of Wartgore Hellsnicker’s EP ’Moderate Rock’. Why should people listen to it, besides our recommendations?
Because they are more scene than you’ve ever seen! And we only pressed 200 copies.
Seriously, no one wants to be ‘bring back proper rock’ or anything horrible like that…but this is so spectacularly rocking without being utter boneheaded no-ambition nonsense. They are innovation through carelessness…and a dream come true for me. The Wartgore cometh…rejoice, unless you’re a musical coward.
What can we look forward to in Audio Antihero’s future?
After The Gore, we’ve got an EP by Paul Hawkins & The Awkward Silences which is pretty exciting as I’ve been a CD-buying T-shirt-wearing fan of them for awhile, come September there’s a split EP between Broken Shoulder and Fighting Kites and then in November comes the debut LP from Benjamin Shaw…which I want to give my life to, frankly.
I also want to put together an event called “D.I.Y D.A.Y” where indie labels can come together for a day of free goodies to show the world what they’ve got…and I got the notion that it might be fun to get the Audio Antihero roster to recreate Ciccone Youth’s “The Whitey Album”…but hopefully I won’t follow through. I rarely do.
