So, I am sure there are people reading this asking themselves "who is this Dave Shock guy?", "what is WTII?", and "That guy runs a record label?"
Give me some background on you, the label and what it takes to run one. Because I'll admit, I've known you for a while and *I* don't even know the whole story.
Dave: Rusty, First off thank you for being interested in WTII Records, the WTII Records Minifest and also a little bit of my “backstory”. Even from a young age I have always had a special place in my heart for music and have a background in both chorus and drums. I can remember by the age of 11 or 12 that I had already fallen in love with LPs from Kiss, Ozzy Osborne and Judas Priest but it was the Naked Eyes song “Always something there to remind me” that was really my introduction to electronic music. I couldn't believe that just 2 guys were making all of those noises come out of my radio and that it wasn't a full “traditional” and it got me started on a more “alternative” note. I quickly dived into such bands as Bauhaus, Tones on Tail, Jesus and Mary Chain, The Cure and Front 242. Now this was around the time that the WaxTrax! Store was in full swing and you would still be able to walk up to the Metro and buy tickets for a show that day for between $5-7 bucks so needless to say a lot of my spare time and money went to those two chicago institutions. Fast forward to 1990 and that saw me attending Illinois State University and led me to my first introduction to my best friend and business partner, Bart Pfanenstiel. Well several years passed and Bart would eventually start working for Wax Trax/TVT and soon after that, I moved into an apartment on the North side with him. That was my first opportunity to getting to know Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher personally and especially Dannie who would serve as a “father figure, friend, and advisor” to the both of us.
Anyway as we all know the chicago office of WaxTrax/TVT was eventually closed down and Bart set off to start a new record label in the spirit of the original Wax Trax company. Over this time I had found myself working for an import cd distrobution company. What that means in everyday terms is that I imported all of those great cds singles and full lengths and sold them to mom and pop stores around the country and chicago such as Record Breakers, Rolling Stones and Rock records. So when Bart was looking for a business partner I already had a large number of connections in the traditional “Brick and Mortar” stores while he had all of the connections in the “Music” business and more specifically the “industrial” music business. So it only made sense for us to combine our expertise and in 2001 we became a LLC company and released In Strict Confidence's “Love Kills!” followed by 5 other releases that year. It's now the year 2011 and our catalog has grown to over 50 releases and has also seen the us become one of the main independent show bookers/promoters in the United States with the start of the WTII Records Sunday Showcases over 5 years ago.
Falken: So, that brings us up to speed with the business end of things and how you got in to "the biz" and all. You help run an indie label and you book shows in Chicago (sometimes Milwaukee). What is the hardest part of doing both of those things?
Dave: That's actually a pretty difficult question to answer but also one of the simplest; Time. My actual background and career choice has always been Retail management and that basically has meant my day job has always required me to work 42-65 hours a week over the past 20+ years. Add to that, the fact that I settled down and got married two years ago and now have a beautiful 4 month old son, time is hard to come by. However, the nice thing is that technology has grown by leaps and bounds over the 10 years since we first started the label and helps immensely when it comes to the promotions/booking end of things. The advent of social networking and the availability of music forums has in many ways made it a lot easier to reach people even if I don't have that much time on my hands anymore. Now the hardest part is finding a healthy balance between the two, the family will always come first in this equation but that doesn't mean that I don't have as much passion or fire for the label or booking shows as I used to. I find that with experience, it has now become a lot easier for me to work smarter than it is for me to work harder. Trust me when I tell you that both WTII Records and my career as a show promoter had to go through many stages and growing pains to get where we are today. A lot of mistakes have been made over the years but all you can do is learn from them and try to to repeat any of them. It also helps that I have the support and understanding of my wife, Jean, who has been a big help and has helped to contribute to both the growth of the label and to the WTII Records Sunday Showcase live events.
ugh I feel like you are my psychiatrist or something with all of this self evaluation
Falken: Well, I'm kind of a pain like that. You've been there for me in the past. Let it all out.
Coming up is the WTII Records Minifest 2. One, thanks for having us on that. We're happy to be a part of it. On the flipside of that... once it was known that the baby boy was coming in to the world, you took a break from the Sunday showcases and kind of called it quits on the booking. Were you just having an itch to do something big for the scene or was there something else driving you to do this big weekend event?
Dave: There are several reasons why we decided to take on the challenge of doing a 4 day music festival starting with the fact that we are celebrating the 10 year anniversary of WTII Records and also the 5 year anniversary of the WTII Records “Sunday showcases. Added to that fact is that the showcases have grown significantly over the years and have been attracting larger and larger crowds to the point where we thought we finally had all the resources, contacts, patience and maturity to make this a successful festival. Ask any good independent promoter and they will tell you booking shows is very difficult, and trying to do it every month over a 5 years time is unheard of. Booking shows on such a rigorous monthly schedule is a drain physically, financially and emotionally and a break was needed as Jean and I prepared ourselves for the new addition to the family. We also wanted to give back to the chicago community for all of the support they have shown us over the years by doing something on such a grand scale but also trying to keep the cost down so that everyone can come out and enjoy themselves and see/ hear some great music for less than $10 a night. Plus, when you see how the actual “musicians” in the “industrial community” have come together in both the chicago and milwaukee markets over the past few years, it only made sense to give them an arena where they might be able to collaborate together on one giant stage and to provide some of the most memorable performances that one will see.
Falken: It really has been a scene where everyone knows each other, and I've only been in it for a few years now myself. I'm just amazed how many people are willing to help all because they believe in the music and that everyone should hear it no matter what. You've helped us in am.psych with that. We probably couldnt have done it without your support and constant prodding.
So, with this festival...it's not being held at the usual location that many have come to know for the "Sunday Showcase". We've played a few times over at Darkroom, and I gotta say, it's a fun place. What all went in to making the decision to move to The Abbey for the 4 day?
Dave: Well the original intent was to have a three day festival at Darkroom since that is where the vast majority of the shows that I have booked over the past 5 years have been and has been a “gathering” place of sorts for many of the chicago “Industrial” musicians. However when the idea was first floated around about doing a “industrial” festival the response was so great from artists around the country that we decided to increase it to a 4th day also move it to a much larger venue. Matter of fact, two days AFTER announcing the final line-up we received 26 inquiries from other bands around the country and for 17 dj's as well to participate in it. We unfortunitely had to turn these bands away as we already pretty much maxed out our lineups for each of the nights. We've already have several bands throw their name into the ring if we were do try to do a festival again next year. But for those of you who might be missing the “Darkroom” flavor, don't worry as all of the club regulars will be out celebrating with us and we even have the infamous, Arunas, volunteering his time as a stage hand for the weekend. Darkroom has been nothing but supportive of Bart, Jean and I over the years and it's somewhere that we call “home” and has helped to contribute immensely to the growth of the “Dark” scene here in chicago.
Falken: So, I know that there names "industrial" and "Dark" get thrown around a lot for the music that's been played at Darkroom. In my opinion at least, I really see a lot of the artists today as a fusion of Industrial, EBM and metal. A lot of things I think have gone in to that over the years. One of the biggest being something we both enjoy on a very normal basis... Fear Factory. (just throwing this out to you, it's not really a question, but I am looking for a response to my statement)
Dave: Well Rusty, now you are getting into one of my favorite subjects and a topic that I know that I feel passionately about but am sure that we will ruffle some feathers as we discuss this. I'm not going to get into the history of “Industrial” music nor any of it's “sub-genres” per say, but just my take on things as a label owner and show booker. I've always used the blanket term “Industrial” to include many styles from EBM, synthpop, Cold Wave, Metal, Gothic, Experimental, Power-noise, Dark Folk, Trip-Hop, Future Pop and more. I think this shows up not only in the diversity of our label roster but also in the diversity of the live shows that we put on. The important thing is that it a quality product that does include some the the “industrial” aesthetic or attitude. I think that people now look for or have even come to expect that diversity in the shows that we put on because we have earned people's respect and trust that even if they have never heard of a particular band that they are still willing to give us the benefit of the doubt and come out to the shows to check them out. That is probably the most rewarding aspect for me of running a label and doing shows and that is turning people on to new music or to expose them to new things or to even have a chance to change their opinions in one way or another. Sure I want to make money and not lose my shirt on booking shows or on some of our releases but for me it's about the joy that comes when people have a great time at our live events or a album release helps to take their mind off of live's everyday struggles. That is what drives me every day to continue in this tough business environment and that is to try to make just a small difference in people's world.
Falken: So, with this being the anniversary, looking back at what has all been done, what's in store for WTII over the next 10? And, what is the future of the Sunday showcase?
Dave: Well 2011 has already been an exciting year for WTII Records as we have signed a major distribution deal with Nail Distribution which gives us the availability to be found just about everywhere that carries physical cds and also digital downloads and we have already seen the benefits almost immediately. We have added to our roster several new exciting names such as Method Cell, Stiff Valentine, Rein[forced], Claus Larson's Klutae project and more. We also have several more artists that we are currently in negotiations with and of course have several releases planned from our current roster such as the Gothcisles, the Qualia, Trigger01d, the Thought Criminals and more. As far as the immediate future and looking down the line a bit with the amount of buzz that we have generated and with the increased sales I'd like to see us to be able to double our roster size and then eventually be able to purchase an office somewhere as well as have WTII Records become Bart and my full time jobs. The potential is there for this dream to happen and we are taking advantage of every opportunity that comes to us. As far as the future of the WTII Records Sunday Showcases goes, a lot of that hinges on the success of the upcoming WTII Records Minifest 2. We have been working on the festival now for over 6 months and it has taken a lot out of the two of us. I'd like to think that if it becomes successful that maybe we could make it a yearly festival on par with Canada's Kinetik festival some day. The continuation of the monthly sunday showcases really depends upon my family, we may slow them down a bit and not do them every single month because looking back it seems that some of the shows were a tad "forced" with the way they were put together. As shows and tours are offered to us I'm sure we will look at each individual case and see if it's something that's feasible for both the Darkroom and for us.
 |
| WTII Records Minifest2 |
Falken: Dave, Thank you again for your time and doing this interview.
For my readers, and all of the people interested in this festival, you can go to Facebook and check out the WTII Records Minifest 2 event HERE. It's going to be a great time with a bunch of awesome people.
I know I can't wait for it to get here.
No comments:
Post a Comment