GRINGO RECORDS

Michael Simon talked to Gringo Records’ head honcho Matt Newnham about the trials of coercing bands to give you records and the tribulations of preventing your audience from throwing a strop because there's no bar.

Pics by Ed Jasion

Gringo Records never wanted fame or fortune, they really are just about the music - even if it ends up costing a lot of money. Scorning publicity hunters and the big music venues, Gringo are about having a good time, and after a decade of putting out records and promoting local bands are celebrating their tenth anniversary this June. Coinciding with the anniversary, the label is seeing its bands get their first international tours from and getting it together to release follow up albums.

Sandman: How did Gringo get started?

Matt: We started the label in Colchester where I grew up. I wasn't the founding person, some of my friends who wanted to put out their own bands had already set it up, and it ended up that I had some money so I helped them out doing it. The first release was split about five ways, money-wise, between the band and the chap that I ended up running the label with for many years. I used to write a fanzine called Damn You!, which is now what I promote gigs under, with a little collective that promotes gigs in Nottingham. From that it's a natural thing really, putting out music, you meet bands and it’s kind of an extension of everything you get involved in music-wise. I moved to Nottingham in autumn of 2000, and it became that I was the only person running it, so I do it by myself. It's not a full time job, and I don't make any money off it at all, and that's not the intention, so I have a job that subsidises it. Each release pretty much pays for itself now, which is good. Some labels release things with the idea of breaking a band, of making them really big, something career furthering, but we don't really put out bands who have that goal. It tends to be people who have jobs, maybe kids and even if they wanted to they couldn't go on a month long tour. I like working with people like that, it's a lot more interesting than working with a bunch of rich kids out of university, who can go off on tour for weeks at a time.
I wouldn't say I look for anything authentic. I think I just ended up in a group of people who have music as a major part of their lives, but have other things going on. It's not about being fashionable, it's about playing music with their friends, and enjoying it, and they're not playing the music towards making a career out of it. I would love to have as many people as possible discover it but I know there are limitations to what a band can do. Sometimes those limitations are really frustrating, because I've had bands get offered things that they'd love to be able to do, but they can't.

S: What gets released on Gringo?

M: It's definitely within the rock pantheon, I suppose. What I'm personally into at the moment is a lot of post-punk bands like Public Image Ltd or the Slits - British music of a certain era. My aim with the label is to put out British bands. I have released a few American bands, but it's always been a split release. As to what it sounds like, it's rock music but there's always something interesting going on. So there's Lords, who are a local band, who sound a bit like Captain Beefheart, Thin Lizzy Groundhogs. Souvaris are more instrumental, post-rock, maybe like Explosions in the Sky or Mogwai. We released a band called Soeza from Bristol who have two drummers and a French horn, and they sound like a mix of hardcore and English folk. What I like about the bands is that they sound like they've got a lot of British-ness running through them.
We have quite a slow release rate, we've put out thirty-one releases over the ten years, and there's been a couple of spells when we haven't had anything to release, but a lot of the time you're waiting for bands to give you stuff. What keeps me going? I like putting out records, I like hanging out with bands and putting on gigs, and it's nice when someone says they've somehow been influenced by something you've put out. I think there's a certain snobbery against proper British indie labels in this country. I'm sure if they were American, the bands we put out would get so much more stuff. At All Tomorrow's Parties I'll set up a stall and sell loads of my releases, but none of my bands ever gets to play there. I see so many bad bands come over here and get the chance to tour Europe and it just pisses me off! So it's hate that keeps me going.

S: So you promote your bands' gigs as well as releasing their albums?

M: Yeah. The first show I ever put on was a label showcase and then I did an all-dayer in Colchester. The tenth anniversary gig will be another all-dayer and it's only the second time I've done it. We try not to put stuff on at Daybrook House venues (Rock City, Rescue Rooms and The Social) and use spaces like Bunker's Hill or the Maze, and if possible spaces that aren't even pubs- we've used practice rooms, and a community centre in Sneinton and the anniversary is going to be at an arts space near the train station. I like making something of a space, which doesn't necessarily have a stage or a bar, and brining people into it who wouldn't normally be there. You have to pay the band so you can't do anything too wacky, so you can push the band but you don't want to go over it. The gigs we had in Sneinton were great, at the community centre by the windmill. It was so fun, having everyone bring their own drink, and everyone would pitch in. There was one guy who was simply disgusted that there was no bar, and he wouldn't buy beers from the corner shop, so he left and didn't come back.

S: What plans do you have for the future?

M: Well, the next album we're putting out is a record by Souvaris, who are a local band, then a record by Bilge Pump and then a second record by Lords. I only released a Lords record last year, and I've never got to release two records by a band before. Potentially there's always a lot of stuff coming up, but there are a few records I've been waiting for, for a good two or three years. There's band called Eska from Glasgow who've been going longer than I've been running the label, and one of the chaps moved to Brazil and every now and then he'll come back to Glasgow and they'll record a bit. That record's been in the pipe for longer than I can remember. In other cases, the band will have recorded it, and you've been asking it for months and then the band will say, 'it's been so long, we've gone off the songs,' and I'll never have even heard them!

S: Are you going to stick with vinyl?

M: It's really expensive at the moment, because vinyl is made out of oil, and there aren't a lot of pressing plants in this country any more. When I first started the label it was a lot cheaper, and you'd sell more vinyl, and there were more indie shops. A lot of towns just don't have any indie shops now. The last three albums I did, I released on CD and vinyl and it’s a lot easier to make the money back off CDs, but then vinyl sounds better! People expect to pay less for a vinyl, but it costs more to make and ship. It's a strange thing. I can't imagine ever putting something out just as a download. I think burning CDs has hurt us more than downloading, because the Internet is a really good way of spreading the word and I think more people than not will buy a copy of the CD if they like it. People will say to me that they've burnt a Gringo CD, and it's exactly like people who try to get into gigs for free, then spend loads of money at the bar. My reaction is just disbelief.

S: Is there anything that you would love to have put out?

M: There was a band in Nottingham, when I first started out with the label, called Bobtilton, they were a major influence. I got to release a band that came out after them called the Wolves! (Of Greece), but Bobtilton's never happened. I would have loved to be around in the '70s, putting out Gang of Four, but they would have probably passed it up for bigger ambitions!

http://www.gringorecords.com