The Panther Prints 6%

Entertainment

January 21, 1997

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

anatomy of a label

murderecords

By Melissa Buote

Murderecords was formed in 1992 by Halifax’s premiere pop band, Sloan, back in the days when they could not find a place to put out their own records. Not only could they call this label home, but they also released recordings of their friends, who today include Jale, the Super Friendz, Thrush Hermit and the Local Rabbits.

“Right around the time Sloan saw no one interested in them, everyone became inter- ested and they signed with Geffen,” wrote Colin MacKenzie in an interview conducted over e-mail, “Geffen said it would be ok to put outan EP on Murderecords if they really wanted to.” And so, Murder was born with the release of the Peppermint EP.

The label was named by band member Andrew Scott. Why Murder? Who knows? Chris Murphy designed the logo, insinuating that “mur- der” stood for a murder of crows. Clever. At least now they don’t look like maniacs.

Run by Colin MacKenzie (Managing Director), Chip Sutherland (Business Manager as well as Sloan’s manager and lawyer) and the members of Sloan, this label has every- thing going for it. The men in Sloan have become well rounded entrepreneurs accord- ing to MacKenzie. “Jay [Ferguson] and _ Chris [Murphy] spent a year doing

the music that is being made

grunt work, art, stuffing let- ters, etc., as well as keeping a keen ear out for good sounds. Andrew Scott is our man in Toronto, and_ Patrick [Pentland] helps with our news letter and spends a great deal of time writing songs.”

Murderecords is touted as having a definitive East Coast sound with the melodic pop of all of the bands that make up the label. Until re- cently, the entirety of the ros- ter was made up of Halifax bands, but Murder has branched out by signing the bluesy Local Rabbits from Montreal and licensing some albums from Chicago’s Flydaddy Records. Murphy and Ferguson have the last word on who gets signed onto Murder, but the entire man- agement team must come to a consensus.

“There is no sound, but we know it when we hear it. We are not going crazy look- ing for new acts, what we are doing now is concentrating on

by the Super Friendz, Local Rabbits, Sloan and a few 7" projects.”

Universal Music, also knownas MCA, manufactures and distributes most of Murderecords’ music, so this label is not one of the many trendy Canadian independent or “indie” labels. What they have is a ‘P&D Deal’ or pro- duction and distribution deal. “The system has different lev- els, one level is 7" and 12" vinyl and cassettes we feel like putting out -- this we do all on our own. Then there is level 2. This is the P&D deal. Level 3 is if they decide they really think a CD will do well, then they put a little more work into it than just a P&D deal.”

Five years after the crea- tion of Murderecords, things have definitely changed, yet are somewhat the same. Sloan have had and finished a major label deal in the States, and are back onto releasing their al- bums on Murder. One Chord To Another has become Mur- der’s and Sloan’s best selling release after going gold in November of “96. Murderecords is still helping out East Coast talent and de- veloping and promoting mu- sicians and music.

Next Week:

The Courage to Be Your- self Journal

By Sue Patton Thoele (Conari Press/Raincoast)

Journal writing is of- ten the best way for individuals to attend to ideas, thoughts, and feel- ings that many times go repressed and unexplored.

This journal, a companion to the national best-seller, The Courage to Be Your- self, offers encouragement to women through quotes from the book, as well as lessons and exercises. It is a good concept if used in conjunction with the book, but alone it relies on the effort and openness of the writer. A journal is only as

effective and helpful as the

writer is at channelling her thoughts to paper. Journal writing does not require a fancy book with elaborate quotes. Still, this does make a nice gift idea.

K. Heatherington