Mr. Mark Ritchie runs the tape label called KAW. I've been a fan of his music for several years now.His somewhat lo-fi folk sound and plaintive vocals touch me in a personal way . He has recorded solo, with his band Shy Rights Movement and early projects under various names.I spoke with Mark recently and queried him on a few things. >Question: When did KAW start and why? And why KAW...what does it stand for >or mean? KAW used to stand for Killing Animals is Wrong. It was kind of a vegan/animal rights thing. I used to be a vegan and into things like that when I was younger. I'm still a vegetarian and stuff, but nowadays I really don't tell people what KAW means. It's kind of fun to let them guess! I just like the way it sounds, and it made sense to keep the name after all these years rather than coming up with a new name. I thought of changing the name to Vanity Recordings, which was kind of a jokey name, but no one got the joke, so I named a Shy Rights Movement tape that instead. >Question: You perform as Frank Peck-is this some kind of inside joke or >just a way of being anonymous? I originally came up with the name Frank Peck because I was too embarassed to put out tapes under my own name. I don't know why. It meant I could send them to people and be annoymous. If they didn't like the tape, it wasn't as bad. I may start using my real name soon, though. I feel a bit more confident now without having to hide behind a pseudonym. The name Frank Peck sounds like a stand up comedian or something- not really suited to my depressing songs! >Question: I guess your band, Shy Rights Movement, is broken up now. What >are the differences to you between working solo and in the band context? >Do you think its possible to keep a band together in the long run if there >are only low paying gigs and limited groupie action?! The band isn't really broken up. 2 of the members of the band left, but the guitar player and me are still recording as a duo. It's kind of funnier having a 'band' called Shy Rights Movement with hardly any members. The funniest thing of all would if there was only one person in it, or no people in it. but i can't really see how that would work!! There should be a new SRM thing sometime in 2001. We're recording onto a PC now, so hopefully no one can call us lo-fi anymore. We were never really lo-fi, anyway. We recorded a lot of those songs in studios, it's just that my equipment for copying tapes is so shit, it reduces everything to a lo-fi mess. Working solo is cool because I can record songs really soon after writing them, but I don't have a 4 track or anything, so unfortunately all my solo stuff so far has been lo-fi, which is fine, but I also want my songs to sound good. I guess having a mixture of nicely recorded stuff and lo-fi stuff is good too. It was pretty hard keeping the band together, basically because I'm not a natural leader and I had to put myself in that role in order to get anything done. I hated organising gigs and stuff so I don't miss that at all. Also, having to make 20 phone calls just to organise a practice drove me crazy! And the groupie action was, sadly, non-existant! Singing songs about your feelings and shit may be seen as cool to 14 year old boys, but girls are FAR more sensible and rightly see all that stuff as boring and dumb! >Question: Tell us about some of your favorite music and influences... My favourite bands are Husker Du, The Replacements, American Music Club, Red House Painters, Scud Mountain Boys, Son Volt, but i'm also really influenced by literature like Frederic Exley, Charles Bukowski and stuff. Films too. So much stuff influences me, but I hope I'm more than a product of my influences. I really don't want to just copy someone, or be like a karaoke version of another artist. There wouldn't be any point in that. I've written songs since i was 7 or 8, so i feel like it's something that's always been in me. There is also lots of cool underground stuff, a lot of which I put out on KAW. People like Kenyata Sullivan, Ruth Sherbourne and Timo are such great songwriters who most people will never have the chance to hear, which is a real shame. >Questionj: If you were filthy rich how do you think it would change you? Well, I'd certainly worry less about paying bills and shit like that! Money and the lack of it is a total drag, so I'd LOVE to be filthy rich! I'd do almost anything in the pursuit of money, I know no shame! I'd do ads for McDonalds - anything - dressed up as a chicken if need be! >Question: Tell us your recent projects and how people can get in touch >with you... There's a tape called "Garnethill" which should be coming out soon on the Best Kept Secret label from Italy.There's a split tape out with Ian C Stewart. I'm putting out a single by Timo and the new SRM stuff will be out whenever we get it recorded (which may be never!!)People can take a look at my website: http://www.oocities.org/srmband/kaw.html or email me: kawtapes@hotmail.com >Question: Any final thoughts? No. I'm going to eat some cornflakes now! Thanks Don!