PRANK RECORDS This interview was done with Ken Sanderson of Prank Records. I think it gives a great insight into the label. Prank has released stuff by HIS HERO IS GONE, BORN/DEAD, SUNDAY MORNING EINSTEINS, KYLESA, TOTALITAR, AVSKUM, BORN AGAINST, WORLD BURNS TO DEATH and loads more. 1. What first prompted you to start a label? I had worked on a number of projects within a cooperative working environment- college radio, booking at 924 Gilman Street, etc and had become frustrated with the pitfalls of a co-op situation -there’s plenty of success, but you’re also at the mercy of the whims and work ethic of other members, So I wanted to start my own project away from the politics of those types of situations. Ironically, a record label is still an interdependent entity, since I'm not a musician; I'm still at the mercy of the bands and other people. Since starting the label, the focus and reasoning behind it has sharpened. From just hoping to do a few records, get a record out for Dead and Gone, to taking inspiration from labels like OVER THE TOP and PUSMORT, to trying to pick innovative bands that push limits and carry the sound and ideas of a music scene I really love forward. 2. What's been you most sold release so far? The most successful Band has been His Hero is Gone, who have sold over 20,000 of each of their records. They are a real anomaly in terms of what most of my stuff sells –just right place, right time with an innovative sound, an important message and enough touring all over the world to hammer the point home. Nothing has come close to their success, which I think is also based from having a broad appeal -metal heads, emo kids, thrash freaks, punks-they can draw a fan base from many different scenes. The touring is also key. They lived in a van for over six months of the year for three consecutive years. This is hard to sustain in the DIY world and takes it's toll. The ability to sell and amount sold of records has changed greatly since the label started in the mid 1990's-there’s a variety of factors to this-from the sheer overwhelming output of the DIY world currently to Downloading /burning to just the poor state of the actual economy for most middle to poor people in America Since Bush became president, as well as other factors (Fluctuations of interest in HC, etc) 3. Did you find it hard finding a manufacturing plant/what plant would you recommend? No it was never difficult- though the initial stages of having to pay for everything upfront and gaining respect to get my orders done in a timely manner were difficult. If you’re paying upfront in cash, it's pretty easy to find a manufacturer. Issues people most often seem to have in regards to a plant are issues of turnaround time, being upfront about when orders will be run and holding to agreements made over the phone in those regards. I did go through the Major upheaval of Alberti Records who manufactured everything up through prank 041 going out of business and having to retrieve my plates and parts from their warehouse, which was complete insanity-they’d been in business since the 1940's and just had junk everywhere- Redd Foxx comedy 45's, dangerhouse labels, P.E.A.C.E. comp plates... I now manufacture my vinyl at Rainbo in Santa Monica and occasionally use other plants for 7"'s. The vinyl quality in the US seems to vary wildly, which is why I’ve tried Bill Smith, Erika and others for 7”’s. For a small label I’d be sure your parts (pressing plates, extra labels) are returned to you with your completed order, that you have a definitive timeline of when your record will be pressed, and that you do your vinyl mastering at a studio as opposed to the plant. I've yet to try doing records at G/Z in Czech, though they do amazing work. I think long term with my label, and have some nervousness about my parts /plates being overseas. I also would hate to see another major pressing plant close down in the US. Most Large Indies / business minded labels don’t do vinyl for a reason-it’s expensive to produce, easily damaged. 4. Have you lost money from distro's, shops, traders, credit card fraud etc Any advice on how to avoid it? I’ve been relatively lucky- outside of the odd small amount here or there, that I‘ve never been hit that hard by rip off artists. I'm very cautious in dealing with people in South East Asia, which is a shame, as there’s a GREAT punk scene there, but it's marred by the huge amount of scam artists who have pretty much nothing to with the actual scene but mar the international impression of it by falsely ordering CD's, Credit card scams, making phony bootlegs or whatever other scams they can think up. Document everything, write it down, Insure trades to ensure it gets there, put an invoice with addresses inside the box, make sure this matches whatever you declare the value as. Tape all the edges of a box you’re shipping overseas, slide cut pieces of cardboard down the sides to protect the records. Remember Sea Mail is shipping with tons of 70-Pound boxes that are going to sit on and smash into your records. The network of trades is so small, that it's easy to suss out whether someone is legit from other labels. So ask around before sending stuff. 5. Do you have many old releases gathering dust under your bed? There's a few that sell slower, but trickle out in 3 to 5 copies a month- including some bands that have diehard fan bases in weird corners of the world (Word salad = the fave of punks all over the state of Colorado!). These will be the hard to find collectors releases in 15 years that You’ll have to pay 10 times the current price for...ha-ha... Maintaining Inventory is what makes a record label so difficult. Unlike say, t-shirts, you can’t just make 10 of an LP as you need them, and extra sleeves, inserts can tie up money long term, but it’s cheaper to print in bulk. It’s often hard to judge what you can sell-and most labels early on make the mistake of having one hit record and judging the manufacturing of the next from that-making for a huge stack of leftovers-the DROOGIES LP on Shredder haunting most $1 bins for the last decade is the clearest example of this- who would’ve guessed it wouldn’t Sell as well as JAWBREAKER "Unfun"??? I still have original Pressings for many of the singles that followed the HIS HERO IS GONE 7" for the same reason, eight years later. 6. What distribution would you recommend for a band/label? One that is reliable in sales and payment, trustworthy and gets your records in the hands of the people that want to hear them. Distribution is a fluid situation, so you have to keep on it and ask around to ensure your records are getting where they need to be. I sell all of prank's stock on Ebay, which sounds ridiculous, but turns over constantly and has helped me out in more than one pinch financially. There's a lot of options and ideas worth experimenting with -it's kind of a different and more difficult environment now and requires that records really be readily available at arms reach or there's other things to divert people’s attention. In the time doing the label post "the internet revolution" I've noticed more and more that people demand immediate gratification, quicker shipping and receiving their orders as people are now accustomed to three day delivery from places like Amazon, etc. 7. Do you use companies outside the 'd.i.y network' to distribute your releases to record shops, is it worth it? Until Mordam Records was sold to Lumberjack Distribution -something that was accomplished through Money from Warner Brothers indie Distribution arm WEA- I was proud to be distributed by Mordam,. With a wide spectrum of punk and indie labels as I think this small DIY scene should try to reach as many people as possible without a compromise in ethics. There’s a bit of disagreement to what those ethics should be, for sure, but this was comfortable for me -but not always all of my artists- until the association with Warner happened. Now I primarily use NO IDEA and EBULLITION, who both do an amazing job, but work on a somewhat smaller DIY scale...but surprisingly with the same sales results! The situation of distribution to Indie shops is a bit different than in Europe in the US, it seems like there's a broader jump between the diy circuit and stores in Europe, where stores even up to some on the chain level are pretty supportive of DIY/Indie releases in the states. There's less of an issue of price gouging than was an issue in the early '80's, as some indie shop sell at prices equivalent or even less than some DIY distros, and also in the US there's not as heavy taxation on goods that inflates prices sold in legit shops as in Europe ( there's also no social safety net either, but that's a different subject...). The problem is further complicated that Stores are going out of business in droves across the US, so in smaller cities there’s no DIY distro and only the labels that are aggressively marketed to chains as a representation of "punk" readily available to kids. It's crucial to have that alternative out there...and the internet makes it a lot easier to find than it was say, in the early 1980's, but I wouldn't cut off any avenue of reaching people without careful reflection, I bought my first punk records at the shopping mall, like anybody else. 8. Is there anything advice you'd like to add for folks planning to release a piece of vinyl or CD? A record is only new once, and people retain first impressions so do it once and do it right. Double check everything, mistakes are costly. Don't skimp on the mastering as it's as much of a part of how your record sounds as recording. Make full size copies of your layout to double check for errors before printing. Think through every step and make the best possible record you can. 9. What are the next planned releases for the label? A 12 song Debut LP/CD by DESOLATION from the SF bay Area, total Raging Japanese Hardcore influenced crust from members of BORN/DEAD, SCURVY DOGS and STRUNG UP. A 20 Song 2nd LP by Memphis's BURY THE LIVING entitled "All The News That’s Fit to Scream" that is brutal barebones political USHC that occasionally reaches a blast beat pitch. A new 7" by Oakland's BORN/DEAD "repetition / Fear" - two tracks of charged political peace punk chanting and thrashing and a new 4-song 7" by Austin, Texas's SIGNAL LOST which has some of their most Hardcore material yet along with their melding of melodic peace punk similar to their debut LP from last year.Check www.prankrecords.com for release dates.