Big Scary Monsters is an Oxford-based independent record label. You may not have noticed it, but for nearly a decade they’ve been quietly getting on with things, notching up over 100 releases so far, and presenting an appreciative record-buying public with an impressive selection of artists. As well as Oxford bands like Hold Your Horse Is and This Town Needs Guns, they’ve worked with Pulled Apart By Horses, Tall Ships, Tubelord, Mimas and more – even securing a limited-edition single from Mr Party Hard himself, Andrew W.K. The label’s head honcho Kevin Douch kindly spared some time to address our searching questionage, and fill us in on what BSM is all about.
MIO: Quick label history/who runs BSM?
KD: Big Scary Monsters is a DIY independent label based in Oxford. Its been running for nine years and just over 100 releases now, working with a fairly diverse range of bands from around the world. It’s a one man operation which began in a bedroom and has since expanded to the dizzy heights of the corner of my living room, which is where I sit typing this right now.
MIO: Are you an Oxford record label, or a label that just happens to be in Oxford?
KD: A bit of both, really. I moved to Grove (near Wantage) with my family 18 years ago and began the label very soon after The Club That Cannot Be Named launched (my first local gig was Jor at The Point), so have always been very well aware of what’s going on in the city, having followed their gigs through my musically formative years. I’m now based just off of the Cowley Road and have worked with a few Oxford based artists including This Town Needs Guns and Richard Walters, and have put on a number of gigs at different venues around here for a few years now. My time is pretty equally divided between here and London these days but I certainly intend to keep the label based in OX4 for as long as possible.
MIO: Any guidelines/style for bands on your label?
KD: Some people have lazily written us off as a ‘math rock’ label in the past, but I think that’s a bit unfair. It’s true to say that some (TTNG, Meet Me In St Louis and Tubelord, for example) reside in, or are at least heavily influenced by, that scene, but others are a lot more diverse. Kevin Devine is a Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter, Talons are a six-piece, violin-lead instrumental band from Hereford, Jeniferever are a post-rock band from Sweden, Tall Ships are… well, they’re hard to describe, Andrew W.K. is a party man, pure and simple, Tellison are essentially a fun-time pop-punk band, and the list goes on. I’d honestly like to believe there’s something for everyone in our back catalogue.
MIO: “The inevitable decline of record/CD sales…” – your views?
KD: Haha, the old favourite! There are quite possibly some very important stats out there which complete blow my theory out of the water (or sand, where my head is buried) but I can only go by my own personal experiences, and those are actually quite contradictory to what you’d read in the press. Sales are noticably down for major labels and their casual-consumer-reliant-releases, but labels such as BSM operate in a completely different world. We sell to people who still appreciate nicely packaged music, or enjoy discovering new bands which 99.9% of the world will never hear, and aren’t affected by what’s being played on Radio One today, or who NME says is the ‘next big thing’ this week. Obviously the decline in sales outlets is a real pain, and we’re now left with very few independent record shops (people of Oxford will definitely understand my pain on this point) and only one chain, which long gave up buying on a regular basis from small labels such as ourselves. However, online sales have grown alongside the raising awareness of the label and our bands, at a rate which in most cases balances out the lossed ground. How this will continue to change over the next few years as the digital world continues to evolve and, eventually, streaming music completely replaces the need to purchase single songs from iTunes will be really interesting. I think I’m as excited as I am scared, if I’m honest!
MIO: How do you approach packaging – is it important?
KD: I think packaging has never been so important. With music now so easy to come by for free, releasing a nicely packaged physical product is absolutely vital. A couple of months back I actually launched a packaging company with a friend, where we provide bespoke, eyecatching CD cases. It’s very new but something I’m looking forward to working on more next year. On a related note, I think a similar importance to packaging should be applied to bonus content, free gifts and more. At the end of the day, fans want to know and own as much as they can, so everything has a value in that respect. How difficult is it to record a couple of acoustic demos at home, or screen print a poster, or sign a few CDs, if it means a band sells a couple of extra boxes and can continue doing what you love without fear of financial ruin for a little while longer? For all the bad things you can argue about the impact the digital age has had on music, I do love the fact that it’s driving out the lazy and uninspired.
MIO: Labels of inspiration – Oxford and beyond?
KD: When I first began the label I was a 17 year old pop-punk kid who loved Drive-Thru Records. I also had a great fondness for Fierce Panda (who of course worked with a number of Oxford bands over the years) and the way they marketed themselves and their releases. These days I’m a big admirer of labels such as Sub-Pop, Domino and Cooking Vinyl, who have grown from bedroom indies to record label powerhouses whose bands will influence generations to come. Closer to home I think there have been some really good labels which have come – and sadly in most cases – gone. Ady at Vacuous Pop has always had great taste and was working with some amazing bands well before I came along, and will no doubt still be well after I’m gone. The fact that he’s managed to keep his ear to the ground and picked up on so many wonderful artists before anyone else for such a long time is very inspiring.
MIO: How is the label funded? Do you have distribution/other deals set up?
KD: When I first started the label I was working part-time at the Co-Op in Grove. After I finished sixth form my parents were sick of me hanging around the house so much and raised my rent to £10 a month higher than I was earning, meaning I had to find a full-time job, which I did in a customer service department of a phone company at Milton Park. For three years I worked 8.30 am-5.00 pm there, 6.00 pm-10.00 pm at the Co-Op, then did BSM until I fell asleep. My friends were all at uni but by the time they’d graduated I’d quit my jobs to do the label full-time. The money I’d earnt from those jobs kept me going through the first few releases, from which point we started selling enough of each release to fund the next, and afford me a basic lifestyle. We now have distributors in a few different countries (worldwide, digitally) and a large back catalogue, as well as other little ventures such as ACD/Sleeve and DJing club nights, which help too. Oh and the Andrew W.K. square-shaped 7″ we released earlier this year was funded using some money I won in a Fantasy Football league!
MIO: How do you go about getting press coverage for your releases?
KD: I handle press for many of our bands myself. It’s surprising how many people you come to know over the course of a few years doing this and for that reason I’m lucky enough to have friends at a number of magazines and radio stations who I can call on for support. We also employ PR people for our bigger bands, which helps secure extra content and frees me up to focus on trying to find creative ways to promote their new releases, and find the next generation of new signings.
MIO: Your dream release: from bands that exist today (including format)
KD: I would probably say an album from The Get Up Kids, on CD (just because), MP3 (for the masses) and limited edition, multi-coloured 12″ vinyl (for my fellow music nerds). Throughout the history of the label they’ve remained one of (if not my very) favourite band, and have influenced many of the acts I’ve signed. They’re not a huge band and wouldn’t allow me to retire to live on a fancy island, but the day I start signing bands for that reason should probably be the day I close the door on BSM.
MIO: Your dream release: from any band in history (including format)
KD: Michael Jackson – Thriller (every format ever). Forget what I just said above, for 110 million sales, early retirement and an island, I think I could handle giving up my little out of control hobby!
Find out more and buy lots of records from the Big Scary Monsters website