Spacebomb Records is a brand new Richmond record label based on old-fashioned ideas. Its founders, Matthew White, Dean Christesen, Jesse Medaries, and Matt Rawls, take their inspiration from the music makers of a half-century ago: Phil Spector, Stax Records, The Brill Building, and Jamaican dub reggae, among others. The central idea behind Spacebomb is to have a house backing band that plays on all the label’s records, and then bring different musicians to Richmond to record their songs with that backing band. The first musician to take part in the Spacebomb process is Anacortes, Washington indie rocker Karl Blau, who is actually in town working with the Spacebomb crew right now. Next Wednesday, Blau will perform, along with the Spacebomb house band, at the Spacebomb Records launch party at Balliceaux.
WHAT: Spacebomb Records Launch Party Featuring Karl Blau
WHO: Karl Blau with the Spacebomb Records house band: Matthew White, Cameron Ralston, and Pinson Chanselle
WHERE: Balliceaux, 203 N. Lombardy St.
WHEN: Wednesday, February 16 at 10 PM
ADMISSION: $6
In preparation for the launch party–and because I think the entire Spacebomb concept is really interesting and cool–I spoke to co-founder Matthew White about influences, creative process, and the importance of living and working in Richmond.
Spacebomb Records is a brand new Richmond record label based on old-fashioned ideas. Its founders, Matthew White, Dean Christesen, Jesse Medaries, and Matt Rawls, take their inspiration from the music makers of a half-century ago: Phil Spector, Stax Records, The Brill Building, and Jamaican dub reggae, among others. The central idea behind Spacebomb is to have a house backing band that plays on all the label’s records, and then bring different musicians to Richmond to record their songs with that backing band. The first musician to take part in the Spacebomb process is Anacortes, Washington indie rocker Karl Blau, who is actually in town working with the Spacebomb crew right now. Next Wednesday, Blau will perform, along with the Spacebomb house band, at the Spacebomb Records launch party at Balliceaux.
WHAT: Spacebomb Records Launch Party Featuring Karl Blau
WHO: Karl Blau with the Spacebomb Records house band: Matthew White, Cameron Ralston, and Pinson Chanselle
WHERE: Balliceaux, 203 N. Lombardy St.
WHEN: Wednesday, February 16 at 10 PM
ADMISSION: $6
In preparation for the launch party–and because I think the entire Spacebomb concept is really interesting and cool–I spoke to co-founder Matthew White about influences, creative process, and the importance of living and working in Richmond.
Fight The Big Bull
Andrew: What other musical projects have you done previous to Spacebomb?
Matthew: I ran Patchwork Collective. I was in a band called The Great White Jenkins and I run Fight The Big Bull.
Andrew: In terms of musical style, what sort of background and influences do you bring with you into this new project?
Matthew: The simple answer is I listen to music black people made from 1900-1980.
The longer answer is, I went to college and studied jazz arranging, so the jazz tradition certainly informs a lot of my work… But I also think it informs more or our popular music than we might think. The idea of bigger arrangements, combining sounds in interesting ways, the basic structure of American song, can be found firmly in Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. Fats Domino built on that, then Ray Charles, then Stevie Wonder, then Prince, then Notorious B.I.G. The whole African-American musical lineage (which also happens to be basically the story of American pop music) is very easy to track to more or less southern slave music… which is a really powerful, and interesting thing. Something, perhaps, that our country doesn’t honor as it should, or, at least, maybe isn’t as aware of as we should be.
I like big sounds. I like big horn sections, I like big string sections, I like big choirs, and I like to feel like it takes a village to make a record… and to raise a child. I also have a proclivity for the avant-garde. I like to think that Spacebomb makes the number one hits of an alternate, more sonically adventurous universe. One of my biggest inspirations, Jamaican music, is SO interesting because it is wildly entertaining, danceable, and intensely consumer driven. At the same time it is highly experimental, risk taking, and driven by innovation. I hope to bring this same spirit and attitude to what we do.
Andrew: Explain to me what exactly the Spacebomb recording process is going to be like.
Matthew: We are basing what we are doing on some older record label models. Namely, that we will have a house band, like Stax, or Motown, and be using that core as the rhythm section and nucleus for all our records. Also like older labels, we will rely heavily on live recording, and have as many things as we can scored out before we hit the studio (strings/horns/background vocals/overdubs etc). Sessions will be efficiently scheduled and run with forward momentum as a primary goal.
The more time you can save by sorting out your vision beforehand, and the more efficient you can be in scheduling and recording the music, the more time you will have to dedicate to those special magic sweeteners that only time, experimentation, courage and imagination can produce.
Andrew: How it will differ from the typical recording process used by most modern studios?
Matthew: One obvious difference is using a house band. Another key for us is using producers who can communicate through written music. People who can develop and document their ideas with pencil and paper before it’s studio time. And then using musicians who can read music to transform that vision in as quickly and efficiently a way as possible. Those skill sets are not priorities in today’s recording environment.
But I do want to emphasize that this isn’t where we stop. It only allows us to get farther along the path quicker so we can spend time focusing on adventures that cannot be written on paper. It’s always important to leave room for a little bit of improvisation–both in your arrangements and in your studio scheduling… and in your day to day life… and in your relationships.
ADDITIONALLY…
Dub music is also a huge inspiration to us. Dub music is basically taking pre-existing tracks and manipulating them in interesting ways using effects; or, re-recording bits of the tune so that the whole song turns into a brand new thing, although the skeleton is still the same. What most people who are not familiar with the genre don’t understand is that these new sonic sculptures are improvised. You are using the studio as an improvising device and recording your improvisations… and then releasing the best ones! This actually cannot be done in most digital formats these days, and dedicating the label to exploring this craft outside the reggae genre is one of the things I am most excited about.
Andrew: What musical influences led you to structure this project in that particular fashion?
Matthew: Motown, Chess, Capitol, and Atlantic Records of the 50’s, 60’s, and maybe most of all the way Reggae music was made.
As an arranger, I am constantly keeping my ear to the ground trying to figure out how the music I love was made. So much music that I care about is very label-centric, so to try and pick up some info on what made these sounds tick I would read book after book on these labels. It began to occur to me that it isn’t necessarily the gear, or the people, or the time period, or any of that sort of thing that was the most common thread (although that all is VERY important)… it was the PROCESS. A process that can be replicated easily, but goes entirely against common studio practices these days.
Andrew: Do you see doing Spacebomb as dramatically different from working on music in a conventional band setting? What are the pros and cons of working in this fashion instead of with a regular band?
Matthew: No and yes. In some ways it’s the ultimate band experience because the label is centered around the idea of a house band. Every record we make will have the same rhythm section. I certainly view Booker T. And The MG’s at Stax, The Funk Brothers at Motown, The A-Team in Nashville, the Wrecking Crew in L.A., The Meters in New Orleans, or the Soul Syndicate in Jamaica as bands, but really, they are just label/recording studio house bands.
It IS different, though, because you get to explore different directions with each record concept that you might not choose to do as a “proper” band, because it would confuse your audience or something. It’s kinda like wearing masks.
Andrew: In addition to yourself and your three collaborators in Spacebomb Records, do you expect to bring a regular supporting cast into the process, or will the people you work with vary wildly depending on the artist you’re featuring at the time?
Matthew: Musically the supporting cast is Pinson Chanselle the mighty on drums and Cameron Ralston the wise on bass. I will play some guitar, write a lot of ensemble parts and produce the records for now. As far as the supporting cast apart from that, I am sure the horn sections will revolve around the members of Fight The Big Bull because they are the best in town. There’s quite a special community of musicians here in Richmond, and that is really one of the primary reasons I decided to do this–because there really is some special talent here. Doing what we’re doing–a lot of pre-session scoring, live tracking, large ensembles, a house band that handles large swaths of music–you have to be dealing with some pretty talented folks or it won’t work.
Andrew: Do you expect Spacebomb’s recordings to have a “house style,” or do you foresee a huge amount of variance in sound from release to release?
Matthew: I do, although I don’t think that precludes us from a large amount of variance. My goal is to have a label identity but stretch that sound, and our process, to fit over a wide variety of records.
Andrew: From the press release I received, I get the idea that Spacebomb isn’t your first foray into this sort of musical venture. What previous experiences and collaborations led you to do this label in the fashion that you’re doing it?
Matthew: I HAVE had the wonderful opportunity to collaborate with a number of folks in my short career. In the past couple years Fight The Big Bull has collaborated with Ken Vandermark, Karl Blau, David Karsten Daniels, Steven Bernstein, Megafaun, Sharon Van Etten and Bon Iver.
Every one of those occasions required me to write a lot of music, rehearse it efficiently, and either perform or record it under much time related duress. That has shown me a few things… 1. I like doing that. 2. That PROCESS, as opposed to gear, or musicians, or even ideas, yields unique results 3. The musicians that I am honored to work with here in Richmond can do that better than most anyone else. 4. You can really get a ton done that way, quickly, cheaply, and it’s a wild adventure.
Karl Blau
Andrew: What led you to pick Karl Blau as the artist with which to launch the label?
Matthew: I’ve worked with Karl before, [and] have REALLY enjoyed working with him. He is extremely talented and we share a lot of the same studio values–working quickly, analog sound, and maybe most importantly a love of reggae music. Also, as I am recording a solo record, I thought it might be nice to have an outside pair of ears around and an encouraging voice–solo records can be a very personally trying studio experience.
Andrew: Tell me about the regular live events that you’ll be curating at Balliceaux.
Matthew: Besides making records, we would like to have a presence in the community promoting live shows. The Balliceaux series will highlight the talents of the folks around us that help us make our records happen. Bringing in Brian Jones, Glows in the Dark, Ombak, Pinson’s new group, things like that, allow us to show publicly, and hopefully to a new or expanded audience, that there are people in this community making amazing, wonderful, adventurous music.
It also gives us a venue to showcase the projects that we are recording. Allowing everyone to hear Karl, or hear the Megafaun guys when they come record, or hear Jason Stein when he comes next Fall–these are all wonderful opportunities for the community to be part of what we do.
Andrew: What role do you expect these shows to have in the Spacebomb process?
Matthew: We love our city and we want everyone to see it, and experience it like we get to. Hopefully this is a way for us to share with everyone what we are doing and experiencing, and begin to build relationships with people that we don’t know right now.
For example, I want everyone I can find to sing a group sing-a-long in the studio on the evening of the 19th! Maybe that can be new Spacebomb friends? Maybe we could invite everyone that is at the show on the 16th?!
As we stretch our legs a bit we would like to be involved in the community as much as we can. This oppurtunity we have at Balliceaux is a way of beginning that process.
