Remarkable People: Making a Difference in the Northwest; Interview with Bruce Pavitt, Tape 5

singing yeah on the issue sending out a promotional cd to radio and they were hand drawn illustrations and other cities that are going out and bigger picture may be well it has been a long road and very difficult at the end of the day of attribute that to risk in the the willingness to take risk

when john and i first started this company full time five years ago we had about two records in the catalog and a lot of enthusiasm for local music and we've tripped over a shoe laces again and again and again at our phone disconnected had our bank account go down to zero a few times i think a lot of other people would've just given up but we kept at it because we did have such a genuine enthusiasm for the music that was coming out of this community and i believe that if we have this philosophy if you believe in them it's hard enough that becomes a reality you know you kind of write your own story your writing history as it happens you know seattle is going to be the mecca of rock and roll soul pop is going to be the most important record label that ever existed so you just have to think they tend to be completely irrational and

mr ross it seems to concede that well we've been as a question quite a few times i answered again are a lot of it really comes down to there are a lot of people a vast us why there's been such an activity in seattle and i always have to come back by saying that because he always been so removed from the media centers of new york and la that people created music here out of pure enjoyment they play for their friends and the way you play with your friends anything goes you can dare to the whimsical you can be spontaneous because lord knows you're never going to make any money at it okay so that i think creates an environment open mindedness

and creativity of course another way to look at the way things have developed is because so much money is starting to come in and because an industry is really started develop that all the sudden seattle is kind of becoming like la na orth you know some people are a little more conscious of playing a game and trying to get signed and learning about contracts and taking more of a business approach and less of the spontaneous approach to the art itself yeah so the thing that you really really tiny you just heard and quickly but your relationship with nirvana twist that away we head in a nutshell we had a few ways of successes on john i really believed that europe was hungry for american rock n roll i mean our our country our culture's is

noted for rock and roll music and sound the media the world's most sophisticated media hype machine for music is in england sir whole strategy was to get these really authentic arrived rock and roll bands and get them over england and get them into the face of the british media and hopefully that information would come back to the states so our first wave of success is really in eighty eight eighty nine we had a group of musicians in a random audience had either win over there and from the english point of view it was it was like the british invasion and you know in the early sixties the british friends coming over here so from their point of view there was a wave of these el bands and that kind of got the hype machine going i am and things built from there things built from the british tried machine a couple years later one of our groups nirvana just really took off and quite quite an unexpected turn mean there have been

groups developing regionally in getting the records out on indie labels and for a long time throughout throughout the twentieth century if you're really about is the whole thing but in the most recent wave of independent releases there's really only been records coming out for like ten or fifteen years and these kids have traditionally sold five ten fifteen thousand records ok so for nirvana two to somehow so eight million records worldwide was a complete until phenomenon and it showed the world that all these groups have been struggling putting out their own music working on a regional level that have existed again late seventies eighties and completely ignored that town essentially that these groups were relieved than the next wave of musicians and i was ok so i cannot listener michael jackson tour springsteen anymore there was a younger generation

musicians busting the diet there was a market for this music and it wanted proof i think you get to benefit from the financial aid he did a financial writer you get the full fortunately for us a label that developed to a point where we had actually the book contract the virus a lebanese indie labels are just it's handshake deals people selling records out of the back of their cars out of five bedrooms would have you but fortunately been around long enough to realize is very important for a contract so yvonne his case we did have a contract with them and when they went on to geffen along we get to participate in the financial rewards of our discovery there so we have been making quite a bit of money we reworked half are

bells and it's been it's been an exciting story i gotta say the disney take back perez over and over again and you just feel like you know how much more of punishment can i take here before i before i go out of business to have something like that happen really a coordinated made the work a little more worthwhile we're less your business did about four million dollars worth of business just in the united states we have also set up a company in europe or releases are coming out in europe we also have a licensing deal with sony in japan soll records come out in japan in her videos on mtv in asia i'm a friend of mine is in taiwan six months ago turn on the tv and some one of our bands and television so it's it's been very exciting very exciting in the past couple years we've really tried to re invest our money in

the local community by hiring new employees and by signing events were the same time expanding and scientists from other parts of the country and developing a global distribution system so needless to say it's a hobby thats kind of gone out of control in ways is it's a vacation raise my own better answer gary sure i'm trying to ok and i really that's kandahar one approaches i am not from the northwest originally i came out from the midwest as a german partner john grew up in the chicago area i was involved in the free schools all what is as alternative education

in high school and that there was a format that really appealed to me is i really like to pursue my own projects an independent studies and so forth and i came out to the northwestern evergreen state college in olympia because in simple format and that's where i really invest a lot of time studying how some these different regional labels worked there are many schools here stage three can go to to learn how to become our record magnet or anything so it's a it was a hobby that i was very obsessive about my pursuit of the un the evergreen state college and to study smart history and now that really try to analyze the number given the label so we're starting to sprout up in the late seventies and so forth so thats kind of my cause cause the academic background there's some some to assemble it in my way through life but essentially it's images i pursued a man i'm self employed so i can't

complain too much so it is effective or are you really well it i come from a pretty solid middle class background however i am liberal background so i have the instrument is liberal guilt and carry around with me so i have to constantly think about the disenfranchised and that dale house me to tomorrow my records as well i believe that the the role of an independent record label is to essentially consistently work with people are disenfranchised from the mainstream media mean that's that's how you survive as a small record label is essentially niche marketing and bringing in people who haven't been shown

opportunities with the six large major labels that kind of thing is that yes he is unique from other that ground pretty wrecked around it eases them a man greece's yeah yeah we'll see above yes i had an upper charity to to make or they're a diverse group of people while i was working at the muzak corporation here in seattle we're working for three or four years of sobriety different people that's firm that's had i became really fascinated with him as a personality i have a strong belief that just because own one that doesn't necessarily have a strong academic backgrounds no no reason to prejudge the prisons not being an artist and i think prior to sub pop a lot of a feeling amongst indie

labels was ok we've got college college radio playing our stuff in there was really kind of an elitist fields a lot of music that was coming out in indie labels i am very geared more toward look towards a college audiences so forth and life i think our approach was really are more of the folk music approach is to get out into these hinterlands as a as it were and to do with great personalities that you were coming from maybe the less privileged backgrounds who might have a little more anger little more soul or something to citizens as a rock and roll as if he were getting up on stage and complaining about the state of the world so i think he really after they can find people who have something to say and i think people come from an ultra privileged background shelia playing rock n roll music you know what

it is seemed to be leading to the central core of what these physicians for which you're helping them from russian public's view essentially to say i think when you really look at the independent music community the thing to look for is that sense of community and a lot of these people and play music on as they're essentially express of personalities but also that they believe on in community and when you look at groups like mud honey or always hiring their friends and they certainly could have gotten a high powered manager for los angeles no data that shows there'd the rodin best friend bob who doesn't necessarily have the kind of background that they believe in this person's abilities in

there and make it work and i think we really made a lot of these people you find that consistently reinvesting in their friends and in their community i think that is the key issue where is generally speaking when you look at the music industry for the arts or entertainment in the industry in general everybody's trying to stop all over each other trying to make it to the top and as we all now it sits a pretty pretty long hard dropped to the bottom and if you don't make friends on the way up you know i can have any friends on the way down so it's very very important to do to keep those relationships going and work together cooperatively are supposed to ultra competitive we were just constantly upon us i've had a very rewarding business relationship with

john it's not often that you can meet somebody start a business go through the kind of ups and downs that we have and still still talk to each other and we've certainly had our fair share of fights and so forth and disagreements but the end of the day a visceral nature words respect and i think i personally stand to complement each other for well john has a better background who as far as i am business theory end job he's the one who's kind of driving the company to grow and tom very analytical very sharp are rooted in our personally he's a musician and sound so he's the kind of guy who can go to a club listen to abandon go is there's a great bard's along the note this drama really needs rehearsal the more i tend to be more visually oriented and work on production in our work and in media and i can then so

he tags and be more involved in the visual arts and he tends to be more involved in in writing and so forth that's actually comes to be easy to actually producing well as far as music videos which i think are really important some people would disagree with me but sell says a ninth generation rancher and all sorts of new we're entering a new technological era and he does have to do a video we're essentially hire directors to shoot videos and you'll find it when you're working with musicians some of them will have a visual arts background some of them will not so it's it's our job to come to step in when it's necessary and step back when that's appropriate as well so that's a real trick knowing when to shut up and when to kind of guide

people as well as we do have a lot of experience well see the thing is a lot of our groups right now i'm alone again are are not from seattle we've been signing a lot of groups around the country and at this point in time i don't think you're really shooting a video in seattle for a while something that the puzzle even if we were on generally speaking i would not be down they're essentially if you trust the director in the trust the band and the concern of some concepts and then have to step back and let the artist be the artist i'm less than my son can come in before making any money and goeman know i have under involving the production in the our work

so usually every other day are we talking to designers looking through our work for free covers of seven series of cds laid out and sleet second thing posters i'll prove promotional photos on reviews that scalia to say camden and i'll definitely were reviewing sales figures talking with john about sir are his relations like musicians on the phone saying they're happy with the ready to ditches from a chilly we hadn't you know maybe it won't do that i've just talking to different voices saying how things in paris then my private time actually i'd try and i've got a large music collection and i tried to spend some time a listener and so we're now putting out as it's really important to consistently go back to the art that inspired you in the first place and tom it is

really easy to fall into a trap or by year you just constantly thinking about work and business and just the groups are playing with and i think thats that's real dangerous trap to fall into so on i like seeing the film's i'm going to art museums and just destroy it inspired by culture in general gillette a traveling with the business and that's that soul is inspiring or just in spain like you're in barcelona and just looking at the people on the buildings and there was a lot of beauty all of the players try to take time out experience at dj culture knew well the sure it's kids got to you know i don't know if i can translate to translate that literally but spent ten years out here and it's it's a

slower pace than the east coast workers economy are its nothing like seattle and there isn't an incredible natural beauty here and i think a genuine warmth and friendliness of the people here and i think that's where a lot of you know it talks about six years since the community and i feel like there's a stronger sense of community here people aren't so again stock ideally that's that's jeremiah my impression people are now stepping over each other that their things a lot more slower paced people was spent more time helping each other out as opposed to getting in a taxi in racing from one office to another theory there is definitely a spirit of independence america miniseries the northwest is one of the last frontiers that so i think if something entrepreneurs out here in large like a microsoft this is a good place to be break away

from traditional was joking the other other day about the difference in his custom wise cousins that you get married he's guesses can cost a ton of money because you're so rooted in tradition you've got all these rules my wife and i got married an art gallery and then they spend too much money but had a great party and did not feel weighed down by generations of tradition and i think that's one of the biggest differences the trainees the sand and the west coast but of course north west is a little younger than than california as well so when it's easy to come here with a clean slate and start your life all over again it means we're expecting another child in art is so crisp found that out a couple months ago some pretty excited that they sat sir that is three d sachs the violence that that

is all his meetings and there's such a fine line between lending person expresses that promotion like rare times it we are outraged that a longer a music videos that carry sacks in the right direction or service sector is doing it right in the camps are sounding like her a moralist rights like the right to get back cuz nice and says europe's know which there is a difference of it is that we've put on the air ok well good that's that's that's my feeling i mean i think art is about provoking people you know you have to constantly re examine it traditions values and so forth and if there's no dialogue then how can you possibly says with whats going with that you

know i am here too to fight for the right to my artist express themselves anywhere they want and that upset some people great they have the freedom to fall was that letter ends and again create dialogue and i think that's essential in any kind of democracy it is legendary seven tweet your conscience that you could be a hard sound good for me is there's one at that yeah there are mr sethi right right now the

way i suppose i just think parents need to spend more time with their kids and family searching community will sense accuse countries is falling apart you know and i think that's the real issue now think their world the way i try to live my life is that i tried to really invest in my friendships and provide emotional support to my friends flipping coin and i think that there is there's i think there's certain and social decay happening in the country right now the breakdown of community people canceling try to redefine what families and so forth and i think that along that families need to do that's in the social being of their children and that means now watching some pop videos on and they think of that of the child is his is love that i'd skin have enough self confidence enough sense of identity to be able to six of the arts in america jump out of a building you know it's typical

situation is like da sensei hearing and pornography in all the centers of four through all the support over two years and then they go public and say you people shouldn't see this now i just think that's so i just think that what we're providing is information service all innocence information you get lobbied for are unconditionally you are the years you remember writing this they are only two artists putting out sectarian my responsibilities towards the artist period unconditionally now if it's an artist trade something that that i believe lacks artistic value is at that

point where will reconsider putting out but that's that's the only point if it but generally speaking if i believe in the creative potential of somebody it is not my job to snuff that great expression is to publish and promote that expression the community large directorate any way they want you know because you know they're serving time in jail i mean it's this is worse that i just really think that in a democratic society it's as there's a slippery slope there you cannot but i'm not going to budge on artistic expression i'm sorry this is a way of you know there are we see that it is it seems to sit around a lot of music i think that there are drugs everywhere in the world and a researcher society there in droves in

polls and again in every sector society throughout history so he obviously there can be drugs and mixing in other drugs and now i'm sure this set some bankers say they are counter right now starting some cutting entitlements and as in sales so the actors are part of the senate that the music he plays in various strands possibly it's all it all comes down to how some interpret something now we could put out a video that it really caused an interpretation the individual you know art is meant to create dialogue some people could see your stuff and go wow i'm never going to do drugs you know some people would walk window well i can't wait in london's center for veterans than the individual's decision and again my point is art is meant to get people thinking about things you know

on a night using drugs are good or the drugs are that the drugs are part of life and if you ignore that then you're brain cancer in my opinion i don't think that we should be living in a totalitarian repressive society where we pretend the child abuse doesn't happen well the ten drugs that will happen and then also we wonder whether those circular firing around you now it's really important getting is on the album and that's what that's really are as being and soul it's been fb