With apologies to Stephen Colbert, today we debut our multi-part series of label features (tentatively) called Better Know A Label. We asked Kanine Records to help us kick things off and co-owner Kay was generous enough to answer a few of our questions.
First of all, tell us about who’s in the picture.
Toby Rascal and Miss Hensley (H bear). She is a sweetheart, although she doesn’t look like it here. They are most definitely playing in the snow, but I like that she looks tough.
Was there a singular moment when you knew you had to start your own label?
Definitely not. I had the idea of putting out a friends record – and [co-owner] Lio had the idea of putting out a compilation of bands from New York and that was our first release of 20 bands. So I guess we sort of launched into a being a label without a long term plan. We just continued to put out records and it’s sort of still the same idea – we don’t have set number of releases a year or anything – we just find stuff we like and people who want to work with us and try to keep things simple.
Tell us about Kanine’s first release, your last release, and your next release.
Ok – well that compilation was our first release. Our last release was Dinowalrus debut full length %. The title is somewhat problematic for online services – but that’s all been worked out now. Our next release is The Depreciation Guild’s Spirit Youth set for an April/May release and it’s their sophomore record which we are about to announce any day now.
How do you find out about most of the acts you sign?
It used to be we signed bands from New York because that’s what was around and who we caught at shows. But we have started branching out – with bands from Florida (Blind Man’s Colour, Surfer Blood), Los Angeles (Princeton) – but mostly those bands came through New York at some point.
You feature pets available for adoption on your website; have you ever heard from any fans who have rescued an animal they saw on your site?
Unfortunately, I have not. Although Petfinder is how we got both our dogs and we think it’s a great tool for searching around for a rescue – without having to compromise on finding exactly what type of dog you want. You can find anything, even pure breeds, like Portuguese Water Dogs – and I’m saying that cause what Obama did was LAME.
What has the experience of working with Surfer Blood been like? The members are all so young, but there’s already a huge buzz surrounding them. What sort of challenges does this present for the band and label?
So far, so good. It’s so refreshing to get a band that is just going for it – even before we were involved. They were booking their own shows for a few months, which I think is the smartest thing a band can do – and as a side note, our most successful bands have all self-booked their own first nationwide tour- including Grizzly Bear, Oxford Collapse and Chairlift. As far as them being young, that’s just really fun – they are really smart and pick up on things very quickly. Eager to absorb, and not yet jaded. It’s really energizing and makes me want to work really hard for them.
Lastly, it’s hard to find a picture of Pete from Dinowalrus where he isn’t wearing his eagle shirt. How much consulting did he do with Kanine before landing on that particular fashion statement?
We have never hired a stylist for any of ours bands, as some big labels do – so Pete came up with that all by himself – and we love him for it!
Special thanks to Kay, Lio & everyone else at Kanine!
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