Formed in 2008 by Michael Solo Alexander Tulett, Bird’s Robe has grown from a humble label to a full blown artist management, bookings, releases, publicity and tour promotion company both nationally and internationally.
Art rock, prog, post-rock, pop-prog, jazz-metal, avante-garde, psych-rock, post-metal, electronica, chiptune, noise-rock, fusion, tech-rock, crescendo-core, new dirt, experimental rock are just some of the many descriptions used to define the music Bird’s Robe champions.
Having recently signed upcoming talents Alithia to their already impressive roster (which includes sleepmakeswaves, The Red Paintings, 65daysofstatic to name a few) we caught up with Bird’s Robe co-founder Michael Solo to chat all things BRR.
The Birth Of Bird’s Robe
“I was playing drums in a prog rock band, working really hard to get noticed and we couldn’t find much support from the industry in terms of creating opportunities because we didn’t neatly fit into a scene like metal, punk or indie etc.
So my bandmates and I over a few months came to an understanding that we needed to create our own opportunities – and that if we found a few other acts we were musically compatible with, perhaps we could start our own little community. I spent a lot of time contacting bands through Myspace, or going to shows and talking to people we’d met who we thought would be into what we were trying to do.
It started out with organising a few shows and I gradually became a kind of booking agent. Then we realized someone needed to promote the shows, so I became a publicist. Then we realized to get traction, we needed new music to release and distribute, so I started a label. Then we needed someone to pull everything together, so I became a manager too!”
First Ever Release
“I had put out music with my band independently through MGM distribution before, but the first two releases on the label were a whole new thing when they were released together.
I was very naive about how a label worked and the vision was to just promote little-heard music we loved, as well as encourage collaborations between artists. BRR001 was the first release by ‘The Bird’s Robe Collaboration Band.’ It was a local supergroup made up of members of my favourite local bands who collaborated over a week to record an EP.
The concept and music were fantastic and I remember listening to the final mixes whilst driving to a show in the Blue Mountains, getting all emotional because it was like a dream come true that this had actually happened. I suppose it meant so much to me because no matter how many people were listening, the very existence of this wonderful music was directly because of the community we’d created. BRR002 was the ‘Sppears’ EP by Japanese band Vampillia, whom I’d promoted on the Sydney leg of their 2010 tour, which sold out purely on word of mouth. They put on a ridiculous live show.
Unfortunately both those releases proved a bit too avante-garde for most media to get into, but they were true passion projects that I’m very proud of being involved with. Over time we attracted support because of those releases from people who still perform, support and collaborate with BRR today.”
Label Inspirations
“In the early days, the stories that sFj bassist Alex would tell me about the Elephant Six Collective were inspiring, though I never really delved into the music. Later on I found many local labels to be inspired by, some of whom even came along after Bird’s Robe started – UNFD, Art As Catharsis, Spinning Top, Big Village and Rice is Nice, as well as Sargent House and Monotreme abroad.
[include_post id=”419197″]I’ve been lucky enough to meet some of the people behind these labels and call them my friends too. Our distributor MGM have been super supportive and have filled my head with all kinds of nice ideas that I wouldn’t have thought possible. Seb, Kylie, Mark, Mark, Luke and everyone there are total legends.
Throughout the whole thing, the most inspiration has come from the bands and people themselves. It’s the music and enthusiasm from these artists that makes me feel compelled to do this. I want people to hear their music and I want them to succeed.”
Major Struggles
“The struggle that everyone will mention is money. That’s an obvious one – sometimes you just can’t make things happen because there isn’t enough money. However a more interesting issue that has come up is managing relationships. In the early days, I was seeing local bands break up because there was lack of support for their music.
When we started getting things together, it felt like it enabled these groups to stay together and continue writing – which was an immense feeling of achievement. However, sometimes these things aren’t meant to be – bands still break up, people move on and sometimes life just happens to take a different course. Being able to grow as a person and help people through difficult personal situations as a friend has been the biggest challenge more than any label-related struggle. But it’s also been the biggest reward.
Try to decide if just you’re doing this for the love of music or trying to make money as well. You can do both, but it’ll affect how to approach your business.The usual endeavour of getting people to listen and support weird instrumental or prog music is always there. Sometimes you have to jump hurdles that other genres of music don’t have to, just because a band doesn’t have a vocalist. Otherwise the fun is in trying to find the people who like that kind of music, because they may not always listen to the radio or read magazines to find it.
You can’t tune into or buy word of mouth – the artists have to be genuinely exceptional to break through and in the long run that’s a good thing as it encourages quality. The other challenge is location – many of these bands may find their main audience is located overseas, which makes it expensive or difficult to reach them. On the other hand, Australia is still an amazing country to live in, so I think it all balances out.”
Important Lessons Learnt
“The relationships thing. Communication is super important. It’s common sense, sure, but even when things are good, people assume so much about what you do and develop expectations based on that. Misaligned expectations can kill enthusiasm for great things so easily.
Practically, in promoting music, it’s the passion for the art that will drive you to do things. I’ve tried to only push things I really believe in for people I respect – it’s the enjoyment factor that keeps you going, that sometimes makes you forget to eat or sleep. You need a reason to justify that kind of dedication. The experience of being involved with something you really care about – that’s what I think you look back on in life to decide whether it was worth all the time and effort, not how many dollars are in the bank.”
Favourite Bird’s Robe Releases
“It’s tricky! I really like every release, otherwise I wouldn’t put it out. The ones I still keep coming back to though:
– Pirate ‘Left of Mind’ – crazy prog rock with amazing drumming by Tim Adderley
– Squat Club ‘Corvus’ – I’ve probably listened to this record 100 times, amazing atmospheric experimental rock.
– The Red Paintings ‘The Revolution Is Never Coming’ – a totally epic masterpiece, people don’t write like this anymore.
– sleepmakeswaves ‘…and so we destroyed everything’ – a beautifully immersive listen from start to finish with one of the most perfectly crafted tracks in ‘(hello) cloud mountain.”
– Toehider ‘What Kind of Creature Am I?’ – I love Mike Mills and everything he writes. This album is a really cohesive and awesome listen from start to finish and sums up a lot of what Toehider is about.
– Troldhaugen ‘Obzkure Anekdotez for Maniakal Massez’ – these guys almost came out of nowhere for me, I met them on tour last year and when they showed me this album they made on shoestring budget it blew me away. If anyone can make it playing ridiculous clown-prog-metal these guys can. Ten maxibons out of ten.
– Anubis ‘Hitchhiking to Byzantium’ – it’s a serious prog album but it’s really fun to listen to this. These guys have perfected their moody epics into some catchy and memorable songs.
– The Nerve ‘Audiodacity’ – this was a left-field step for the label, but I loved their take on crunchy, energetic rock and roll and had a great time working with them… There’s way too many to list.“
The Future Of Indie Labels
“The future seems fine. I’m an optimist and I think life is what you make of it. As passionate as we can be about things like this, we should understand that it’s all a bonus.
[include_post id=”452579″]We’re privileged to be able to live in a world where most of our needs are catered for and anyone with the surplus resources to start a label has that same privilege. So I can only assume it will be something fun, rewarding and education for anyone who gets involved.
Whether it makes money or not just depends on how good you are at your job and whether the music you’re involved with appeals to people. Hopefully either way it’s something you find worthwhile, that’s the most important part.”
Advice For Those Wanting To Start Their Own Label
“Talk to as many people as possible before you start and ask their advice. I’ve learned so much from something as small as a 30-second conversation. Just ask, you’d be surprised how many people are willing to lend you their time (the worst thing that can happen is they say no…so you’ll be fine).
Try to decide if just you’re doing this for the love of music or trying to make money as well. You can do both, but it’ll affect how to approach your business. You can be part of making wonderful art and bringing it into the world, or you can be ruthless and only pick money projects. Either way, manage your budget carefully, sometimes it’s easy to get carried away or ‘sold’ on a release or artist that just doesn’t justify the expense.
Assemble a team of people around you whom you trust and can rely on – whether it’s musicians, a distributor, publicist or accountant – these people can help you get through the difficult times.
Practically, research your market – if you have a new album, what kind of audience do you think it will appeal to? Research how those people find out about music (ask your brother or sister whether they listen to triple j or Triple M or just browse YouTube) and find out how to get your music to the right people. You can easily google which website have covered other bands that might relate to your artist, or which radio stations have played them. That’s a good start.”
What’s On The Cards For The Rest Of 2015
“So many exciting things. New albums and tours from We Lost The Sea & Dumbsaint; new music from The Crooked Fiddle Band & Vampillia; Solkyri, Forstora, Troldhaugen & Tangled Thoughts of Leaving are touring their new albums; Meniscus, Mish & Serious Beak are in the studio; A NEW SLIMEY THINGS ALBUM; possibly new Toehider and Anubis tunes as well and both those acts being in Europe.
We’re also touring …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead in August and perhaps a very special tour coming up in December. I think we might also do something special for the label’s 5th birthday too!
I’ve also been working on a mini-blog to share some of my experiences online with people – it’s part catharsis, hopefully part educational.
I figure a snapshot of the day-to-day might help people – if anything, I would have found it useful when starting out too! Thanks again for giving me the opportunity to ramble on here, it’s much appreciated. Note to readers: hit me up anytime if you want to chat.”
Alithia Show Dates
Friday, 28th August 2015
The Factory Floor, Sydney
Tickets: Wild Thing Presents | Oztix
Saturday, 29th August 2015
The Evelyn, Melbourne
Tickets: Wild Thing Presents | Oztix
