Interview: Mike Sniper (Captured Tracks’ boss)

It’s been three years since Still in Rock elects the best label of the year… and it’s been three years since Still in Rock elects Captured Tracks. When discussing the label, we can’t help but contextualize its existence, to imagine ourselves talking about it in 30 years… And this feeling of living history is reinforced by an enthusiasm surrounding Captured Tracks that seems never swelling. Yet, Captured Tracks has never defined itself as a niche label. Captured Tracks is going across musical genres, through lo-fi pop music, punk, grunge, shoegaze, folk, dream pop and so on…

Mike Sniper, his boss and creator, is one of the most iconic character of the world scene. Needless to say, it was then a great honor to interview him. This interview, one of the most analytical ever published on Still in Rock, was the opportunity to talk about Mac DeMarco’s big success, to discuss the return of irony, to criticize some shoegaze bands, to talk about the future of New York city as a  leading scene, to think about the digitalization of music, the French scene, Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees… 

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ENGLISH VERSION

(click here for the french one)

You created Captured Tracks in 2008. Did you except to create a small label at the beginning or did you created it in order to become big as soon as possible?

The growth was pretty organic. I never wanted it to be a boutique/tiny label but I wasn’t planning on it being as big as it did. We grew with the demand our releases had, which wound up being a lot, thankfully.

Can you explain what Omnian Group is? What does is work with Captured Tracks?

Sure, it’s a connected group of labels, most of which I own at least half of, so that we can work with more music and expand our staff without diluting Captured Tracks.

Why did you create Captured Tracks? You played in a band called Blank Dogs at the time, was it just a way of releasing your band music?

It was partially that and partially because there was a lot of music I was hearing that I wanted to help release.

What is the philosophy of Captured Tracks? If you should summarize its spirit in ONE sentence, what would it be?

I really don’t think there is a “philosophy,” I don’t think a label that’s not trying to do a niche thing should really have a philosophy, you should be open ended with what your receive and likewise openminded about it’s reception.

(Mike Sniper)

There is a thing that I can’t explain. All labels I can think of have some other labels releasing similar music. For instance, I interviewed Burger Records. Well, Gnar, Lolipop and few others releases similar stuffs. I also interview In The Red, and the same goes with Drag City… Why is that Captured Tracks doesn’t have its copycat?

I don’t think there’s any difference to what you’re describing than what labels have always been like.

Also, do you have any relationship with other labels?

Friends with a lot of them, yeah. Try to pay attention to as many as possible.

You already released 250 LPs. Are they any you can think right now that you’re especially proud of?

It’s not really like that, you’re always in the future, there’s always new things coming out. It’s nice to have feel proud of what you’ve done but I don’t sit in revery thinking about all that, too busy working on the records that are out in the next 6-9 months. Even a year ahead sometimes, you are working on it.

It’s very clear how helpful Captured Tracks is to the bands you release but I wonder what labels can do in 2016 with all of the social medias and all of this information which is moving so fast. Do you think that you can do more today than back in 2008?

Labels can be helpful only to a point. You can’t force people to like music enough to buy it. We still have the same win/loss ratio we’ve always had which is thankfully a pretty good one. But I think people overthink the label process too much. A lot of label work is boring, rote stuff. Basic things.

In my opinion, Captured Tracks is THAT good for a simple reason. There is too many informations. Social medias, press releases, emails… you must spend so many hours in order to find good bands. And Captured Tracks allows you to save that time: you’re one of these very few labels that, everytime a band is released, you know you have to listen to it. So, on your side, how do you manage not to succumb to all of this content?

Well that’s great to hear. I do want people who are into the label to at least try out whatever we’re into but I don’t expect anyone to be into everything, other than myself for obvious reasons. It’s pretty hard to separate the wheat from the chaff right now, but I actually heard two demos last Friday that I absolutely love and will likely sign at least one of them.

The bands

How do you choose the bands that you release on the label?

1. I really like them musically.

2. I feel like other people could like them for the same reasons I do.

3. The band at least seem like they will work as hard as we will (meaning touring, rehearsing, writing, recording).

4. Ideally they have a whole idea, visually, to get across and have a firm grasp of what it is about themselves that is different, but that’s really up to them and nothing you can easily put into words.

What is the project you’re the prouder of with Captured Tracks?

I don’t really think there’s any in particular. I’m super happy we did/do the Cleaners From Venus catalog.

Which bands are you the most surprised that they didn’t become more famous?

“Famous” is a hard one. Because what does that even mean right now? Most of the bands that didn’t become popular didn’t tour enough, so it’s not surprising.

For me, Mac DeMarco is the biggest success of the label so far. I remember first listening to his music in 2012 and you could immediately thought that he was going to be huge, but THAT huge… What was your feeling at the time?

When I first heard Mac’s music, it was the blown-out lo-fi Makeout Videotape stuff, which I thought was pretty cool, then I heard the tracks “Baby’s Wearing Blue Jeans” and “Only You” and I knew he was a great songwriter, at least for changes and vocal melodic parts and interesting guitar/bass stuff. I knew he’d be huge when he sent the finished “2” LP. I thought the first LP (which is “2”, confusing title) would be a smaller step up. It was clear he reacted to the spotlight that Rock and Roll Night Club EP gave him and he decided to fast-forward the “amazing” button and delivered an amazing LP. It was really easy from there.

I interviewed many Captured Tracks bands over the years, including DIIV, Mourn, Chris Cohen, Naomi Punk, Nic Hessler, Juan Wauters, Alex Calder… I asked them all about the label and they all told me how supportive you were with them, and indeed, they all stick to you. What is your secret?

I think the secret is what you just said: Support them! And report your royalties and pay them. You’d be shocked how many labels don’t. Just doing the right thing, the basic things, and doing what’s best for the band.

You released most of the best bands on earth, including Mac, Thee Oh Sees, Naomi Punk… but I wonder why you never released anything from Ty Segall even though he is not sticking to one label only. Is it because garage rock is out of Captured Tracks lineup?

You know, that’s funny, I’ve known Ty for a while. We’re not close friends or anything, he lives on the other coast, but I like him a lot. We were going to do Fuzz when it was just a concept. He hadn’t recorded anything for it, I think it was going to be a 10″ EP or something. But Ty got super busy and so did we! Glad for all his success though. He deserves it. He works so hard.

I don’t know if it’s secret or not, but what is the deal you have with your bands? I read that you get most of the incomes from the physical and digital sells and that they got most of the ones from touring. Is it right?

Haha, where the hell did you read that? We’re like any other indie label, like Matador, Sub Pop, etc. 50/50 Profit Split. Band keeps the tour money. No one has any different deal from the smallest band on the label to the biggest. I mean, when you first make a record there are costs, like manufacturing of course, and then there’s typically an advance paid to the artist. So sometimes it takes a while to recoup that, but like any ethical label, we do 50/50 profit split.

The scene

Captured Tracks is big on reissues. Why that? Is it because you feel like the actual scene isn’t good enough to spend 100% of your time working on it, or maybe because you feel like some old bands deserve some more fame?

Well, firstly, I don’t think there’s a scene. Not one I’m aware of. I like reissues because it’s a means to get great records back on the rack again, maybe an archival sense of it too.

You work with Flying Nun Records. When did you fall in love with their music? Which bands in particular was your first Flying Nun’s love affair?

Probably not long after I found the import bin in the local record store. I wanna say I got the compilation Tuatara or something like that. Tall Dwarfs and The Chills were really big bands for me. The Clean, of course. I mean all the typical ones. Most of the more obscure stuff I found way later and I love that stuff too. It wasn’t pressed here in the ‘States, so I didn’t find The Rip or Look Blue Go Purple til way later.

Let’s talk a little bit about New York. The CT shop is located on 195 Calyer Street, in Greenpoint. What a great place. It makes me think of what people call gentrification. Sure, it’s a shame when a place like Williamsburg becomes such a second Manhattan, with big class building and rich bankers. But we’re all part of that movement in a way, so I feel a little bit uncomfortable with the idea of spitting in the soup. What is your personal feeling about it?

Well, hate to say it, but you’re wrong a bit, as Greenpoint isn’t gentrified. It was never a “poor” neighborhood or anything. It’s always been an affluent Polish neighborhood and the younger yuppies moving in hasn’t pushed anyone out, just that the Polish landlords and shopkeepers got wealthier. Gentrification is more like what’s happened in the Dominican neighborhoods in South Williamsburg. Greenpoint is totally different. We pay the people who’ve been there, we don’t push them out.

New York was big in the seventies and in early 2000′, but I have the feeling that some bands are now moving out because the city is getting crazy expensive. Is for you New York still the best scene in the world?

I have to disagree with you here. There’s ALWAYS a scene in NYC. But from a “rock” standpoint, you probably see it differently. It probably does make more sense for bands to function better in a cheaper city like Baltimore or something like that, but it requires a bit more determination. The fact NYC is expensive and you have to hustle a lot more to make things work is kind of one of the reasons why it’s always producing great music. NYC isn’t so much about practicality, it’s about the people you meet here. Weirdos from everywhere. That’s why you get a band like Velvet Underground, three kids from Long Island with a garage band meet a Welsh avant garde composer and a weirdo German chantreuse with a world famous Pop Artist making things happen for them. That’s a very NYC thing, and yeah, that happened in the 60’s but that kinda chance encounter still happens (or can happen) in NYC and not in many other places.

Baby’s All Right became the best venue over the years. Most CT bands play there. What is your best memory in that venue?

I mean, I do like Baby’s and I like the owners, but to be fair, it became the best because it became the only. There was a good 6 months when all the DiY venues shut down, a lot unexpectedly, and Rough Trade weren’t up to code, so ALLLLL the shows went to Baby’s. I don’t have any crazy memories there.

Some of your bands have worked with Hedi Slimane, including DIIV. Do you know him personally?

Nope!

Alright, time to get serious, haha. The nineties revival is huge: bands are cynical, they use reverberation, they dress like Nirvana… do you think that we can except having a early 2000’s revival quite soon? It appears to me that some bands are already into it, such as Sheer Mag, which produces something similar to the early Strokes. What do you think?

I wouldn’t even know what an early 00’s revival would be like. I was in my early-mid 20’s then and things were already pretty retro. I mean, there’s been bands that sound like The Strokes since they started, since before they started really. I thought (like everyone) that The Strokes sounded like Television meets Tom Petty, in a good way.

Indie rock was stale then. It was math-rock, post rock or just super nerdy slackerisms, The Strokes were an exciting and confident band that didn’t do anything musically super original, but what they did, they did well. That’s not really a sound or anything, that’s a work ethic and providing a wanting public with a break from the monotony of what was overbearingly popular in indie circles at the time. Then they got really famous.

I don’t believe in big over-arching scenes anymore. Those were pre-internet inceptions of a confined group of creative people in specific locations, like Boston had a thing, Athens, GA had a thing, Manchester, etc. That doesn’t exist anymore. It’s just a worldwide kinda malaise. There’s a lot of 90’s sounding music now because that’s what writers write about because they’re nostalgic, I think. And I don’t think Sheer Mag sound like The Strokes at all.

I have few “problems” with the scene that I would love to discuss with you. First, the shoegaze revival is getting bigger and bigger, which is good. I exclude your bands from this analysis, but it seems to me that many are abusing this music. they plug the guitar, a fuzz pedal and a lot of reverberation and echo and they play without working on any melody… Do you also feel like this kind of music tend to create awesome AND bad “revival bands”?

There’s a shoegaze scene? I mean, I know there’s a billion bands doing it, but that doesn’t make a scene. Bands should just be writing good songs first. Sonic approach is important but it’s a distant second. There’s so much more to music that’s interesting than echo and reverb. That stuff is interesting too but these bands that go so far down the hole there, they get real boring real fast. Listen to what Kevin Shields drew inspiration from, don’t be directly inspired by the shit that was inspired by MBV.

Another thing is that bands tend to be so much serious about what they’re doing. For me, rock’n’roll is not a serious art form, which is the good thing about it, you can play it, joke about it, destroy it… Do you agree with that vision?

It’s just like any other music. It can be serious, it can be silly. Doesn’t really matter. It’s like visual art, you can be silly and do something great or be hyper-serious with similar results. I think you’re thinking too much about what the purpose and process are, haha, and not enough about the results, that’s really the only interesting thing, the result.

Also, the “single” format is now the most important one: they’re used on YouTube, Bandcamp, Soundcloud and many people only listen to them. Are you in favor of using them or do you prefer the full experience of listening a full LP?

That’s not really new. LP’s have only been important since the late 60’s. That’s not that long a time. And singles have always dominated. In the 90’s, most CD’s sold because of one single. The music industry spews so much garbage that’s incorrect and lacks a sense of history

It makes me thinks, what do you about the digitalization of music, in general?

I don’t have a problem with how people choose to listen to music, the more formats the merrier. The issue with digital is how it’s monetized and how it’s broken down. There’s a lot that’s already been said about the major label’s manipulation of the technology marching to their favor, so I won’t go down that route, you can read about it anywhere from people who can talk with more intricacy about it than I can, like Darius Van Arman of Jagjaguwar, he’s kind of the leader of the indie vs. major profit share problem we have right now.

To conclude

What was your favorite LP of 2015?

I liked that Dick Diver record, “Melbourne, Florida” a lot. But to be honest, I mostly listened to older music throughout the year. Jazz, Latin… stuff like that.

What is the next step for Captured Tracks?

Just to continue what we’re doing.

You created a small festival for the 5 years anniversary of the label but you never get involved in doing one every year. Why that?

It wasn’t small at all, it cost a fortune. Never doing it again.

Which actual french bands do you like the most?

I’m not super familiar with current ones. I have a lot of music from French artists though. There’s a lot of great 60’s/70’s French electronic/ambient music, 60’s Ye Ye stuff of course. I think French Prog and Psych is interesting. Of course all the Coldwave stuff. There’s always been good stuff happening there. I love the first Michel Polnareff, I listen to that all the time still.

Oh, well, I’ll send you a list with the best actual french bands then. Also, any french labels that you follow?

Not particularly.

And which band is your favorite ever?

Hmmm, well, it’s not really just a musical question, really. Because what is a “band” you know? To me they’d have to have toured a ton and done something positive overall for music. I feel like a band like Black Flag hits all the buttons for me, even though they had so many lineup changes. But there’s something about the logo and what it means and all the work they did. They really changed American music and the independent aspect of things kind of starts with them in a bigger way, whether you are a fan of them musically or not. I love their music of course. “Nervous Breakdown,” “Clocked In,” “Damaged” it all gives me goosebumps.

Ok, one just for me: what do you think of Pavement?

Great band. Perfect for their time, too.

Alright, time for the last question. I interviewed Bret Easton Ellis few weeks ago and he told me that, in his opinion, “rock is dead”, I quote, “you have to go to country music to find people who are writing pop or rock songs.” What would you like to answer him?

Well, I think it’s at a low point not from quality but because of eartime afforded to it. Saying “rock is dead” is kinda silly. That’s like saying “classical is dead.” Classical is dead, it has the word “classical” in it’s name. But the violin, cello and oboe don’t cease to be musical instruments because Mozart isn’t culturally impacting things in a hands-on way these days.

The idea that “Rock” as some cultural catalyst is probably fair. It’d be silly to think there’d be some Nirvana or Beatles kinda band again. Not because there’s not good bands but because it’s impossible for such an ADD culture to kind of generationally get behind something like a band right now. 

There’s too many outlets and music isn’t considered culturally important. This is why you have huge megastars like we have now as cultural ambassadors as opposed to musicians. We’re back in the Pre-Elvis era. Miley Cyrus, Kanye, Beyonce… it’s basically updated/edgier versions of Bing Crosby, Patti Page, Frank Sinatra. Music isn’t an important cultural commodity anymore, so you won’t have an importance on it. This is why Drake interrupting an NBA game is news that dominates all talk of music on a given day. It’s not that music/bands/rock is bad, it’s just that it’s validity as something worth caring about has fallen to what it was like in, say, 1952.

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FRENCH VERSION

(english above)

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