Abtams

It's a bit weird to think that people refered to The Replacements as The 'Placemats or just 'Mats in the 80's. Then again it's a bit weird to think they would go on national television with their eyebrows shaved off and weren't the biggest band in America at that point.

More fantastic words and sounds if you just...




When the band made album 'Stink' their label at the time Twin Tone recorded them for a series of videos in 1981. Here's them playing 'Kids don't Follow' one of the better numbers from this barely fifteen minutes nod-to-hardcore release.



Another MTV interview this time with the band meeting fans @ the suitable location of a barrrrrrrrgh



'Colour Me Impressed' from 1986 in New Jersey



Final MTV interview on their last tour, or thereabouts. Don't watch if you dislike being deflated of all happiness.

Here's a Paul Westerberg interview for Pitchfork conducted earlier this year clicky click

...Best band ever basically.
Read more

HI!! I'M GARETH LOS CAMPESINOS!!!!!!!

Read more

Max Lennert

The tape label Stop Scratching was crafted together little over a year ago in and amongst the bedrooms of Benjamin Savva and Cassandra Merrick. A stream of quality assured cassettes have been unleashed since then, containing the cultured sounds of Gently Friendly, Talibam!, Teeth!!! and Human Hair to name but a noisy few. Coincidentally Chinese Democracy is released on Myspace today also, let's celebrate and read Benjamin's lovely answers to my questions!

-First of all, in the 21st century, why have you decided to create a tape label? Was it because of their malleability? Would vinyl or CD simply not cut it? Or is Stop Scratching an experiment, in a sense, to see if a UK tape label can work? Were you inspired by American contemporaries such as Fuck It Tapes

Boredom has to always be a prerequisite for anything that's good that gets done I suppose. Boredom definitely played a big part, we (Cassie & I) we're both living in Coventry at the time, I don't know if you've ever been there but since all those bombings in the 40s Coventry is a bit of concrete wasteland, devoid of much culture at all, living in a place that you need to have something to keep you positive, you know? It wasn't a conscious effort to test the UK's market or anything like that although the notion of whether this would/will all work is one that often plagued us, I guess it still does in a way. As for why we chose tapes, I guess they were the only medium we could really do it on, I've never been a fan of the pre-packaged, soulless, jewelcase CD release and for what we were trying to achieve i don't think vinyl would be appropriate at this stage either. We aimed to create much more than a medium by which to release music, we wanted to put out something that - to an extent - embodied mine and Cassie's very different personalities and hand packaged tapes was always going to do that better than anything else.

As for inspiration, I've always felt that anytime a label releases a tape I always take notice of it and think it is something worth getting hold of. Fuck It Tapes in particular is something very distinguished to aspire to. Over the years they've built an amazing name for themselves just by sticking at what they do and consistently releasing brilliant, cutting edge music. If we can stand the test of time like they have and are still here in a few years doing what we do then I'd be a very happy person.

-I admire how you've only released UK bands so far; was this a conscious effort to focus on homegrown talent?

This is a question that's come up a couple of times already, Talibam! (our second release) are actually from New York. Haha. Other than that release, yes, we did consciously choose to focus our efforts on championing British talent. Running a label like ours, which was founded on the principles mentioned above, having a relationship with the bands is very important to us. It's not the deciding aspect or anything obviously the both of us actually loving the music enough to want to invest all of that time into it is always going to be the most important factor but we definitely hold relationships and personalities in high regard.

With Talibam! we asked them after we'd already confirmed a show for them and after swapping numerous e-mails and realising they had an amazing attitude towards psychical releases, and despite them being allergic to cats, we knew that they were the kind of band we wanted to be working with. I won't name names, but we've already decided against putting out one band we asked because we didn't think they represented themselves in away that suited what we're about, which is friendly, hardworking, music enthusiasts. Or something like that.

-Have you entertained the thought of releasing some overseas bands, any particular ones that you feel would work as a SS release? Have you had any orders from overseas for SS tapes?

We have thought about it a lot actually. Since you sent me these questions we've actually confirmed our fourth release to be with a band from Baltimore called Baby Venom. I speak to the guitarist Dave all the time on the Internet, he's such a cool guy and has very similar beliefs and a great approach toward music. I bought a tape off them that they self-released and am still totally in love with it - so I asked them if we could re-release it over here and they were only to happy to oblige. Everyone I've played it to, or who have heard it off their own back loves it too, I think it's going to sell really well. Other than BV we don't have an immediate plans to release anything from overseas but there certainly will be more in the future.

-How did you find setting up the label? Getting that first release out there must have been fantastic...

It's actually been a lot of hard work, we spent so long talking about it and planning every little detail out in our heads by the time we actually came to making the tapes we thought we'd be able to breeze through it and have them all ready in a week. Truth is, it's almost a year since we put out Mirror! Mirror! and there are still a few tapes that remain unmade. There are just so many little set backs all the time, then obviously the biggest one is always going to be finances. We use a dymo label maker to print labels to stick onto tapes and as well as being very difficult to come by they cost so much money (about £40 or more per release we have to spend on dymo tape), there have been a few times we haven't been able to post peoples cassettes waiting to get the tape, or afford the postage etc. We like to think that's part of the charm of running a d.i.y label though and it certainly feels like at the end of completing each and every cassette that we've put as much as ourselves into them as we possibly can.

Handing the first release to the band was an amazing moment, you realise at that point it's not all talk and wishful thinking, you've actually done something really positive and that makes us so happy. I think it helps a great deal that once the bands actually get their tapes and realise how much hard work has gone into them all - from the cutting and sticking of the comics, the card, the brown paper, to the hand typing of all the inlays and the covers, the recording of the tapes, the making of the labels and the tying of string - well, it makes it worth while just to see the appreciation the bands have. Then to think that people we've never met in cities and countries we've never even been to are buying our tapes, there's just no feeling I can compare it to.

Comic Strip from Mirror! Mirror! tape (part 4 of 4)

-Although it would be unfair to ask you to pick a favourite release so far, but is there any band that you would love to work with again?

So far we've really enjoyed working with all of the bands. We were good friends with Mirror! Mirror! before we started Stop Scratching so they were a great choice for our debut release as it means they were a lot more patient with us because they already knew what we are like and it meant we could be a bit more relaxed and not have to rush anything. Musically I think Gentle Friendly is my favourite of the three releases we've done so far and they are causing quite a stir at the moment around the UK so we're very proud to have put out their first official release and it's so pleasing it to consist of music of theirs that might not have necessarily been heard if it wasn't for the tape. They're both super sweet guys too. In terms of working with anyone again, we don't have any plans to do any tapes for a band once we've done one, what we aim to do is to make unique releases, either for bands we think have the potential to go onto bigger things, or in the future maybe for bigger bands to do one off back catalogue rarities, so for this reason i don't think we're going to be doing more than one tape for people.

-Have bands you've contacted always fully supported you? Obviously you don't have to name names but have any responded negatively?

It still surprises me sometimes how positive some people are, I guess they just see that what we're doing is honest and sincere, it's hard to respond negatively to those qualities I think. Occasionally bands don't really understand what we're doing with the whole tape thing and they think we're just looking to make a mixtape with a track of theirs, or a compilation or something of that sort. We've had a few crossed wires and one band that said yes originally only to turn round and say they didn't have enough material but these things can't be helped. Generally, we have no complaints about the way we've been treated and mostly people have fully supported us, yes.

-Running an independent record label is hardly ever done to make a profit, but how have you been coping? Have finances ever held you back?

I can't imagine it ever been done for profit, there just isn't any money to be made, at least not on the scale we're doing things right now. As I mentioned above, financial problems are constantly a set back for us, it means it takes a lot longer than we'd like to get the releases out and sometimes a lot longer to post to people than they should have to wait. Overall though, we're coping I guess. I mean, we've never come to the point where we've had to consider not doing a release because of money, or packing it in all together. Life would be made a lot easier if more people were into buying physical releases though. Although, I don't think a label our size at the moment has to worry to much about the downloading phenomenon, partly because they're on tape and thus a lot harder to get hold of (although we do send out the mp3s once somewhere has brought the tape) and partly because our releases are hopefully something people can cherish and you certainly don't get that sense of worth from an mp3. I think once we get a little more organised and actually take some tapes into rough trade and start doing a distro at shows then we'll being to sell a lot more simply because of the aesthetic, once we get to that stage i think we won't have to worry about money so much, at least in terms of putting our own cash in all the time.

-You write quite a loquacious (but all the better for it) blog, how important do you feel it is for keeping people interested in SS?

I don't think it's vital for keeping people interested in Stop Scratching, I hope that as long as we keep putting out amazing music in amazing packaging that will be enough to keep peoples attentions. I do think the blog is very important however at getting new people to take notice, instead of maybe just seeing our name somewhere and not checking it out, they actually go and read our blog and see a bit more about what we're about, what music we like and what we've been up to. It helps the keep the label personal and we're again back to the whole notion of wanting our personalities to be a part of what we do, the blog is intentionally loquacious because of this. We don't want to be condescending or obscure with our writing, we want people to read it and think that we're just normal people doing something we love and hopefully everyone can relate to this much easier.

-How do you currently see the state of the UK underground music scene? Bands/Audiences/Recognition etc

I think at the moment we have a very healthy underground scene maybe it just lacks the unity of our American counterparts in some senses. There are a lot of people working to bridge these divides (especially in London with people like no pain in pop and this is music) and I sincerely hope that one day soon there is a much closer knit community. I think that's what British music lacks sometimes, a real sense of community, everyone has there affiliations and other than the occasional nod to their contemporaries in the form of a support slot, or a DJ set or something along those lines, there isn't much unconditional, wholesome support. In terms of music there are definitely bands in the UK now that are equalling and in some cases even surpassing that of the talent that's coming out of America right now. Something we try to do as a label is to put out music that can rival what's going on in America in terms of sound. Even if we don't talk about it and it's somewhat subconscious hopefully the music we put will one day fall on the ears of those who slate the British scene for not being contemporary or experimental enough, or for following American patterns, when in fact there are bands here who are making sounds that are easily as exciting and forward thinking as the rest of the world, all off their own backs.

-Name 3 bands that readers of this simply HAVE to hear:

Baby Venom, for sure, they're one of the best new bands of 2008 for me. You can go here and read what I wrote about them last month and even download a free mp3, they're definitely worth checking out, no matter what type of music you're into. From reading the blog, it's got a very neu-disco vibe going on so I think you readers will really enjoy Nite Jewel. Sexy, bass heavy, lo-fi italo in the vein of Glass Candy if they were fronted by Mary Pearson of High Places. For something completely different, Food For Animals, a political glitch-hop duo from DC who use powerful and punishing electronics and lyrics similar to Dalek but with a more IDM edge. Like Jay-Z rapping and Otto Von Schirach dropping the beats. You can't listen to that shit loud enough.

-You've recently moved from Birmingham to LDN, can I ask why? Apart from your accent, how much of an impact has Birmingham had on you?

Haha! I always like to think I don't have to much of a Birmingham accent, although working in my bar the other week a cockney geezer seemed awfully pleased to have been served real ale, in an old mans jug by a northerner. That's kind of when it hit me, I'm a northerner now. How depressing. Haha.

I'll always have a soft spot for Birmingham, it helped shape me into the person I am today but musically I think I personally just hit a brick wall there. Don't get me wrong, there are people doing some amazing things, I mean it's the home of Supersonic after all, but for what I'm into and for meeting people who share the same interests London is so much bigger and so much more open minded. It's not like I'm some young, excited girl with delusions of being a fashion designer, I didn't move here for a chance to make it in the big city and all those cliches, it's just something I wanted to do. I'm 22 now and I'm not getting any younger, it seemed pointless to live a few hours down the road from a city that musically I can relate to so much more and just sit around moaning about.

The Flyer for Stop Scratching's launch night featuring the Talibam! cassette

-Getting music out there, djing, putting on gig/clubnights, releasing tapes seems to be a staple of SS, ever thought 'sod it' and just went and read a book instead?

Oh yes, of course! I often just sit around and pay no attention to any of the things I'm doing currently, I think you have to once in a while, so much is going on in my life right now if I just constantly put all my efforts into everything I'd be a very tired boy a lot of the time. It's definitely got to be more about balance, if you can find this and you believe in what you do it makes it a lot easier to handle doing 100 things at once. It's again down not wanting to sit around moaning about things, I'd much rather go and get things done myself. None of the bands I was listening to were playing in Birmingham, the answer? Put on shows. No DJ's were paying music that I wanted to dance to, the answer? Play my own. A lot of bands I really liked were going relatively unnoticed, the answer? Start a label. As I said, if you just believe in something completely and fully, it doesn't seem as daunting, I genuinely enjoy doing all of the things I do.

-What have you got in store for us in the future?

That's the golden question isn't it. Well, after Baby Venom we've got our next four releases coming up that are all going to be linked together by a four piece poster special, one poster coming out with each release that when put together will form a comic strip of it's own. We're showcasing some of the British talent I was talking about earlier in the form of Human Hair from Nottingham and Teeth!!!, Male Bonding & Chupacabra all from London. We'll be working with four different artists for the packaging this time as apposed to just one, but still in keeping with the uniformed theme. We should be able to get started on that in the new year and we can't wait.

After that we're thinking about doing the same thing, only showcasing raw underground American talent and artists that we think would be relevant to the British scene. Bridging the divides. After that maybe put out some vinyl, try to get our comics in the Tate, run for first black Prime Minister of the UK, take over the world? Who knows.

Stop Scratching are having a christmas party going on at the Lock Tavern in London next month - details here

Delectable cassettes can be purchased from their Myspace here

Stop Scratching blog with updates and anecdotes here

Read more

No Smoking

Mr John Waters

Funny guy
Read more

Squeek!

There's a fantastic monthly (Italo) disco clubnight in Nottingham called Exalt Exalt. Apart from having some pretty brilliant resident DJ's there's also been sets from the likes of Friend, Love Saves The Day and Listen & Learn to name but a few.

This month it was host to a set by Gothenburg's finest producer, musician and part-time animal rights accountant Johan Agebjorn, most famous for the part he plays in modern day Italo-Disco stalwarts Sally Shapiro.

I met up with the club promoters and Johan at a restaurant before the night kicked off and we talked about Veganism, Alcoholism, Swedish Pop Music and the joys Saturday night television, but none of that made any sense on tape.


-How was last night then ? (Johan DJed in London on the 24th)

Oh it was great! People were dancing and I enjoyed playing, it was pretty far from the city centre...in Hackney, in a pub.

-So what are you expecting from tonight exactly in Nottingham?

A better sound system than yesterday (everyone laughs).

-What do you think of Nottingham so far then, how long have you been here exactly?

Well I've only been here for a few hours (everyone laughs, again).

-So you've seen Squeek (the restaurant) basically?

Yeah and that's a really nice place. I like it (the UK), I've been here a lot of times, but my first time now as a DJ.

-So what were doing here before?

Like a tourist and meeting friends and on school trips and I've always been record shopping loads, in England.

-Any record shops that you like?

Yesterday I was in Phonica, I like that one. But that didn't exist when I was here last time, that was about 7 years ago. So I remember Selectadisc and a lot of second hand stores, I used to be a KLF collecter...

-Didn't KLF try and destroy a lot of their back catalogue?

Yeah! So it was difficult but fun, it was a challenge. Today it is not a challenge, you can find everything on the Internet, but it wasn't like that 10 years ago, 5 years ago.

-So how did you do it, to find out collections, was it just through record shops and zines and things like that?

I was actually quite active on the Internet. But there wasn't eBay, there was just mailing lists so you still had to search quite a lot. And it was different, you didn't listen to MP3s ten years ago, there was no iTunes and stuff like that.

-So is coming to the UK for just DJing, is that quite odd to experience?

Yeah it's very... it's a like a dream, I wanted to be a DJ when I was a kid, so I mean to be able to do this is fantastic. And that people want to come and see you, and hear you play is fantastic. Selecting the music, it's pretty much about selecting the music... it's some kind of freedom.

-So you said that you always wanted to be a DJ, what were those first tracks, in terms of strictly dance music, that took you away from the standard pop model and thought it was something you wanted to explore more?

It was a class mate who recorded a tape with 'Italio Disco' as we called it, and we both thought it was a band! We didn't understand it was a genre. And there some songs, USSR etc. Yeah, those were my first electronic music experiences. And we had like discos in school, the DJs played MaxMix mixes, those were really inspiring in terms of mixes.

-So what took you onto music production and songwriting, creating music? Is it just something that you do to pass the time?

It's difficult to say exactly when I started because I was probably already composing when I was 5 or 6 years old on the piano, even though it wasn't serious. So it came gradually and I think when I was 14 years old I had a keyboard and I made tracks that I sent to the local student radio.

A few years later I bought myself an Atari sampler when I was 16 years old and yeah I started sending tapes to record labels when I was 17 but I didn't get anything.

Then just 4 or 5 years ago, when I was 26/27, then I bought myself a good computer, it happened sometime around the millennium and I still think it's so fantastic that you can do such a lot with it and it's so cheap, the equipment, compared to what it cost in the 80's and the 90's.

Sally Shapiro - 'Jackie Jackie' Official Music Video

-So you do you spend a lot of sleepless nights in your studio?

I used to do it a few years ago, now I have a child, and I also make some money on it, so I have more like a part time job today. A few years ago it was more like a hobby.

-You seem to be quite prolific and industrious in your output, obviously you find less time when you have children, do you always think you'll be doing music, DJing and things like that?

I don't think I will do it all the time, because I had a break between '97 and 2003 when I didn't do anything... that might happen again. But I think I will always revert to it, in some form or another. Though I'm not sure that I will be able to make good music, I'm always very pessimistic about the future and I always think I've already done my best work.

-So you think currently, with Sally Shapiro, and your ambient work, you've hit your peak?

Yeah I would think that, but sometimes, I have been proven wrong, so I hope I will still be able to make good music.

-Is it exciting then, to be releasing your ambient work? Your album's been out in America, is there any element of competition with that and your Sally Shapiro work?

Erm, what I like about it is that it's more personal and somehow its good to release something that's more personal too. Sally Shapiro, I mean I stand for it, but its also packaged in a humorous way and I don't want all my music to be packaged in a humourous way because it doesn't reflect the way I am. I have more sides than one side, and I don't want people to think I am only about cheesy 80's disco.

-It is a good part of you, though.

Yeah yeah, it's a big part!

-With Sally Shapiro, are you disappointed that she's not here with you tonight (Sally was initially meant to be DJing with Johan, but pulled out) or is it something that you can understand?

I understand it and I'm a bit sad about the fact that she doesn't enjoy it, but I wouldn't want her to be here because she wouldn't enjoy it. She doesn't like standing on stage and I really respect that, I mean, people are different.

-So that's obviously something that you're comfortable with, that shes not kind of person. Does that ever effect the style of recording or making music at all?

In the beginning it was difficult because she had very bad self-confidence and sometimes it took hours or days for me to convince her to sing on some track. That's easier today, for her to sing, but I'm still not allowed to be in the same room.

-Is anyone?

No, no one.

-So have what have you got actually planned with Sally Shapiro, what are you working on at the moment?

We're working on the new album, we've done more than half of it and yeah that's the main project at the moment.

Johan and Sally DJing in New York

-In terms of creating your second album, do you ever worry how it might compare, popularity wise, do you worry about things like second album syndrome? Is there more pressure on you?

Yeah. Because when we made the first album we thought maybe a few hundred would listen to it, and that's a lot of people, I think. But it's still very different, that you know that thousands of people or maybe tens or hundreds of thousands of people will listen to. I mean, you think that you can't make any mistake anywhere.

I'm happy if I can do something that I can stand for myself, I mean it's so much about trends and hypes, I mean maybe the Italo-Disco hype will be over when the record is released, And if that's true then that's the way it goes and I don't worry about it as long as I'm happy about it myself.

It took a long time before we started to record our second album and that was because of some hard pressure on yourself. But once we got started, It's been pretty good and it's been feeling better, and we made one song, which we thought was very good when I made it. Then we got to hear it and mixed something together and the next song sounded better and next song sounded better, so it's been a very good feel the last half year.

-So how long will you think it'll take (the album) to create?

I think it will be finished, at the least, next year.

-Are you looking with record labels to release it with at the moment?

Yeah, we're looking around to see. In North America we'll be released on Paper Bag Records.

-Do you expect to do more promotion with the next album as well, perhaps a few more music videos/adverts on Internet sites, is that something that you're interested in, is that's important to you or do you just think that if its out there, people will find it?

I think it's up to the record label to take those decisions, because if I did it myself I probably would not invest so much in promotion because I'm not a business man that way, but I think it's difficult to invest in promotion. I mean take Cloetta Paris, for example, I think it's one of the best albums of this year. But they didn't send any promos, and I think I've read only one review of that album and I think it's bad of all reviewers in the world to ignore it just because they don't get free copies of it, but that's the way it works.

-I know it's somewhat of a stereotype, but there's something about Swedish musicians, who are just exceptionally good at doing pop music, is this stereotype justified? Is there just something about the culture that creates melodic music? Because its not like most other European countries have such a proficiency with pop music.

I think one reason might be that we have state-subsidised music schools for children, so almost everyone plays some type of instrument from a young age, also it's quite easy to be unemployed in Sweden and get money from the state, so you can do that and spend most of your time making music. I started the Sally Shapiro project when i was unemployed, so that's a good example.

I think, compared to for example France or Spain, people speak quite good English in Sweden so it's quite easy to make pop music in English.

-Do you think you're adeptness with English, helps you to create songs, do you always create music in English, is it important to you? Or is preserving Swedish something that's important as well?

No, it's not important to me (laughs), most artists in Sweden sing in English. I think its because somehow it sounds... it sounds pathetic often, it's very difficult to make good lyrics in Swedish for some reason.

Sweden's a very Anglo-Americanised country, compared to Germany or France. I mean we consume more English and American culture than Continental Europe, so maybe that's a reason why we make music which often is exported to UK and USA more than it is exported to Germany etc.

-Do you feel like you have any musical peers, in Sweden or Gothenburg?

The people from Cloetta Paris and the producer of that project, Rodger, we're thinking much along the same lines. And he's been quite involved in writing songs for the new Sally Shapiro album, I have a lot of contact with him.

-So what's Gothenburg like to live in, in terms of clubnights and going to gigs, is it quite active?

There's a lot of bands in Gothenburg, but Stockholm is better, probably in terms of clubs and stuff. We have one 80's club in Gothenburg, called School Disco, which I got to, but otherwise there's mostly rock or techy clubs.

-Does it feel odd, going to clubs and staying out late at your age, when you have children?

Yeah, I am actually quite happy that, we having the same clubbing hours here as in Sweden. When I was in belgium, they expected me to play between 3 and 5, or something like that. and when i was done i was quite tired and I went home, and the other people thought I went home becuase I was bored.

Exalt Exalt itself was superb by the way, Johan played basically every Italo song that you like including not just one but two Fancy songs. Had it not been for my stomach's unanticipated attempt to try and leap up and out of me via my mouth, I would have stayed for the full duration of the night. (which, by the way, lasted till about quarter to 4 in the morning, including an extra disco hour for daylight saving).

-Johan Agebjorn's website (w/ free MP3s)
-Sally Shapiro's Myspace
-Johan's 'Crying on the Dancefloor' Christmas mix for Pitchfork

Read more

'Yeah I'm a teacher, for sure... and I love to teach'

Read more