Some would say it’s crazy to start up a record label in today’s world, where a band stands to make half a cent for a million streams and diehard fans have easy access to grab your music for free. Success is measured less in getting a million dollar upswing deal with a label and more by personal pride in getting the music you love into as many earholes as possible. By that measure, Allan Carter, founder of Vegas-based punk rock label SquidHat Records should be beaming with pride. In a few short years, Carter has helped put out more records by Vegas bands than any single person, spreading the word that Vegas is a center of talent. SquidHat recently celebrated their third anniversary, and we figured now was a great time to ask Allen Carter five questions
Can you tell me a little bit about SquidHat Records? How did it start and where did the name come from?
SquidHat was an idea born on a bar stool at the Double Down. I was watching the Dirty Panties in early 2011 and was really impressed. I approached them after the show and asked to buy a CD, which they didn’t have. It occurred to me, with all the great bands in Vegas, there should be a record label making sure that this great music not only gets put to CD (and later vinyl) but that it gets heard beyond Vegas. So I formulated a plan, called Mike Bell and got him onboard and on January 23, 2012 we became a SquidHat Records, LLC. The name comes from an Attack Ships on Fire tour story that has since grown into mythology. Let’s just say it involves an ill-advised nap, a forehead, and *allegedly* a third testicle.
We all have those favorite labels from our youth . What labels influenced what you do today?
For me it was Sub Pop, Alternative Tentacles, Dischord and Stiff. They started just like us, doing it on a shoestring budget, believing in the music first and hoping that you’d sell enough of your latest release to finance your next. I live that every day. There was so much inspiration from the past – as much for what not to do as what to try and do. I read up on as much history of the industry as I can and I’ll tell you, it’s a wonder this business survived for as long as it has. Read “Cowboy & Indies” by Gareth Murphy. It’s comprehensive and really gives you the inside scoop on how most of the music that influence what we do today almost didn’t happen.
With the changes the internet has brought to the music industry I’ve seen a small push with younger bands to completely abstain from using a label. How would you explain the benefits of signing to a label?
The internet is a blessing and a curse for young bands. For one thing there is a lot of music out there, and not all of it good. With all that white noise it is very difficult for the cream to rise to the top. As much great music as I get to hear on a daily basis it pains me to think of all the great stuff I’m not hearing – that I’ll never get to hear – because the river is too wide and too full.
A label, in my eyes, provides three critical things. First is focus. An organization dedicated to cutting through the crowd and getting new music to the right ears via marketing, promotion and distribution. Second is that you have a third party that believes in what you’re doing. A fresh set of ears and ideas that is subjective and sees the 30,000 foot view. Third, a label – I mean a truly artist centric label – is a family and a support group. You have label mates and peers to work with, run ideas past, and commiserate with.
This is a group of talented individuals that really understand what you are dealing with and going through. It becomes a community.
You don’t just run SquidHat but you’re also a musician with Attack Ships on Fire. How has your own musical background influenced the way you run the label?
I’ve been in working bands for 30 years – with varying degrees of success. I’ve made records, toured, signed bad deals, “almost made it” and generally seen all the good and bad that makes up this industry. Every success is a checkpoint, and every failure a lesson.
The vision for SquidHat was to not waste all that experience by becoming the grumpy old “I used to be in a band” guy sitting at every bar in America. I want to help bands I like, with music I genuinely care about to not make the mistakes I made. It gets a little easier to walk on water when you know where the rocks are. I try to point out those rocks.
Would you ever sign a band outside of Vegas, or are you looking to keep SquidHat strictly local? And if you were suddenly granted the power to sign any band in history (Vegas or otherwise) who would you pick?
SquidHat Records proper will always be a Vegas only label. There is enough talent locally – with new bands coming up every day – to keep us going for as long as we can afford it. With that said, there are some things we’d like to do outside of our market and we are making plans for that now. At some point this year we will launch a sub-imprint called SquidProQuo that will focus on distribution deals for bands outside of Las Vegas. We have our first three releases in the works and hopefully I’ll be able to share good news about that soon. But it will not take our eye off the ball. Las Vegas is our #1 focus, our home and has been very good to us in these short three years. The primary objective remains to get as much exposure for Vegas bands to the widest audience we can.
As for what act would I sign from history? I’d love to have put out a Subterfuge record back in the day. And who knows? Maybe one day I’ll get the chance to do something. We did the Self Abuse record last year and that was fun. I really think a scene needs to respect its history – and in a town where we blow up the past rather than memorialize it – that’s no easy feat. Guys like Danny Breeden putting on the reunion show every year with F.S.P. and so many others … that’s important. I’d love to have done a Vermin album, or Atomic Gods, M.I.A. or more recently Holding On To Sound. But the past lives where it does and the future for Vegas music is brighter because of it. We will just continue to do what we do, try to help where we can, and keep putting out records. To quote Goddard Lieberson, President, Columbia Records, 1956 to 1971: “You can’t always listen to the sales department. It’s smart to make unique records and hope for the best.”
Thanks, Allan! For more info on SquidHat Records, you can visit their official website here.
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