Today we’d like to introduce you to Walter Carlos.
Walter, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
In 1994, I started the US office of a Glasgow label called Destroy All Music. We mainly released cassettes — about 35 or 40 totals in the 4 years we operated — and a few 7″ records. Our most notable releases were by Thurston Moore, Truman’s Water, Stilluppsteypa, Melt Banana, Gerogerogegege, and Mamarracho. We also hosted a label music festival in Chicago (where none of us lived!) and financed the release of the Brainbombs “Obey” album… which is what sank the label because VERY few distributors wanted to carry it due to the lyrical content, so we were stuck with 500 copies that didn’t go anywhere.
The label folded in 1997 and we went our separate ways — broke and broken-hearted but a little wiser.
Fast forward to 2010 and I’m back in the saddle with running a record label. This time it’s called Artificial Head Records and I mainly focus on vinyl releases with only three tape releases (one was an eight-track). I currently have about 25 releases issued with five records slated for 2018!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Nope… not a smooth road at all. Some records never take off, so I’m stuck with boxes and boxes of records for years. Some records do well — which helps to finance the next round of releases for the label.
One notable instance of disaster: the KISS tribute compilation. I decided to use a pressing plant in the Dallas area for this release as I tend to spread my releases out to different pressing plants just to get a feel for their quality. The test pressings came back just fine, so I gave the green light to press all 400 copies. As the weeks went by, the deadline for the release shipment came and went. After multiple calls to the plant, the first batch of releases came through and I got them sent out to customers. For some reason, the plant only pressed about 70 to 120 copies each time. THEN… I started getting messages from customers about their records being fucked up.
Turns out, the pressing plates were not handled properly and not mounted correctly, so the grooves on the records were off-center! I tried and tried to get this corrected, but the pressing plant refused to cooperate… so I called up an attorney to get the matter resolved.
Well, things got Hostile at that point. In the end, the pressing plant declared bankruptcy and I got stuck issuing refunds to my customers and a large attorney bill. :\
Artificial Head Records – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Artificial Head Records. It’s a record label that focuses on great music and packaging.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Landing the Wedding Present and Terminal Cheesecake for the label.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://artificialheadrecords.bandcamp.com/
- Email: kharmageddon@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artificialheadrecords/
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ArtificialHead
Image Credit:
Photos by Paulter Charlos
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