Designer Labels: Fortuna Pop
Simone Scott Warren catches up with Fortuna Pop ahead of their fifteenth birthday celebrations, and looks at some of the label's 'essential' releases.
Posted 27th October 2011, 11:44am in Features, by Simone Scott Warren
The Lucksmiths – First Frost
For sixteen great years, The Lucksmiths quietly cemented their place in popular music as the definitive summertime band. Hailing from Australia, they beautifully juxtaposed jangling guitars with tales of doomed romances, picking up where the Go-Betweens left off with a quintessentially joyful cacophony of indie pop. And with this release they showed they'd lost none of their flare for wistful lyrical journeys, in particular, 'California in Popular Song' sparkled.
For an independent label, remaining afloat for fifteen years is an achievement really worth celebrating. To put it into context, Factory Records, arguably one of the most influential indie labels of all time, endured only fourteen years from inception to bankruptcy. Sarah Records, with their genre defining jangly indie pop, lasted a mere eight years. Even Creation, who thanks to signing heavyweights Oasis were commercially successful beyond their wildest dreams, were forced to sell half their interest to Sony after eleven years in order to remain solvent.
So as Fortuna Pop, the label founded and single-handedly run by Sean Price, prepares to commemorate a decade and a half of existence with three nights of gigs at Scala next month with The Primitives, Darren Hayman, Comet Gain and Allo Darlin' all taking the stage in celebration, we figured this is as good a moment as any to buy the man a pint, and whilst we're there, pick his brains as to what on earth drives someone to devote such a large portion of their life to such a pursuit. I mean, how do you even start down such a road? Do you wake up one morning and find yourself with a to do list that reads, 'buy milk, do homework, start a record label'?
Turns out, we're not so far from the truth. “My younger brother started playing in bands around the local village with some of his friends, and they'd recorded something,” Sean tells us, “So I said, oh we'll make a record and put it out, and we'll get it on John Peel and sell lots of copies. John Peel did play it, which was all we really wanted to happen, he described it as “the sound of young Kegworth”. I didn't really know what I was doing at all, I'd somehow forgotten the vital step of getting the records out of my bedroom and into the shops. I just assumed that John Peel would play it, and a thousand people would write to me and I'd sell it that way. I think about ten people wrote to me.” Luckily the record was picked up on by Record Collector magazine, who featured it as their 'Record of the Month', and Sean finally got around to the heady task of finding a distributor for the 990 records boxed up in his bedroom, carefully selecting them from the ads in the back of the NME.
Fast forward to the present day, and Fortuna Pop can boast a back catalogue that feature the likes of Allo' Darlin', The Lucksmiths, Herman Dune, Comet Gain, Darren Hayman and their unlikeliest success story, the Pains of Being Pure At Heart. But running a small label isn't exactly the work of the sane, as Sean defines the job description, “you're the mug who puts up the money to make a bunch of CDs that you automatically lose money on”. So why would anyone apply for that job, and worse, carry on doing it for fifteen years? “The thing that I get out of running a label is seeing a band develop,” Sean affirms, “Watching 'Allo Darlin' progress from Elizabeth playing solo with her ukulele, to putting the band together, to making a record, and just getting better all the time, that's so, so satisfying”.
Talk turns to what advice he'd give to someone considering setting up their own label today, a subject he's been musing over a fair bit recently, as he's due to give a talk at the SWN Festival in Wales on 'How Not To Run A Record Label'. And it turns out, his advice is mostly terribly practical stuff, from how to parcel up a promo for “the price of a second class stamp”, to the finer details like hiring in a proper PR and Radio Plugger. “The oxygen of press and radio, that's what sells records. I was trying to do it all myself, I've always been someone who just wants to get the bands out. I'm not really content with selling 100 records to the same 100 people, it all seems like a bit of an insult to the bands, to just want to sell to the same clique over and over again. So I've always tried to expand things by getting press and radio, but it's only the last few years that I think I've really invested the money in to doing that.”
It's a testament to how far Price has come over the last decade and a bit, that during Allo Darlin's End Of The Road set this year, they gave Sean a personal shout out, which was followed by a massive cheer of approval from the crowd at the packed Big Top stage. Does he feel a sense of pride watching the bands he's signed play live? “Of course”, Sean tells me, “And one of my proudest moments was getting the Lucksmiths' a support slot for Jonathan Richman at Shepherd's Bush Empire, I badgered the booking agent every day. You know how those big adverts that say 'SGP Presents so and so... and Special Guests', and you know they haven't booked anyone. I just phoned up the booking agent every day and said, “I've got a band! They love Jonathan Richman!” And that's their number one hero, so to have had that happen, that was really something fantastic.”
But fifteen years is a long time to be investing your time and your money in other people's bands, and the idea of giving it all up has, absolutely, occurred to Price before. Shortly before signing Pains of Being Pure At Heart, he was preparing to wind down the label. “I was on the verge of giving up, I thought it would be nice to get to FP100 and call it a day, in a kind of Sarah Records fashion,” he divulges, “and then the Pains happened. Before I knew it, I'd released record 103. And it was a case of, shit, I missed my chance of stopping at 100. And it enabled me to sign bands of a different calibre, I don't think Herman Dune or Crystal Stilts would be on the label now if it hadn't been for that record. So that's been a pivotal record – that's probably my 'Oasis' moment, if you want to see it like that.”
So beyond the birthday gigs, does Fortuna Pop have a future, then? Fortunately for lovers of decent indie pop, the answer appears to be a resounding yes. “I'm doing two ten inch records which, bizarrely, is a format I've only done once before, but both bands gave me four songs and it wouldn't fit on a seven inch, and I didn't know what else to do with, no one buys CD singles any more, so I had to do ten inches. But they don't fit in racks in record shops or at home! There's a Cinema Red and Blue ten inch coming out called 'Walking in the Cemetery' which I'm desperately trying to get ready for Halloween”. As it happens, Cinema Red and Blue could be considered a Fortuna Pop Super Group, comprising assorted members of both Comet Gain and Crystal Stilts. “And the other ten inch is Darren Hayman's release of 'I Taught You How To Dance', with three other 'dance' related covers – he's done Roxy Music's 'Dance Away', 'I Don't Wanna Dance' by Eddy Grant and 'Come Dancing' by the Kinks.”
Finally, we ponder the gigs themselves, from the finer details, (James from Veronica Falls has screen-printed some rather beautiful posters), and how it feels to see a band like the Primitives topping the bill as one of Fortuna Pop's bands. “People at my Halls of Residence at university still remember that I would wake them up by playing 'Crash' at full volume first thing in the morning. So to have the chance to put out a record by them, was really great. I wouldn't have put it out if I hadn't thought it was really good, though.” And not forgetting the logistical nightmare it's going to be to get a birthday cake big enough. But as Sean points out, “Someone should buy me cake, it's my birthday!” Fortuna Pop's current roster should all consider themselves duly warned.
The Fortuna Pop Fifteen Years Of Fun gigs take place at Scala, London, on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd November.
So as Fortuna Pop, the label founded and single-handedly run by Sean Price, prepares to commemorate a decade and a half of existence with three nights of gigs at Scala next month with The Primitives, Darren Hayman, Comet Gain and Allo Darlin' all taking the stage in celebration, we figured this is as good a moment as any to buy the man a pint, and whilst we're there, pick his brains as to what on earth drives someone to devote such a large portion of their life to such a pursuit. I mean, how do you even start down such a road? Do you wake up one morning and find yourself with a to do list that reads, 'buy milk, do homework, start a record label'?
Turns out, we're not so far from the truth. “My younger brother started playing in bands around the local village with some of his friends, and they'd recorded something,” Sean tells us, “So I said, oh we'll make a record and put it out, and we'll get it on John Peel and sell lots of copies. John Peel did play it, which was all we really wanted to happen, he described it as “the sound of young Kegworth”. I didn't really know what I was doing at all, I'd somehow forgotten the vital step of getting the records out of my bedroom and into the shops. I just assumed that John Peel would play it, and a thousand people would write to me and I'd sell it that way. I think about ten people wrote to me.” Luckily the record was picked up on by Record Collector magazine, who featured it as their 'Record of the Month', and Sean finally got around to the heady task of finding a distributor for the 990 records boxed up in his bedroom, carefully selecting them from the ads in the back of the NME.
Fast forward to the present day, and Fortuna Pop can boast a back catalogue that feature the likes of Allo' Darlin', The Lucksmiths, Herman Dune, Comet Gain, Darren Hayman and their unlikeliest success story, the Pains of Being Pure At Heart. But running a small label isn't exactly the work of the sane, as Sean defines the job description, “you're the mug who puts up the money to make a bunch of CDs that you automatically lose money on”. So why would anyone apply for that job, and worse, carry on doing it for fifteen years? “The thing that I get out of running a label is seeing a band develop,” Sean affirms, “Watching 'Allo Darlin' progress from Elizabeth playing solo with her ukulele, to putting the band together, to making a record, and just getting better all the time, that's so, so satisfying”.
Talk turns to what advice he'd give to someone considering setting up their own label today, a subject he's been musing over a fair bit recently, as he's due to give a talk at the SWN Festival in Wales on 'How Not To Run A Record Label'. And it turns out, his advice is mostly terribly practical stuff, from how to parcel up a promo for “the price of a second class stamp”, to the finer details like hiring in a proper PR and Radio Plugger. “The oxygen of press and radio, that's what sells records. I was trying to do it all myself, I've always been someone who just wants to get the bands out. I'm not really content with selling 100 records to the same 100 people, it all seems like a bit of an insult to the bands, to just want to sell to the same clique over and over again. So I've always tried to expand things by getting press and radio, but it's only the last few years that I think I've really invested the money in to doing that.”
It's a testament to how far Price has come over the last decade and a bit, that during Allo Darlin's End Of The Road set this year, they gave Sean a personal shout out, which was followed by a massive cheer of approval from the crowd at the packed Big Top stage. Does he feel a sense of pride watching the bands he's signed play live? “Of course”, Sean tells me, “And one of my proudest moments was getting the Lucksmiths' a support slot for Jonathan Richman at Shepherd's Bush Empire, I badgered the booking agent every day. You know how those big adverts that say 'SGP Presents so and so... and Special Guests', and you know they haven't booked anyone. I just phoned up the booking agent every day and said, “I've got a band! They love Jonathan Richman!” And that's their number one hero, so to have had that happen, that was really something fantastic.”
But fifteen years is a long time to be investing your time and your money in other people's bands, and the idea of giving it all up has, absolutely, occurred to Price before. Shortly before signing Pains of Being Pure At Heart, he was preparing to wind down the label. “I was on the verge of giving up, I thought it would be nice to get to FP100 and call it a day, in a kind of Sarah Records fashion,” he divulges, “and then the Pains happened. Before I knew it, I'd released record 103. And it was a case of, shit, I missed my chance of stopping at 100. And it enabled me to sign bands of a different calibre, I don't think Herman Dune or Crystal Stilts would be on the label now if it hadn't been for that record. So that's been a pivotal record – that's probably my 'Oasis' moment, if you want to see it like that.”
So beyond the birthday gigs, does Fortuna Pop have a future, then? Fortunately for lovers of decent indie pop, the answer appears to be a resounding yes. “I'm doing two ten inch records which, bizarrely, is a format I've only done once before, but both bands gave me four songs and it wouldn't fit on a seven inch, and I didn't know what else to do with, no one buys CD singles any more, so I had to do ten inches. But they don't fit in racks in record shops or at home! There's a Cinema Red and Blue ten inch coming out called 'Walking in the Cemetery' which I'm desperately trying to get ready for Halloween”. As it happens, Cinema Red and Blue could be considered a Fortuna Pop Super Group, comprising assorted members of both Comet Gain and Crystal Stilts. “And the other ten inch is Darren Hayman's release of 'I Taught You How To Dance', with three other 'dance' related covers – he's done Roxy Music's 'Dance Away', 'I Don't Wanna Dance' by Eddy Grant and 'Come Dancing' by the Kinks.”
Finally, we ponder the gigs themselves, from the finer details, (James from Veronica Falls has screen-printed some rather beautiful posters), and how it feels to see a band like the Primitives topping the bill as one of Fortuna Pop's bands. “People at my Halls of Residence at university still remember that I would wake them up by playing 'Crash' at full volume first thing in the morning. So to have the chance to put out a record by them, was really great. I wouldn't have put it out if I hadn't thought it was really good, though.” And not forgetting the logistical nightmare it's going to be to get a birthday cake big enough. But as Sean points out, “Someone should buy me cake, it's my birthday!” Fortuna Pop's current roster should all consider themselves duly warned.
The Fortuna Pop Fifteen Years Of Fun gigs take place at Scala, London, on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd November.
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