Wells Tipley (86'd Records/ Solid Mfg.)
1. What are your top five albums that were released in 2013? (In order 1-5)
- Boilerman - Loss Leaders LP
- Unfun - Shores of Lake Erie DL
- Iron Chic - The Constant One LP
- Libyans - Expired Language LP
- Slatwall - Farewell Songs DL
2. What band did you discover in 2013 (can be a brand new band or an older band) that had an impact on your life? What made them significant?
I traded a bunch of records with a label called At War With False Noise from the U.K. earlier in the year. I got turned on to stuff like Resonaut, Seppuku, Necrocum, Satan’s Satyrs, and The Guilt Of. I think it’s neat to hear a band in the context of the other stuff a label is putting out.
3. How will you remember 2013? (In terms of music)
Iron Chic doing a session for the BBC really blew my mind. It was fun to keep my parents posted on their progress all year. My dad used to work with Lubrano at a pizzeria around here.
4. What can we look forward to from you in 2014?
My big project for this year is going to be digitally re-releasing a bunch stuff from my old record label as free downloads. From 1995 till 2003 I did a label called Traffic Violation Records that released mostly Long Island punk and hardcore stuff. I’m going to try and get as many releases up as possible. I’ve got permission for a few releases already. I’m working on finding all the masters or ripping the vinyl. I have high-resolution scans of all the packaging for most of the releases. I’ve been putting the site together at http://traffic.violat.io/n using limitedrun.com. Another part of the project is getting in touch with all the bands and seeing which ones are cool with Creative Commons licenses on their stuff. I want to get it as much of it in the commons as possible.
Over at Solid Mfg. we’re brokering manufacturing for vinyl, CDs, and band merch - in addition to our existing print business. It’s all up and running, but we’re going to spend 2014 improving the website to make getting quotes, ordering, and keeping track of stuff easier. We’re also working on a new logo that’ll include a little robot mascot.
86’d is going to be relatively quiet. The only thing I have planned is a singles collection CD for Sick Sick Birds which will come out in Japan in cooperation with Waterslide Records. We’ll also have a small amount available in the US. I’m hoping that will turn into to a semi-regular series of American bands releasing singles collections for Japan through 86’d and Waterslide.
5. What records are you looking forward to most in 2014?
Go White Bronco, Tenement, and Unfun.
6. There is a lot of debate over streaming sites and royalties, namely with Spotify. What is your stance on the economic policies behind the current streaming services? Do you have a preferred one?
I’ve never used Spotify. I was using Last.fm for a while but not really for streaming, more for keeping track of what I was playing from my hard drive. I don’t have any of the 86’d going through digital distribution, so as far as I know we don’t show up on those sites.
