One of the coolest electronic labels on the planet chalks up it’s 100 release
Words by Matt Caldwell
Starting up a record label has never been easier – but to make it work and to remain relevant, innovative and pro-active is a whole different story. In the abyss of labels trying to make it work there are only a small number that make it count – EJ Underground and the extensive family at Krafted Music are one of those select few.Label boss Paul Sawyer and partner Darren Braddick have developed a network that’s become one of the premium imprints for all things electronic music and with a wide-ranging line of imprints that are pushing the big guns for their money – we’ve sat down with the guys behind the scenes to get a look inside their HQ and find out what it takes to make it happen.
Hi Paul – first off, thanks for talking to DMCWORLD today. EJ Underground is a part of a larger movement that you guys are running, for anyone new to you guys, can you break down the structure of the group and explain the ethos behind the collective?
“Hi Matt, good to meet with you. The Krafted Music Group was created due to my labels merging with the Endemic Digital Group. The Endemic group was founded by Wez Saunders from Defected back in 2008. When Wez left Endemic, Darren took the helm and was running the imprints Endemic Digital, Sounds of Juan and Unrivaled Music. I was ploughing ahead with EJ Underground since its formation in 2012, ultimately releasing all genres of House music and I also started Krafted Records during the early part of 2014 to release mainly Deep Tech House, Techno and Progressive. It’s the label that I would say comprises of the sound that I play as a DJ. Darren approached me early part of 2014 to co-host a party at the Brighton Music Conference and we soon realised that we could work well together. I jumped at the chance to co-own Endemic as it was a label that I respected for many years. There’s some amazing artists who have been involved in releasing on the label for some time including the X-Press 2 guys, Moonface, Colin Dale, Terry Farley, the list is endless. The sister label to Endemic is Unrivaled Music and is a label that concentrates on releasing mainly Deep House. If it’s Techno that’s your bag, our imprint Sounds of Juan is the one. There’s some amazing Techno out there at the moment and we’re gained some really good support this year with this label. I started EJ Eternal during 2013 solely to release Trance, Progressive and EDM, but to be completely honest, it’s not the sound that I can relate to any more. I was a massive Trance and progressive fan during the 90’s, but running a label when you’re not feeling the music just doesn’t work. That’s when we brought on board Tim Greenshill. He’s perfect for running that imprint, he’s a huge EDM fan and is taking the label much further than I could have. Not long after the Krafted Music Group was created, We were speaking with Tim Lyall who at the time was running Bloxbox Records with Brandon Block. Incidentally, both are old friends of ours through promoting and Paul had been remixing for them the year before. They were finding it difficult to keep the momentum going with Bloxbox due to work constraints etc, so we offered to take it on board and make it a part of our group. It was ideal for us because the label releases Funky House, Garage, Bass House and Nu Disco, genres that neither of us were really releasing on the other labels. So it was great to have this separate identity as a part of the overall group. Brandon and Tim are still a part of the label which is a big help.
We have another label First Steps Recordings that was set up in 2013 which is a derivative of a new development program called ‘First Steps’ for young & aspiring musicians, young offenders, students and more young people looking for guidance. The program will work in conjunction with existing Education & Community programs/centers as well as young artists that have been identified by record labels as needing further development. Finally, we have another label boiling away at the moment as we lecture at Bournemouth University once or twice a year to the music students. We’re in the process of developing a record label with the students running it and we will be mentoring them throughout the year. It’s really exciting as this is going to be running year in year out with different students from all the various departments helping out. It’s at its early stages at the moment, but it will be a label that will be releasing student music of all genres. Eventually we hope that this may form a part of the curriculum, but for now, it’s being developed to provide students with some insight into running and working at a record label.”
You have a lot different divisions for different sounds – but what boxes have to be ticked for you guys when considering a signing?
“That’s the beauty of having so many divisions within the group. If a sound doesn’t quite fit the label that a demo has been sent to, it can quite easily fit with one of the others. But of course, the quality of the release is important, as well as the artist themselves. There are so many things to take into account from the social media following of the artist to whether the release requires remixes or tracks to accompany the main track as an EP. In the early days, those things weren’t so important. Of course the music out rules everything, if it’s a great track and it’s well produced, who cares if the artist has 10 followers or 10,000, but ultimately, we are in this to make money as a business to keep going. So it’s important to look at whether we think the artist will sell tracks.”
Did you guys have any experience in label management before this venture?
“No, neither of us have worked at labels prior to doing this. I come from a promoting/Dj’ing background that spans back from the early 90’s. I just wish I had started this back then and started producing much earlier. Darren comes from an agency background running Forge Bookings which had offices in the Netherlands and here in the UK, then started working with Wez over the years and eventually taking over.”
Release 100 for EJ Underground is just around the corner – can you fill us in?
“It’s so exciting for me personally as I had never envisaged getting to this point. When EJ Underground started I was trawling Soundcloud for artists and tracks to release, sometimes begging people to release under my banner as they had never heard of the label before. I was pumping so much money into promotion and putting on the odd label night, and never making anywhere near enough to cover the cost of running the label. Thank goodness it’s not like that anymore as I would have given up a long time ago. The 100th release took me ages to put together, I chopped and changed with which one it should be. I did plan to have a track from a guy in the US who has made an amazing track with a singer from Oz, but I ran out of time with getting remixes to compliment the release. It will still be coming out, so watch this space ha ha! We were sent the track by the Bedford Falls Players and it was lucky really as I instantly recognized who they were as I’d remixed one of their releases back in 2012! Mark Cooper and Bob Miles who head up the BFP with Terry Farley produced the track with Justin Drake who is the engineer behind Peace Division. So not only was it a perfect track for the 100th release with its swirling 303, the whole package was something that could work from a PR perspective. There was no point hitting a massive milestone without knowing we could shout about the people involved. We sent the original off to French duo Acid Washed who are currently based in Berlin and they were instantly up for working on a remix. We were over the moon as we have a lot of respect for those guys. When their remix was returned it was such a rush, not only complimenting the original, but taking it to another dimension. One of my old favourite DJ’s from the 90’s and of D:Ream fame, Al Mackenzie provided us with his club friendly interpretation and also a producer that’s worked with people such as Dido, David Bowie, Florence & The Machine, Leo Zero. What a combination of producers, we cannot tell you how proud we are to have all of these guys involved in our dream. Of course rounding up the remixes is one from me ha ha…”
What is it about the labels that makes it all work?
“It’s a massive passion of ours to be a part of what we love doing and it’s so addictive. It’s totally different to being a DJ or promoter in way. Although you are promoting your brand, it’s not like promoting an event. One of the main battles is gaining recognition within the industry and to do so, you have to go to the right events and conferences. We have met so many cool people through the years and you soon learn who are the people that you want to work with and those who want to work with you. We never lose sight of what we want to achieve and are always grateful for every opportunity that arises. No matter how big or small that opportunity is and who it comes from, it’s important to the journey that we are taking. Music is about fun, so it’s something that we embrace and are lucky enough to be our vocation.”
What’s your all-time favourite label release?
“There is one that stand out from November 2014 by Leeds based producer/dj Dale Middleton. He has huge respect within the industry and his music is played by so many massive dj’s such as Hernan Catteneo, and recently on the Radio 1 Essential Selection. ‘Tord’ was the name of the release and we managed to get some amazing remixers involved. Dave Seaman, D-Formation, Chloe Fontaine and Lee Williams all churned out huge remixes. The release gained numerous features and reviews online, we hope to get these guys involved in another sometime this year. D-Formation is already on board for another remix, which will be a summer release.”
Proudest moment of the journey so far?
“It has to be when we went to ADE last year. The amount of DJ’s that approached us after seeing our EJ Underground t-shirts and said, wow that Dale Middleton promo, it’s the bomb! Ha ha! Not only that, but being asked by the Decoded Magazine guys if we would do a TV interview. We looked at each other and thought, are you sure? Us? We stood there and the Futuristic Polar Bears and Jay C were being interviewed before us, talking about huge festivals playing to 100,000’s and travelling the world with Toolroom etc. We felt really nervous and intimidated at this point, thinking, what are we going to speak about ha ha! But in fact, you realise that everyone has their place in this industry and it turned out to be such a great interview. Funny enough we have cemented some really good friendships from that off the cuff meeting along the street outside the Dylan!”
You guys obviously sign a lot of new talent – are there any signings that you guys are most proud of?
“Yes, we sign lots of new talent who constantly churn out top quality music. There’s Lee Williams, KEFFISH, Jourdan Bordes, Ponytech, Scientific Funk, all gaining huge support from some big DJ’s. The list is endless to be honest as all these guys really push their releases and have become a part of our family. We stay in touch with so many of our artists on a friendship level. We have numerous videos of DJs such as Richie Hawtin playing KEFFISH’s ‘Contoure’ at Tomorrowworld, such an amazing feeling knowing these people are playing our releases from our artists.”
Clearly a lot of labels these days fall way short of the mark and fail to establish themselves – where do you think people are going wrong?
“You come across a lot of labels who just aren’t very professional in their approach and think it will all come together over night. We are pretty young in comparison with many labels, but we have maintained a professional manner and spend a great deal of time searching for avenues to help promote our artists and ultimately our brand. Gaining respect from everyone is so important, whether it be from artists, other brands and the people that buy your music. We also feel that the image of the brand is so important, from the artwork to the social media presence. We funnel a lot of energy into this and from the feedback we receive, it seems to be working.”
What would you say to anyone thinking about taking the jump and starting their own?
“We think one of the main things is to not be a music factory churning out release after release week in week out. We felt a bit like that for a while as we got busier, but thankfully we slowed things down and have taken on staff to help with various aspects to get the best out of all of the labels. It’s so important to research the industry and the legalities of the recording industry. We joined the Association of Independent Music (AIM) right at the start and that was the best thing we ever did. They have been such a huge help and hold so many informative meetings and events. So we would definitely recommend joining them.”
What’s the most difficult thing about running a label in this industry?
“We would say two things;
1) Keeping up with all the correspondence and keeping on top of all the releases. You are forever chasing remixes, working out what goes with which release. It’s a huge lesson in organizational skills.
2) Financial stability is the second, it’s so hard to keep the momentum going if you don’t keep the consistency going.”
What labels do you guys look up to with respect and why?
“Oh there are so many labels we respect, mainly due to their consistency with releasing such fantastic music, such as Family Grooves, Ampispazi Recordings, Einmusika Recordings, No Passport, Troupe, Sweep The Floor Records, Highway Records, HIVE Audio, Noir, we could probably name 50 labels that we love. There’s so much really good underground music coming out at the moment, it’s difficult to fit all in when we compile our podcasts ha ha.”
If you could go back to the day you guys started this movement – what advice would you give yourself?
“Don’t do it ha ha For me (Paul) I wish this was what I was doing over 10 years ago when I was DJing more. Getting the right people on board is so important and back then I was playing at so many huge gigs that it would have been much easier. Of course time moves on and the names change, but there are so many people who are still there keeping it alive. It took so long to gain that recognition and we still are, it’s an ongoing thing. Perseverance is so key, when you have so much passion for something, you make your own presence in your own way, whether it be big or small. Both of us have that same passion and so do all the people who make our brand what it is today, so our advice would be to keep going with what you love and believe in what you release. Of course everyone has their own taste and you will never please everyone, but if you believe in yourself, it doesn’t matter if you get negative feedback from time to time.”
What does 2015 have in store for you guys?
“Another milestone on the horizon is for the Unrivaled Music imprint, in the form of release number 200!! We’re currently planning that and also there’s quite a few label parties planned this year. Our EDM label are hosting nights at Lakota in Bristol and we have each label hosting room 2 over the coming year starting with an EJ Underground party on 1st May. We’re currently organizing a Bloxbox Records tour for later in the year with Brandon Block being the main DJ on that, plus more and we’re also looking at doing some more events abroad again. Hopefully back to Thailand for another label party and India. As always we are planning some releases with some notable names and we want to syndicate our Krafted Music podcast this year as it’s gaining thousands of listens every month.”
Any shout outs?
“All these have had a massive part in our journey and of course there are so many more we could name…
Warren Mann, Patci Wilde & Julez, David Ducaruge, Dean (D-Ramirez), Dave Seaman, Dimas (D-Formation), Chloe Fontaine, Solar Wolf, Paul Moore (Soultrak), Lee Williams, Alex P and Brandon, Steve Harvey, all the guys at Label Work and TLM, MC Stretch, Sean Hurley, Gökçe Kaya Nalıncı, Martin Ward…”
Krafted Music Group links :
www.facebook.com/EJunderground
www.facebook.com/pages/DJ-Paul-Sawyer
https://www.facebook.com/soultrak
