Interview with Whatever Brains

Whatever Brains singing and stuff

The first Seven-Inch Record I ever bought was a Whatever Brains record.  I got it from Bull City Records and I dug it hard.  I've been a fan since, and have become an even bigger fan since they released a full-length record on Sorry State.  The Raleigh band has a totally unique sound unlike anything you have ever heard (I promise) and it's hard for me to define, but I can tell you that it's definitely rooted in Psychedelia, Rock, and Punk.  From there on, it's anyone's guess.  Fantastic band, though.  I barely got to see them one time at Troika last year, which unfortunately didn't happen this year.  I heard them blast through their last song of the night, which was "Goldwood" on their first full-length record.  "Bada badada badada" was stuck in my head for weeks after, and still often can be found there.

They released a fantastic Record Store Day 7" which has an outtake and a demo, as well as a Double Negative Cover and a Wall of Voodoo cover.  It definitely shows the Whatever Brains' diversity in their songwriting and performance capabilities.  I was really happy to get my hands on one.  You can stream it for free HERE and it's definitely worth a listen.  They are currently about to release their 2nd full-length which will once again be on Sorry State Records.  You out-of-staters can get it HERE if you don't have a local record shop which sells them.

They talk about an upcoming tour for 16 days that will even cover the Midwest and I'll be moving back to the CHI by then, so I'll be at whichever one is closest.  Also, this is their WEBSITE.

I basically wanted a t-shirt by them, but figured I should push my luck and ask for an interview, and luckily Rich and Will from the band were kind enough to give me some info, which is great.  They talk a lot about the band, where it came from, and what makes it tick.  I dig it like a spigot.

But they're better people than I am, so I'll let them speak.

Jordan:  When Did Whatever Brains form?  How did the process happen?

Rich:  The band started in Spring 2008. I was working on a batch of songs that didn't seem to fit the other band I was in at the time, Crossed Eyes. That band had a specific sound with similar chord structures in

each song, and I was ready to write songs outside of washy, minor-chord pop punk. Evan Williams and I had played as a two piece not too long before this, and I knew he was the only person who could help me realize what was in my head at the time. I brought the first group of songs to him, and we spent a lot of late nights at the practice space. Most of the time was spent drinking and talking about YouTube. Evan recorded three or four songs on his four track (some of which are on the Soft Dick City cassette). We liked how they sounded and decided to expand the band from there.

Will:  I think Evan and Rich had gotten together to start a metal band called Tight Dogs From The Future that eventually morphed into Whatever Brains somewhere in the Summer of 2008.  I was looking to move back to NC from Pittsburgh, PA  and asked all my friends on MySpace(whack) where I should move in NC.  Rich told me I should move to Raleigh and join his band Whatever Brains.  I hadn't really hung out with him in forever, but it was my only offer, and we'd played before in an improv doom/noise/Lightning-Bolt-ripoff band called XABBAX which was a good time, so I went for it.

Jordan:  You guys have been on a bunch of labels from Bull City Records to Sorry State Records.  What has it been like working with so many different people?

Whatever Brains LP 1 Cover

Rich: Bull City was an extremely natural way to start. Chaz Martenstein and I made quick friends when he opened his store in Durham in 2005. We talked about music extensively. Both being record store clerks and from Virginia, we had a good deal in common, and we also had a lot to share. Over the years, he's gotten me into so many awesome bands. I bought my first Oblivians and Spits records from him. Anyway, I think Chaz had been wanting to start a record label for a while, and it made sense for Whatever Brains to be his first release. I believe now, more than three years after its release, the first 7" has finally sold out. He probably still has a good deal of the second one. By the time we were ready to release a third 7", Chaz was still sitting on a many/most of our previous records, and it didn't seem fair to ask him to release another, so we roped some of my Virginia buddies into the mix. Funny / Not Funny was started by my friends Matt, Harper and Bengine in Harrisonburg. We were their second release, and they had no idea what they were getting in to. They still have hundreds of copies of the "Nesting" 7". Sorry, guys. They were also gracious enough to attempt a fourth 7" with us, but money fell short when it came time to send the record to the plant. That's where Daniel Lupton at Sorry State came into play. He'd released the Crossed Eyes 7" (of which he mistakenly took to a second pressing and is now selling for $1 in his distro) and had been a Whatever Brains fan from the start. I wasn't sure how he'd feel about the proposition to help with the "Rapper's Delight II" 7" since Sorry State had mostly released hardcore bands, but he was totally enthusiastic. He's been losing money on us ever since.

Will: It's all been pretty straight forward.  I think we have a big advantage because we never need/get a recording budget.  I went to school for audio engineering so I do that work and make the band buy me snacks/beers/microphones, etc.  Then all the labels have been cool about paying for mastering and giving us some free records.  Everybody at Bull City, Funny/Not Funny, Diggup Tapes, and Sorry State Records are all great dudes and we are eternally grateful that they have been kind/naive enough to sink money in our records.  

Sorry State Records LOGO

Jordan:  Do you find that there’s a big advantage of being part of such a diverse music scene as the triangle area?  How has that impacted your music?

Rich:  Sure. Instead of being the wussy band on the punk show, we can also be the dumb punk band on the indie rock show. But, it's been great. We all have history dabbling in different scenes, and the Triangle is a great place to do that. I can't think of a specific instance when it's impacted the music, though. It is what it is.

Jordan:  Have you always had the same line-up?  Have things moved around at all?

Rich:  The band started with me playing guitar singing and Evan playing drums and singing. Not long after that, we added William Evans to second guitar. I'd seen him play bass and keyboard in bands before, but never guitar. He's infinitely better than me. After that, we asked Vince Carmody to play bass. That lineup recorded the first two 7"s. Then we replaced Vince with my roommate and former bandmate Matt Watson, who had never played bass in a band before. We recorded the next two 7"s. We wanted to expand the sound around that time and had talked of adding a keyboard player/auxiliary musician. Young gun Hank Shore had been to a bunch of Brains shows and even messaged me for lyrics and tracklists and such. He was a bass clarinet player by trade, but we got him to play standup bass (along with clarinet) on the fourth 7". Then he joined full-time on keyboards. Since he'd never played keyboards in a band before, he used Evan's microKORG, which he still uses today. Matt uses Evan's bass. Will uses my guitar amp. Matt supplies the bass and keyboard amps. Recently, when Hank went to college, we decided to add Josh Lawson to another keyboard/auxiliary position. He is a pro musician and pro dude. We play as a five-piece most of the time now, but the band has six members.

Will: Rich and Evan started as a two piece in the summer of 2008.  I moved to Raleigh and joined in July/August '08 on guitar.  We quickly realized we need some low end so we asked Vince Carmody (of Strange, Legend of the Overfiend) to play bass.  April of 2009 Vince left and we got Matt Watson (of Street Sharks) to take his place.  At some point maybe in like Spring of 2010 we got (Enloe High School Senior and Eagle mascot) Hank Shore to come play bass clarinet and upright bass for our 4th 7" (Rapper's Delight Pt. II on F/NF, SSR) then he became our keyboard player.  When he left to go to college in Chicago this January we got our friend Josh Lawson (of ORDER) to start playing synth.  At Phuzzfest in Winston-Salem Hank was back in NC for spring break and joined us on bass clarinet.  I think he's moving back this summer and Josh is staying in so we'll be a 6-piece moving forward.  

Jordan:  Do you all have other side-projects at all?  What are your backgrounds in music like?

Rich: Will currently plays in Heads on Sticks, Evan plays in Black Zinfandel, I play in Infección and Josh and I play in Order. I'm probably forgetting something. We've all been in too many bands before now

Will:  I play guitar and keyboards in (Birds of Avalon bassist David Mueller's solo project) Heads on Sticks when we do live shows.  It works out because he'll do all the writing and recording himself then the live band just gets together to practice before shows.  That's been cool.  Also Evan, Matt and I (along with new Double Negative frontman/Atrophix drummer Cameron Craig) were in that band SHARDS.  As far as my background I've been playing music of some kind since 5th grade and have been playing shows since I was 14.  I played tuba in the high school band and have taken like a decade of music theory courses.  Also got my Bachelor's of Science in Music Technology from UNCA.

Frog Fractal Non-GIF

Jordan:  What sort of events and bands and ideologies influence your music?

Rich:  Punk and not punk

Jordan:  Is there a cohesive idea that makes Whatever Brains, politically, artistically or mentally?

Rich:  Don't be a dick. It sounds like an awful t-shirt slogan, but it's the most succinct way I can put it.

Will:  <insert animated Peace-Frog fractal .gif>

Jordan:  How do you think your lyrics impact your music?  A lot of them seem to be surreal portrait-stories.  How does that happen?

Rich:  A good chunk of the songs are about how people treat other people. You see such a depressing amount of religious and ignorance-based hatred growing up and living in the south that it would impossible for me to not touch on it heavily. There are definitely other subjects, though, but they are more of a case-by-case scenario. The new record has a song about how my girlfriend and I have a tough time keeping Betta fish alive and how we wanted a poodle named Frankie. Both LPs have had some sort of explanation for each song in the lyric sheet. And while there has been a lot of satire in past Brains lyrics, I'm trying to move away from that a bit. We'll see how it goes on the third LP.

The Brains Again

Jordan:  When did you decide to record a full-length album?

Rich:  When Whatever Brains started, we planned to record four three-song 7"s in a year and then work on an LP. It took much longer than that. But by the time the last 7" was finally released (September 2010, two years after our first show), we had a ton of material ready for a longer format. We recorded most of them, used some demos and pieced together the 17 tracks that make up the fist LP.

Will:  I think from the beginning we had always wanted to do 4 7"s before we put out a full record.  That Jay Reatard 7" singles series had come out and then was released all together.  It seemed like a good way to put out some music without committing to/having to write 12+ songs or having to wait that long.  After the 4th seven inch we planned to make a full length and so just gathered up all the new songs we had plus whatever old songs we wanted to do again and recorded those.  I think now we're planning on putting out four 12"s (our second one just dropped on SSR) then, I dunno, lazer discs?  4x4x12"s? Hypercubes?

Jordan:  How did you guys end up working with Sorry State Records?

Rich:  I think I first met Daniel when Direct Control (Sorry State's first release?) played the house Matt and I used to rent. Daniel later released a Crossed Eyes 7", which was Matt, myself and our other roommate, Dennis Duffy. Daniel was an absolute gentleman and scholar then, and he still is today.

Will: Daniel rules and has the best taste in weird/hardcore/punk music, runs an incredible label, is the pride of the triangle punk scene, a stand up dude and despite that likes our band.

Jordan:  What was it like putting something out for Record Store Day?  Seems like a big move for both SSR and the Whatever Brains.  How did you decide on the covers you did?  The Wall of Voodoo one is awesome!

Rich:  Daniel asked us if we wanted to do a Record Store Day record, and we said, "Yes." The tracks were gathered and/or recorded and mixed in a few days. It wasn't actually affiliated with THE Record Store Day, so nobody had to pay any money or jump through any hoops to get an official RSD seal of approval. The Double Negative cover was recorded at the same time we did the "Rapper's Delight II" 7". We learned that song because we thought it would be funny to play when we opened for them. Evan got me into Wall of Voodoo not too long ago. "Can't Make Love" sounded the most like Whatever Brains, and therefore the easiest one to learn. The "Shelves" demo samples a long and really intense drum track that Josh programmed for another, never finished, Double Negative cover years before he joined the band. The last track was a remix done by Waumiss for a pretty ridiculous remix download we put on Mediafire when the first LP was released. There are some cool rap and electronic remixes on that download, too.

Will:  Daniel decided he wanted to do a local (NC only + RVA) Record Store Day release and we've usually got a few odds and ends floating around, so he knew we could get it ready to send to the plant in a matter of days.

LP 2 Cover

Jordan:  What has the evolution of the band been like from when you put out your first 7” to the upcoming 2^nd LP?

Rich:  It's always been very gradual. We've practiced twice a week since we became a four-piece in 2008, so we're constantly playing old songs while we're learning new ones. Will has recorded almost evertthing we've done from the first 7" to the second LP. Our friend Reverdy Francis Nicholson III tracked two songs on the "Saddle Up" 7", also. As for the music, whether it's fast or slow or good or terrible, it always ends up sounding like Whatever Brains.

Jordan:  How would you differentiate the 2^nd LP from what you’ve done before?  Anything new to the table?

Rich:  The second LP is a little bit more "rock" sounding. The drums are bigger and better.

Will:  The second one was more focused from the start.  We knew we wanted to do full band versions of all the songs and kind of do a "rock" record, whereas the first LP was more of a collection of all the different sounds we'd tried out (regular full recordings/Rich's demos/this weird new wave electronic drum pad thing) plus songs that had been written farther apart and without a specific release in mind.  I think Rich wrote most of the 2nd one all in a row and with the idea of the next batch of songs being contenders for a full-length. 

Jordan:  What makes a good live show for the Whatever Brains?

Rich:  It seems obvious, but we're always better when we're having fun.

Will:  Free beer.  No serious injuries.

Jordan:  How do you decide when to tour?

Rich:  Matt, Will and Hank are/were in school. Summer is our best option for anything longer than a few days.

Will:  When school's out

Jordan:  Can we expect a US tour coming up at all?

Rich:  We're planning a 16-day tour starting in late July. We'll be playing some places we've played before, but we're trying to focus on places in the Midwest that we haven't been.

Will:  Yes.  July 27th-August 11th.  As far away as Minneapolis then back down the East Coast from Boston

Jordan:  Where does the band see itself going in the future?  Is there going to be a continuation of Whatever Brains?

Rich:  Writing, recording and playing as many shows as we can, which isn't nearly as many as most bands with the amount of records we have.

Will:  Jamming on stage at the Grammy's with Dave Grohl and Lil' Wayne.  I think as long as we don't lose too many members at once and Rich still can't stop writing songs we'll keep going.

Whatever Brains Release Show @ King's Barcade

The Brains with their Pet Rock n Roll Chicken

If you're in the Triangle Area, you've heard of them.  The Whatever Brains.  They're Triangle Area royalty at this point, having released four 7"s and one full length album on Sorry State Records.  It got a great response from all over the country, including Pitchfork's review of it.  It's a big deal around here and is a fantastic surreal journey through some weird dudes' heads.  I think I likened it to being in Willy Wonka's factory where the candy is all LSD.  I still hold to that belief.

A Tall Guy,  A normal Guy, A Whatever Brains Logo

Tonight, they are having their LP 2 release party at King's Barcade in Raleigh and it's going to be awesome.  Burglar Fucker is opening for them.  It's only $5 for early access to their LP, new t-shirts, and the opportunity to buy the Record Store Day 7", which is extremely hard to find.  Their new LP and 7" were both released by Sorry State Records: you may have read the interview I had with Daniel Lupton of Sorry State before.  This is an exciting release and it's going to please!


The link at the top should go to their Tumblr, which has songs from the upcoming LP.  These guys are awesome and it's going to be a great show.



Dig it like a spigot

Interview with Daniel Lupton from Sorry State Records

Sorry State Records Logo

Sorry State Records is one of the premier punk rock labels in the country at this point, though it seems to have miraculously been started simply in the right place at the right time.  Daniel Lupton, the brains behind SSR, believes that he released his first 7" in 2004 and has since released about fifty records.  The bands at Sorry State are largely punk-rock based but vary from there a lot.  Some of the best known bands from there are Double Negative (Raleigh Punk Royalty), Libyans (a poetically-sound hardcore band from Boston) and Whatever Brains (one the triangle areas staples in new music).  And these bands are all completely different.  Listening to Whatever Brains is kind of like being in that weird tunnel in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory if the chocolate were all LSD.  The members of Double Negative have been floating around in hardcore bands for a long time and have a straight up balls-to-the-wall punk rock show that is transcendent. I've never seen Libyans live, but they're more melodic, crafting punk songs shouted by a wonderful frontwoman.  The only thing these bands have in common is that they're released on Sorry State Records.

Double Negative Logo

Recently, Sorry State released 2 killer LPs (I mean, these suckers are glued to my turntable).  Joint Damage released their album "Strike Gently" earlier this year and Stripmines released "Crimes of Dispassion."  These are absolute modern classics.  They're both fun North Carolina bands that wax and wane to a unique emotional spectrum.  Fucking smart.  The Joint Damage LP has a bit of controversy following it, as a "Juggalo Rap" group was named the same thing and issued a cease and desist to the band.  It's ludicrous!  On the back of the Joint D/ album (they had to change their name), we understand the reason for this lawsuit.  "As a juggalo...I found it an anti-juggalo record" says one of the members of clown rap group Joint Damage.  That thing had me cracking up for days.  The LP comes with the letter of the cease and desist order.

The albums are also always really cheap and come in sweet packaging.  The Double Negative "Daydreamnation" LP is a shiny dude with lyric sheets and a sweet logo.  These records can be found all over the place from The Sorry State Website to local record shops like All Day Records and Bull City Records.

I was pretty curious about the record label and e-mailed Daniel Lupton about it before we settled on a time we could talk about his vision and record label.  Daniel had a lot of good things to say about his view on punk rock, the triangle area, and the creative process in music and music marketing.

Jordan:  So, Daniel, when did you end up starting Sorry State Records and how did you know that you wanted to release punk music?

Daniel Behind Ketchup, Milk, and Water

Daniel:  I think the label started in 2004.  A lot of people have asked me that lately and I’ve been meaning to check, but that’s my best guess.  As far as punk music goes, it’s kind of the only music I’ve been super interested in.  I like plenty kinds of music, but most of my favorite music ever comes back to punk.  I’ve been both influenced by officially punk bands or bands that have the punk ethos.  It’s really the world I know from going to shows, making friends, and being part of the scene.

Jordan:  Which bands in particular have formed your opinion on punk?

Daniel:  The band from when I was a kid was Minor Threat more than anything.  I think I got the CD with all of their stuff on it when I was around fourteen years old.  It was one of the first punk albums I got and it blew my mind.  I was straight edge for years and years pretty much because of that record.  So much about it.  And as I started reading about it, the whole Dischord attitude of being fair to bands and the punk scene being big, productive, and revolutionary, rather than something  to consume or being the stereotypical nihilistic punk.  I was an art kid and that whole ethos was immediately attractive to me.

Jordan:  So what would you say Punk’s role is now in terms of the spectrum of bands with positive qualities or, like you said, the more nihilistic version?

Daniel:  There’s always bands with different people and I definitely have a healthy appreciation for the more nihilistic end of it; bands like Black Flag and the Germs that are darker and scarier, and there are still people who push that angle and there are still people who push the positive and productive angle.  I think there’s room for both and punk has that dynamic where the two poles play off of each other and I think that’s why it’s remained vital.  Either of those takes would get stale on their own if they were left to just grow, but there’s always the push and pull between those two founding tenants of punk.

Jordan:  So, in the case of Sorry State Records, do you find that you release one version of punk music more than the other?

Libyans -  A Common Place (Cover)

Daniel:  No, I think my tastes are pretty wide and the label is often a reflection of what I like and am interested in so there are bands like Shards who are this drug-fueled, nihilistic mess, really.  Then there are bands like Libyans who are composed, poetic, and thoughtful in a way that I think a lot of people don’t associate with punk.  Frankly, either of those things can catch my ear and I think as long as I’m putting out records, I’ll be pulling from everything that punk is, and punk is really just about anything when you get down to it.

Jordan:  Are most of the bands whose records Sorry State puts out from North Carolina?

Daniel:  I don’t know what the percentage is, but it’s close to half and half at this point.  I think I’m kind of the default punk label if you’re in North Carolina.  A lot of bands will send me a demo.  This comes from a lot of different experiences, like touring with my own band, getting to know people, even from all over the world.  A couple of our bands are from Sweden.  We have one band from Japan. But I like that punk is fiercely local.  There’s a lot of hometown pride and I’m incredibly proud of what we have in North Carolina, but I want to also use this global connection.  Basically, any moderately sized city in the world, I can have loads of fun and someone to hang out with and drink a beer with.  I think all of those things are great.

Jordan:  The Whatever Brains in particular seem like a totally different band than the typical punk-sound.  How did you get connected with those guys?

Daniel:  Actually, I wanted to put out their first record.  They started playing shows and I immediately loved them.  I basically said if they ever wanted, then the door was open: if you need anything, I’ll do it.  I put out the Crossed Eyes’ 7”, which has members of Whatever Brains, which was garage, but I think at the beginning, I think at first they thought they would get labeled as a hardcore band, not that anyone who listens to five seconds of their music would ever do such a thing, but they didn’t want to go that standard route.  I don’t know what changed but, if I remember correctly, their fourth 7” was coming out and their label was needing some money and very last minute, they proposed doing this release and I basically helped pay their pressing plant and they slapped my logo on the back of the record and sent me a couple hundred copies.  That went really well.  I don’t know if that got rid of the band’s reservations, but now they record something and send it to me.  I’m on the band’s listserv and I get the demos when they send it right out.  I just loved that band from minute one.

Daniel:   I think a lot of the retro-hardcore scene has lost a lot of its energy in the past couple years and I was definitely caught up with that, and I was in a band called Cross Laws and our goal was to make music like it was 1982 and we never heard a record after that.  I think that puts you in a corner and after a couple years of that, we got bored.  I think that a lot of people start like that and get better at their instruments and decide they want to write a song instead of an explosion and it’s a natural progression.  I think when you look at the history of punk, there are times when everyone coalesces around the same idea, like the ’77 punk scene in Britain or the early 80’s hardcore scene.  There are times when there’s an excitement around a certain idea, and then there are times when people start to value creativity and artistic ambition, rather than fulfilling a template, like post-punk or the 90’s hardcore scene, and I think it’s a natural dynamic when you go through a cycle.  I really love them both.  I like feeling like I’m part of something that everyone’s on board with.  But I’m also an art person at heart and I love to see people being ambitious aesthetically.  I like that too and I’m glad I have a label that can handle those changes and I’m excited about the bands we  have and what they sound like.

Jordan:  Have you always been located in the triangle area while you’ve had this label?

Daniel:  Yeah.  I grew up in Virginia and went to college in Richmond and moved early to Chapel Hill in 2002.  I started the label around 2004.  I remember sending off the order for the first 7” in my apartment and getting the record in the mail shortly after I knew how.  It’s been a North Carolina thing from the beginning.  And that was part of the name too.  The first 7” I put out was by this band Direct Control and they were based in Richmond, but all three were from North Carolina.  And it seemed like we were all saying “Hey, we’re all from the same Sorry State.”  There wasn’t a lot going on at the time, so it was a little bit of a pun.  Now it’s not like that at all.  There’s tons going on.

Jordan:  What has the expansion of the label been like?

Daniel:  It’s been really organic.  I put out a record, then sold those records, then the money came back and then I put out another record.  It goes on and on.  There have been times when I’ve got a little ahead of myself.  Last summer I put out, I think, four LP’s and 2 7”s at once, which was completely obscene.  I didn’t really have the money and found some way to scrape it all together somehow.  But there have been times when I’ve had to push further to expand a bit more, but really it’s been totally organic.  Since I’ve made the label into a proper business and registered with the state and started paying taxes, I’ve been reading about business a bit and it seems like I’ve actually done it in a smart way.  Measured growth and not doing more than I should at any given time.

Jordan:  So how does the distribution fit into the whole scheme of everything?  Do you only distribute your own records?

Brain Flannel Live

Daniel:  I have hundreds of hundreds of records that I carry.  That end of things kind of supports the label.  If you just did a label and didn’t also distribute other records or trade with other labels, it would be really hard to make that financially viable.  It’s cash-intensive.  You press a record for 500 copies and send out 300 or 400 copies to distributors and that money doesn’t come back, at the very least, for months and months and months.  So distributing records and trading in small quantities with labels keeps money flowing through the bank account and it actually is kind of profitable, whereas just releasing records is, at best, a break-even proposition and usually not even that.  It’s also cool just having a ton of packages sitting on my porch every day when I get home and I’m able to see what’s happening with new music.  If I’m curious about a band, it isn’t like I’m spending $15 to order that LP; instead, I’m just thinking that I’ll order 5 copies from the label and listen to a copy.  If I like it, I may take it and if not, I’ll just sell all 5.

Jordan:  Yeah, today, when I was getting done with my day, I had Maximum Rock N Roll sitting on my porch and it was a godsend.  I just needed it.

Daniel:  Yeah, I got mine yesterday and definitely just sat on the porch and read it (laughs)

Jordan:  Exactly!  So, something that I’ve been cracking up about a lot recently has been the Joint Damage thing with the lawsuit.  Can you talk about that at all or is that something you’d rather brush under the rug?

Joint Damage - Strike Gently

Daniel:  It’s just sort of a bummer.  This band who, from everything I can see, thought of the cease and desist order seems to have the emotional intelligence of a three-year-old and whenever he comments on my facebook page or the label’s, I just think that he’s just making himself look like a complete idiot, and I never say anything because the person’s doing a just fine job of making himself look (pause) stupid.  Really, I just want the whole thing to go away.  It sucks because they threatened me with a lawsuit and I don’t even have the money to fight a lawsuit.  That’s the thing.  When someone does this to you, it’s going to be thousands of dollars right away.  If they win the case or not.  Just the threat of it is enough.  I had a lot of sleepless nights and grinding of teeth, but I haven’t heard anything about it for a while.  We changed the band name and did what we needed to do so hopefully people don’t keep harassing that band on their facebook page and people will forget about it.

Jordan:  Do you find that you have to stick your name out for your bands a lot of the time or does stuff like this just not really happen?

Daniel:  I know at least one person well from pretty much every band on the label and if there is ever someone in a band that I don’t want to work with, I just won’t put out a record for them.  Stuff like the Joint Damage situation doesn’t really happen and even this wasn’t Joint Damage’s fault.  Who looks up to see if someone has a band with the same name?  Who cares?  There are probably 15 bands named Double Negative and 10 named Shards.  When I first got the letter and called the guys in Joint Damage and said “I wish I could be totally punk with this and say ‘Fuck you,’ and fight this, but I can’t afford it.  I don’t have time and I can’t hire a lawyer”  Fortunately, I’ve never been in this kind of situation and hopefully they don’t come around very often because it wasn’t fun.

Jordan:  Do a lot of bands on your label have a lot of crossover in terms of people being in multiple bands either on your label or elsewhere?

Daniel:  Yeah, it’s a bit of both.  It’s a natural cycle of bands at one sense.  I know the same thing happened with Crossed Eyes morphing into Whatever Brains.  My old band Cross Laws turned into Devour and now we’re not playing anymore and we’re all in different bands.  Really, I’ve put out around 50 records at this point and it seems like it’s been permutations of about a dozen or fifteen people, especially if you look at the North Carolina people.  These are the people who are on the same wavelength and it seems like we’ve almost grown up together or at least have the same reference points. They just do what they’re trying to do and I respect that.  I’m happy to just stick with this and the people I have and know what I’m getting from a personal angle in terms of commitment and morality even.  I know they’re ambitious and know that they’re going to blow my mind every time.  Seems like I’ve just developed a bunch of great relationships and I’m really lucky.

Double Negative's Scott Having Fun With His Friends

Jordan:  Does live music affect your business at all?  What are the effects of a band on your label wanting to do more shows?

Daniel:  I don’t ask bands to do anything.  In terms of live shows, it can make a difference.  If I know that a band is going to do a lot of touring, I know that the band is going to help get the word out about their record and I know that I need more copies.  At the same time, for instance, Joint Damage plays Charlotte, Raleigh and Atlanta and I think that’s probably all the three cities they’ve played and it’s probably not going to change.  It affects me in the sense that I only press 300 records with a pretty high wholesale price and I’ve almost sold all of them already.  Some bands love to tour, but some bands don’t.  It may affect how many records I press or whether I am into doing super deluxe packaging, but I don’t really care (laughs).  Bands can tour or not, but I still get to see bands that are close by, so that’s what I really care about.

Jordan:  Can you say anything about releases for Record Store Day?

Whatever Brains LP 2 Cover

Daniel:  This year was my first one.  It’s a limited Whatever Brains record.  I had the idea to do it about six weeks ago or something and quickly e-mailed the pressing plant to see if I could get the records on time.  They’re showing up tomorrow (April 17, 2012) and Record Store Day is Saturday.  I just got it in the nick of time.  I e-mailed the Whatever Brains and they recorded the song that night.  Then they had some odds and ends and outtakes that they used for the rest of the EP.  It’s a cool thing to do.  For the first six or seven years of the label existence, there was no local attention.  The tightknit hardcore scene bought our records but no record stores sold my stuff.  SchoolKids never took my stuff.  CD Alley didn’t.  Chaz of Bull City Records was the only person who was super supportive from Day 1.  Besides that, people didn’t care.  But then Bryan C. Reed started writing for the Independent and wrote about Sorry State releases and shows and I had this big show two years ago when the Libyans came down from Boston and I did a big show for them.  The Independent wrote about that and there was a big crowd and I put out limited records and tote bags.  Then I did the Whatever Brains record and they’re such a big local band.  So Sorry State’s on the radar now and people have heard of the label.  It’s strange to meet people who aren’t a punk or local who have these records that we’ve put out. People will say “Oh, I have that Double Negative LP” or “I have that Whatever Brains LP.”  That’s super weird to me and I used to be distrustful and even scared about it, but since that happened, it allowed the label to get bigger.  All Day Records has been extremely supportive.  The Whatever Brains and Brain F≠ (Brain Flannel) have become local phenomena.  They’ve sold tons of those records and really personally recommended them to people.  I wanted to do something to say thanks.  So the Whatever Brains record is only available in North Carolina and Virginia record stores.  The idea was just to make local people excited and get out to the stores.  We’ll see how it goes.  I just hope the stores all sell them.

Jordan:  Yeah, I’ll definitely be picking that one up.  I got on the Sorry State train last year because Chaz basically played Double Negative and Libyans for me and they blew my mind and he was like “yeah, this is a local label.”

Daniel:  Awesome!  (Laughs) Yeah, Chaz is the best.

Jordan:  So what can we expect for the future of Sorry State?

Daniel:  I don’t know.  I’m just taking it one day at a time.  Right now I have a pretty solid roster of bands.  I basically put out a record and by the time I’m ready to put out a second record, the next band has recorded one for me, so I’m pretty settled in the cycle.  Next month I have Bukkake Boys, Double Negative, and the new Whatever Brains LP and after that a bunch of bands are starting to record like Manipulation are starting an LP, Dark Ages are starting on a new LP, and this one new band.  I keep telling myself I won’t put out something by a new band, but there’s this new band called Broken Prayer and they’re from Chicago and I’m putting out an LP from them and it’s just awesome.  It’s sort of like hardcore mixed with postpunk mixed with synths.  I don’t know if you’ve heard that Total Control yet?

Jordan:  I love that album!  (I’m actually interviewing them later)

Daniel:  Yeah, this sounds like Total Control mixed with early 80’s hardcore.  It would have a hard time picturing that in my mind what that means, but they’re doing it and it sounds original and exciting. So every day I’m just waiting and hoping they send me rough mixes, but they haven’t yet.  I’m going to keep putting out records and get better at selling them and not losing money, but, you know, I’m doing my best.  (Laughs)

Jordan:  Nice!  Any last words for the interview?

Daniel:  Yeah, I just want to say thanks.  Yeah, it’s awesome to have people doing stuff like this locally.  It gets me excited