it’s the dream isn’t it? all of us bloggers, music fans and unsigned bands long to start our own record label… spend our days approving cover art, our evenings scouting bands and the rest of the time listening to new and exciting music. for david west and his friend rich, this is exactly what they did. they started art is hard records. i caught up with david (well, if a few emails back & forth counts as catching up) to find out if the reality of starting a label lives up to the dream.

the beginning
“well i originally decided i wanted to start the label about a year ago. i think there comes a point where you realise you can only do so much moaning on your rarely read music blog about how much it sucks being in a good band in the south west. then rich got given a book by his gran for christmas. like ‘the dummy’s guide to starting a record label’ or something. i’m not sure he ever read it but it was that and him meeting up with his one time babysitter, mark stewart (name drop), that really spurred us on to do something.

“i think it probably sounds a bit like i’m talking exclusively in cliches, but the label really was just a natural progression from putting on gigs, writing blogs and being in our own rubbish bands that weren’t going anywhere.”

the inspiration
“we’re both really inspired by the output, ethics and community feel of labels such as factory, dischord and anticon. i’m not sure what labels are really supposed to do but we’re just trying to share all these great bands who don’t normally get a look in because there’s no o2 venue or something like that in the south west.”

the now
“me and rich are both actually students. i’m on my placement year at the moment so instead of being able to spend loads of hours a day sitting in my room sending emails with stupid subjects to try and get mojo magazine’s attention; i work 5 days a week at the local council, photocopying big reports and then come home and spend 2 hours a night trying to run a record label. it’s pretty stressful.

“i think to be fair, we’ve barely got our hands dirty yet. we seemed to be making no progress for like half a year then one day i just decided i would actually pay to get some t-shirts printed and then it was a bit like “shit we’ve spent this money on something that won’t really appeal to anyone, we better actually do something.” moral of the story, spend money that you can’t afford to if you want to get motivated. we haven’t had to pay for any barcodes or distribution or anything like that yet, but I think when we do things will start getting pretty confusing.”

the ones that got away
“twice we have chased people and been unsuccessful. its been a quick no, which obviously makes you feel pretty bitter. it’s almost like being in year 9 again and liking a girl for ages and then her turning you down when you finally build up the courage, hopefully we’ll come out the other side of puberty looking hunky and they’ll come running (fanzine and hocus tocus).”

the future
“we’re taking things pretty slowly at the moment but we just want to carry no releasing artists we love on interesting formats (cliche no. 3). we’ve got aih002 lined up and it’s going to be on 7″ but obviously not just a 7″. we’re going to tell people about it a month after our first release date, so keep your eyes open on october 13th.”

so there you have it. still want to run your own record label? i do. i’ll leave you with david’s other aim. “i’d love to be able to learn to play drums so i can play along with the outro to cycle schmeichel’s ‘bitchin’ like some sort of lucky roady.”

the first interview for the new sockformation! it’s been a while but i’m pleased to be able to finally publish a handful of questions i put to one of the rising stars of the british pop scene; eliza doolittle.

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how did you find the transition from putting out an ep to recording and releasing a full album, did you use the ep as a kind of learning curve?
they ep was a way of introducing my record to people and also to put something out for the listeners i did already have at that time so they didn’t have to wait so long for the album.

there is a great lyric in your song ‘nobody’ that goes “then somebody does what nobody does/and everyone follows them just because of the buzz”. did you ever feel this “buzz” when you started the album, especially after the positive reception and airplay the ep received?
buzz meaning hype. i was actually lucky enough to not have to much of the hype. was very lucky to have a little bit but my journey even with the radio airplay was very gradual. never believe the hype!

i read that you choose not to write about boys or ‘love’ and focus your songs on “more important things”. to you, what are these important things that trump the basis of the vast majority of pop songs (love)?
well i actually think that love is the most important thing in the world. where would we be without it? but i like to write about love in a different way to boys and relationships.

after listening to the album through completely a number of times, i found there was no noticeable fluctuation in quality and that each song had its own endearing strengths. did you ever struggle to decide which songs to release as singles when it came to promoting the record?
yes, it was a difficult choice because i love so many of the songs, but hopefully i can release lots of these as singles at some point. i’m excited to put visuals to at least half the album!

once the festival season has come to an end, do you have any plans for the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011; what can we as the public look forward to from you?
lots and lots! i’m doing my 1st uk headline tour in october and am also supporting paloma faith straight after that. i’m releasing my next single ‘rollerblades’ on october 18th so keep your eyes and ears open for that too!

finally, when you’re not touring do you get much time to see other bands/musicians? who is the best act you’ve ever seen live?
i try to as much as possible. especially at festivals. i think the best artist i saw live was stevie wonder at hyde park. and i also really loved prince at the o2. i also got to see one of the xx’s first gigs from their debut album. that was amazing.

-interview by lewis booth-

this interview is taken from the original sockformation before it was deleted.  sticking it up again, just because we love alessi’s ark so much.

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you were writing songs for your gcses, but what prompted you to take that first step to turn a pipedream into a reality?
i didn’t really know what i was going to go on to do at school. i really enjoyed playing in the school band, in fact that was probably my favourite thing along with writing my fanzine. my parents said to me that if i wasn’t quite sure about what to pursue at school that they’d allow me to take a year to play shows and continue with the fanzine and i can honestly say that without them, everything would have been much harder. i wrote ‘constellations’ and ‘glendora’ then and my music teacher championed me to play glendora in assembly. i thought to myself that i had set aside this year to try my best and find my feet, so i did that.

what was that year like, was it all new experiences for you?
yeah, i had never really played shows to the public before, apart from playing in the school band. one of my first shows was up in manchester in 2005, it was halloween and i was playing with johnathon rice, i played one song and read a few poems. i’d never played before that and i’ve been paying since that christmas until now, really. i’d play all different places around london and we were lucky to go on holiday so i tried to take the music wherever i went.

who built the ark?
well, i think family and friends did. i feel like there are a lot of people to thank, people who don’t realise that their involvement in the music is more important than perhaps they think it is. i mean you are the ark, really anybody who enjoys the music and comes to the shows. it’s not so much a band but a gang, not a violent one though.

your first record is a significant point in your progression as a musician, what was it like recording ‘bedroom bound’?
i recorded it in my bedroom and it didn’t really take too long. the drawings on the cd cover had been ready for quite a while. the songs were played on my sister’s guitar and then a guitar that i saved up and bought after i had left school and i’d put them onto my laptop to see how they sound. apart from one track, ‘for one year’, which i recorded at a friend of mine blake’s house in california. we had a nice time at his house and a lot of fun trying to get the teacup sounds for the song. it was really good.

what was it like having such a widespread means of distribution for your music like myspace?
it means that you can write a song and people can listen to it as soon as you are willing to share, which is really exciting. the main thing i like about myspace is to be able to write and talk to people that come down to the shows, especially if they have questions about the songs or artwork or whatever. it’s always quite fun to talk to them about stuff that i would recommend, that they would recommend, it’s nice to compare things that they’d get a kick out of. all of those online communities kind of make that bridge that mean you can talk to people. i’d love to ask a few questions to my favourite bands and there was no way of doing that.

what was it like working with bright eyes producer mike mogis on your debut album ‘notes from the treehouse’?
he’s a really really good guy and i was a huge fan of mike’s work; in the fanzine i wrote, i’d talk about bands that he’d worked with. not in a creepy way, but i really admired the music and his involvement in that. you look at bands he’d recommend and you discover this whole web of good music that you thought you were missing out on. he’s a really lovely guy and he made the recording a really comfortable and kind of special process. his family are beautiful and my mother came out with me to nebraska and we were able to see all of the seasons and meet all of the people he introduced to us. it’s just a great town and everyone was so friendly and super talented.

how did the magical quality within ‘notes from the treehouse’ manifest itself when you were initially writing the album?
oh, i don’t know. i’m glad that you think it is magical. some of the songs are older than others, like ‘glendora’ and ‘constellations’ that were recorded in the second session of the record, some are newer like ‘hummingbird’ and ‘the dog’. i was just incredibly happy and learning a lot while i was writing the songs and also learning from being out in nebraska. i guess i was just sounding out with my voice, and possibly it’s the arrangement that put me into this dreamy kind of realm because everybody had this wonderful ability to put things together and realise ideas for the structure and sound. they had a good ear for what could accompany us that fitted perfectly to the song. i was working with the magical hands.

what does 2010 have in store for alessi’s ark?
after this tour with sons of noel and adrian, i shall be touring with rachel dadd throughout february. we start recording the next record sometime in march. we have an ep called ‘soul proprietor’ and that will be realised on april 5th, it’s so nice that i can actually say when it’s coming out. we’re playing with laura marling in april and then we’re off to europe for a few dates.

finally, who is the best act you’ve ever seen live?
is it bad to say 5ive? i saw neil young in hyde park and that was nothing short of perfect. all these bands are coming into my head now; white stripes, arcade fire. i saw jake bellows and he really is an amazing human being as well as a musician. how many have i got? i’ve seen television twice and big star, without chris bell. i remember seeing rilo kiley with bright eyes and modest mouse and that was amazing. i’ll stop there, but i know that when i leave more artists will pop into my head and i’d want to add that to the list.

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i’d like to give many thanks to alessi from alessi’s ark for her kindness in agreeing to the interview and the great answers given. i strongly recommend her album ‘notes from the treehouse’ and look forward to her next record.

-interview by lewis booth-