How To Start A Record Label With Daybed Records
Words by Meg Mayger.
Behind every great record label are two mates sitting comfortably on a daybed. Like Jack and Tom, musos from South Australia’s mid coast who started up Daybed Records to support ‘Music, the arts, or anything worth doing’.
The things they find worth doing? These include – but by john are not limited to – supporting and growing their local music scene, hosting music festivals for their hometown (and bringing acts like Bad//Dreems and Cosmic Psychos to headline) and, in general, paving the way for a future gen of surf punk rock heads. That’s all in a day’s work for Daybed Records and they’re still in their early years. If you’re curious about what starting a record label looks like, read on. If you’re not…well no one’s buying it, ‘cause you wouldn't have read this far. Here's the chat:
How are you guys?
Tom: Good! Good, how are you?
So good! You guys are in South Australia?
T: Yep just south of Adelaide.
And you were just in Indonesia?
T: Yeah I was just on holiday for a couple weeks in Indo which was fun!
Tough life running a record label huh?
T: (laughs) Yeah… spent all of our cash though.
Take us back to the origins of Daybed, why does it exist?
Jack: I'd been playing music in a couple different projects for like 7 or 8 years and I wanted to create some sort of entity to promote that music through, rather than it just coming from me. In the past I’d created fake aliases for managers and stuff; you have all these weird underworlds of the music industry to deal with and it’s just better when it’s not from you personally. Turned out I needed some help cause I’m not the best with organisation stuff. So I asked Tom ‘cause, for anyone who knows Tom he’s a go-getter, he’s ON it ya know? And together we’ve just let it creatively take its own life. Our area used to have a real pumping music scene in the 90’s, but then the pokies came around and kinda decimated the scene. But there’s still all these nostalgic muso heads around who don’t necessarily want to go to the city for it. Through Daybed we aim to enliven that and bring some of the action here so they don’t have to travel too far.
How many bands do you guys have on your books?
T: Three. We have Ethanol Blend - that’s Jack’s band which was how it all started - then we’ve got the 745 and STELLAR who are both young/surf/rock/punk bands from this area. And we just help them get gigs, release their music, create timelines around promotion…
So you’re like their managers? …or they manage you?
T: (laughs) Bit of both.
J: (laughs) Second one. Nah, let's say they inspire us; they have so much energy ‘cause they’re still quite young. Like we first started helping them when they were still in school. And – even though comparison SUCKS – when I think about what I was doing at that age as opposed to what they were doing...like I was sitting at home playing Runescape in year 11 but they’re out there playing with Amyl and the Sniffers (laughs) that’s inspiring, ya know?
Both versions are cool, in their own way.
T: Exactly. We could probably help them play Runescape…if they ever needed it.
What does a day in the life in the Daybed office look like? I’m imagining you guys sitting on daybeds for a lot of it?
T: (laughs) Well that’s how the name came about. Jack had this palette daybed at his old house and everyone used to sleep on it when they’d stay. And he wanted a name that represented something ‘open, inviting... is that right?
J: Yeah! Something to say ‘everyone’s welcome,’ which is exactly what that daybed represented.
T: But as for a day in the life... well, we go to our normal jobs (laughs) then we try think of ways to help the bands whether it’s planning gigs, releasing new music, giving them creative direction and advice, which Jack’s really good at. Like if they have a bit of artwork or something he’s got a good eye to be like ‘Oh maybe change this…or this is good.’ It also depends on the time of year, like right now we’re planning the festival that’s coming up next Feb which is ‘A Nice Day to go to the Club’.
You guys are doing it again? I watched your documentary last night, which followed the inaugural festival earlier this year.
J: Did you!? Did you get through the whole thing?
Yeah! Definitely, it was so good. And it’s happening again?
T: Yeah we learnt from our mistakes like just rushing into things, so now we’re trying to plan as much as we can in advance before we start rushing again (laughs).
On the financial side of things, you guys said you have other jobs? What do you do outside to support yourselves & keep Daybed alive?
T: I work for a surf/skate shop called Daily Grind. We’ve got a few different arms of businesses like bakeries and an art gallery, The Good Bank Gallery, so I do some marketing and events for them. It works well with Daybed ‘cause we do events and we’re involved with music through the surfing community so we can work Daybed and Daily Grind together.
J: I teach aquatics, it’s a gov-funded program where kids come down to Noarlunga and learn to snorkel, surf, kayak, that sort of stuff.
Do you find these jobs help to inspire what you bring to the Daybed table?
T: Work does inspire me in a lot of different ways. It helps me meet people and intertwine it with Daybed and vice versa.
J: Mine helps me in a way that I don’t think about it at all, well I try not to think about it at all while I’m there and just try to enjoy what I’m doing. It’s an active job too which is obviously good for mental health, so that helps me clear my mind and do what I need to for Daybed.
Meditative in a way…
J: Yep!
T: I think both of us being in bands as well helps us bring new ideas in, like how we’d like the label to be from an artist perspective, rather than from a business point of view.
So you’re both in bands? Jack you're in Ethanol Blend which is on the record. Tom, you’re in one as well?
T: Yeah I’m in one called King Jeff & The How Are Yous.
…But it’s not connected to Daybed?
T: Nah, we’re not on the label yet, I need to talk to Jack about that…
J: Oii, nahh (laughs).
Back on inspiration are there any record labels that inspired you to run one?
T: I like Cousin Will Records. He’s based in Melbourne and has The Grogans and a few other bands. He’s figured out a new landscape of the music industry really well I think, in terms of streaming and not having to go through the normal radio route to be a bigger band.
J: Beach Fossils were one of my favourite artists. I think they were on…was it Capitol Tracks? Anyway they were already on a label but then they released Somersault on their own label, ‘Bayonet Records’. And I just thought that was so cool ‘cause it gave them the creative flexibility. That was a big inspiration for me.
What would you guys love to see in the future for Daybed?
T: I'd love to see a physical space, something down in our local area where we can have rehearsal rooms and a venue space and like a big communal -
J: Coffee!
T: (Laughs) Yeah coffee/a cafe, just a big communal area where creative people can do what they need to. We pretty much just have an online presence right now but having an actual space where people can come and interact…yeah, that’s what I’d like to see.
J: Yeah a place where we can go everyday to work and be creative and where others can come and get that beautiful feeling of being creative and letting it flow out too. A safe space where anyone can do that.
Starting a record label essentially from scratch, has that landed you guys in any uncharted waters?
T: Basically the whole festival. We’d only ever done smaller stuff before and when we were approached with the idea we didn’t really understand the scale of what it would be. It took off really quickly and we were dealing with bands that were bigger than we’d ever dealt with before and negotiating things like management, infrastructure, production in a really short timeframe. ‘Cause with just a week to go the whole site became unusable…we had to completely change the whole festival layout in one week. We didn’t even know if we’d be able to do it at all. So that was pure meltdown stage for us.
But you got through it! Must be pretty rewarding.
J: The most rewarding thing is when you see like, for instance the 745, this young band that starts up and then one of their younger sisters was inspired to start a band too. And then off the back of THAT there’s even more younger bands popping up, ‘cause they’re looking at them and seeing what they’re playing is kinda easy - ‘cause the best stuff is simple - so it’s just sick to see kids, or even adults, get inspired and be like ‘I can do that as well’.
Have you got a date or acts booked for next year’s A Nice Day to go to the Club festival?
J: We've got a date! February 24. It’s a Saturday.
T: And we’re in good conversations with artists now - some headliners - so fingers crossed we can get them over the line. It’s looking to be a bit bigger than last year; it’s ambitious… but we feel like we’ve found this niche in our area to hopefully do okay with it.
J: It’s gonna be good!
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