Post by escapegoat on May 8, 2007 14:26:44 GMT -5
Hello people of the Final Fantasy massive.
I was very surprised when I opened our Myspace account today to find a flood of messages about the 7". I had no idea what was going on until I came here.
Firstly, I understand your enthusiasm and longing for the 7". It really is an amazing piece of work. However, we WILL NOT be repressing it, as Owen has said he likes the idea of disappearing releases.
As for our stock remainder, it is very very very small. At first we were planning to keep them for our friends and family but we talked about it the other night and are going to offer up a few to the people that have asked.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WE CAN ONLY RESERVE COPIES FOR THE NEXT FIVE PEOPLE THAT MESSAGE US. THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE ALREADY MESSAGED US ARE ON THE LIST. I AM SORRY TO ANYBODY ELSE THAT MESSAGES.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now, what does being on that list get you, you ask? Well, eventually, it'll get you a 7". Eventually is the operative word. I'll explain that by explaining a little bit about Escape Goat.
It is not a real label where we have employees and press releases or even distro. Never has been that kind of label, never will be.
Cam and I started the label with a compilation of our friends' bands. We loved what was going on around us and wanted to put it all together into one package. If you're curious about what we were really into in 2002/2003, seek out the In The Film They Made Us comp.
After that came out, we decided to help out some more of our friends, resulting in records from Sing That Yell That Spell (math jazz from Stratford, ON), Ryan Stanley (bedroom pop music from Brantford) and Purple Hill (rambling country from Owen Marchildon, formerly of From Fiction).
A big accomplishment for us was releasing the complete discography of the dearly departed Ottawa band Weights & Measures. That band was HUGE for our tastes and to get the chance to put out their entire catalogue was a dream (for those who don't know them, they are a pummeling instrumental band, featuring Jeremy Gara, who now plays in the Arcade Fire).
We helped those bands get their records pressed, we threw CD release parties, we made sure the records were at Soundscapes and Rotate in Toronto, we put them up on Bluehouse… but our responsibilities never extended much further beyond that. In some cases the bands expected more, in some cases the bands expected less but we got involved in all those projects on a hobby basis. That means that mail-outs would only go out when we found time to get together, have some beer and fold cardboard.
Then this Final Fantasy thing happened and threw us for a real loop…
Cam (who is one half of the new name for Win & Regine) had known Owen from school from years back. My old band, Nouns, played our first show at Les Mouches' first show. Owen played the With Friends Like These festival a couple years in a row (summer weekends of shows that we currated in 2003, 2004 and 2005). Basically we all just saw each other around for years.
When he decided he'd do these 7"s, Owen was clear that he wanted to help out labels that he liked/people he knew. Owen handpicked Escape Goat, along with It's A Disaster, to be the homes for the 45s. As far as I know, the Cedric Metcalf 7" is still yet to be released. Escape Goat were lucky to be involved with the one that went forward.
But none of us expected Owen to become so hugely popular so fast. We sold close to 200 of the 7"s at the release party alone and, before long, we had orders from all over the world. Some from frequenters of this message board, I'm sure.
For a lot of labels, this would be an amazing occurance. For us, it was a huge debacle, because we couldn't keep up with the demand. On top of our taxing day jobs (Cam works for a big promotions firm and I was working at a national daily magazine at the time), we'd send off packages in small doses. After a while, the "where the hell is my 7"?" emails started to pour in.
Finally, Cam and I (along with EGR partners Jeff and Mike) spent a whole weekend cutting cardboard and sticking postage on packages. We brought at least 150 to the post office in the 7-11 down the street. A lovely man named Sardur helped us sort out the international, US and Canadian orders. We were literally in that 7-11 for 2 hours, affixing stamps and customs forms.
Note to people starting a small label: this is why distribution is so important, so you can avoid spending hours at a convenience store.
Anyways, after that big shipment we realized that we had next to no 7"s left and we were relieved to be done with it. We had a handful, sure, but we decided to cut it off there.
Since then, Cam and I have slowed the label down considerably. I've got a new band that's taking up lots of my time and I work full-time for the government. Cam has been promoted and now spends tons more time at work. Generally, it's just been hard to find time to even hang out, letalone approach label business. So we essentially squashed it (without ever really talking about it).
Last week we got together to discuss the future of the label and decided that we'd like to put out a few more things in the near future. Owen was absolutely amazing about his record and, for the sake of full disclosure, he was generous with the money made on the 7". We are now in the position to spend that money on one or two records to come. That's all he wanted in the first place, to help us put out a few more records.
I can't go into details about some of the projects just yet, but I can tell you that a Snailhouse 7" is forthcoming. It will be a split with Bruce Peninsula, that new band of mine that I mentioned. This 7" has been in the works since the day I met Cam (I was slated to do it solo until recently) . October 22nd, 2002. That's the day I signed on to help out with the label. One of our first releases was supposed to be the Snailhouse/Haverty split. It hasn't come to fruition yet, but we are closer than we've ever been. Hopefully it will be released by October, making it a nice round 5 years since we first discussed it.
That should put some perspective on how big this label is. In five years, we only have 7 releases. That's not a lot. Still, we feel like we've done our part to help out music here in Toronto and are going to continue to do that in whatever capacity we can.
So, I hope that clears up us "turning our backs" on the label. Truth is, we just have a lot of things going on up front and sometimes the label has to take a back seat...
OK, STARTING NOW, THE NEXT FIVE PEOPLE WILL BE ON THE LIST FOR A 7". ANYBODY AFTER THAT IS OUT OF LUCK. WE'RE SORRY ABOUT THAT.
Thanks for taking a second to read this.
Neil Haverty, Escape Goat Records
(ps - I have asked Owen about putting the songs online but, keeping in line with his "disappearing records" comment, I'm not sure if that's going to fly)
I was very surprised when I opened our Myspace account today to find a flood of messages about the 7". I had no idea what was going on until I came here.
Firstly, I understand your enthusiasm and longing for the 7". It really is an amazing piece of work. However, we WILL NOT be repressing it, as Owen has said he likes the idea of disappearing releases.
As for our stock remainder, it is very very very small. At first we were planning to keep them for our friends and family but we talked about it the other night and are going to offer up a few to the people that have asked.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WE CAN ONLY RESERVE COPIES FOR THE NEXT FIVE PEOPLE THAT MESSAGE US. THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE ALREADY MESSAGED US ARE ON THE LIST. I AM SORRY TO ANYBODY ELSE THAT MESSAGES.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now, what does being on that list get you, you ask? Well, eventually, it'll get you a 7". Eventually is the operative word. I'll explain that by explaining a little bit about Escape Goat.
It is not a real label where we have employees and press releases or even distro. Never has been that kind of label, never will be.
Cam and I started the label with a compilation of our friends' bands. We loved what was going on around us and wanted to put it all together into one package. If you're curious about what we were really into in 2002/2003, seek out the In The Film They Made Us comp.
After that came out, we decided to help out some more of our friends, resulting in records from Sing That Yell That Spell (math jazz from Stratford, ON), Ryan Stanley (bedroom pop music from Brantford) and Purple Hill (rambling country from Owen Marchildon, formerly of From Fiction).
A big accomplishment for us was releasing the complete discography of the dearly departed Ottawa band Weights & Measures. That band was HUGE for our tastes and to get the chance to put out their entire catalogue was a dream (for those who don't know them, they are a pummeling instrumental band, featuring Jeremy Gara, who now plays in the Arcade Fire).
We helped those bands get their records pressed, we threw CD release parties, we made sure the records were at Soundscapes and Rotate in Toronto, we put them up on Bluehouse… but our responsibilities never extended much further beyond that. In some cases the bands expected more, in some cases the bands expected less but we got involved in all those projects on a hobby basis. That means that mail-outs would only go out when we found time to get together, have some beer and fold cardboard.
Then this Final Fantasy thing happened and threw us for a real loop…
Cam (who is one half of the new name for Win & Regine) had known Owen from school from years back. My old band, Nouns, played our first show at Les Mouches' first show. Owen played the With Friends Like These festival a couple years in a row (summer weekends of shows that we currated in 2003, 2004 and 2005). Basically we all just saw each other around for years.
When he decided he'd do these 7"s, Owen was clear that he wanted to help out labels that he liked/people he knew. Owen handpicked Escape Goat, along with It's A Disaster, to be the homes for the 45s. As far as I know, the Cedric Metcalf 7" is still yet to be released. Escape Goat were lucky to be involved with the one that went forward.
But none of us expected Owen to become so hugely popular so fast. We sold close to 200 of the 7"s at the release party alone and, before long, we had orders from all over the world. Some from frequenters of this message board, I'm sure.
For a lot of labels, this would be an amazing occurance. For us, it was a huge debacle, because we couldn't keep up with the demand. On top of our taxing day jobs (Cam works for a big promotions firm and I was working at a national daily magazine at the time), we'd send off packages in small doses. After a while, the "where the hell is my 7"?" emails started to pour in.
Finally, Cam and I (along with EGR partners Jeff and Mike) spent a whole weekend cutting cardboard and sticking postage on packages. We brought at least 150 to the post office in the 7-11 down the street. A lovely man named Sardur helped us sort out the international, US and Canadian orders. We were literally in that 7-11 for 2 hours, affixing stamps and customs forms.
Note to people starting a small label: this is why distribution is so important, so you can avoid spending hours at a convenience store.
Anyways, after that big shipment we realized that we had next to no 7"s left and we were relieved to be done with it. We had a handful, sure, but we decided to cut it off there.
Since then, Cam and I have slowed the label down considerably. I've got a new band that's taking up lots of my time and I work full-time for the government. Cam has been promoted and now spends tons more time at work. Generally, it's just been hard to find time to even hang out, letalone approach label business. So we essentially squashed it (without ever really talking about it).
Last week we got together to discuss the future of the label and decided that we'd like to put out a few more things in the near future. Owen was absolutely amazing about his record and, for the sake of full disclosure, he was generous with the money made on the 7". We are now in the position to spend that money on one or two records to come. That's all he wanted in the first place, to help us put out a few more records.
I can't go into details about some of the projects just yet, but I can tell you that a Snailhouse 7" is forthcoming. It will be a split with Bruce Peninsula, that new band of mine that I mentioned. This 7" has been in the works since the day I met Cam (I was slated to do it solo until recently) . October 22nd, 2002. That's the day I signed on to help out with the label. One of our first releases was supposed to be the Snailhouse/Haverty split. It hasn't come to fruition yet, but we are closer than we've ever been. Hopefully it will be released by October, making it a nice round 5 years since we first discussed it.
That should put some perspective on how big this label is. In five years, we only have 7 releases. That's not a lot. Still, we feel like we've done our part to help out music here in Toronto and are going to continue to do that in whatever capacity we can.
So, I hope that clears up us "turning our backs" on the label. Truth is, we just have a lot of things going on up front and sometimes the label has to take a back seat...
OK, STARTING NOW, THE NEXT FIVE PEOPLE WILL BE ON THE LIST FOR A 7". ANYBODY AFTER THAT IS OUT OF LUCK. WE'RE SORRY ABOUT THAT.
Thanks for taking a second to read this.
Neil Haverty, Escape Goat Records
(ps - I have asked Owen about putting the songs online but, keeping in line with his "disappearing records" comment, I'm not sure if that's going to fly)
