As their 15th anniversary looms...
Fifteen years is a long time.
It’s the minimum period – for example – it will take you from being born to buying a cinema ticket for ‘Prometheus’. Ridley Scott ventures aside, it’s also the time period that Bella Union are celebrating with their latest anniversary.
Famously born from the final hours of Cocteau Twins, Bella Union was initially devised as a means of distributing that band’s music. However with no band left to focus on, Simon Raymonde and Robin Guthrie decided to pursue the label as an entity in itself. “We were so anti-label people” states Raymonde. “The idea of actually running one ourselves was not in the forefront of our minds. It was only kind of.. it was just by accident because we suddenly had no band. We’d already sort of gone and made a logo and had some postcards designed so we thought, suppose we should put something out. We got a couple of things out and I quite enjoyed it – Robin didn’t enjoy it at all but I really enjoyed it”.
Guthrie retired to married life in France at the turn of the Millennium, while Simon Raymonde decided to soldier on with Bella Union. Quickly gaining a solid reputation with a series of acclaimed signings, partnerships with the likes of Midlake, Lift To Experience and Explosions In The Sky took the label to wider prominence. Able to impart his wisdom to younger, fresher musicians Raymonde found that the role of label lynchpin came easily to him. “What did I enjoy? Just to be busy, I think.. it was really good to be busy. Our band were a bit.. we weren’t busy all the time” he muses. “What did I enjoy about it? I suppose just working with musicians, because being one I suppose I understood them. Being a bit older – when we started the label in ’97 I was 35 – I thought “well maybe I’ve got a bit of experience there that I can pass on”. I suppose that’s part of what I’ve enjoyed all the way through”.
Dirty Three - Last Horse on the Sand
- - -
Using his own experience as a suitable barometer, Simon Raymonde has been able to carve out an identity based on artistic freedom. “Really the ethos of the label from the beginning to right now is to have a label I’d like to have been signed to” he states. "That’s how I feel about it always. That is kind of at the centre of so many of the decisions, and why we do certain things”.
Slowly, patiently building up their stable Bella Union are able to toast their fifteenth anniversary with a number of remarkable success stories. Beach House, for example, have finally broken through to wider acceptance after four albums of quite rare beauty – an example of the label’s approach which seems to thrill Raymonde. “I cite that band a lot when I talk to other bands who maybe think things should be happening a bit quicker than they are. I say, look that’s your perfect example of a band who were actually always really great and had something special from the beginning but even they could see that they weren’t the finished article. They weren’t going round saying they were the best thing ever”.
Fighting their corner, Simon Raymonde clearly remains – at heart – a music fan. “I feel musically, aesthetically there’s a massive line to be drawn between Cocteau Twins and Beach House which is probably why I feel so close to them. I can hear them trying to do similar things to what we were trying to do. Not necessarily musically, but the way they go about their business” he explains. “I think we’d all love to sell 30,000 copies of everything but it doesn’t really happen that way any more because there aren’t that many people out there buying music, sadly. They are just such a beautiful band to work with as well. They couldn’t be nicer people and that’s really the key to it, I think. Just working with great people who understand what you’re doing and know that you understand what they’re doing”.
The sense of community running through Bella Union is perhaps understated, but it really feels palpable on further examination of the label. Often pairing their artists together on tour, the imprint have noticed friendships hatching between some of their most prominent artists. “A lot of our bands are good friends already. I don’t know why that happens but it often works out. Fleet Foxes and Beach House became great friends, then Explosions and Beach House became great friends...” he explains. “Which is lovely, because that’s how we like to feel about.. I don’t really like it to be about a business relationship, because it’s hard to have that balance between friendship and business – really hard. It doesn’t always end prettily. I’ve always thought, well why can’t you be friends with the people you work with? You know.. it shouldn’t be this them and us thing. We have a really small label and I don’t want Bella Union to be a big label. I like it tiny. There’s a few of us here and that’s it. I don’t want to have an empire, I don’t want to be Martin Mills - I don’t want to have hundreds of people working for me. It’d be too stressful and that’s not my thing at all. I like the little thing, because from that you can have a bit more of a community spirit because it’s you guys fighting against every other fucker. It’s fun. It feels like we are still the little guy”.
Lanterns On The Lake - Keep On Trying
- - -
The determination running through Raymonde is matched by his team, who often switch between a half dozen different roles. Adjusting to shifting climates in the music industry, Bella Union has been pushed twice as hard to simply survive. Asked how the industry has shifted since the label’s inception, Simon Raymonde simply sighs. “Massively. In the last fifteen years, massively. It has been a shitty time, I can’t pretend it’s been all great fun – it’s not. It’s been hideous” he says, grimacing. “The label could have gone bust any of ten times over that period. We had some really dodgy moments with distributors going bust and licensing partners going bust. It is a very hand to mouth business and I don’t think people outside get how much of a gamble it is to be in it. Really, it’s like backing a load of horses with three legs. Really”.
Yet this climate has fostered a unique spirit, one which is fuelling a resurgence in British guitar music. Bella Union are signing more British groups than their Yank-o-phile reputation would suggest, with 2011 bringing quite stunning releases from Lanterns On The Lake, Veronica Falls and more. Bella Union come across as embattled, emboldened with these difficult times fuelling a maverick spirit. “My attitude is just find great music, work with great people, don’t work with dicks” grins Raymonde. “I’d rather work with people I really love than worry about sales and all that kind of stuff. I feel that we’re on a bit of a roll right now, we’ve been really lucky, we’ve had three of four great years – maybe more, maybe five or six great years – where we’ve steadily grown and people have enjoyed what we’re putting out. That may not continue. Next year nobody might like anything we out – it’s feasible, you’ve got to just have fun and enjoy it while it lasts. It might not, in which case there’s always road-sweeping!”
Bella Union are preparing a label showcase at this year’s End Of The Road festival on August 31st. Line up as follows:
Alessi's Ark II Beach House II Cashier No. 9 II Dirty Three II Hannah Cohen II I Break Horses II John Grant II Jonathan Wilson II Lanterns On The Lake II The Low Anthem II Midlake II Mountain Man II Our Broken Garden II Roy Harper II Veronica Falls
It’s the minimum period – for example – it will take you from being born to buying a cinema ticket for ‘Prometheus’. Ridley Scott ventures aside, it’s also the time period that Bella Union are celebrating with their latest anniversary.
Famously born from the final hours of Cocteau Twins, Bella Union was initially devised as a means of distributing that band’s music. However with no band left to focus on, Simon Raymonde and Robin Guthrie decided to pursue the label as an entity in itself. “We were so anti-label people” states Raymonde. “The idea of actually running one ourselves was not in the forefront of our minds. It was only kind of.. it was just by accident because we suddenly had no band. We’d already sort of gone and made a logo and had some postcards designed so we thought, suppose we should put something out. We got a couple of things out and I quite enjoyed it – Robin didn’t enjoy it at all but I really enjoyed it”.
Guthrie retired to married life in France at the turn of the Millennium, while Simon Raymonde decided to soldier on with Bella Union. Quickly gaining a solid reputation with a series of acclaimed signings, partnerships with the likes of Midlake, Lift To Experience and Explosions In The Sky took the label to wider prominence. Able to impart his wisdom to younger, fresher musicians Raymonde found that the role of label lynchpin came easily to him. “What did I enjoy? Just to be busy, I think.. it was really good to be busy. Our band were a bit.. we weren’t busy all the time” he muses. “What did I enjoy about it? I suppose just working with musicians, because being one I suppose I understood them. Being a bit older – when we started the label in ’97 I was 35 – I thought “well maybe I’ve got a bit of experience there that I can pass on”. I suppose that’s part of what I’ve enjoyed all the way through”.
Dirty Three - Last Horse on the Sand
- - -
Using his own experience as a suitable barometer, Simon Raymonde has been able to carve out an identity based on artistic freedom. “Really the ethos of the label from the beginning to right now is to have a label I’d like to have been signed to” he states. "That’s how I feel about it always. That is kind of at the centre of so many of the decisions, and why we do certain things”.
Slowly, patiently building up their stable Bella Union are able to toast their fifteenth anniversary with a number of remarkable success stories. Beach House, for example, have finally broken through to wider acceptance after four albums of quite rare beauty – an example of the label’s approach which seems to thrill Raymonde. “I cite that band a lot when I talk to other bands who maybe think things should be happening a bit quicker than they are. I say, look that’s your perfect example of a band who were actually always really great and had something special from the beginning but even they could see that they weren’t the finished article. They weren’t going round saying they were the best thing ever”.
Fighting their corner, Simon Raymonde clearly remains – at heart – a music fan. “I feel musically, aesthetically there’s a massive line to be drawn between Cocteau Twins and Beach House which is probably why I feel so close to them. I can hear them trying to do similar things to what we were trying to do. Not necessarily musically, but the way they go about their business” he explains. “I think we’d all love to sell 30,000 copies of everything but it doesn’t really happen that way any more because there aren’t that many people out there buying music, sadly. They are just such a beautiful band to work with as well. They couldn’t be nicer people and that’s really the key to it, I think. Just working with great people who understand what you’re doing and know that you understand what they’re doing”.
The sense of community running through Bella Union is perhaps understated, but it really feels palpable on further examination of the label. Often pairing their artists together on tour, the imprint have noticed friendships hatching between some of their most prominent artists. “A lot of our bands are good friends already. I don’t know why that happens but it often works out. Fleet Foxes and Beach House became great friends, then Explosions and Beach House became great friends...” he explains. “Which is lovely, because that’s how we like to feel about.. I don’t really like it to be about a business relationship, because it’s hard to have that balance between friendship and business – really hard. It doesn’t always end prettily. I’ve always thought, well why can’t you be friends with the people you work with? You know.. it shouldn’t be this them and us thing. We have a really small label and I don’t want Bella Union to be a big label. I like it tiny. There’s a few of us here and that’s it. I don’t want to have an empire, I don’t want to be Martin Mills - I don’t want to have hundreds of people working for me. It’d be too stressful and that’s not my thing at all. I like the little thing, because from that you can have a bit more of a community spirit because it’s you guys fighting against every other fucker. It’s fun. It feels like we are still the little guy”.
Lanterns On The Lake - Keep On Trying
- - -
The determination running through Raymonde is matched by his team, who often switch between a half dozen different roles. Adjusting to shifting climates in the music industry, Bella Union has been pushed twice as hard to simply survive. Asked how the industry has shifted since the label’s inception, Simon Raymonde simply sighs. “Massively. In the last fifteen years, massively. It has been a shitty time, I can’t pretend it’s been all great fun – it’s not. It’s been hideous” he says, grimacing. “The label could have gone bust any of ten times over that period. We had some really dodgy moments with distributors going bust and licensing partners going bust. It is a very hand to mouth business and I don’t think people outside get how much of a gamble it is to be in it. Really, it’s like backing a load of horses with three legs. Really”.
Yet this climate has fostered a unique spirit, one which is fuelling a resurgence in British guitar music. Bella Union are signing more British groups than their Yank-o-phile reputation would suggest, with 2011 bringing quite stunning releases from Lanterns On The Lake, Veronica Falls and more. Bella Union come across as embattled, emboldened with these difficult times fuelling a maverick spirit. “My attitude is just find great music, work with great people, don’t work with dicks” grins Raymonde. “I’d rather work with people I really love than worry about sales and all that kind of stuff. I feel that we’re on a bit of a roll right now, we’ve been really lucky, we’ve had three of four great years – maybe more, maybe five or six great years – where we’ve steadily grown and people have enjoyed what we’re putting out. That may not continue. Next year nobody might like anything we out – it’s feasible, you’ve got to just have fun and enjoy it while it lasts. It might not, in which case there’s always road-sweeping!”
Bella Union are preparing a label showcase at this year’s End Of The Road festival on August 31st. Line up as follows:
Alessi's Ark II Beach House II Cashier No. 9 II Dirty Three II Hannah Cohen II I Break Horses II John Grant II Jonathan Wilson II Lanterns On The Lake II The Low Anthem II Midlake II Mountain Man II Our Broken Garden II Roy Harper II Veronica Falls
