To celebrate those who give so much to Melbourne music comes the inauguration of Beat’s Record Label of the Month.
Sitting down with local independent record labels, we’ll take a peek into their achievements, objectives and day-to-day processes and uncover the commitment and dexterity driving these generous organisations.
In our first instalment, we chat to Tom Hulse, of recently launched rock’n’roll label Sacred Blue Records, about their unique premise and direction which extends beyond Australian shores. Between Melbourne and Bandung, Sacred Blue partners with Bhang Records with a vision to bridge the gap between Australian and Indonesian underground music scenes.
Beat: Hey Tom, congratulations with the Sacred Blue launch, how did the label begin?
Tom Hulse: “Last year, I was scratching my head about an idea for a tour for my band and I thought it would be cool to get an international band over here to do a run up the east coast.
“So I got in touch with Rekti (Yoewono), the frontman of Indonesian band, The Sigit, who showed a lot of interest and decided to come over. At the end of the tour, Rekti and I were chatting about ways of spreading Australian underground, lesser known, unsigned bands to Indonesia and vice versa.
“Rekti has already got a record label called Bhang Records and he suggested an idea of releasing some bands through that and I thought I could put together something over here in Melbourne.”
Beat: Which bands are you representing at the moment?
TH: “Right now, we’ve got primarily Indonesian bands to start it off. The Sigit, which is Rekti’s band was a great one for us to lock in given their profile in Indonesia is huge – they’re aside from the underground angle we’re going for but it’s a good start to gain interest.
“We’ve also got Kelompok Penerbang Roket (aka KPR) who are rising through the ranks in Indo at the moment. Then we’ve got Mooner, one of Rekti’s side-projects and I’m chatting to a few other Indo bands who are pretty keen to get involved.
“We’re also working with Zombitches, who are set to become one of the first Australian bands to tour Indonesia as well as a few other Melbourne bands, but I can’t say who they are just yet.”
Beat: There’s an obvious geographical divide between the labels, how do you foresee the communication side of things panning out?
TH: “Given that it’s 2017 now, with Wi-Fi and good connection all over the joint, it’s pretty easy for Rekti and I to stay in touch – we often chat on the phone or through text message like anyone else.
“Being in Indonesia as well, they’re only four hours behind so it’s pretty easy for us to stay on the same page and chat about ideas. Lucky for us in Australia, the majority of Indonesians speak English so there’s not too much of a language barrier there.”
Beat: Bringing out KPR and Mooner for Cherry Rock would’ve been pretty cool, what was the process of getting them out from a label standpoint?
TH: “It was great having done The Sigit tour the year before because that laid out a template for us to work with. Rekti was aware of the scope of playing Cherry Rock and understood the festival a bit better having already been over here.
“So they knew how much gear to bring over and more about the expenses side of it. We arranged visas for the guys from Mooner and KPR and they organised a tour sponsor from Indonesia which meant that their expenses would be a bit lower. I also organised them a van for travel and facilitated the special release vinyls which they were able to sell to fund the tour.”
Beat: You had KPR and Mooner perform at the Sacred Blue launch party in early May as well, how did that go down?
TH: “We ended up having a sell-out which was a best case scenario. I promoted it pretty hard and got my friends from Moon House, a little filmstudio, to come down and shoot it. We got some support from Young Henrys for the night – those guys are great with getting down and supporting live music events.
“Zombitches are from down that way, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to get the Indonesian bands to play with Zombitches so they can get to know each other a bit more and see where they’re from.
Beat: In a broader sense, there are so many indie labels kicking around Melbourne at the moment. Why do you think we stand out from the rest in this respect?
TH: “Melbourne stands out because there’s such a diverse music scene, there are so many different bases for different styles of music and different angles of looking at the music industry.
“With Sacred Blue, we’re targeting Indonesian audiences and trying to build this gap a bit by extending the touring opportunities for people and extend the reach that bands can get. Our main goal is to angle bands at South-East Asia and Indonesia in particular so Melbourne’s perfect for us to be based. It’s world-renowned as a live music city and there’s lots of support from people in the scene.”
