Carlos Wells
Founder of All-Vinyl Safety Meeting Records

Carlos Wells, who’s been on the scene for almost ten years -- first at Monkey Power Records, then becoming a booker at BAR, Rudy’s and Café Nine and eventually founding Safety Meeting -- embraces a vast array of bands with his grassroots approach while switching this label to an all- and only-vinyl release schedule.

Why the switch to only vinyl?

The bands love it and it’s more of an event. If you throw on a CD, you can almost toss it in from across the room. A record, by contrast, is a process. In 25 minutes you’re going to have to go over, take the arm off, flip it over. You wind up paying more attention.

How do you find bands? What are you looking for?

Just by booking shows, I’m able to pay attention to who’s doing what, and whenever I find a band that I feel good about then I’ll approach them and convince them to do it. It all depends on the music, really. A lot of my bands are different. I’ll put out a rootsy Americana record, then I’ll put out a psychedelic garage record or pop record, so my tastes go all over the place. I’ll look at the originality of the songs being written, how comfortable the bands are on stage. It helps, though, if the bands are touring and playing a lot of shows when you’re looking at putting out an album.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of running a small label?

We’re small enough right now that we don’t have to compromise for anything. I can pretty much put out whatever I please at this moment, with no expectations and no limits. But once an album’s out, it’s hard to get publicity and distribution for these bands because New Haven isn’t quite on the map yet. Recently I’ve been teaming up with a couple small labels to form a small distribution label. Street teams [are] still totally viable, and it’s important to network. For an unsigned band, though, it’s still a huge pain in the ass to put together tours and that kind of stuff. Approaching people with blogs and hitting the internet helps and generally bombarding people with your music as much as possible.

How can a band gain an audience in a small market like New Haven?

The best way to go about being a band in a small market is to approach it as honestly as possible. People who pursue live music and who want to see live music have been to a couple of shows and are more apt to take hold of a band that’s just putting out what they feel, rather than bands who write songs just to be popular or to hit a certain demographic. Ultimately, the mission we have is to put out quality records. I would rather put out a record that loses money and that I strongly believe in than make money off something that I don’t believe in.

www.safetymeeting.net

IN THE NEWS

American Laundromat Records, a Mystic-based independent record company, will be releasing Just Like Heaven: A Tribute to The Cure late 2008. The album features various artists, including The Brunettes and The Rosebuds, covering their favorite Cure songs. The album was recently released for pre-order on the label’s website.

www.air-music.com

Japanese alternative band Polysics will be playing at The Space in Hamden with Jaguar Love on November 1 as part of their United States tour promoting their latest release, We Ate the Machine.
www.polysics.com

Ska band The Toasters will be playing The Space in Hamden as a stop on their 28th Year Anniversary Tour. The band is credited with shaping ‘80s and ‘90s ska and has recorded with new wave piano-pop icon Joe Jackson.
www.mypsace.com

/toasters

Mystic-based independent record label American Laundromat Records is also putting together a tribute album to the 1984 cult-classic film Repo Man. The film’s original soundtrack featured artists such as Iggy Pop, Black Flag and the Circle Jerks. The album is expected for release in early 2009.
www.alr-music.com

Having released their new CD The Killing Project on October 23, New Haven’s hardcore band Dead By Wednesday will embark on a CD release party tour that will take them through Ohio, Michigan and Massachusetts throughout the month of November.
www.myspace.com

/deadbywednesday

Indie rockers The Cavemen Go will play a show at The Oasis accompanied by The Black Noise, Scam and Brazen Hussy on November 1. Look for their new album, anticipated for release sometime in November or December.

www.thecavemengo

.com

The Philharmonic Orchestra of Yale will perform original works by Ingram Marshall and other Yale composers at Woosley Hall on November 9 as part of the New Music New Haven concert series. Admission is free.

www.visitnewhaven.com/

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