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MUNICH

Don't call them an alt.country label! No sir, MUNICH RECORDS, based in the Dutch town of Wageningen, take on a multitude of styles and genres, ranging from alternative pop to plain old weird. High time to sit down with MUNICH's Ingmar van Wijnsberge for a chat about history, quality, and really caring for your artists and their music.

Tekst: Alex Tobin

Publicatiedatum: 06 maart 2002

Why did you choose to name the label Munich?
"The name 'Munich Records' was the brainchild of the current owner, Mr. Job Zomer, who bought the originally-named 'Munnickendam Groothandel BV' from Mr. Munnickendam in 1972. In the early months of that year, worldwide media were highly anticipating the Olympic Games, to be held in Munich, Germany, that summer. It was to be the first Olympic event, with all nations of the world gathering after the two world wars. Mr. Zomer was very much taken by the idea of all countries of the world coming together in peace for the first time in history. That's why a Dutch label was named after a German town. Obviously, Mr. Zomer was not aware, when he named his new company, that a few months later these Olympic Games would be incident-ridden and - to say the least - tumultuous. But by that time, the first vinyls had been pressed, and stacks of stationary with the new Munich Records logo where piling high in the garage that made the new offices of the new one-man company."

What - in short - is the history of Munich? How did it come about?
"The original company, Munnickendam Groothandel BV was started by Mr. Munnickendam about 55 years ago. He was a wholesaler in 78rpm records, mainly religious music of different kinds: Jewish, Christian, gospel, hymns, choirs, etc. The odd thing is that, after all of those years, the company today still deals with a lot of music with religious themes, be it sometimes of a very different kind than old Mr. Munnickendam was used to, such as the photo-negative gospel/blues of Johnny Dowd, the Flannery O'Connor-meets-Joy Division deep south church music of 16 Horsepower, or the rasta chants of The Congos.

When Mr. Munnickendam retired, he sold the company to young jazz afficionado Job Zomer. In those days, Holland had a music biz cartel, which allowed no new companies to be set up, so to be able to release his trad jazz, free jazz, old-time blues, and folk records, Mr. Zomer bought the already existing company and changed the name.

Since then, many people have joined and brought in their own special musical tastes and knowledge, most notably Ben Mattijssen (recently voted a cool number 33 in leading Dutch music magazine Oor's top of Dutch music biz list), now the managing director. It was Ben who made first contact with most of the US and UK labels that have been distributed by Munich Records in the Benelux for over 20 years. With labels like Rounder and Shanachie contributing classic gospel, bluegrass, blues, jazz, and folk on their Yazoo and Alan Lomax imprints, there is a clear connection to the music of the early days of Munich Records.

At the moment, Munich Records is a distributor, representing many labels in the Benelux, with various styles of music, ranging from African, reggae, Latin-American, blues, country, and jazz to alternative, techno, and Americana. With labels such as World Circuit, Greensleeves, Glitterhouse, Future Farmer, Arhoolie, Alligator, Rounder, Sugar Hill, Ubiquity, Sterns, Heartbeat, Ras, etc., Munich Music is the publishing company. The third leg of the company is the record label, with a roster - slowly, but steadily growing - of bands. Revamped six years ago with the release of the first album by Munich Records mainstays, sons, brothers, and family: The Gourds, with their unmatchable ability to conjure up images of open plains and pure southern soul. The Gourds have often been dubbed a mix of The Clash and The Band, but The Gourds never drowned in substances, clashed egos, or got blinded by bright lights. The Gourds still are what they always were, pure 100% music lovers. If not on the road, sitting on their porches, playing and singing to their kids."

How would you describe the Munich sound? What are the qualities you look for when signing artists to the label?
"I don't know if there's a distinctive Munich sound. Surely, we are talking about the label Munich, because the distributor has almost all thinkable genres in its roster, but the label is mainly focussed on music derived from North American traditional music forms such as gospel, blues, country, jazz, and folk. Although Mr. Munnickendam's religious 78s have had no direct influence on the choice of bands currently on the label, you could arguably say that all bands' music is somehow derived from the same gospel source. But that could probably be said about almost all popular music. If gospel hadn't lead to r&b, blues, and country - and in turn a mixture of those three into rock'n'roll - what would we be listening to right now? Medieval bagpipe music? Most likely, most of us would not have been working in this business (I quite fancy changing tires on monster trucks as a career move myself actually.).

More than keeping to the limits of a certain genre, the Munich Records A&R policy is mostly driven by the uniqueness of the individual bands. Latest Munich signing Utah Carol, whose album will be released in Europe in April, have a very distinctive sound, for instance. Kind of like The Carter Family produced by Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys. Then there's the raw power angst folk of The Baptist Generals (new album coming out in September) or the surrealistic folk/pop with chinese trumpets and singing saws of Virgil Shaw. There simply isn't anyone even close to what they sound like. There's the street-cred Sing Sing singer/songwriter balladeering of Mary Gauthier and Michael de Jong, who each have their own distintive style, but both can rip your heart out with a short story in a song. The beautiful pop of For Stars and Centro-Matic, painting beautiful pictures with innovative song structures and haunting melodies. Or Johnny Dowd, the minstrel of the dark side... All are totally unique on their own merits, not necessarily forming a group or collective, other than all having their very distinctive sound."

If they weren't signed up already, is there any band you'd love to snatch up without hesitation?
"I dunno... maybe Will Oldham or 16 Horsepower. But they are fine where they are. I love both Domino and Glitterhouse. Good labels. My favourite CDs at the moment are 'The Complete Goldwax Singles' of James Carr on Kent/Ace Records, 'Geogaddi' by Boards Of Canada on Warp Records, and Daryll-Ann's new album on Excelsior. We are actually talking to Excelsior Records to see if we can release the new Daryll-Ann album in the UK. We just released Excelsior's Johan in Germany."

Munich is a relatively small and independent label. How important is the make-up and position of the label to you? Is independence and size a major factor in the label's philosophy?
"The indie thing is not a philosophy. Everyone at Munich has just followed their personal musical taste, which has led them to Munich, simple as that. We don't see ourselves as revolutionaries or anything. We like to work with bands we like and do our best to treat them with care and respect. We help them develop a situation where they can have a regular touring situation and make a record every year or so. A lot of bands we talk to have either been screwed by a major label themselves or have older brothers or nephews who've been in bands that were tied down in six-album deals, with contracts that made them pay back all of the money in the end that the company invested in them in the first place. Major labels have all the cash, but only pick up very few of their own signings. So if a band happens to be not that one band they really want to develop, they're basically stuck in a multi-album deal that they can't get out of. These bands end up with no records being released and owing money to the company, contractually incapable to switch to another record company. If you want to be a pop star, and you want to try for that one in a million chance shot at world fame, you should sign with a major, and hopefully next year you'll be hanging out at the award shows."

What does a typical day at Munich Central look like?
"A lot of phone calls, a hell of a lot of phone calls, typing, meetings, helping out in the warehouse, problem solving, talking about football, advertising, administrative jobs, eating Turkish pepper and salami sandwiches, drinking far too much coffee, listening to new records, demos, tapes, telling people we're very sorry, but we can't make them an offer, taking aspirin, more coffee, snacking on bite-size Bounty bars, working from home nights, weekends, etc. And sometimes it can be fun too."

What's the scene in the Netherlands like at the moment? To what extent is Munich a product of its natural surroundings, and to what extent are you influenced by music coming out of the Netherlands?
"If there is a scene, then we are not a part of it. Not that we don't want to be. If there is a scene, we're just not aware of it. Nobody told me..."

The internet is rapidly changing the way people consume and listen to music. How important is this new technology to you, and do you have any plans to use this medium in different ways?
"Of course we have a web site: www.munichrecords.com.

I remember, about six years ago, there was a huge panic in this business. Almost every week, there would be documentaries on TV with hi-tech hippies in San Francisco or Austin predicting that, within a short time, there would be no more stores, record companies, books, magazines, etc. These Fat Freddie look-a-likes said that the internet would allow any musician to post his music and any writer to post their books on the web. But who's going to tell people where to find the good stuff and help them avoid spending hours on end at websites with nothing but dire homemade crap? I immediately knew that this was not going to work without professionals guiding interested people to the right music or other art.

There are millions of websites, and if you want to make a living by selling ads through getting hits on your site, you need unique content or you're screwed. Now, half of Silicon Valley is out of work. I blame the tech-hippies. I never believed for a second that the whole lives of all people would be taken over by the so-called 'convenience' of being able to see, read, hear, buy, and do just anything from their home. People like to get out. They like to shop. They like to hold the things before they buy them, they like to see live music, etc.

Having said that, the internet is a fantastic source of information, and the web is a fantastic place to find stuff. I spend at least two hours behind my computer at home every night. I found a few bands that are now on Munich Records on the internet..."

When releasing a record, how important is packaging to you, combined with the music on the disc? Is there a Munich look?
"There is no Munich look. That is because we give the artist freedom to come up with their own artwork. I would hate to think that we, as a record company, would see ourselves more important than the artist, not on the artwork of a CD anyway."

What does the future hold for Munich?
"Well... We are waiting for a major record company to turn down their option on the European release of a fantastic record. It is already my favourite album of the year. The band is with a label that is distributed by a major here in Europe. The people at the major don't know the band, nor do they know this kind of music. Fingers crossed.

Then, this year will also see the launch of Munich Records' world music label. I can't say too much yet, but if all goes well, there will be some really exciting African music out on a new Munich label after the summer."

 Visit the Munich Records website @ www.munichrecords.com

Munich Records are also giving you the unique chance to win one of ten fabulous compilation CDs. 'Awesome: A Compilation Of American Bands On A Dutch Label Named After A German Town' features tracks by the likes of Centro-Matic, The Baptist Generals, Virgil Shaw, and Damon Bramblett, along with previously unreleased gems by Johnny Dowd, The Gourds, and South San Gabriel. To claim one of these fine discs as your own, send an email to alex@kindamuzik.net before Monday, 1 April. Please mark your mails 'Munich'.

http://www.kindamuzik.net/label/709/munich/1380/
Meer op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/709