From: dfong@waikato.ac.nz
Newsgroups: rec.music.misc,alt.music.alternative
Subject: Xpressway (NZ) Interview
Date: 27 Sep 92 16:08:52 +1200
Organization: University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

 For the benefit of NZ music fans around the world, this is an 
interview with Bruce Russell, founder of Xpressway Records. Notice 
that he is a lecturer at Otago University, so most possibly has 
access to the net.  If you're reading Bruce, "Hi!" 
Wouldn't it be great to have a music exec (I bet he hates that label)
on this newsgroup ? (hint hint)

There is also a Peter Jefferies interview if anyone wants me to type it
in, say so.

Note that this interview is old (June 9), so a lot of the releases
have come out. Nevertheless, I hope it is still of use to all
you people overseas.

==================================================================

                       BETWEEN ART AND NOISE

 An article by Rob Henderson.
 Originally published in the student newspaper "NEXUS" of the 
 University of Waikato, (Hamilton, New Zealand).
 From Volume 24 Issue 12. June 9, 1992.

    The heart and soul of rock and roll has always resided in
 Dunedin. 12 years ago the 'Dunedin Sound' as it became known,
 emerged in the music of bands such as The Clean, The Chills, and
 The Verlaines. Ignored by the national radio scene, yet
 undaunted, their music became the catalyst for Roger Sheppard to
 form Flying Nun records. FN has since grown and relocated to
 Auckland leaving Bruce Russell's Xpressway records as the major
 outlet for Dunedin's musicians.

    Russell is forthright and uncompromising - characteristics
 strongly reflected in Xpressway's music. He works as a political
 lecturer for Otage University and as an archivist for the
 Presbyterian Church. He is also one-third of the notoriously
 unpracticed and improvised guitar clatter known as the Dead C.  

    In 1987 Bruce Russell was working as a voluntary publicist for
 FN. When FN moved to Auckland an outlet for grass-roots Dunedin
 music was needed. With his recently acquired knowledge for the
 international indie music scene, a typewriter, a 4-track
 recorded, a collection of unreleased South Island music, and $30,
 Russell began Xpressway Records.

    Xpressway provides a medium whereby musicians can release
 their music with no artistic or financial constraints. Although
 Xpressway's artists sound significantly different from that of
 the early 1980's Dunedin sound, the 'Do It Yourself' ethic of
 that time is still inherent in Xpressway. As the recording
 technology (4-track) and product packaging are simple, the cost
 of an Xpressway recording is cheap. Consequently Xpressway are
 able to release more music, often with no pressure to make a
 profit or meet huge recording budgets. The benefits of this
 environment and attitude can be heard in the stunning originality
 of the Xpressway sound where "...anything is an instrument and
 everything is music".

    The music available on the Xpressway label varies between the
 experimental guitar maelstroms of the Dead C and the
 introspective acoustic style of Alaistair Galbraith. The label's
 early releases included a live tape by the Dead C and projects
 from two other Xpressway stalwarts: Peter Jefferies' band, This
 Kind Of Punishment contributed a posthumous live tape, and
 Alaistair Galbraith, a solo folk-rock tape. Together and
 separately, these two have continually been involved in much of
 Xpressway's finest music.

    The release that really set Xpressway going was 1988's fifth
 release, the Xpressway 'Pile-Up' cassette compilation. The tape
 included tracks by Straitjacket Fits leader Shayne Carter's old
 band The Double Happys, Peter and Graham Jefferies' bands,
 Nocturnal Projections and TKOP, as well as the Terminals Stephen
 Kilcoy, the Cake Kitchen [Graham J's other band - DF!], Plagal
 Grind, Victor Dimislich band, and various others. The 'Pile-Up'
 is the definitive Xpressway release and the best place to start
 catching up if you are unfamiliar with Xpressway. It is now
 available on both vinyl and CD.

    Xpressway sell most of their products overseas. The labels two
 best markets outside Dunedin are New York and Berlin. Xpressway
 also has links with several small american and UK labels and in
 1992 the post-active associations are with the Philadelphia-based
 'Stillbreeze' label and Chicago's 'Feel Good All Over'.

    The labels most recent ventures include a video compilation of
 Xpressway artists called 'X-Ray Vision' and an increasing
 availability of imports through the label. There is a new
 Xpressway catalogue out, so write to them, they like getting
 letters.

 THE INTERVIEW

 Why was Xpressway established and how has it evolved ?

 I initially started Xpressway 5 years ago as a cassette label
 with my intention to release cassettes by people who I knew were
 making music which I felt was unlikely to attract the interests
 of FN or any other label for that matter. It has grown from this
 basically because there is a need for this music and the people I
 am working with are making music at a feverish pace.

 Do you see yourself favouring CD format in the future ? Are you
 going to continue with cassette releases ?

 CDs are an unfortunate necessity. Yes, we do intend to do some CD
 releases in the next year or two, it's just the way the industry
 as a whole is going. 12" vinyl more than 7" is really sick.
 Distributors don't want to touch it, it's becoming a problem. I
 mean if you compare a CD with a cassette, CD has it all over the
 cassette. I would like to re-issue some of our CDs as cassettes
 hopefully.

 This is interesting as a lot of your early stuff was recorded on
 4-track cassette, the rawness of which seemed to be the
 attraction to you. What did you see as the advantages of the 
 '4-track' philosophy ?

 For one thing it's cheap and easy. Virtually any idiot can record
 with a 4-track. Once you have developed a certain amount of
 expertise it's possible to capture music as it actually sounds in
 a room, even a whole band can be recorded virtually as they sound
 onto a 4-track if you know what you're doing. I like that, as the
 music we are aiming to present is raw, it's real, it's not
 processed through umpteen digital outboard effects reminiscent of
 big studios. It's just a different aesthetic I guess.

 I gather you sell more of your products overseas, is this a
 conscious effort on your behalf ?

 No, it's real easy as they're clamouring for it.

 Would you like to sell more in NZ ?

 I couldn't give a toss actually. The amount of resistance and
 effort required to sell more in NZ is prohibitive. Ultimately the
 amount of compromise required to play that game, I mean look at
 FN, you see Roger Sheppard on television awarding pieces of paper
 to bands like Push Push [run-of-the-mill successful NZ metal
 band. Successful for obvious reasons - DF!] I don't want to wind
 up doing that thanks. Xpressway is a collective effort run by
 artists for artists. Our aim is to make music, not money.

 You seem to have reservations about FN and their attitude towards
 Xpressway.

 My reservations stem from being a recording artist on that label.

 To do with lack of distribution or lack thereof perhaps ?

 There is only a limited number of artists they are working with
 who they are prepared to give any consideration to. Those are the
 big five. [who are these I wonder ? Headless Chickens, Fits,
 Bailter...DF!]

 Is the 1987 'Pile-Up' still selling well ? It still sounds vital
 and fresh.

 The cassette is still selling well, I don't have anything to do
 with selling the vinyl and CD, that's over to Avalanche in
 Scotland who have done a pretty bad job of selling it.

 The vinyl version of Snapper's recent 'Shotgun Blossom' album was
 on Avalanche also; did that work out more successfully ?

 That I gather has sold satisfactorily, although they were much
 more into that than 'Pile-Up'. In hindsight we only pulled that
 off because we were able to deliver Snapper. We were a way for
 Avalanche to deal with Snapper, an intermediary. We knew that but
 ultimately it's unsatisfactory when you see your own efforts are
 held for cheap when compared with Snapper's album which is a nice
 enough record but it's not really my cup of tea...overproduced.

 Better on 4-track ?

 Yeah, they did some amazing demos on 4-track which they weren't
 happy with, they sounded a lot better in my opinion, although I'm
 very predictable that way.

 You have moved into distributing overseas label's products. Are
 there any plans to increase the imports section ?

 No, not really. The reason I'm doing that is basically I've
 traded our stuff for material from overseas that I'm interested
 in. My major impetus for doing that is so that basically I can
 make those things available to people here who we are selling to,
 who I think may enjoy that stuff. I don't really want to expand
 as it will limit our ability to release our own product.

 I see you have expanded into the visual media with the
 compilation of Xpressway artists being done by THROT Productions.
 What sort of quality is it, how did it eventuate and do you
 envisage more of this in the future ?

 I hope to be doing some more of them. The guy who has put all
 that together has a lot of equipment and energy and is very
 interested in doing that type of thing. I'm really only helping
 with distributing the product. I haven't seen a dub but I have
 seen the video 8 master which looks fantastic. Soundwise the
 recordings are P.C.M., [which is] an excellent format for live
 sound recording. This is what, in business parlance, I guess you
 would call an exciting new development.

 You are also in a band called the Dead C, extreme music which
 often draws an extreme reaction. How do you feel about being
 described as 'too esoteric' or simply as 'noise justified by
 improvisation' ?

 It was actually Andrew Brough (ex-SJF) who said "it's really too
 esoteric for me". We've really clung onto that ever since. OK,
 people find it difficult to get into, I don't have a problem with
 that. I don't want to appeal to everybody, it's never really
 featured in the list of things I want to do. There are plenty of
 people making it very easy to listen to and understand music
 because you've heard it all before. Yeah, the Dead C are hard to
 grasp, cry if you want [;-) DF!]

 Xpressway have a new catalogue out and a number of upcoming
 releases on the way. Can you tell us a bit about these, in
 particular the Graham Jefferies album licenced to Homestead ?

 Graham has had one record come out through Homestead and another
 coming up. The first is a compilation of the other four tracks
 from the Cake Kitchen EP (FN) and some solo stuff called 'Time
 Flowing Backwards'. He has another album coming out shortly on CD
 only.

 WHat of the Alaistair Galbraith double CD and the Dead C double
 LP 'Harsh 70's Reality' ?

 The Galbraith CD's forever forthcoming. I'm hoping it will be out
 in the next couple of months but I have become anew to
 disappointment on that score, so I really can't promise when it
 will be out. "Harsh 70's Reality' is now available.

 Is there anything else on the way, that's not in the catalogue ?

 There is the Belgium-boxed set. A compilation of 20 tracks, 3 12"
 is a box with a booklet. It will be available in limited vinyl
 and CD later. 'Turbulence' is that label involved with us on this
 project.

 If people want to hear music by Xpressway artists how should they
 go about it ?

 They should write to P.O.Box 85, Port Chalmers [Dunedin, New
 Zealand]. Don't sit around expecting it to turn up in a shop or
 you'll be disappointed. I guess if people can assimilate that
 then they can come to grips with what we're doing, otherwise
 they're going to to think it's all just hot air.

 END OF INTERVIEW

 RECENT AND UPCOMING RELEASES

 - Sandra Bell : Dreams of Falling (cass)

 - Alaistair Galbraith : Guady Lights (7" EP)

 - Peter Jefferies : The Last Great Challenge in a Dull World     
             (LP/CD)

 - Dead C : Harsh 70's Reality (double LP)

 - Scorched Earth Policy : Foaming Out (cass)

 - Xpressway Compilation : I hear the devil calling me (7" EP)

 - video compilation : X/Ray Vision.

 fin
 De Fish!