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| THE FOLLOWING INTERVIEW WAS DONE ON MY BIRTHDAY. I THINK IT WAS 1999.LOCATION;TKO WORLD HEADQUARTERS. - CHUCK |
| BIG CHUCK: Alright,why don't you start off with naming yourself and tell us what you do. MARK RAINEY:My name is Mark Rainey and I run TKO records. I'm the operating....um BC: CEO? MR: CEO...yeah (laughs) BC:When did you start TKO? MR: We just had our 2 year anniversary partyso yeah, it's been two and a third years since 1997. BC:Right on. So what inspired you to start a record company in the first place? Why a punk label? MR: I've been into punk, HxC, and OI! since the mid-eighties so I've always been a big music fan and record collector geek and that sort of thing.I was living in Boston and that's where I got the idea to start the label. The thing was at the time the music scene in Boston....well the Dropkicks were on it (garbled tape) I don't know what the whole thing was that was going on...it was some sort of gang oriented HxC. So some of the music was really good but the scene was really self destructive and clubs were always getting shut down so I kind of thought if... BC:Is that what made you move here to San Francisco? MR: Well it is like ....I mean I have various personal reasons why I came out here. I was out here visiting my sister and I really liked it out here. I saw One Man Army, US Bombs, Stitches, Swingin' Utters, Working Stiffs, Reducers, and these were pretty much all the bands I saw and I was like "wow, this is the kind of shit I'm into you know". And at the time there was the showcase showdown in Boston, but there wasn't a whole bunch of the type of punk I really dig. So I figured I could use a change of scenery anyway and I came out here. I took a look around to see if I could get things going and I got hooked up with these guys from one man army. I did thier second release I guess. BC:Yeah MR:And It's pretty much gone off from there...just hooking up Berkely or hooking up with some band from Texas or Yuba City. BC: Sounds good. I've seen alot of your stuff and it always looks professionally done. It looks like you've been doing alot of hard work here so... MR: Damn it's getting serious BC:So you have a situation now where you have some employees and you're doing some good. What are your plans for the future as of right now? MR: Well we just got picked up by Mordam which is this punk excllusive distro. They do lookout and some of the larger labels and distros. It's kind of funny because thier like the punk rock distro that deosn't sell punk. So they picked this pup and you know we kind of need to go back to our roots and get a punk label and they dug what we were doing. BC:Where will people be able to find TKO in the futre? MR:The thing now with Mordam is that alot of the cd stuff will be and Tower and all the chain stores and pretty much anywhere you find lookout. Where before with all the indi and punk distros there's like 40 - 45 in the country. so it's like hard to distribute with it like that.Stable distrobution helps us out so we can do more with the bands. We can get our stuff out there more and all the new money out there is going to trickle down and help everybody out and that's how we do things here. BC:Rad. So how's SF and the punk scene here? MR:Well it's really Cliquey, the kind of thing where there are a lot of good bands and music going on. I think the kids around here and especially around SF and Bay Area seem like they are used to it. You got a couple of generations ofof kids coming up in the scene that have had the whole scene handed to them on a platter,you know, Gilman Street, etc., but there are people that are active and into it. I think they kind of got it easy compared with other parts of the country with so much stuff going on BC:Yeah I understand...we had to do that in Sacto. We had to work to bring it up to what it even is now. MR:Yeah I know about that too, Pressure Points got that new song "look to the future (singing in gravely voice). I can see the enthusiasm when I go to Sacramento it's not like a small town attitude, but llike a less jaded attitude where more people are into it and not busy trying to look cool. BC: Cool. MR: I'm not so worried...like I got this cool hotrod gearhead shit...check out my pompadour! (laughs) Im so cool. I wouldn't want to be anywhere elseand i'm glad to be here just because this is a key location. Hooking up with good bands, you got lots of good bands coming out of here and playing out here. So like either way your at the crossroads for what you do. BC: But as far as the city goes it's pretty cool, pretty mellow? MR: Yea it's mellow. I mean the scene isn't super violent or anything so in that respect it's really mellow. Which is good. BC:Yeah...you use alot of boxing images on your record label TKO, and on First Round Promotions. Are you a boxing fan? Or is it more a punk rock "knock you out" kind of thing? MR:It's a combination of both. I dig boxing and follow it often now that I got my cable turned back on. You know it's a good image that's easily followed. Catalogue numbers are like round one, round two, it's in our ads. It's a cool image... fighting, the struggle. In our ads we can use old photosof old boxers...that kind of stuff is cool. It kind of mixes the two: street values and punk. It's a cool gimmick to tie into. BC: So TKO throws alot of shows, too. MR: Well First Round Promotion deos that directly with TKO. I'm not directly involved with that it's mostly just Jim and Dave that handle local shows and promotions. They do all kinds of bands, not just the ones on the label. So when bands come through they get paid well and don't get ripped off. BC:So just for the record, who do you want to give some shout outs to? MR:Oh Yeah... we couldn't be doing what we are doing without everybody. Ian and Novack who have been with us from the start. Ian deos all the web design and deos the shipping and he deos a great job. Dave deos the books and runs a small label on the side, which is his city area label. BC: Right on. Do have perks for all your employees? Free Giants tickets and stuff? MR: (laughing) No nothing like that yet. BC: You should. MR:I try to treat them good because living in SF is tough. Rents are high and the mayor is trying to run everyone out who is not a doctor or a lawyer. BC: So do you bands, when they book shows, do they get hookers and stuff? MR:Oh yeah, hookers and drugs and all that kind of stuff. No, once again we're not operating on that kind of rock n' roll level yet. That's more like a long term goal for us. BC: Ok yeah. MR: Someday we can give them the Guns n' Roses treatment. BC: So I'm coming out with a solo album. Will you get me a hooker, Mark? (laughing) MR: SEND ME A TAPE!!!!!!!! BC:So I guess you probably learn from your mistakes in this biz. Did you read up on it first or did you just dive right into it? MR: I read up on it a bit but you know I just dived right into it. I've known lots of people that were in bands so they gave me a perspective on how they like to be treated by indie labels. For anyone that wants to do a label there's this book out there called how to start an independant label. It's by one of the guys who started SST with the guys from Black Flag. I can't remember what the name of it was but you can get it at Barnes and Noble. Anybody who is in a band or who just wants to release a record, it's a really good resource. BC: So one more question: I want you to name the best thingand the worst thing about doing this. MR:The best thing...Well it's my dream. I've been a music fan for years and I wouldn't rather be doing anything else. That's the best thing about it. The worst thing is that it's (laughing)... It's like a double edged sword thing becase it's not like this big business thing and they are coming here going , "ok this is all product and shit". These people are my friends, you know? I'm sure you know it's that it is hard to mix bussiness and friendship. Sometimes getting people to stop having a casual attitude is hard. It's like "come on it's time to get out there, time to do some work!" You know? You came to us! You want us to put out your record. You want us to a good job. Yeah that's cool, but you've got to meet us halfway and sometimes that can be drag. BC: Yeah. MR: That, and when distributors don't pay up on time. That's the worst. Other than that it's all fun and games. BC: Right on. MR: I know there's like 2 million labels out there, but you know it's time for a thinning of the herd. I highly reccomend it for anybody who thinks they got it in them. BC: Nice to talk to you. MR: Yea, right on man |
| Well there you have it, some wise words on the recording industry from an insider.Since this interview TKO has gone on to do great things, and I'd like to think we here at Sactomatic are largely responsible for their success. Interview: Big Chuck Transcribed by Pickles |