Matt Lunsford - Polyvinyl Records Co-Owner
All Photos: Andy DeSantis
Polyvinyl Records originally started as a zine called the Polyvinyl Press, what did the zine cover and how many issues did you release?
The zine covered the Midwest, primarily the indie music scene in the mid part of the 90’s. We released 5 issues.
What made you want to start a zine?
It was being involved with the DIY aspect of the indie bands. Seeing bands tour, work hard and go out and try and promote themselves was really inspiring to us. One of the ways, of course in the pre-internet era, fanzines were kind of a popular way to advocate for bands and it was a little bit of a different type of journalism. It’s a fanzine, so it was written from more of a fan point of view of like, here’s this band that we really like and want to write about or tell people about via the zine format. The label itself grew as a supernatural logical extension of that. It’s sort of like, well we’re writing about these bands, trying to get the word out, then it would be perfect to come back and actually be able to fund the releasing of records.
You were saying that it was the pre-internet era, how did zines at that time get in contact with bands without having the internet to go to?
It was a lot of telephone calls! It’s weird because, it seems like such a different era nowadays, especially looking back on it. A lot more telephone and a lot more traditional actual letter writing and a pretty fair amount of just going to shows and meeting people in person and networking. Not only was it like the pre-internet era, but obviously the pre-cell phone era. It was a lot more direct in person communication.
What was the scene like in the Champaign/Urbana/Danville area at the time? Also, why do you think it produced so many influential bands?
It had a lot to do with the sense of community amongst all of the bands and people playing in bands. The scene at the time was so exciting. I had grown up in the Danville area, which is near by the Champaign/Urbana area, kind of one scene. There would be DIY shows going on at VFW halls and things like that and people just generally trying to figure out ways to do shows and have bands coming through. The band Braid would go out and play shows regionally and then they would make friends with bands from Wisconsin. So then the Wisconsin bands would come down to play shows in the area and find a fan base of people in the Champaign/Urbana area because the guys from Braid would put on the show and tell all of their friends and get people to come out to the show. I think it was just a great sense of community and there were so many bands that were so active all trying to be involved in the scene and also going out side of the local scene. A lot of those bands didn’t have their sights on like “Oh we’ll be a local band” it was a lot more a sense of playing shows around the area then immediately start to go out and do shows in Chicago and do shows in the surrounding Midwest area and then start to go out and do national tours. There were multiple bands doing that, and I think all just started to feed off of one another. For such a small scene as Champaign/Urbana is, those bands were pretty proactive at actually getting outside of town.
Is that part of the reason why you switched the zine into a label?
Yeah, most definitely. As the scene was so exciting and growing, I think a big part of what we wanted to do was to be involved in and be supportive towards the bands and we weren’t even sure what that meant at first. We did some DIY shows, had the zine, sold records out of crates at basement shows and things like that. It was kind of like just trying a lot of different things and the thing that really seemed to become apparent was, with one of the issues of the fanzine, we put a 7” with it. It just seemed like it was such a cool way to not only get the word out about the band but also to provide some music. At that point it definitely became obvious it was even more exciting to put out records than to write about bands.
I can see how that can be more exciting.
Totally!
I know you said that you did skateboard back then, it’s the kind of thing where skateboarding is more exciting to do than actually writing about it.
Right, totally! So much of the culture around a lot of things like, for me growing up, I would absolutely not be doing what I’m doing today if it wasn’t for kind of growing up, even pre-being involved in indie music and stuff, if it wasn’t like before that being involved in skateboard culture and stuff like that. It’s given such a foundation of independent thinking and being so directly involved with that. And it being such an outlet for, not only physical activity, but for a lifestyle of finding out about things like independent culture and stuff like that.
Did you see any similarities between the skateboard culture and the music scene then, community wise?
I think that there was. It seemed that things were just so much less connected than they are nowadays. It would be almost hard to make an assessment. It would just seem like there was lots of people getting into skating and then every month there would be some really awesome new skate video that would have all sorts of great music in it. Everything was so much less connected then, like checking out the latest skate video was one of the best ways to hear about new bands and stuff. It wasn’t like now where you can pop on the internet and hear pretty much as many bands as you could possibly want to hear about.
I remember seeing a lot of those videos, like the early H-Street and Plan B videos and a lot of those had classic music in them, like Operation Ivy, that influenced bands now.
Totally, I completely agree. There was just a great sense of discovery back then of new bands and whether it was from skate videos or people just talking about music. It was like the sense of discovery back then was held in so much more of a high regard, because it was so much trickier. It wasn’t nearly as straight-forward as like “Oh I love this band, I’m gonna share with all my Facebook friends.” It was much more like, “I love this band, I’m going to make a mixtape for like one person, that’s gonna take two hours.”
How long before Polyvinyl Press started did you meet Darcie?
Probably around two years.
Throughout the existence of Polyvinyl, you and your wife have worked together on the zine and then the label, what was it about your relationship together that made it possible to do the label all these years?
That’s a great question. I was just thinking about that recently, I was talking to someone else, and I think that the one single thing besides obviously us both having a great love for music, would be the two of us having complimentary types of work ethic. We both tend to really dig into things and work on them pretty much from start to finish until they’re done no matter how much effort it takes. So we both have a tremendous amount of work ethic which has gotten us through and gotten us to the point where we are. I think people probably view the music industry as something that is sort of a laid back type of job or lifestyle. It’s absolutely not. It’s a constant amount of work no matter whether it being involved in putting out records or playing in bands or anything in the independent music world. It is a lot of work and that’s why I think Polyvinyl has always done so well with bands that are very DIY spirited and have a work ethic and work really hard, is because we have the exact same point of view of understanding what it takes to continually work on something and build it up one piece at a time.
How would you characterize Polyvinyl’s growth, has it had a fast growth or a slow and steady one?
I would definitely characterize it as slow and steady. We’ve tried to do it that way. We’ve tried to build things up and do things the proper way and build a really solid foundation for the label. I feel like the growth has been constant, which is awesome. We’ve never had a time where it felt like the label suddenly started shrinking or having problems. It’s always been constant growth. It’s definitely been steady and not like an extreme burst or something like that.
Did you guys set any goals or have any
expectations of the label when you first started it?
No, it was pretty organic I guess. I think the primary goal was just simply too put out records by bands we loved, felt that worked hard, and needed to be heard.
At what point in the label’s history did you realize that the label would work and be successful?
I’d think probably about two and a half to three years in. We started to have some successes with the Braid Frame and Canvas record and the early Rainer Maria records. We realized that the bands we were working with had found audiences and people were appreciating the records we put out. The growth potential was there.
When you started out 15 years ago, did you ever imagine having done over 200 releases?
I don’t think we knew what to expect. I think that we imagined it not having an end in sight. We pretty much were like we we’re in this for life and will follow it where ever it will go. I don’t think we ever would’ve guessed that we’d be in a position to put out as many records as we do. We’re in a spot now where everything does continue to grow, we have the staff and the infrastructure to keep putting out records and work with bands we love. To say the catalog would be that large back then, I would say we probably would’ve never guessed that would be the case.
What would you owe Polyvinyl’s success too?
I’d say it would be equal parts hard work and the artists we work with.
At one point you were in college working on your Engineering major, do you ever regret not finishing that?
Not at all. I absolutely have no regrets with not completing college. I feel that the education that I’ve gotten from just jumping in and doing everything through real world experiences has been tremendous. I am appreciative everyday that the support that both Darcie and I got from our families for making such, at the time, like seemingly crazy decision to both stop going to college and pursue something like this. Without that kind of support, this probably would’ve been something that was kind of like a cool hobby while I was in school, but being able to actually jump out there and pursue it as a completely full-time thing and be absolutely 100% invested in it was what allowed it to become the company that it is today. Without having done that and getting in there with both feet, I don’t think it ever would’ve lasted for fifteen years.
With that idea in mind, do you think ventures of that kind work better when you jump in with both feet or would fail more if you were only half invested in it?
I do, I totally think that if you want to do something, you first and foremost have to have a passion for it and not treat it as something that you feel like is a just kind of a job. We looked at it as something that was absolutely fascinating all the time to watch it grow. There was never a moment to not work on it. I totally feel like you have to jump in and you have to want to jump in and have that real desire and passion to do it.
As co-owner of the company, what’s your role in Polyvinyl these days, what do you do day-to-day for the label?
I pretty much never do the same thing everyday which is something that I absolutely love. I’m involved in overseeing all of the operations, talking with each person who works here making sure things are generally running smoothly. I deal with a lot of artist interactions still. I kind of deal with a lot of tech type stuff as well like website stuff, online types of things and other tech related things to keep the label running.
Are there any bands that you, I don’t want to say favorite, but have a personal connection with on the label more than others?
Especially as the label has grown and grown, the first half of the label’s lifetime, it was pretty much Darcie and I full-fledged doing all artist interaction and I guess what you call A&R types of functions. As the label has grown to the size it is now, the two of us don’t do all of the A&R stuff directly, so it’s not so much as we favor any artist or anything like that. I would state it more as the bands from the first half of the catalog were bands that Darcie and I were more directly involved with. Now that things have grown, we are at a point where there’s a couple people that are providing A&R types of things. Obviously we’re never going to put out a band Darcie and I don’t know in some capacity. We’re involved with every band, but some of the duties are broken up, so I’m not involved on a specifically day to day basis.
How did you feel when you heard Braid was reuniting to release new music?
I was really excited about it. The whole thing came about a year and a half ago. There was an Aloha show and Bob was there and I was there and we were just talking, and it was right around Record Store Day of 2010. We were talking about it and how exciting Record Store Day was and how much it has grown and how cool it was. Bob and I were kind of talking about it and Bob says something like they were batting around the idea of getting together to do some songs. I was like “Wow, that would be absolutely incredible!” I was sort of like if you wanna do that, I would love to do a Record Store Day 7” for 2011. The idea kind of batted around for all the rest of 2010. The Braid EP actually started out as something that was going to be a Record Store Day 7”. It was going to be released in April 2011, but the guys having different cities and schedules and everything like that, just couldn’t get a chance to go in to record the songs in time for it to come out on Record Store Day. When they did go in and record it, it turned out to be four songs. It was more than a 7”, it was like a proper EP. It’s exciting and so awesome to hear the songs and to actually hear new Braid songs after all these years. It was a total moment of pause for me.
Especially since you’ve had a long history with the band, to hear new stuff from them after not hearing anything for quite a while is kind of exciting.
Yeah, totally, it was great! Polyvinyl would not be Polyvinyl without Braid. The relationship we had, those guys and everything they brought to the local scene and everything that they did was such an amazing and magical snapshot in time of that era, from like the mid to late 90s.
Besides the show at Pygmalion Fest, are you doing anything else to commemorate the 15 years of Polyvinyl?
We are actually. The anniversary is a little bit vague. Polyvinyl kind of naturally started, it wasn’t like a day where we were like “Hey, let’s start a label!”. We’ve always kind of looked at it as being in September. From September on through the rest of the year, we are doing several interesting things. There’s the Braid EP, then there’s the Pygmalion 15 year show. We are also working on and releasing a DVD of all the Polyvinyl videos, it’s like a 60 video DVD, that’s going to come out in the Fall. We’re doing a couple of other interesting retrospective type things like we’re doing a pressing of the Pele The Nudes album on vinyl, it hasn’t been on vinyl for a really long time. We’re also doing the Hey Mercedes record on vinyl again. We are going all the way back and I’m pretty excited about this, we are doing the three Rainer Maria EPs, the self-titled one, the Atlantic one, and the Ears Ring one, on vinyl. None of those songs have been on vinyl ever. It’s going to be a cool thing for those to finally see the light of day as a vinyl release. They’re putting all three EPs on one LP. Finally, we are also doing a benefit compilation for Japanese Tsunami Relief that features a ton of Polyvinyl bands. It’s kind of a nice thing that wraps up neatly with the anniversary of the label.
I also heard something about Polyvinyl releasing it’s first book?
It’s true. We actually just released the first book, which is a book of art by David Barnes, the Of Montreal artist and brother of Kevin, the lead guy. It’s very nice art book. It has essentially art from his entire, like the last 20 years of things that he’s done. It’s really interesting. We made it LP size to kind of coincide with people’s record collection and the fact that his art is notable for being on albums. We pretty much did that and released the book a couple months ago and he’s taking it on tour with Of Montreal and he comes out and talks to people at the merch table and sells the book. It’s a very exciting thing. It’s really cool. It’s super new for us and totally different. It’s almost like a back to basics, like the very first time doing it mentality, just like starting the label was 15 years ago. It’s like how do we do this, how do we do a book, like putting it all together. It’s very exciting to get the books back from the printer and physically hold them.
What do you see for the future of Polyvinyl?
People ask me that question a lot and I think that one of the things that I see, is obviously we’ve kind of had this track record of continuous steady growth and kind of doing what we do. We don’t have any big plans to suddenly change is up at the 15 year mark, however, the one thing that excites me more than anything is the fact that the way technology keeps shaping up and the way music delivery is becoming digital and there is also the fact that people can discover music. Things like Record Store Day have been happening, and vinyl has been making a resurgence. Sales I think for us are becoming much more like indie stores and online and it’s a lot less box stores and mall stores. I think all of it is so exciting because it all points to the cards being stacked in the favor of the little guys and the smaller labels and the indie bands being able to be just as accessible to finding a fanbase and selling their records and playing shows as Top 40 pop stars. It’s really remarkable. So many of the ways that technology is going, it kind of levels the playing field for people to discover music and find out what they like. The music is essentially all on one level when you’re looking for something online. You either search for Kanye West or you search for Japandroids. It’s all just a search away. I think that with the technology going that way, it really has made it possible for smaller bands and indie labels to actually thrive. Even though I think the general sentiment in the world is “the music industry is failing”, it’s more like the big music industry is failing.
Bob Nanna - Braid
You’ve been DJing for a while now and you did some DJing last night. What was on last night’s setlist?
It usually depends on where I DJ. Last night was at a place called the Burlington. I never really DJ too many dance places at all, it’s mostly just rock stuff. That was pretty much what I played last night. A lot of old punk, rock, new wave, stuff like that. Some new stuff.
How did you get into DJing?
There was a bar near where I was living that had just opened. I had some friends that started working there, so we would go in a lot. This friend of mine who was working there, she’s like “You know, they want to bring in DJs for the weekend nights if you want to come in and try it out?”. I did and that was almost three years ago and I still DJ there pretty much every weekend. It’s mostly rock stuff because it is a bar and grill. It’s people drinking and eating, but if people want to do some dancing, I have stuff to play as well. I only really play stuff that I like. I get asked to play stuff that I hate all the time, and I’m just like “I’m Sorry, I don’t have that.” But if someone wants to hear a Kanye song that I like and have, then I’ll play it of course. There was another bar called Bar Deville that was doing like a specifically punk night, that wanted me to DJ, so I started doing that too.
When did you start playing music and what got you into it?
I started playing music seriously from before I could remember. I’ve always loved music. My family aren’t particularly musical, but my best friend growing up, since I was two, his family, they weren’t musicians themselves, but huge huge fans. It’s funny because he was not. He was a sports fan and I loved music. I loved going to his house because they had a jukebox and his parents loved The Rolling Stones, like loved The Rolling Stones. When they came to Chicago, we all went, they took us all. I just grew to love The Rolling Stones. We would go over there and they had MTV a little bit before we did. It was really them, that was where it all started. Then I just kind of picked up playing drums just from wanting to do that.
Did musical instruments come easy to you or did you have any problems learning to play them?
It was pretty easy. Maybe it was because the fact that I was around music so much that I had decent rhythm and decent ears. I was able to pick it up. You watch someone play guitar for years and years and you’re sort of like I know how this is supposed to sound and I know how to hold it and strum it, let’s figure it out. So yeah, it was pretty easy. Any other instrument I probably would have a tough time with like trumpet or something.
How did your parents react to you playing in bands like Friction and Braid then and how do they react to the history of it now?
They sort of have the same opinion on that now then they did back then. They were very supportive, they let us practice at the house. They would come to shows if possible, but they were very adamant that I graduate college. Like they said, “You just graduate and that’s fine”. And that’s what I did. I went to school at the University of Illinois, that is where Braid started. When I wasn’t in class or during spring break and stuff, all we did was tour, we practiced, we played shows all the time and then as soon as I graduated, I went on tour and I did that for almost 20 years I guess. Well, touring full-time for almost ten. Nowadays I do have a full-time job, which coincidentally I got because of touring. They get the best of both worlds. They sort of get a kick out of it when people mention the bands or whatever. They are still interested, but they are pretty far removed.
With Hey Mercedes and Braid you toured for long stretches, do you ever miss not touring as much?
A little bit. I really miss the whole traveling aspect of it and the sort of experience factor. I don’t miss the obligation, drama, interpersonal conflict or the schedules to be perfectly honest. I love traveling so much, and I love touring too, but I’m just at a point where I’ve gotten tired of it. Even recently I did a solo tour that was amazing and that was probably because I didn’t have much to carry along with me and I didn’t have a band. I could just go and do what I wanted to during the day and play at night.
Do you think Braid would have been as successful without the local support and Polyvinyl?
It’s tough to say. I don’t know if we would have been “successful” but we definitely were persistent. So if there was no local support and there was no Polyvinyl, I still feel we would of worked our butts off to do it and do it however we could. The local support and Polyvinyl are just amazing. Polyvinyl is just the best label ever and we’re completely indebted to them for where we are or where we went. We were just so tenacious I think that we probably would’ve done a lot. I don’t know if we would of been less successful or more successful or whatever.
What album do you think defines Braid the best?
Probably Frame and Canvas. I would say that because of the fact that it was our final album and it wasn’t really meant to be when we were recording it. It was just the latest iteration of what we were doing as a band. After the record came out is when we did all of our touring and we really started working super hard at it and getting in front of a lot of people. That’s when I believe we really hit our stride. We were very comfortable playing those songs with that album. Probably even before the newest EP, cause the new EP is just an EP, maybe if we do another record, that’ll be the one.
On the song “My Baby Smokes” from Age of Octeen, about 30 seconds into it you can hear you saying “I can’t, I can’t, I can’t do this” was that intentionally kept in and what was it referring to?
It intentionally was kept, but not intentionally performed. It was a failed vocal take that just kind of snuck in there and we said “Lets just keep it”. It’s kind of interesting and fun. We always were sort of oddly ambitious in the studio because our friends recorded that record and we sort of had a lot of time to do it. Whenever we had free time we’d just go and record. So, we liked doing kind of goofier but memorable stuff. That was for real. I was just totally blowing it and that was me just saying I can’t do this. There was no acting there, that was the real thing.
Before Closer to Closed was released, do you think people had an idea of what it would sound like?
Probably. I would assume they thought it would just sound like Braid. What I didn’t want is it to sound like old dudes trying to sound like Braid. That was first and foremost in my mind when writing it. I can’t yell and scream like I used to, but I still wanted to make sure that there was exuberance that came through as much as possible.
Do you think people were surprised by Chris Broach’s vocals on “The Right Time”?
Maybe, perhaps, but just because I feel as though on the older stuff he didn’t sing that much. Of course he sang, but there wasn’t as much intricate melody to his vocal line. This one had it so much that it was just so special and catchy to me and everybody that it was just like this is the one we should release to people. I like it. It’s definitely a different style for him, but he came up with the awesome line and the all those lyrics. He just really killed it.
How did it feel to play those songs live again after having not played live for seven years?
Amazing! It felt really good and it felt great that it was just one, well we played two shows, but they were a month apart. It was great to just do one off shows and to not be worried about a tour, not be worried about promoting an album or selling shirts and stuff. There was no worry really and that was one of the reasons I think why it felt so good. I just loved it. It was a great fun experience and I’m assuming more people got to see us play the songs that haven’t seen us recently. We’ll be playing more shows for sure.
Was there a lot of relearning to do with the older songs?
Yes! I think probably the hardest song to learn were the new songs because we’ve never played them live in front of people. There were a few in fact. We played the song “Do You Love Coffee?” that we hadn’t played since 1996 - 1997. We just sort of thought we would try it out, so that was interesting trying to relearn that song. There were a few parts where I just didn’t remember. You sort of play and then your hands naturally goes to the place where it wants to go, where you’ve trained it to go. It’s kind of funny how that sort of helps you out to figure out where you were playing before. It’s pretty cool.
Since Braid got back together and released new music, has there been any talks about doing anything more with Hey Mercedes?
No. Not by choice or whatever. It’s more like, Hey Mercedes did play a show sort of recently at the Double Door here. I think it was two years ago, maybe a year and half ago. There aren’t any plans to record or release anything new.
You’ve done a couple of musical projects since Hey Mercedes and Braid, will the Certain People I Know material ever be released officially?
Yeah, that’s going to be released really soon. There is a label called Count Your Lucky Stars that will be releasing it. There are nine songs that we recorded, four of which we put up for download and there are five more that we never released. I’m happy that stuff is coming out, because I like it and I like the way it sounds.
You are also doing a new project called Jack and Ace, what’s the story behind that band?
It’s Lauren, who sang with Certain People I Know, I just love her vocal style and her songwriting. There were two of the Certain People I Know songs that were just straight up written by her, like the whole thing. I knew I wanted to make more music with her and do more songwriting so we started this project where we were just going to kind of force ourselves to write songs and that’s what we’ve been doing. Although, we’re taking a break from doing that, because we’re going to play some shows. And that’s pretty free form, I think we are just gonna do whatever we want whether it’s gonna be rock, acoustic or piano. We’re just gonna play whatever just for the practice of writing songs.
You guys just played your first show a couple weeks ago didn’t you?
That’s true. It was in San Diego. We were on vacation and it just kind of came up and we played a show with no real reason other than the opportunity was giving to us.
You and Chris are playing together again in another project, how is that project going and will you be releasing anything from that soon?
We have been playing together with some people around town and it’s more for fun. Maybe someday we will release something or get our stuff together. We just wanted the outlet to play with people and we’ve just been doing that. We don’t have any songs or a name or anything, we’re just sort of playing.
