Moshi Moshi Records

"And that was the new single from Summer Camp" coos Lauren Laverne from the corner of the room. Now on heavy rotation on BBC 6 music, "Ghost Train" is the latest single brought into the world by Moshi Moshi Records, one of the UK's most successful independent labels. The record sits proudly in the corner of the room, along with all of the label's other releases. It's got a lot to live up to. While they'd shy away from admitting they've got a good record of finding 'the next big thing' Stephen and Michael have released early tracks by Hot Chip, Florence and The Machine, Bloc Party and more recently, Slow Club and The Drums. But things are changing. New labels are releasing new music faster than ever, chasing a supposedly ever shrinking bunch of listeners. As they prepare to release a single compilation on May 3rd, put the finishing touches to their 'AAA' subscription service and look forward to summer LPs from Silver Columns and The Drums, are they losing the passion for finding new tracks?

NEU: So how did you start releasing records?

MICHAEL: Well we all had jobs at major labels at the time. There were three of us and we wanted to do some stuff with the music that we were liking, that we couldn't release in our day jobs. It was just a hobby and a punt really. The first couple of records we did as an experiment. I guess it was a bit of a risk.

N:So did it feel like a brave step?

M: Na.. it was exciting! It wasn't as if we were giving up our jobs or anything. We were just doing it for kicks...

NEU: That's interesting. I know a lot of people who have released 7" in the last few years are scraping together money. It's really slow because they're working in jobs outside the music industry. I guess you guys moved pretty fast?

M: Oh I mean for the first few years, for the first five anyway, we all had jobs.

STEPHEN: I only stopped working 2 years ago. Michael has been doing it for 6 years? 7 years?

M: Yeah I quit in 2002. I say quit... It was kind of fortuitous I guess. We'd been doing it as a hobby and we'd taken it as we could just doing it in our spare time. Basically I was made redundant from Beggars and we decided to just try and do it full time. And that coincided with us working with Hot Chip... In the space of year / 18 months things turned around a lot.

N: How did you start working with them?

S: Adem recommended them to us. We used to run nights at the Buffalo Bar, you know that place? I'd asked Adem to play because the first act I signed was Fridge, he said, "you should check out Hot Chip". I was working at Island at the time and Joe Goddard was too. I was playing them and he poked his head around the door and said "how are you playing Hot Chip?" and i said "How come you even know who they are?!". He was like, "because it's me!" That's how we found them. We find a lot of our bands through bands. They're the best people really.

N: So you're making your own family tree?

S: I guess Hot Club De Paris are the ones who recommended us to Slow Club even though I didnt like them the first time I saw them. I thought they were two cute or two cute.Then I "got" the songs. Best Fwends told us about the Mae Shi... It works nicely because the bands are always out there touring with people. I like to think that maybe they don't like us at the moment because they haven't told us about anything recently... it works well.



N:Do you feel a pressure to find things that can be "big". Especially one it comes to finding bands when they're very new? You have a reputation as a label that releases things that become successful on major labels.

M: There's a pressure but we never go out saying "lets find the next Florence and the Machine". We're always keen but that's just natural hunger as much as anything. We want to find stuff that's good that we like.

S: You've got to be quick though because someone else will get them. It's increasingly hard. Considering how everybody says the record industry and labels are fucked, there are more starting every day. Increasingly younger kids are starting labels.

M: Damn them all to hell...

N: How do you feel about the competition?

S: There's a lot of competition, definitely.

M: I hate vanity projects. Like when actors have labels.

N: What about bands who have labels? The Drums have one and they're one of your bands...

M: We've been talking to them about that because Jacob has his own label, yes. I've got no problem with it as long as they've got a passion and are sincere about it. As long as it isn't to do with their own ego. A lot of the time it is. As I said, I hate vanity projects.

S: It's the way of the world though. You can't do anything about stuff like that. We're in quite a weird spot competing with major labels, indies and the new labels. You know, the Transparents of the world. Some of them are good. Some of them are building a big brand really successfully. Transparent for example, they find music so quickly. The blog is a great way to do it, although we're too busy to run one because we're responsible for these acts and these artists livelihoods. New labels can set up their stall on a blog and take ownership of them. It's very different from how we started 11 years ago. They hadn't even invented the internet then. It certainly keeps you on your toes.



N: Is that one of the reasons behind the subscription? To do something different?

S: I've wanted to do it for ages. I'm proud of our bands. It's all pop music in a weird way and I'd like to think that a fan of Au Revoir Simone would like Silver Columns as well. And it reminds me of fan clubs, like wanting to join the Dennis the Menace fanclub when you were younger. We want to share secrets with the people that register.

N: Like how you're hiding gold discs for the Hot Club De Paris release?

M: Yes, because it's the hundredth release. It's a bit Willy Wonka but we love the idea of doing it. Maybe some special shows.

N: You should make fridge magnets. Do you remember the ones that were just the heads of popstars?

M: [groans] Don't get him started on Fridge Magnets.

S: That's the sort of thing we like! Michael has a thing about mugs.

M: I want mugs, yes. Or you know the game Guess Who with our artists faces.

S: It's more likely just to be a show for subscription members.

N: Do you know how many people you need to make the subscriptions work? Or worthwhile?

M: In a way 1 person would make it work.

S: I'd like 100 though.

M: It's weird. Some people might not like the idea of paying something upfront but hopefully we've got a few hardcore fans that might want to. Or just people who like to keep ahead of what's going on in music. We think it's a good way of stayig ahead and knowing what's going on. We could be doing more merch or bigger more ambitious nights but the label is artist and music focussed. Let them do the talking rather than us! We're only promoting ourselves through what we're releasing and Moshi nights. We did them at Hoxton sq and Buffalo Bar. A few at the ica. Then Airwaves, Camden Crawl.. This year we're doing one at Lounge on the Farm.

N: You have the compilation too. Some people might think that they're a bit pointless though...

M: For the singles club it definitely has a point. It reminds people of what we've achieved. A bit of look at us! look at what we've done! It's a bit of a flag waving exercise but i love compilations myself. And we've got a lot coming up in May and June. Obviously the Silver Columns record, we're doing a single and mini album with Spectrals. There's some Cocknbullkid stuff that sounds amazing.

S: I like that format. It works really well with the bands. Rather than put pressure on a band to do an album. We're hopefully going to do something with Veronica Falls.

N: How do you go from doing a single to doing an album? Do you find that is getting harder too?

M: Yeah...

S: If they've got people offering them money, yes! Plus some people you work well with and build a relationship with. Sometimes other people work better with them.

N: The latest signings come out of a different community or set of bands from some of your previous stuff. Has that been a conscious decision? Spectrals are also releasing with labels like Sex is Disgusting...

S: That happens more these days but it's all good really. Upset The Rhythm do brilliant things. If anything they're our competition because I'd love to be as cool as them. It's never going to happen though. I don't know how they find out about bands.... Those people are brilliant.

N: Do you ever just want to go back to the drawing board and listen to loads of underground bands?

S: That's what I do. I work from home so I can sit there listening without driving this lot up the wall.

N: Ha. Is there that much crap out there?

S: A lot of people still send us stuff. We're going to try and set up some other labels for smaller stuff, too. The first one is going to be called Not Even. We started doing a night with a friend of ours Stephen. He's got great taste and it means we get to work with more bands.

N: Is it just passing on your experience then? Are you worried that people may see it as preventing people from learning for themselves?

M: It seems like the obvious thing to do. We can help them put records out and make sure they do a proper job of it..

N: Ah well, you seem to be doing a proper job of it.

M: We're surviving. It's all a house of cards, smoke and mirrors. You're only as good as your next release and all that. We've made a point in always saying that we're not a trendy label. We're not doing it to be cool, we just want to do a good job for the bands. That's how you endure and how you survive.



Moshi Moshi launch Access All Areas club next month, for more information visit http://moshimoshi.greedbag.com/buy/moshi-moshi-test-gold-digital-su/. Slow Club headline KOKO on Tuesday 1st June 2010 with support from Veronica Falls, Spectrals and Summer Camp. Buy tickets now from http://www.artistticket.com/link/?s=slow+club