Bearded Label Love: Willkommen

There has been a musical revolution of sorts coming out of Brighton over the past few years, not based on aims of over-throwing an establishment or inciting change in the world, but more in an constructive work ethic and shared belief on a focus on the sound of the music, and not the cash register. Willkommen Records, part of the Willkommen Collective, are trying their best to emulate the ideals of what many upstart musicians say in early interviews, things along the lines of wanting to create music they love, play songs with their friends, and be satisfied with a self justified sense of success with their music; while many may stray away from these simple optimistic goals, Willkommen embraces the ideas of bands and artists playing with each other, releasing music for music's sake, and most importantly, putting the heart into everything they do.

Bearded caught up with Rich, Marcus, and Tom to discover a bit more behind one of our favourite independent record labels.

Hello. Firstly, who are you and what do you do?
Marcus - I'm Marcus, I play in lots of bands in the Collective and try to make some of our ideas happen.
Rich - I'm the Derek Taylor of the collective (in my dreams) . Tom and Marcus are the true twin engines of the operation.

Where does the name Willkommen come from?
Marcus - It comes partly from the fact that a lot of the bands have cellist Will Calderbank in common. It's also a nice word I think, and hopefully a welcoming one. Germany is a second home for many of the bands too.

The record label is part of the Willkommen Collective. Can you tell us what this is?
Rich - It's a group of like minded musicians who help one another out by playing on each others songs, designing artwork, putting on shows, offering mutual support etc. It's a creative workers co-operative.
Marcus - That's right, it started with Tom assembling lots of amazing musicians to play his songs in the band Shoreline, then lots of songwriters splintered off to form Sons of Noel and Adrian, The Leisure Society, The Miserable Rich and all shared band members and dragged a few more in, then members of those bands splintered off and so on..

"It's a group of like minded musicians who help one another out by playing on each others songs, designing artwork, putting on shows, offering mutual support etc. It's a creative workers co-operative."

How did the label start out?
Tom - we released an album by the band Shoreline and it forced us to come up with a record label name. It was then we adopted the fox.

How does the average day/week pan out for you?
Tom - It's a balancing act between other day jobs, liaising with tour bookers, each other and finding time for the many bands we all play in.

How has your job changed since you started?
Tom - I've got a desk full of letters from HMRC that wasn't this big when i started.

What drives you to keep pushing and promoting new music? How do you measure success?
Tom - We just try and release the great music of our friends. Success is when you put the right barcode on the right cd.
Rich - Essentially, the desire to share with people outside our circle of friends the amazing music we hear each other making. Success is subjective....you need to ask yourself 'are you happy with the album that's out there with your name on it?' If the answer is 'yes' then you've succeeded.

"You need to ask yourself 'are you happy with the album that's out there with your name on it?' If the answer is 'yes' then you've succeeded."

Do you think there’s a stigma attached to the acoustic/folkier music you offer, with words like twee and images of autumnal scenes of 1970’s England attached to it? Do you try to divert from, or actively play upon these things?
Rich - We've got more in common with the ideology of Crass to be honest. There is a stigma attached to certain areas of what is considered 'folk' in that some bands are indeed a bunch of hopeless saps singing about apples and strumming guitars while their friends pat them on the back. There's nothing twee about Willkommen. Laish, Rowan Coupland, Sons of Noel and Adrian et al are musicians of integrity, depth and substance.
Marcus - I think Sons have always been more of a rock band, The Leisure Society and The Climbers are more classic pop like The Beatles and The Beach Boys, Shoreline and Laish make largely acoustic music but don't really have much in common with the folk tradition. Rowan perhaps is more of an authentic folk troubador, we never know which country he's in, he's always off with a suitcase and a guitar playing his songs to whoever will listen.

In an ever changing world of music formats and distribution, how do/are you evolving and keeping current with the current scene, and where do you see the future of Willkommen Records heading?
Rich - We're striving to make the physical 'product' more desirable. Bespoke, hand crafted CD runs, lathe cut vinyl..labels like Second Language Music and Finders Keepers are really doing a lot in the name of that much maligned format, the Compact Disc.

"We've got more in common with the ideology of Crass....There is a stigma attached to certain areas of what is considered 'folk' in that some bands are indeed a bunch of hopeless saps singing about apples and strumming guitars while their friends pat them on the back."

Any advice for someone wanting to set up their own label or musical collective?
Rich - It still holds true in these times especially: do what you do out of love.
Marcus - Combining forces with like minded friends helps you all get a lot more done. Having your own self-sufficient scene enables you to play live whenever you want and meet lots of interesting people. It's very worthwhile.

Do you carry an ethos or mantra?
Rich - Locally sourced, utterly inclusive
Marcus - I just try to make as much music as possible and never say no to an opportunity.