Following on from last weeks featured interview with the band Firefriend ,I have turned my attention to the other side of the table and interviewed Marco, the man behind Electric Valley Records. The label started as a means of releasing music by his own band Raikinas in 2014. Hailing from the island of Sardinia, Italy, Marco is a true supporter of music not only from the idyllic island, but throughout the world. With help from the also excellent Heavy Psych Sounds , the label has become home to some great bands, latest release is Continuum by Sons Of Alpha Centauri.
So, what makes a band stand out enough for Electric Valley Records to take notice of them, and sign them to the label? I asked Marco and his answer is pretty cool!
Generally I have to be hit by the sound immediately, it must be impactful, I want to hear riffs that make me say: Fuck, I have to contact them immediately!
I’m not obsessed with a genre, Electric Valley is for bands that play Stoner, Psychedelic, Heavy Blues, Doom, Heavy Psych, Acid Rock, Garage Fuzz etc…
An important thing is that the band is united, as a family, I would be very sorry if one of the bands of my label were to split.
So how much work is involved in running a label? I imagine keeping up with 12 bands, whilst playing in your own band is pretty demanding. Marco assures me it is!
They just became 13!
The active bands are only eight at the moment, and it’s not easy at all! Most of the bands keep me updated more or less, concerts, new songs, new projects and new ideas, that sort of thing. The most difficult thing is the promotion, I have to be behind a lot of things, but I do not get discouraged by this, after all it is my job and I love my job. It’s a job that takes a lot of time, and I do not have precise schedules, for example with some bands we have 6/7 hours of difference, so sometimes we talk at indecent hours hahahahah. The relationship I have with the bands is fantastic, we cooperate really well together and in this way we create a very pleasant situation, there is nothing better than working in friendship.
So any of you guys reading this dreaming of the easy life putting out records, be warned!
But obviously Marco is a glutton for punishment. He also puts on the Electric Valley Festival in Ossi, Sardinia as well as gigs for the bands on his label. There is some fantastic music coming out of Italy lately by the likes of New Candys , Julies Haircut & Giobia to name just a few of my personal favourites. Marco describes the music scene in his own words.
There is a beautiful scene here in Sardinia, the most famous are clearly the Black Capricorn with their Doom old school, then bands that were born after as the Elepharmers, King Howl, Raikinas, Desert Hype and 24Moons.
I can say that in Italy is full of very interesting bands from North to South and we do not forget the labels, starting from Heavy Psych Sounds, it is also thanks to Gabriele that I am here now, our friendship was born since I asked him if I could have his releases in my distro, he helped me a lot and he’s doing it also now, then there are many other super cool labels like Go Down Records, Vincebus Eruptum, Argonauta Records, Talk About Records, Taxi Driver and many others. I would say that we can not complain! There are so many bands, Stoner Rock, Doom, Heavy Psych, Sludge etc. Bands like Ufomammut, Black Rainbows, OJM, Atomic Mold, Deadsmoke and many others, it’s impossible to name them all!
So I’ll end this with a playlist of all the bands on Marco’s label, hopefully you can check them out, and who knows maybe support Marco with his excellent label and buy a couple of records!
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