Household Name Records are pretty damn infamous when it comes to UK DIY Punk labels. They’ve put so many awesome bands out over the years, the like of Lightyear, Capdown, Captain Everything, The Arteries – the list can go on and on. Back in 2001/2002 when writing FPM Zine, I chatted with Kafren about the label – here’s what went down…
Hi, what’s the inspiration behind starting Household Name Records? And who are Household Name Records?
Household Name Records are Kafren and Lil, and also Punk Al and of course all of the bands involved… it’s a team effort. The inspiration behind starting the label was coming from the DIY ethos of things and just getting bands that we thought were great heard by other people. Lil and I both started by being parts of non profit making gig putting on collective, me in a little venue called the George IV in Brixton and Lil in various venues in North London. As we got to hear and meet more and more bands, many of which didn’t have any releases out we thought it would be a good thing to try and get some of their music heard and started off with a compilation of bands that we liked, who had basically played gigs for us.
I read that you don’t encourage bands to submit demos – how do you find the bands that you want to put out on your label?
Well we don’t actually discourage bands from sending demos if they get in touch, but generally I don’t like to openly encourage loads of people to send us demos as they tend to have certain expectations of what they want from us… like several times we’ve had a demo sent in and liked it and told the band that we thought that it was good and then people come up and say “so-and-so has said you’re putting their album out” when we’ve just said that we like their band – the two things don’t necessarily go together. It gets difficult to say that you like a band as sometimes people get the wrong end of the stick… and it can make you feel obligated. Also, bands sometimes think they can get “signed” off demos. I don’t know of any band that any label has picked up in that way. It’s just a myth. And bands that write in to “Household Name A&R Department” or even worse get their manager to write in and say they want us to make them the “next big thing” make me cringe. We work with bands for loads and loads of reasons… but mainly we work with bands that we see as friends. Sometimes we will hear their demo, get in touch, see them live, meet up, hang out, whatever. But demo’s generally just give you a quick snapshot of a band… and don’t convey everything. A lot of the time we find bands through seeing them at gigs. We go to on average 3-4 gigs a week big and small, so see loads and loads of bands and its always good to see a new band kick ass on stage – far more fun than just listening to a tape!
Did you expect Household Name to become quite so popular?
We’re popular??? Why didn’t someone tell us! I thought we were infamous throughout the scene… No, We had no expectations of the label when we started it. We had no idea of the work, what was involved or anything. We learnt everything along the way, through necessity, but now that we’ve been doing it for over 5 years we’ve got a far better idea of what we’re doing and where we aim to go with the label. Mainly… its just been a constant struggle to keep going, but a rewarding one.
Out of all the bands you have worked with, which would you say have been your favourites and which bands excite you the most for the future?
I’ve always refused to answer this question… its just not fair! We love all the bands we work with… otherwise we wouldn’t work with them. And if you have to pick favourites the whole thing turns into a nasty heirarchy…we try to treat everyone fairly and treat everyone the same. The bands that excite me most would be in no particular order, Capdown, Lightyear, Five Knuckle, Redlightsflash, Da Skywalkers, Big D and the Kids Table. All the bands we are currently doing stuff with really.
Are you impressed with how well Capdown have done?
Yeah – of course! They’re a great band. They’ve put in loads of hard work and extensive touring for over two years and have done well due to that hard work. Being in a band isn’t a picnic, it’s a particular lifestyle and it’s not easy – but they’ve risen to the challenge. We do promotional bits and pieces but are in no way a lean mean marketing machine, I hate spending money on wasteful advertising campaigns conning people into liking our bands, I like to feel that if people are into one of our bands its because they’ve made up they’re own mind that a band are great and not because MTV or the NME have told them they’re cool.
Do you expect Lightyear to follow suit?
Lightyear are different in a lot of ways to Capdown, but also have a similar attitude to the whole thing in my opinion. I think they’re a great band and they work hard and put on killer shows and know how to entertain… even when they keep their clothes on. And they’re all nice people. I’ve learnt not to expect anything from anyone, it really depends what they want out of it all… but I reckon they’ll give it a darn good shot!
What would you say was the biggest buzz so far about running Household Name?
Stupid little things. Like one night, about 8mths ago, I was flyering outside a gig and some kid that I’d never seen before came up and said “Hey you run Household Name right?” and I was like… “Yeah…” and he said “That’s cool. Thank you for keeping the scene real.” That was the first time anyone had made the effort to say anything like that to me, and it was really nice. That was a buzz. But generally, making friends from all over the world, travelling and being part of an international punk rock community… and meeting people. And having the opportunity to be creative in a world that increasingly runs itself along straight regulated lines. And having a creative outlet… oohhh lots of things.
What do you see happening to HHN in the future?
Well, hopefully we’ll still keep going. And hopefully, we’ll continue to work with the bands that we’re working with at the moment. And hopefully, we’ll find more cool bands and the scene will grow and the people around at the moment won’t get bored and disappear. And eventually everyone will be converted to the wonders of punk and hardcore and the bands we put out, and there won’t be any shitty scene divisions and we’ll all live happily ever after. But I’ll settle for the “just keeping going” bit for now.
Upcoming releases?
HAUS045 – RedLightsFlash CD
HAUS046 – Big D and the Kids Table / Five Knuckle split EP
HAUS047 – Da Skywalkers CD
…and who knows what else!
How can people get in touch of you and also purchase your releases?
The easiest place is probably the website www.householdnamerecords.co.uk or via email to info@householdnamerecords.co.uk If people want our releases they can get them through the shops generally… but its cheaper to mail order them direct from us – details are on the website.
Do you play in any bands personally?
Nope. I have done, and was going to earlier this year, but it never came together. Lil was in Creaming Jesus for a short time but tries to keep that quiet!
What would you say were your favourite albums you’ve bought?
Strike Anywhere. Avail. Frenzal Rhomb. Guns’n’Roses, Discount, Ramones, Violent Femmes
Which bands are currently on the playlist on the HHN stereo?
The Arrivals, Jesse James, Kassandra, Converge, Strike Anywhere,
Knuckledust, International Noise Conspiracy, and our bands of course!
What do you think of the current scene here in the UK?
It’s really healthy. Loads of people are starting bands, putting on shows, running labels, zines – doing stuff! It’s the healthiest I’ve seen it for a long long time.
Is there anything that you don’t like about it?
Yeah… the punkers don’t give out free chuppa chups like they do at goth gigs.
What do you feel the future holds for punk?
Growth of the independent scene. A buying up of small US labels by majors.
Some bands fucking up and deserting the scene to become Blink 182 rip offs and other bands and labels striving ever harder to keep the punk scene alive and an exciting viable alternative. And Iggy Pop has got to die…eventually… but not before he becomes the first punker to play live in a see-through latex spacesuit on Mars!
Since this chat, Household Name have really put some more amazing records out – you should check their site out and definitely pick a few of them up!
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