X! Fest Will Rock Your Face Off This Weekend
Metro Detroit is home to several outstanding indie record labels. One of the most prolific labels in Detroit is by far X! Records, who’ve recently publish music from such “ballz out” modern punk rockers as the Frustration, Terrible Twos, The Mahonies, and Fontana.
MCR recently corresponded with Scott Dunkerley; Frustrations drummer and founder of X! Records, to get his take on the current music industry and this weekend’s much anticipated two day X! Fest. X! Fest will be held this Friday and Saturday night at the Bohemian National Home located at 3009 Tillman in Detroit (map)
How long has X! Records been around?
I came up with the name/idea for the label in 2003, mostly as a way to release the music of the bands I was in at the time. Between 2003-2005 I just released a few CD-R’s under the X! name. I started working on thelabel more seriously in 2005 when I released the Frustrations first 7″.
What artist have you worked with?
Let’s see…Terrible Twos, Fontana, Frustrations (which is the band I play in), Tyvek, Heroes & Villains, Little Claw, Michael Yonkers, the Mahonies, the Skinny Fists, the Yarbles, Burning Orchestra.
I’ll also be putting out the Shiftless Decay: New Sounds of Detroit compilation too, which will feature many of those bands as well as the Johnny Ill band, Human Eye, Odd Clouds, THTX, and Tentacle Lizardo.
Does owning a record label pay the bills, what got you started?
Owning a record label does not pay the bills, at least not at this point. That wasn’t really the intention when I started it though. It was more about getting music out by bands I would see over and over in the area who had been playing shows for years sometimes, and had never released anything. The quality of the bands was so good too, and they all had somewhat different sounds…I wanted a way to unify them under one roof to be able to promote as a whole, not just individually.
What advice do you give to others thinking about starting a label.
Well, Detroit is one of the best places to have a label for the simple fact that we have a record pressing plant in town (Archer Record Pressing). There are less than 10 plants left in the USA that I can think of, so that is a real convenience. Advice about starting a label? I guess I would say think before you start one. There is enough horrible music out there to sift through already. I also believe how you treat the bands/artists you release should be priority one. It seems like labels sometimes forget that they wouldn’t have labels if it weren’t for the people making the music. And traditionally, musicians get the shaft when it comes to payment, etc. Also, I pretty much dump all the spare cash I have after rent, food, and buying other people’s records into the label, so be prepared for that maybe.
What are your thought on the current Detroit music scene?
I think there are a ton of good bands in Detroit that are pretty much constantly playing shows. There are also a lot of smaller touring bands that come through too that are great. My friends and I set up a lot of shows for out of town bands, and it can be tough sometimes to get people
out. That has been improving in the last couple of years though, hopefully we’re developing a bit of a track record so people will be more likely to come to a show that we set up in faith that the bands will be pretty cool. There are also, of course, a lot of bad/boring/over hyped/mediocre bands in the area, like any big city. But who wants to talk about them anyway?
Tell us about X! Fest?
This will be the first X! Fest. Might be an annual thing, might not. Not sure yet. It will feature 10 local acts (Tyvek, Terrible Twos, Fontana, Frustrations, Heroes & Villains, the Mahonies, THTX, Druid Perfume, Beekeepers, and Timmy’s Organism), and 4 out of town acts (Necropolis, Sic Alps, Psychedelic Horseshit, and Guinea Worms) over two days. Pretty cheap too as far as festivals go, $8 per night. It is going on this weekend, Friday the 25th and Saturday the 26th at the Bohemian National Home in Detroit. Hope to get people out checking out some bands they’ve never heard before.
Who are the must see acts?
They’re all must see acts! haha…well, you should definitely come see all the out of town bands. This will be one of Druid Perfume’s first shows too, so you should check that out. Also Heath will be in town to play with Tyvek for this show, so that is always a special occasion.
Friday*
Tyvek, Sic Alps (San Francisco)
the Frustrations
Psychedelic Horseshit (Columbus)
the Mahonies
Heroes and Villains
Saturday*
Terrible Twos
the Guinea Worms (Columbus)
Fontana
Necropolis (Columbus)
Druid Perfume
Timmy’s Organism
THTX
the Beekeepers
*doors @ 8 with a BBQ on Saturday at 6:30