Label Profile: R.I.P. Society
By Max Lavergne
MP3: Bed Wettin' Bad Boys: "Nobody Else"
R.I.P. Society is a punk label based in Sydney, Australia. It was founded in 2008 by Nic Warnock, who still runs the whole operation pretty much single-handedly, and has released records by Royal Headache, Naked On The Vague, Woollen Kits and Straight Arrows, among others. The label'shas played a major part in unifying and popularising the proto-punk/new wave movement that’s re-energised the local underground scene. I sat down with Nic to talk about where R.I.P. Society came from and what excites him about music.
AZ: Tell us how R.I.P. Society started.
Nic: I left Cairns (in far north Queensland) when I was 17 and moved to the western suburbs of Sydney to study graphic design. In my honours year I started toying with the idea of starting a record label. There was kind of a shift from the music I was interested in, that my friends were doing-- more freeform, DIY, exploratory sound stuff-- to classic rock or pop songs. Three-minute things that seemed to deserve more than a CD-R or a cassette release, that didn’t really suit that format. And I looked into the figures of it and I thought, this is doable, I’ve got enough disposable income, which isn’t very much, to start this.
I was playing in Circle Pit at the time and they had a 7” recorded and no one really wanted to release it, so I was like, “Let’s just get this shit done, this is boring.” So I just did it.
AZ: The local scene in Sydney circa 2008 was very electro-pop centric; bands like The Presets and Van She were hugely popular. Was your decision to start a label a reaction to that, in some way?
Nic: I think, subconsciously, it was. A lot of the music I enjoyed-- the straight-up rock 'n' roll music that was happening, the bare-bones kind of stuff, before it turned into this '50s-loving garage parody thing, I thought was kind of in reaction to big-corporate-party-Sydney or whatever. It was personal and gritty, as opposed to the big shiny Sydney that was getting promoted. Not that I ever had a big problem with Van She and The Presets; I don’t take offense to those bands because they just seem like a whole different world. They’re not in the tradition of anything I was ever interested in, except maybe New Order and some of that '80s new romantic synth stuff, but they kind of skipped that whole DIY, industrial, weird kind of importantness.
AZ: The underground music community in Sydney has struggled for years with venues and record stores closing. Do you think the focus on slick, major label pop contributed to that trend?
Nic: Yeah. No one was willing to champion local bands and build them from the ground up-- like, “That’s our baby,” like people did for Eddy Current Suppression Ring in Melbourne. There was no real support team or independent establishment. I mean, the Hopetoun [Hotel, iconic Sydney venue that closed doors in 2009] was, but there weren’t many places for people just starting, with no background, to get a leg up. There was nothing to attach yourself to. You had to make the entire culture yourself.
AZ: Do you think there’s been a local DIY revival?
Nic: I think so. But it’s hard for me to say, because I’ve never really been involved with anyone in music that hasn’t had that ethos.
AZ: R.I.P. bands like Royal Headache and Straight Arrows and ZOND, who are quite noisy and also quite DIY in their approach to recording and producing and releasing music, are drawing great crowds at the moment. Is that people's tastes changing or the bands themselves?
Nic: There’s no doubt that music in Australia is better now than it was in 2008. I’d say that arguably, music has not been better in Australia since the early '80s or something. I’m not sure why that is. Maybe it's the bands coming to fruition, but also I feel like before, lots of bands in Australia were trying to do things in direct relation to what was happening overseas, trying to be the local version of that. But before the last ten years, my favourite bands in Australia were obviously not reacting to what was going on overseas, or if they were, they’re doing it in a really skewed way, for example the early Scientists power-pop records. They probably had a tiny view into punk and then filled the gaps with, I don’t know, The Rolling Stones, and then just made up what they thought punk was for the rest. They weren’t looking to contemporaries overseas.
I think there’s been a shift to writing songs with clear hooks and emotional content for a lot of people as well. It’s much easier to experiment with sound and ideas of rhythm and tone, more abstract things. It’s really intimidating to sit down and try to say something emotional, so a lot of people took a more political or just experimental approach. But I think with bands like Royal Headache in particular, there’s a more relatable emotional quality to it, which people are generally going to take more interest in.
AZ: What makes you want to put out a band’s record?
Nic: Just when it clicks, you know? In a lot of cases there was no, “Oh, we’ll get back to you.” It’s always been, “Hey, do you want to do a record sometime?” For me, I like to put something out on vinyl if I believe it should be in the world, and if I think I can do it in a way that reaches the people who will love it. I like pressing records because I see something in the bands and, as a lover of records, I want them to be in the world.
AZ: What’s making you excited about music right now?
Nic: Oh, man. I’m just continually excited by particular bands and the approach they have to making music, and by "for-the-good-of-music" intention in this day and age, where everyone seems to be so concerned with their positioning and their legacy and things like that. When you just hear a band and it just sounds like they’re really concerned with making good music and expressing something, whether it be confusion or anger or anything, it just really makes me feel good that it’s happening. What excites me about music is people pushing themselves. And I don’t mean musically, or technically--just aiming to express something or do something that’s really worthwhile. Not half-assing it or reacting to current trends or trying to be relevant, just really attempting to be the best band they can be. I like people trying, even if it’s just trying to tell everyone they don’t give a fuck.
Several R.I.P. Society bands have US tours planned for late 2011. Royal Headache & Bed Wettin' Bad Boys play Sept 10 - Oct 3; Straight Arrows play Sept 1 - Sept 27; and Kitchen's Floor Sept 1 - Oct 2. Explore the R.I.P. Society catalogue here
By Max Lavergne
R.I.P. Society is a punk label based in Sydney, Australia. It was founded in 2008 by Nic Warnock, who still runs the whole operation pretty much single-handedly, and in three years it’s played a major part in unifying and popularising the proto-punk/new wave movement that’s re-energised the local underground scene. I sat down with Nic to talk about where R.I.P. Society came from and what excites him about music.
Tell us how R.I.P. Society started.
I left Cairns (in far north Queensland) when I was 17 and moved to the western suburbs of Sydney to study graphic design. In my honours year I started toying with the idea of starting a record label. There was kind of a shift from the music I was interested in, that my friends were doing, from more kind of freeform, DIY, exploratory sound stuff, to what were classic rock or pop songs. Three minute things that seemed to deserve more than a CD-R or a cassette release, that didn’t really suit that format. And I looked into the figures of it and I thought, this is doable, I’ve got enough disposable income, which isn’t very much, to start this.
I was playing in Circle Pit at the time and they had a 7” recorded and no one really wanted to release it, so I was like, “let’s just get this shit done, this is boring.” So I just did it.
The local scene in Sydney circa 2008 was very electro-pop centric; bands like the Presets and Van She were hugely popular. Did that have a bearing on your decision to start the label?
I think subconsciously it did. It did moreso in the music I enjoyed; a lot of the straight-up rock & roll music that was happening, the bare bones kind of stuff, before it turned into this ‘50s-loving garage parody thing, I thought was kind of in reaction to big corporate party Sydney or whatever. It was personal and gritty, as opposed to the big shiny Sydney that was getting promoted. Not that I ever had a big problem with Van She and the Presets; I don’t take offense to those bands because they just seem like a whole different world. They’re not in the tradition of anything I was ever interested in, except maybe New Order and some of that 80s new romantic synth stuff, but they kind of skipped that whole DIY, industrial, weird kind of importantness.
The underground music community in Sydney’s struggled for a few years with venues and record stores closing. Do you think the focus on slick, major label pop contributed to that trend?
Yeah. No one was willing to champion local bands and build them from the ground up, like, “that’s our baby,” like Eddy Current Suppression Ring is in Melbourne. There was no real support team or independent establishment. I mean, the Hopetoun (Hotel, iconic Sydney venue that closed doors in 2009) was, but there weren’t many places for people just starting, with no background, to get a leg up. There was nothing to attach yourself to. You had to make the entire culture yourself.
Do you think there’s been a local DIY revival?
I think so. But it’s hard for me to say, because I’ve never really been involved with anyone in music that hasn’t had that ethos.
Bands like Royal Headache and Straight Arrows and ZOND, who are very DIY, are drawing great crowds at the moment. Is that peoples’ tastes changing or the bands themselves?
There’s no doubt that music in Australia is better now than it was in 2008. I’d say that arguably, music has not been better in Australia since I don’t know when. The early 80s or something. I’m not sure why that is – the bands coming to fruition, but also I feel like Australia had this kind of… lots of bands were trying to do things in direct relation to what was happening overseas, trying to be the local version of that. But before the last ten years, my favourite bands in Australia are obviously not reacting to what’s going on overseas, or if they are, they’re doing it in a really skewed way, for example the early Scientists power-pop records. They probably had a tiny view into punk and then filled the gaps with, I don’t know, The Rolling Stones, and then just made up what they thought punk was for the rest. They weren’t looking to contemporaries overseas.
I think there’s been a shift in a lot of people to writing songs with clear hooks and emotional content as well. It’s much easier to experiment with sound and ideas of rhythm and tone, more abstract things. It’s really intimidating to sit down and try to say something emotional, so a lot of people took a more political or just experimental approach. But I think with bands like Royal Headache in particular, there’s a more relatable emotional quality to it, which people are generally going to take more interest in.
What makes you want to put out a band’s record?
Just when it clicks, you know? In a lot of cases there was no “oh, we’ll get back to you.” It’s always been, “hey, do you want to do a record sometime?” For me, I like to put something out on vinyl if I believe it should be in the world and if I think I can do it in a way that reaches the people who will love it. I like pressing records because I see something in the bands and, as a lover of records, I want them to be in the world.
What’s making you excited about music right now?
Oh, man. I’m just continually excited by particular bands and the kind of approach they have to making music in this really… for-the-good-of-music intention in this day and age where everyone seems to be so concerned with their positioning and their legacy and things like that. When you just hear a band and the music and it just sounds like they’re really concerned with making good music and expressing something, whether it be confusion or anger or anything, it just really makes me feel good that it’s happening. What excites me about music is people pushing themselves. And I don’t mean musically, or technically, just aiming to express something or do something that’s really worthwhile. Not half-assing it or reacting to current trends or trying to be relevant, just really attempting to be the best band they can be. I like people trying, even if it’s just trying to tell everyone they don’t give a fuck.
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