Monday, July 20, 2009

"Write a song without a hook, remember why you wrote songs in the first place. Let's start a band, we've got nothing else to do."

I can't exactly remember when it was that it hit me. Was it at that one house show? Was it when I went to that matinee at The Smell? Was it when I saw Bomb the Music Industry! in the Rotary Club building? I'm not sure when it was, exactly, but somewhere along the line I was in a crowded room with very poor ventilation, standing enthralled with the ruckus in the surrounding area, when it hit me.

This is where music happens.


Music doesn't happen in a stadium filled with a hundred thousand people. Music doesn't happen in a multi-billion dollar recording studio.

Music happens right the fuck here.

Music happens when a band plays for a handful of people in the old police station auditorium. Music happens when some kid is sitting alone in his bedroom recording himself playing the guitar.

And that's not at all to say that big shows and hi-fi sound are illegitimate. To a great number of people, that is what music is. Something to appreciate from afar, from the back row of a stadium or the speaker side of the stereo.

But what I enjoy about music the most is being a part of it. I am a musician who listens to musicians and I am a showgoer who puts on shows. And now, I suppose I'm a record label manager who loves records.

Think of Lazy Roar as Fat Wreck Chords in a Not Not Fun shell. Any profits earned will always go right back to running the label, putting out new releases, and putting on more shows. All releases will be hand-crafted, individually numbered, and creatively packaged. All shows will be all-ages, alcohol-free, and charge the smallest admittance fee possible. The word "promote" is used in the mission statement on the right side of this page for a reason. Lazy Roar Records exists to do everything it can to advance noisey music and DIY ethic and, goddammit, we're gonna do it.

Rad shit will be goin' down. Stay tuned.

--Rob