Interview with Seb of Just Another Day Records.

This is the first post on my new (or improved) blog. I got bored with just posting pictures of stuff I get in the mail and didn't really see a point in the long run as it got more and more trivial. Therefore I decided to turn this into an interview-blog - focussing on new releases I find interesting and news in general from bands and labels. 

My goal is to post interviews that are actually interesting to read. Not all of them will have the vinyl collectors aspect included, but that's something I myself can live with as long as I get an interesting interview done. 

This interview is with a good friend, who's currently running one of the best labels around in my opinion. Here's Seb of the Belgic Just Another Day Records. He has recently released Resolve - Won't Stand By LP and Times Together - The Changing Of The Leaves 7".

Here we go...

1. First I want to ask you a few questions about hardcore in general. I reckon that you've been in the scene for quite some time. How have you seen the scene change in the time you've been around?

That's a good question. Well I think the major change for me is that most of my friends don't go to shows anymore and started having other interests, I think they wanted a life rather than being surrounded with sweaty dudes. I guess now I must say I don't go to shows much myself anymore, as I don't want to travel 4 hours to see a show anymore, unless the band is really good...

Another change is that the whole hardcore scene has pretty much died in my opinion. There used to be shows everywhere, at some point I went to 3 shows a week, seeing the same bands over and over again. Some people may say otherwise, but to me it's just not the same seeing Liar again as it was 10 years ago. 

Also I try to listen to a alot of Belgian bands in hopes that I can do a record with one someday. 

Other than that the internet has changed a lot, not only for hardcore, but for the world in general. Let's say about 12 years ago I'd never surfed on the internet before - you actually had to buy records/tapes/CDs to hear the band you wanted hear. Compilations were still interesting to buy since you could check out a lot of bands at once. These days you can find whatever record you want to hear online in a matter of minutes, no matter how obscure they are, and that isn't always a good thing since there are idiots around who think that music should be for free and that is complete bullshit.

I'll just end here, I could name a few more, but these are the major changes I experienced when I first got into hardcore. 

2. How do you see the future for hardcore with labels such as your own, React!, B9, Panic Records etc. etc. ?

I hope that every label will still be around and hopefully I can do the label full time in 10 years (fingers crossed this actually happens, haha). Basically I don't think we should compare Just Another Day Records with Bridge 9 or Panic, there are people working fulltime for the label there, they are both some of the biggest labels and do this with a lot of passion. 

Maybe we'll celebrate JAD50 in a few years ;-) 

3. Maybe you could mention some of your own favourite current labels and current favourite bands?

There are so many good bands and labels around these days. Anything Salad Days Records has put out is amazing, Hearts In Hands Records is doing a good job, Life To Live Records does some good stuff, React! is on top of their shit. I guess I would only name bands on those labels haha. At least I try to support as many labels as possible these days, which is something I haven't always done sadly. 

4. What got you into starting a label in the first place, and why do you think it got off to such a good start (at least that's how I see it) ?

I alwats wanted to do a label, but I was way too busy with collecting records, so most of my money went to that. At some point I kind of lost fun in collecting and it became more of an obsession. For example when I would spend 300 euros on one record, I just looked at it a few times and stored it away and maybe took it out once or twice a year. 

There were 2 reasons to start Just Another Day Records: mainly for the love of vinyl and hardcore in general, and to do something for the scene that gave me so much all these years.

I'd never thought it would go this good, so I started taking things a little more serious - I think you can reflect this on our 2 latest releases. To anyone reading this, I can't thank you enough for your support, without you guys I would be nowhere!!

It will be cool when I can show these records I put out to my own children/grand children to prove that their old man wasn't always a lame ass haha.

5. Just Another Day Records' first release was the supreme Debaser debut 7". After such a good start from a new label, it might have been hard to follow up, but that surely wasn't the case. You've recently released Resolve's first full-length LP and the debut 7" by Times Together. How do you see these releases in the line of JAD releases?

It was a great move to contact Debaser. For some reason I felt that this band had something special before anyone else realised. In theory the Out To Sea 7" was going to come first, but when we announced the news about Debaser, about 25 people were emailing saying they couldn't wait for the record, so I took JAD04. When I received the test presses my hands were shaking and I was like "Oh my god the first JAD test is a fact!" I smiled the whole week like a little child, in fact I still do that when new releases arrive - so stoked to check them out; if there are any variants, how they've come out etc. etc. I guess record collectors can understand the feeling. With the Debaser record, there was like 12 red copies that made my day even better haha. Also when people email/tell me (good) things about the label releases I always get so excited haha. 

Back to your question: Just Another Day has a more youth crew approach (90% of the upcoming are at least), Resolve and Times Together fit in perfectly. I don't really see a line in future releases, the logic is to put out awesome records. Who knows, our next record might be by a German grindcore band that has been around for 20 years!!

6. Given that JAD has gotten a core of die-hard supporters pretty much from the start, and top quality bands, how do you see JAD grow in order to achieve bigger things in the future, in terms of being an attractive label to the bands you want to release stuff by?

Well actually I think I need to keep giving smaller bands a change and that's what I'm going to. For example the upcoming Half The Battle LP came out of nowhere. I normally don't "sign" bands when they ask me to put out their record, but the least I can do is take a listen. This one blew me away. Even though they are from Asia, this one needs to be heard and I'm sure a lot of people will agree with me that this is a musical gem by a fairly small band. I've also noticed that Eastern Europe has a lot to offer these days, so who knows what will happen. 

Also, my intention is to build a solid home to bands, if they want to stick with me because they are happy, I realise I'm doing well. Happy bands usually means awesome records. 

7. When you first gave me the privilege of listening to both records in mp3-form in advance, you literally told me that the Resolve record perhaps would be the hardcore release of the year in your own opinion. It took me about 3 or 4 "mp3-spins" to be convinced about just that (Times Together caught on faster). Why did you want to release these two records? What do you find interesting about Resolve and Times Together musically?

Resolve was on my "I-want-to-put-out-a-record-by-them-list" haha, no just kidding. Their 7" on Commitment Records was one of the best in the past years. They had already made a name for themselves and are somewhat underrated in my opinion, I hope the LP changes that. I first got in touch with them when I had plans to do a compilation LP (it's still going to happen by the way). I told Mike (singer) that whenever they were in need of a label, I'd always be down to do the LP. I never thought Mike would email me back asking if I still wanted to put out their LP. I didn't listen to the whole record, only the first 2 songs. I somehow felt the same as I did with Debaser; this could be a very special record. Mike's vocal is a little more aggressive than most singers in youth crew bands, with that you'll recognize immediately that it's a Resolve record. 

Times Together was about to record the 7", I had listened to the demo and was greatly impressed. I knew James (singer) from the old Thunder Lizard board. So I just asked if they would be interested in doing a record. This was even before Debaser and Overload came along. The whole 7" took about a year to get out, but both music-wise and artwork-wise it's a gem. As many people say; they could be on Wishingwell Records if they'd existed 20 years ago. Music-wise I can find myself a lot in the Wishingwell catalog, and basically we shared the same love for Freewill so that also helped!! When I heard the entire 7" for the first time, I knew this one was going to be awesome.

8. The quality of these two releases, not just musically, has received a lot of praise. What were your thoughts about the layout and quality when these  releases were merely "blueprints" ? (please elaborate on the Trooper-cover)...

The Times Together layout was completely James' own idea, I didn't have any input in. To my knowledge I wouldn't have changed anything on it, it's a fresh idea which James did good on. The silver spot colouring came out exactly like it needed to be. So all credit to him and the band for this one.

The Trooper cover (Resolve) was done by my friend Mike (singer for Make Or Break). The guy has amazing skills and he was the perfect man to have my ideas worked out. It took me a while to convince the band to let me do this one though haha. The basic idea as you may know or not know is a tribute to the almight Iron Maiden. We used The Trooper-cover of theirs as inspiration and Mike designed a hardcore version of the sleeve!! I was, needless to say, pretty stoked to say the least, even the folks at the pressing plant commented that it was done top notch.

I think both gatefolds differ from each other as well as the vinyl colours to go with. It wasn't cheap to make it, but it sure as hell was worth it.

When I look back at it now I would sort of have made a back for the silkscreened cover!

Times Together - The Changing Of The Leaves 7" (all variants shown, except for the Record Release version)

Resolve - Won't Stand By LP (silkscreened cover /80)

Resolve - Won't Stand By LP (The Trooper-cover /400)

9. Your thoughts on the vinyl colours? There weren't a lot of "colour-mistakes" This time.

Apart from the Overload 7"s which was a complete disaster. All my 7"s are pressed at a small plant in Germany, run by 2 nice folks. They are the nicest people, they only do 7"s, if they would do LPs I would press them there too! I think the vinyl quality is very good and you can order small quantities of colours which is cool. As far as I know I've never heard anybody complaining about the vinyl colours and/or the quality. That there are colours mistakes is understandable, I can understand that they don't clean out their machines if I order 4 colors for a 500 press, but even big plants doesn't clean out their plates, so mispresses are are part of the game, not everybody is happy with this. I will continue to press my 7"s there, why change something if you're happy, right ;-)

Resolve - Won't Stand By LP (regular cover)

10. What does JAD hold for us next time? Can you tell us something about the future releases? I know some are already to be released next month.

What is about to be released is the Half The Battle LP, a Beartrap 5", Sanity's Dawn/Wadge split 7" and a new Resolve 7" with 3 songs they recorded last fall. There are a good amount of projects in the works, but I'll announce that when the time is right!

11. And the question I want to ask just because it's fun:

Pick 1 band from the 80s era: Uniform Choice

Pick 1 band from the 90s era: Floorpunch

Pick 1 band from the 2000s era: Drug X Test

Pick 1 current band: Too much to mention

Pick 1 reunion show you would attend if it happened: Rain On The Parade

Pick 1 record you'd kill to own: Floorpunch - Division One Champs 7" Test Press

Any last comments?

Thanks to every band that had enough faith in me to let me do a record, everybody who bought from me and supported JAD in any way, Andreas and the MY45 pressing plant, Dave and Ed from AGRM, Bieber and Christian from Flight13, DrukkerijVan Damme and you, Rune, for doing this interview it was a lot of fun to fill in, good luck with your blog and your collections!

That was it. My first serious interview is done and I am satisfied with the outcome. If you liked it, follow this blog, comment, do anything! :)

Pressing info for Times Together - The Changing Of The Leaves 7":

Black vinyl Test Press /22

White mix vinyl /11

Record Release version /??

Red vinyl /90

Purple vinyl /110

Green vinyl /120

White vinyl /180

Pressing info for Resolve - Won't Stand By LP:

Black vinyl Test Press /20

Record Release version /30

Burgundy vinyl (silkscreened sleeve version) /80

Burgundy vinyl (regular sleeve) /220

Green vinyl /300

Red w/ splatter vinyl (The Trooper version) /400

Next up is interviews with James from Times Together and Timm MacIntosh who runs Panic Records! So be sure to check back soon! 

I'll try to have one new interview up every week at least.

Yours truely, 

Rune.