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| Noise >> Valiant Death |
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Interview with Bucky of Valiant Death! What do you hope to achieve with Valiant Death? Bucky: When I was 16 I started Valiant Death and soon set my eyes on being my own person and working for myself my whole life. I don't have a huge problem with authority but I feel really empowered having something like this to keep me busy and give me and my friends an outlet for our creativity. I think it has meant a lot to some people for the past 4 years, but I hope some day it means a lot to a lot of people. I never intended for this to be just a record label, but much more. My friends and I like music but we like books and crafts and all kinds of silly/odd/fun things, so that's what we are doing. Now we are making plans next year to open up The Big Secret, a place that serves coffee, tea, and vegan food as well as lots of zines, crafts, and records. We will also be having all kinds of fun shows, movie showings and more, in Norfolk, VA. There's no stopping us! For the music on the label, do you think there is a 'Valiant Death' sound? Bucky: Hmm, thats an interesting question. Since I have released more than twenty bands and almost 50 CDs on this label in the past few years, I would say that while few of the bands on Valiant Death sound the same, all of the music is played by passionate, hard working, and very nice people. We have put out indie, folk punk, horror punk, instrumental surf, electronic, electropop, acoustic, outsider, rock, old school hardcore, thrash, grind, and who knows what else. I feel like a lot of people become pigeonholed in the modern underground music community and this variety allows people to be introduced to all sorts of new bands and ideas. To celebrate our first 5 years of existence, in 2007 we will hold a huge day long event in Philadelphia and Richmond (VA) and will invite as many Valiant Death bands new and old to come and play. How do you decide what to carry in your catalog? Bucky: Hmm.....we don't get a million submissions, in fact, if I get a submission in my mailbox I am actually pretty excited. I think a lot of people assume that with a name like Valiant Death we aren't interested in anything like perzines or vegetable buttons or acoustic music, but we are! We are into everything and I know that people are always looking for new and interesting ideas and I make it a personal goal to give that to people. To inspire someone to think or rethink is quite an accomplishment. I make a lot of friends all the time and always invite them to share their creations through our site, but we are always looking for new things to distribute and have a cool consignment program for people to use, so if you're reading this and you make zines/music/crafts/art/whatever, get in touch!! Who else works for Valiant Death and how did you come to meet them? Bucky: Currently there are three other people who play important roles in running Valiant Death with me. First is Abby, who has been helping me for the past 3 and a half years, she has helped run the mailorder, make buttons, scam thousands of copies, and is always tabling at shows. Her and I are very close friends and she really has a firm grasp on how everything works, etc. Next off is my friend Jean Paul. He and I met recently and he has agreed to help run some of the business aspects and such of the label. He just left to go explore world for six months but when he gets back he will be doing a lot of the business and logistical planning for The Big Secret. He is a cool guy who I pretty much just bumped into about 5 months ago and we've been good friends ever since. Last but certainly not least is Andrea. She's my source of inspiration and encouragement but she also comes up with a lot of amazing ideas and is starting to work more and more on crafts and such to start selling on our site. We are also always cooking up delicious food for our future vegan cafe and making big big plans!!! No money is made (as in above going back into the project) from Valiant Death, so tell me a little about your experiences putting so much back into your project. Bucky: Well I am still young and started this label when I was even younger, so money was not an issue, and it still isn't really. I do Valiant Death full time but do some other work on the side which helps pay for a lot of things. It has made things hard on me at times but I feel like it has been the best policy. Right now we are really sticking our necks out putting out thousands of dollars in new CDs and records this summer and then trying to find $30,000 to open up our coffee shop will be quite a task, but it's a dream and we all agree that you only live once so we are going to put our hearts into this now more than ever before. What is the independent scene like in Virginia? Bucky: A lot better than it was a few years ago!! Valiant Death was started for the sake of putting out my old band Moral Minority (at the time), and we were a pretty offensive political band. We would get threatened, harassed, kicked out, and I even got punched for being an outspoken political band, there wasn't much of a community for us and we got little support. Since then I've seen a lot change, in the Richmond area, the art school crowd is beginning to get into DIY culture and fun things are coming out of that, and in our area there are a lot of young punk kids who are pretty supportive of Valiant Death and other cool projects in the area. What role do you feel you take on in that scene? (if at all) Bucky: Well I think that we sometimes serve as a model for people since a lot of the ideas and things we are doing are pretty new to this part of the country. A lot of people talk about doing things, and a lot of people want to do things, but we are actually DOING it and have been for quite a while (at least to me). We had a big benefit show for The Big Secret a few weeks ago and a lot of people came out and really showed their support and it made us all really happy and inspired. I have been saying to people for years 'we need your support!' and I think everyone hears that and it just goes in one ear and out the other. I tell them, it is YOU who can support us and help us out, we help people with their dreams and we need them to help us with ours. All we need is love. And if you've gotten this far in this interview, we're talking to you too!! Can you recommend some good zines you've read recently? Bucky: I love zines!! Here are a few things by friends of mine I've picked up for distro as well: My friend Christy (the only active zinester in my area, besides me!) just put out the fourth issue of her zine Modest Stereo. She is a great writer and artist and puts a lot of work into her zines, she is a close friend who has been through a lot lately and I can really see it reflected in her work, it's a great read. Justin Duerr, a Philadelphia artist/musician/zinester has put out around 50 issues of his zine Decades of Confusion Feed The Insect. Between his amazingly intricate art and very intriguing occult-ish writing his zines are always a treat. My favorite zinester is a Canadian named Jen Pilles, she has made dozens of zines (I don't even think she knows how many) and has a great sense of humor and adventure. Her zines range from stories of her year long adventure in Thailand to a series of fantasy zines, as well as other assorted personal and art zines. Check her out! |
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