Controvert caught up with Catharsis, the head honcho of Lifestyle Recordings, in a hot studio with a hot cup of tea to discuss D&B, A&R and various other acronyms...
Controvert: OK, so first thing's first, for those who aren’t aware could you run through the Lifestyle Recordings label roster?
Catharsis: We started with myself, Impulse, and City Life. Eleven8 was also with us at the beginning, we released a track of his before he was signed to Med School [sister label of Hospital Records]. Nowadays we’re getting people from all over the world; Puzzle from Finland, Quentin Hiatus from America, and loads of Russian people like Remembrance, who has a great style of production. We also had Survival, that was a paid-for remix to get some exposure, but mainly we try to get up-and-coming producers.
Controvert: How did the international stuff come about?
Catharsis: It was pretty much Soundcloud that did it.
Controvert: So was it you doing A&R or did they find you?
Catharsis: We started doing the A&R about two years later. As well a few bits through Soundcloud, we set up an AIM and said to everyone ‘just send your tunes there’. We get about 25 a day.
Controvert: 25 tunes a day?
Catharsis: Yeah it’s ridiculous. It all started from putting that on Soundcloud, we’re promoting everything through there because we’re trying to get to the producers. Obviously we want to get listeners as well, but we want to start by getting producers because we figure that the producers have a certain group of friends around them, and if you get hold of them they’ll show their mates, and then they’ll show their mates and so on.
Controvert: So there’s a bit of a viral idea behind that?
Catharsis: It’s a harsh way to think about it, but then it’s a bit more specific than if you just go to Facebook and start a page that says ‘Rest in peace Amy Winehouse’, wait till it grows and then spam it! You’re not going to be getting people who like drum n bass, you’re going to be getting people who like Amy Winehouse.
Controvert: How is it that you see Lifestyle as brand?
Catharsis: I’d like to think that we go specifically for underground drum n bass, rather than just trying to go for whatever will sell quick enough, and I like to think that we’re more based around music than money. We want really good production, as much as we can get, but smooth. We want a few heavy tracks here and there, but mainly really smooth stuff that you can listen to anywhere on any occasion instead of just in a nightclub. We do like dancefloor killers, they’re the ones we tend to put on vinyl, but when it comes to digital releases I like to think it’s stuff that you can listen to in your car or just sitting at home.
Controvert: Do you favour that when you’re scouting for new stuff?
Catharsis: When we scout, I’d say we go for minimal rollers that are chilled but also could be suitable for a nightclub. When it comes to stuff getting sent to me, we’re always happy with a bit of variety. We have a board meeting every two weeks where we listen over every track. We offer professional feedback and decide if we want any signings or anything.
Controvert: You guys are also branching out into dubstep. On that side, again do you favour a certain style to fit with the Lifestyle brand?
Catharsis: We’ve talked about it, and we want Dubstyle to be all about dancefloor dubstep, and some of the minimal stuff, but not full-on jump up dubstep. Generally, Lifestyle don’t want to stick to just one style, we want to have a sub-label for each dance genre eventually, starting with drum n bass and working from there, and maybe even doing some rock stuff as well, all under Lifestyle Recordings. But that’s very long-term, and all going to come much later!
Controvert: You’ve previously described the birth of Lifestyle Recordings as being ‘accidental’. How did it all start?
Catharsis: It started from my desire to have my own production on a record. This is going to sound quite naive of me and make me look really stupid, but nobody told me you can just pay 40 quid for a dubplate! I just thought 'I might as well go and get 500 cut then!' I just wanted to see it, I hated trying to hit up the big labels all the time, sending them tunes, so I thought ‘f*ck it, I’ll make it myself’.
Controvert: Who have been the big influences and inspirations for you?
Catharsis: For me personally, it’s got to be Subtitles Music and Shogun Audio. For the label, Hospital Records. The reason I started a label was because of Hospital, I would listen to the Hospital podcasts and it seemed so well-organised and friendly. We kind of followed in their footsteps with a few things, like mastering our tracks with Stuart Hawkes at Metropolis.
Controvert: With Hospital as such a big influence, I bet it was cool to get a tune on their podcast?
Catharsis: Yeah it was. When we got the first vinyl done, we got 100 test presses and sent it all around. I sent one to straight to Tony Coleman [Hospital Records boss] and it’s on podcast 106. Actually I was at Fabric that night and it [Lifestyle] had been really stressful, I was like ‘I don’t know if I’m going to bother with this anymore’. Then I got a text off my mate saying ‘your vinyl got played on the Hospital podcast’ and instantly I was like ‘f*ck it, I’m sticking with this!’ Since then we’ve had a free download that we released played on there, and I think they played Eleven8’s tune ‘Mile End’. With Hospital it’s cool because I know a few people that work there, I’ve been sending them stuff and we’ve got a good friendship going, label to label.
Controvert: Why do you think it’s hard for up-and-coming labels to break into the scene?
Catharsis: From the perspective of a label, I think the reason it’s so hard is due to some distributors, and generally the distribution part of it. If you do it yourself, you’re not going to have their brand, or people looking at it on their site, and they’ve got followers too. A lot of young labels will start with just digital and that’s good because it’s low-cost, but sometimes it has the general look of being something that someone’s made in their room. If a label does start with digital, they’ll see how little they get at the start and it’s not a lot. People think it’s going to be a lot that they get back from it, but it really takes time and that’s why people fall back and up-and-coming labels just close and disappear.
Controvert: So in the context of these digital-only labels, how much life do you think there is left in vinyl as a format?
Catharsis: I like to think quite a lot. I think they’re going to make some sort of space-age new format incorporating vinyl.
Controvert: You could argue Serato is just that.
Catharsis: Yeah it is, but it’s just not quite there, it just kills me! I like to think vinyl is going to go on for a really long time, especially because everyone’s like ‘nah, it’s dead’, but most top nightclubs that play underground music always have 1210s, and they’re always going to be there. It kills me when people a laptop on top of it. So yeah, I do like to think it’ll be there for a long time, or at least in DJ sets I think it will always be around. I did my dissertation about this, so I’ve argued it loads and loads! But I do think Serato and CD decks are a good thing; because it’s still a skill and it’s still playing live, whereas some laptop things like Ableton are a bit more about the music, if you know what I mean. I think you need that live element.
Controvert: You did an event at Rhythm Factory in London, quite a prestigious venue, what was that like?
Catharsis: For a launch night it was really good. We added in a few little extras, like giving away free cake and free mixes. Playing with Zero T and Survival was awesome; they’re quite affiliated with the label so we’re trying to get more from them. We’ve decided not to stay at Rhythm Factory because it’s a bit out of the way, but we’ve got more events coming up.
Controvert: Finally, any last words or shout-outs?
Catharsis: I can’t go without a big up to SiFi, Lifestyle’s superstar DJ.
Controvert: Thanks, and good luck with everything!
Find out more:
www.soundcloud.com/lifestylerecordings
www.mixcloud.com/lifestylerecordings
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