husband&wife

Mike Adams is 30 albums into the dream of running his own record label, Crossroads of America Records (XRA). He’s also releasing a new album from his fantastic band, husband&wife. The combination of artist and entrepreneur makes Adams a rare bird in the industry — a creative type with the administrative thought process and incredible work ethic. And given our digital environment, Adams is one taking full advantage of the opportunity.

With Proud Flesh on the Upcoming Releases shelf, it was time once again to sit down with Adams and hear the story behind his label’s continued success and his own artistic endeavors. Here he dives into the artists who have surprised him and how he hopes people still pick up on the beauty of his last release, Dark Dark Woods.

SSv: I’d love to go back a bit and ask about the Laminar Excursion Monthly subscriptions. How did that go and are there plans for future endeavors along that same vein?

Mike Adams: LEM has been great! It’s a little strange to think that it’s almost over, actually. It’s been just over a year since we hatched the idea and started getting in touch with all of the artists. Everything got going so quickly that I haven’t had much of a chance to reflect on it too much. I guess there’ll be time for that after it’s over. It’ll be nice to get a chance to listen to each submission leisurely rather than in a panic trying to make sure they come out on time! We’re still waiting on a few submissions actually, so I’ll probably rest easier when those come in.

As far as doing it again goes, I’d love to come up with a similar subscription-style release we could do, though I’d want to do it a little differently. Just for the sake of keeping things fresh, you know. It’ll be good to have 2011 off, as far as LEM in concerned, so we can try to come up with and plan for something else. Maybe something on vinyl this time around? We’ve tossed some ideas around, but nothing in stone yet. Who knows, we’ll see!

SSv: I want to head back to Dark Dark Woods. Did that album become and accomplish what you hoped it would be after everything was said and done?

Mike: Sure, in some ways. I guess with any artwork or hobby/job situation like we’re in there are a lot of layers associated with a question like that. Going in to that record we had all of those songs, plus about two-thirds of the Proud Flesh songs ready to go. So, our plan was to record the sort of mellow set, Dark Dark Woods, which had a little more in common with our previous work, before we tackled the more aggressive stuff, which became Proud Flesh. We also wanted to try recording a record where we did most of the main tracking live. We did that for Woods and Proud Flesh. In that way, artistically, we definitely accomplished our goal! Though that’s about as simple and finite as it gets.

It has felt a little bit like we didn’t really give Dark Dark Woods the fair shake it deserved, from a strategic perspective. We only really did about one and a half tours after it came out and we started working on Proud Flesh right away. We probably could have spent some more time pushing those songs and trying to get them noticed, but we had to start working on the Proud Flesh songs right away because we wanted to turn it around quickly. Also, once Will decided he was leaving the band we had a more concrete timeline to deal with, which I think really served Proud Flesh, but maybe inadvertently stole some thunder away from Dark Dark Woods.

It’ll be nice to hit the road once Proud Flesh is released so we can kind of play the “greatest hits” from both albums and try to tie them together for folks. In our minds, these albums totally belong together. Same-coin kind of deal. I wonder if that is something people who hear them will latch on to?

I guess to actually answer your question, I don’t feel like it’s quite “said and done” with DDW. It’s like we have the complete set now with Dark Dark Woods and Proud Flesh and we’ll see how it goes from here.

SSv: “When you say the songs go together, what do you mean tangibly? Or what connects them in your mind?”

Mike: A lot of these songs were written around the same time. There are definitely some songs on Proud Flesh that predate songs on Dark Dark Woods. I think most of these songs kind of share the same space in my mind, when it comes to songwriting. They aren’t concept albums or anything like that, so lyrically each song is an island, but I think thematically there’s a common thread between both albums. I think all 20 of these songs represent a particular time and place we were in in life while we were writing them. Kind of a snapshot of what was going on with us from say, 2007-2010.

It also feels like, now that Proud Flesh is wrapped up, that a chapter is sort of closed for us. We’ve been living with these songs for a long time, and whatever we do next, I think, is going to feel very separate from these two albums. Also, whatever we do next, we’ll be doing without Will. Between Operation:Surgery and Dark Dark Woods we all got really comfortable writing together and bouncing ideas off one another. Especially on Proud Flesh, but also on Dark Dark Woods, Will’s personality really comes through in a lot of what’s going on in those songs.

We also recorded those albums in a similar way, and both in Bloomington (though, at different studios). So, there are a lot of circumstantial things tying these albums together for us, but I think because of the way we approach art, and the way we write songs, those connections comes through.

SSv: So what do you do as Will leaves?

Mike: Well, the sky’s the limit, really. Right now we have a good friend who is going to be touring with us on drums while we work on promoting the new record a bit. We’ve actually got quite a few tours happening in the next several months, so hopefully that’ll take a good chunk of our time. In the mean time, we’ll also work on writing and recording demos of new songs until a clear direction emerges and we decide what kind of record we want to make next. There are a few other ideas floating around right now that we might be able to work on simultaneously, too. So, time will tell, but the plan now is just to keep moving forward and see what kinds of ideas we can develop and bring to life.

SSv: Can you talk about Will’s exit? Where is he going and how is the split?

Mike: We actually haven’t been talking publicly about it much, mostly because we wanted to wait until the time was right, and also because we have been trying not to focus on it too much so we can get everything finished for Proud Flesh. Will has been working for an after school program here in Bloomington for several years now. At the beginning of this year we all sat down to get a plan in order for the album release and the next year or so’s worth of touring. The consensus with all four of us was that we wanted to, and felt like we needed to, be touring quite a bit more than we had been.

The difference was, Will didn’t feel like he could commit to that much time away. His job and those kids were too much of a priority for him to be away that much, and I think he wanted to be able to spend more leisure time at home with his wife. So, in a way, Will kind of took one for the team and decided to step back after the release of Proud Flesh so we could hit the road and keep trying to grow this thing. It’s definitely going to be a serious change, but it’s all for the best and everyone was in on the decision. Will is still going to be a big part of everything that’s going on at XRA.

SSv: Speaking of XRA, what are the directions there in the next year you’re looking at heading toward?

Mike: Man, everything with XRA is super exciting right now! Proud Flesh will be our 30th release. We just had our 3rd XRAfest two weeks ago, and it was incredible. Some many people came out to support the label and support the artists we’re working with. It was such a fantastic and encouraging weekend. I can’t remember when I’ve had that much fun. Night two got pretty wild!

As for future plans, we’re still trying to land a decent distribution deal so our stuff will be more widely available. For now, we’ve got some limited distro relationships, and everything is just available from us directly. It’d be nice for that to change! Aside from that, we’re really excited about introducing ourselves to folks around us, especially in Indiana, who don’t know about what we’re doing.

We’re really happy and excited about what all of our artists are up to lately, and we’d love for that feeling to catch on a little bit. I think there are a lot of people in Indiana who are interested in music, especially music that is made by their peers and speaks directly to and about them, but just don’t realize that we’re here.  We’ve got new music from husband&wife, Alexander the Great, Bro. Stephen and Frank Schweikhardt coming for the end of 2010 and through next year. It’s all great stuff, and we’re really excited about it.

SSv: Wow, 30 releases. That’s really fantastic! Congratulations on that, by the way! In those 30 releases, what’s been the most surprising of the bunch when it came to the response to it?

Mike: Thanks! Yeah, 30 releases. It’s kind of surreal! It’s hard to pinpoint one record as being the most surprising, because it seems like with every release something always comes up that we weren’t expecting, and it’s always a nice reminder that if you like what you’re doing, there’re probably a bunch of other folks out there who will like it, too.

I guess if I had to pick one, I’d say Metavari‘s full-length Be One Of Us and Hear No Noise gave me the biggest shock. Not that people were into it, it’s a great record and we expected a lot of people to love it as much as we did, but we sold a lot more copies initially of that one than we were really expecting. The MAPS record had done well for us before that, and that was our first attempt at an instrumental “post-rock” kinda thing, so we knew that people wanted that kind of music, but Metavari appeals to so many people for so many different reasons that it caught us off guard when that one was released. It seems like hardcore fans of that style of music are a lot more willing to spend a little cash on something they’re into. It’s very cool.

Aside from that, i think another big surprise was after Frank Schweikhardt’s contribution to the LEM series was released, one of the subscribers in Sweden went nuts for him and wrote me wanting to buy everything Frank had ever recorded, ever! He said Frank’s music was a “revelation” for him! What a massive compliment! And, what a reassuring, encouraging thing to realize that someone is being affected by the music my friends have made, and I get to be a part of, in the same way that my favorite albums and artists have affected me. It’s crazy, and humbling, and one of the best feelings in the world.

SSv: I’d love to give you a chance to promote your upcoming releases.

Mike: We just released the new Rodeo Ruby Love album, This Is Why We Don’t Have Nice Things, and we’re still very excited about that music and what those guys have going on. They recorded it in Indianapolis and then had it mixed by Ed Rose [Get Up Kids, Appleseed Cast, Kill Creek]. It’s catchy, upbeat, fun music and the reviews have been great so far. They just finished up a three-month U.S. tour.

husband&wife’s new record Proud Flesh is coming out in a couple of weeks, and we couldn’t be happier about it. It’s definitely the most aggressive h+w album yet, but the hooks and Midwestern sensibilities are still in tact.

Beyond that, we just released the vinyl version of Doug Burr’s new album, O Ye Devastator. It’s a great piece of dark, melodic Americana. There are two new 7″s coming really soon from Alexander the Great and Bro. Stephen, and Frank Schweikhardt is getting prepared to record the follow up to Life But No More, which we’re really excited to hear. It’s going to be another great year for us.