Issue 9: Alex Forde of Blaggers Records
Welcome to The Band Bible! I’m truly glad to have you here. If you’re a new reader, purpose of this newsletter is to address, break down, and shine a light on the business of being in a band. Each issue, we do this by interviewing (and celebrating!) someone who is making waves through their incredible work with or for independent artists. Learning the business of being in a band is something that is often inaccessible or shrouded in mystery, and it shouldn’t be, so I hope The Band Bible is able to play even a small role in helping to change that.
For the final issue of 2022, we’re delighted to be spotlighting Blaggers Records. The independent label, which was founded by Alex Forde, is ran “by misfits, for misfits” — and truly, no tagline could be cooler. There’s a difference between merely signing and truly supporting emerging artists, and it’s clear that Blaggers Records does the latter. The language used on their website is that of a business who genuinely cares about sinking their teeth into the development process of new talent, and giving them as much opportunity for growth as possible. It’s refreshing to come across a label that so clearly leads with love. How palpable that sense of love is is something that makes Blaggers Records not only feel special and unique, but like a necessary example of the type of leadership our industry needs to become more strong and fair.
On that note, without further ado, the interview with Alex is below.
What's the story behind the founding of Blaggers Records?
Having been in a band in the 90's called Choke, I'd had a little taste of the music business side as an artist trying to get validated via a brief dalliance with EMI and a European label called Dynamac (or something like that) however that didn't last too long, which then ended up with the band breaking up, I missed all the festival and back stage shenanigans so I had this idea to start a fictious label to enable me to continue blagging my way into gigs, festivals and back stages. That idea lasted all of about 30 mins, but what it did do is plant a seed that would take about another 10 or so years to grow and it also gave me the name 'Blaggers Records'.
After the band split up late 90's it wasn't until about 2009 when I moved to Mexico via my day job (super exciting IT Management) that I reconnected with music again, I started a band (Monkey Punch) with 4 other Alex's (yes its true) and started getting into playing and recording music again, then about 2013 I moved to India, again via the day job and carried on playing and recording, this time in a band called BOM, then by the time I got back to the UK in about 2016/17 I had amassed lots of instruments and studio/recording kit, so with that I hired a studio space in Mile End (Far Out Studios) and Blaggers Studio was started, which soon turned into Blaggers Records when I first found, recorded and released The Garage Flowers first single, then went onto work with JW Paris and from there we have released tracks from Zach Skinner, Skinner Brothers, Ali MacQUEEN, Morning Tourist, Longy & the Gospel Trash, Tom Ormandy, The Dirty English, the Kecks, Cliche Cult, Strange Days, LA Night Walkers and Ben Drake.
To give some background on how we operate....
We don't really have anyone 'on' the label per se, we just work with artists and releases that we like, some for longer than others.
Sadly the label isn't in a financial position to 'sign' bands to a long term contract and provide them advances etc, we work on a single by single, EP by EP or album by album arrangement.
In case anyone was wondering what being with Blaggers really means.
One of my favorite lines on the Blaggers Records website is "A label ran by misfits to champion the misfits of new music" because I think it's such an exciting insight into the label's ethos, and I'd love to hear more about how that ethos came to take shape.
I think I've covered part of the answer in the background to how the label started, but to expand a little, each of us who have or who are still working and developing the label has in some way shape or form, been a creator of music, tried to (and some still trying) to make their own mark on the music scene and industry and as such we want to help like-minded artists and share our experience, network and energy to promote new and different artists and music..... and we are all a bunch of misfits to boot.
In your experience, what has been the rose and thorn of being a business owner so far?
The rose is being exposed to new artists and music and the thorn is the lack of income from music.
In your opinion, what should artists be most mindful of when approaching a label?
Listen to who else is on the label, does your sound fit, also what is it you want / need from the label ie how do you think they can help you.
Lastly, which "commandment" would you like to leave behind in The Band Bible?
Never underestimate how focussed and hungry you have to be to succeed and stay successful.
If there was room for another....
Never forget your audience, know who they are, spend a lot of time with them live and a sensible amount of time online (you can tell I'm not a social media person).
A huge thank you to Alex for taking the time to be interviewed and to share such thoughtful answers. Click here, here, and here to follow Blaggers Records on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram respectively.
Also, as this is the final issue of The Band Bible for the year (fret not, the January issue is already all planned out), I’d like to take a moment to thank Teri Woods, Anna Jackson, Dom d’Entrecasteaux, Ollie, Carmela Carr, Alex Kish, and Reece Ritchie for comprising the remainder of the first batch of The Band Bible interviewees. This newsletter wouldn’t exist without people being willing to take the time to share their thoughts and experiences, and I’m so grateful to each of you for doing so.
An additional thank you to all of The Band Bible readers and subscribers. I’m glad you’re here, and you mean more than you know.
In terms of announcements on the Carnival of Oddities end, tickets to our first-ever showcase featuring The Flitz, Slender Pins, SULK, and Caution Elderly People are now on sale. If you’re in or around London, consider yourself cordially invited.
With happiness and hedonism,
Lindsay Teske