When I put my hand up for my very first interview, I never thought that its introduction would be the most difficult part to compose. The reason being is that occasionally a subject is too big for words. Erase Records is one such subject. This globally established breakbeat & house label boasts a sound like no other, it is backed by the big boys of breaks whilst its ears are pressed firm against the rails, listening out for the next heavyweight hitter. The label’s strong ear for refreshing new sounds has picked up on the talents of Perth based DJ/producer Karl Sav, who is set for big things following the release of “Hang One Minute.” Erase, it seems, are all about breaking down the barriers on all fronts whilst putting pay to the myth that a breakthrough is only possible if one is residing in the UK (or any other fashionable dance music hotspot one might care to mention.) I had the pleasure of dropping Erase Records founder Stama a line to find out what the imprint is really all about.
The Erase motto is quite striking; “erase the fucking system”, what was the inspiration behind such a bold statement and how is it reflected through the label’s sound?
It’s obvious that we live a revolution the latest years, regarding the global new age and especially in the music industry! It’s unbelievably difficult, to break through and initiate new things with another ethos.
Our main purpose is to try for a new ethos to the music.
We sign new artists with passion and power , who bring another new prospect to the music.
How did it all begin and had you ever imagined that Erase would become as big as it has become?
Stama (label founder) has been djing since 1995, so he have had the feeling of the crowd at the dance floor while realised that the most of the music was hidden and unreleased. The idea of the label came up, because we had a hunch that we were able to give our stigma to the global community. Therefore, we started 4 years ago, introducing new sounds, coming from new artists and now we are really happy to see these huge support not only from great artists, but from the crowd as well, which has been always our driving force. We had never imagined that it was to be so big; we have been focused to that aim though, since the day we began.
Who have been your biggest inspirations, from those early dreams to the present day?
We have been mostly inspired from people all around the world, who push things, build constantly their own dreams and are adhered to them. And it is not necessary that these people are artists or into the electronic music scene.
What would be Erase Records’ finest hour? I can imagine there would be plenty to choose from given the achievements of the label’s extensive artist list.
We have worked so far with brilliant producers. Zimbardo & Slezak, Beauty School, Stone Lions, Jono Fernandez, Ben Camp, Tim Fretwell, Etostone, Rhythm Mechanic to name a few, who gave us amazing moments. For instance, Zimbardo & Slezak gained the 1st position at Balance Record Pool chart and the 1st position at DjDownload & Beatport chart simultaneously for about a month! In addition, the same tune was re – licensed into 4 compilations in Australia, Japan, Russia, USA.
Apart from that, most of our releases got great reviews from artists to magazines, whilst some of them were “to tunes” or “dancefloor destroyers” etc. All these led Erase to become a well – known label, which everybody knows its concept & aim. And this is the most important achievement for us. We have now already made new signs, for which we are pretty sure that we’ll achieve more.
With offices located in far flung locations including London, Athens and Tokyo, what kind of impact does Erase have on the scenes in these cities ? Is the Erase team still occasionally throwing parties in or around Athens as Stama did right at the beginning?
Our main base is in London, but we currently live in Thessaloniki, Greece and act from there as well. We go to London almost in a monthly base to work out any matter in detail, as it is our checkpoint. We have also a partner in Miami, Florida (Laki), a great guy, who helps us to spread the word and also arrange our official event for WMC. Our artists are also considered as co-partners, as they all support the label, each one the way he can. It’s great to have that kind of corporation with all these guys, cause we feel the air of the dance music scene in the different parts of the world. In Greece, we have a regular event, which takes place once a month and apart from that we play as guests to few other spots in different parts of the country. In London, we are about to start our own label night in a regular base, which will host all of our artists.
Finally, Stama and all of the label artists play as guests all over the globe.
How did you unearth the talents of our local lads Karl Sav and Jono Fernandez?
We try to reveal new talents and great music! Thats our main purpose and we never stop doing that! So we know that Australia owns the biggest talents in the music industry and we love to work with them! Jono Fernandez has won massive respect for his productions. Karl Sav is a new prominent talent, whose music has a lot to give and is already supported by the big guys. And it is already agreed that we’ll work again together and build up a permanent label – artist relationship, cause we strongly believe in his prospect.
There seems to be a distincitvely global feel to both the list of artists (which includes Perth’s very own Karl Sav,) and the tracks they produce (like Jono Fernandez’ epic “Northern Lights.”) For those who aren’t quite familiar with the Erase Records sound but would like to know more, tell us a bit about some of the other artists on the label who reside in places other than big dance countires like the U.K.?
Well, most of our producers and remixers are UK residents. To name a few, Beauty School the x – EMF guys Zimbardo and Slezak, 10 RAPID, Dom Almond and remixers like Drum Monkeys ,Force Mass Motion,Dj Hal. In addition, Lars Moston from Germany, from the duo Killergroove Formula, In Progress from Austria, Philipe De Boyar from Switzerland, DiscoScience from Tokyo, Rhythm Mechanic from USA and finally from Greece Etostone,The Scientifics, and Stama’s own project. All of our artists profiles can be found in our website: www.eraserecords.com.
The digital age is well and truly upon us. Digital labels are forming left right and centre whilst vinyl is fast becoming obsolete. How is Erase Records embracing this landmark evolution within dance music?
We have predicted this kind of situation and have built up a big network of download stores. We work with our agency in that way and we have over 30 download stores partners.
Our main partner is DjDownload with which we work in an exclusive pre-release base and we see that our sales go higher and higher. From the other hand Beatport is the other important download store we collaborate with very strong. Besides we have plenty of download stores for our releases whereas new download stores come up all the time.
What does the immediate and long term future hold for Erase Records?
We are trying to keep releasing tunes that strongly appeal to us. Our long term aim is to maintain the high level quality to our releases and to give our sound new dimensions. Our immediate plans are, to combine this effort with label events in more areas around the world. We are now preparing a USA tour and an Australian tour in the next few months.
Finally, what would be the best piece of advice you could give to anyone who has aspirations of creating an successful label with an underground and global ethos such as yours (without giving away any secrets?)
There is no secret! You have to be real and to keep focused to your aim, that’s the main point! Insistence and patience are of course the main ingredients and it’s totally sure the success will come!
“Hang One Minute” by Karl Sav is out now through Erase Records.
