BURGER RECORDS INTERVIEW & PhotoGRAPHy by Kyle Thomas
One night in the winter of 2009, in the middle of band practice, I received a phone call from Burger Records. I’d never heard of the label before and my band mates were really pissed at me for picking up the phone in the middle of a song. Whatever. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was a life changing phone call. They wanted to put out my album, King Tuff Was Dead on cassette. Seemed like it couldn’t hurt so I said, “Fuck yes, do it.” I didn’t end up meeting them in person until about a year later, at SXSW. I was instantly charmed by their good looks and enthusiasm, and I felt my world opening up. Here were all these cartoonish rock n roll characters from California, with goofy smiles and cassette tapes spilling out of every pocket. The two masterminds appeared to be Sean Bohrman, a long blonde blue-eyed beauty of a man, and Lee Rickard, whom I’ve described more than once as a perfect piece of spaghetti. These were my kind of dudes. Nowadays you can’t throw a rock without hitting someone wearing one of those big ass Burger Records buttons proclaiming anything from “I’m A Burger Babe” to “I’m A Burger Punk” or “Fuck Burger Records”. Their positive energy, compassion, creativity, and prolific work ethic is something to be admired, releasing hundreds of cassettes a year with no sense of stopping any time soon. Burger Records is truly a family and I’m extremely thankful to be a part of it. Thank God I picked up my phone in the middle of stupid band practice. Kyle Thomas: To start things off in a normal interview kinda way, can you give me a quick backstory of Burger? Lee Rickard: Well I recently put on a normal pair of pants cuz my backstory was falling out. (laughter) But as far Burger, in the 2000s we started writing Burger productions and Burger Inc. on everything and eventually we started Burger Records. Our first release was a single for our own band, Thee Makeout Party, in 2007. We just thought, you know, The Beach Boys had Brother Records, the Beatles had Apple, and the Kinks had Konk, and we were Burger Boys till the day we die so we started Burger Records. Sean Bohrman: And for our second release we did the Audacity LP. (Audacity are a local band that Burger started working with when they were still in high school.) KT: How many releases are you at now? SB: We are at #255 right now. KT: How many did you release last year? SB: About 100. This year we’ll probably do 200. KT: BOOYAH. LR: Burger believe it. SB: This month alone we’ve released 20 tapes and two LPs.
KT: Insane. Why do you guys think foods like burgers, pizza, ice cream, etc. play such a prominent role in the rock ‘n’ roll scene of today? LR: ‘Cuz it’s like simple food for simple people, I mean it’s like handheld... SB: ...and it’s FUN. Rock ‘n’ roll is fun and those are fun foods. They taste good and... LR: ...and you can still rock out while you’re holding them! SB: And when you have a party you eat pizza and ice cream and... LR: SWEET STUFF. For dessert. And the good stuff for dinnertime. SB: And no vegetables. KT: Oh yeah do you hate vegetables? SB: Vegetables are not rock ‘n’ roll. KT: TRUE. You two are definitely a dynamic duo, kind of a yin and yang. Can you describe the roles each of you play in the business? LR: Ike and Tina baby. SB: I deal with the internet, all the multi media, emailing, talking on the phone to business people... LR: The tangled web of the inter-land. And I’m like the freak on the streets, the cosmic mind wanderer...
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