Bearded FFP. A
Freshly Squeezed Music
Writer James Labous Photography Clubbers: Ian Brodie Other photography Courtesy of Freshly Squeezed Music
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Freshly Squeezed operates from Nick’s airy, high ceiling Georgian house where he lives with his wife and two small children, “(my office) is very portable” as he puts it, “I like the idea of integrating work with my life, music isn’t a serious job,” he chuckles again. “Basically, there’s me and that’s the constant thread, most small record labels and even some of the big ones are very honed down. I use different companies or freelancers to do different things like design. It’s that modern thing of not everyone working in one office, but coming together for specific projects.” Hollywood relishes the personal nature of it all, “one of the things that’s great about an independent is that its still very hands on, especially vinyl, a vinyl is still that physical medium that you touch and that you scratch and you put it on and you turn over and its got a cover… (an independent label) can be as small as a guy who produces the record in his room and puts in the back of his car to take round to the record shops.” The philosophy is a far flung from depersonalised modern corporations but ironically it is these types of organisations, including the ultimate symbol of global capitalism itself; Coca Cola, that have proved a major source of income for Freshly Squeezed. Does this compromise the integrity of his label or the artists in any way? “When I was growing up in the punk days integrity was everything and you would never, never get in to bed with any business,” Hollywood replies after some thought, his business sense evidently hardened by the reality of the modern scene. He feels that, with the growth of downloading, artists have to make their money somehow: “Bands are going to have to look to other ways of making money from their music. And that’s going to be through licensing for adverts, films... there is much less stigma attached to this now. I think it’s very unfair to point the finger at an artist and say ‘well you sold out.’” And he likes the fact that bands like New Young Pony Club have found a success as a result of advertising: “there is actually some good music that gets played in supermarkets now.” But does this new necessity to find income elsewhere mean that the term ‘sold out’ has changed? “The Voodoo Trombone Quartet is never going to be totally mainstream because it’s not fronted by Britney Spears, and it’s only got the odd vocal in it,” points out Hollywood, “A Robbie Williams album is never going to be a Robbie Williams album unless its got him on the front cover… something else that’s about the music doesn’t have people on the front.” And this is the philosophy behind Freshly Squeezed, unless the Voodoo Trombone Quartet is fronted by the monkey adorning the cover of The Phantom EP. The Eclectrik cover features the covers of all the records of the bands on the compilation, and, as a showcase of two years of Freshly Squeezed Music, these are exciting times for Hollywood: “The main thing for me is that the album is coming out… I think that it is a very interesting statement for now… the freedom of an independent is great, being able to integrate running the label into my lifestyle. I have to wear different hats, I have to spend time doing boring things like contracts, but there’s still lots of time spent listening to music or doing artwork or working on ideas, all of which is great.” We journeyed back towards the North Lanes, the Camper chugged honestly away as we talked of what might inspire bands to make music. “That’s why I put Keroac on the Lemon myspace,” says Hollywood, “You go to loads of band pages and they just list other bands as influences but it’s so much wider than that, even totally unrelated things, it all goes in.” Music is not a style, it’s an attitude, the van chug chugged in agreement. I hope you agree too.