JSZ:
What's your name and the
name of the label you run?
Craig:
My name is Craig. I
do Sinister Label.
JSZ:
Give me a little history
about the label. How long
its been around, why it
was created, and any other
fun stuff you'd like to
throw in.
Craig:
Sinister has been around
since 1997. It
started as a outlet for me
to work within punk rock
because I could play an
instrument and wanted to
be involved. A big thing
with us is to help and
work with friends. Since
the inception, two of my
good friends have gotten
involved- Tim Stafford and
Mike Bachta. I
always had an idea of what
punk rock should be or an
impression from going to
shows and what not. We try
and set a precedent in
working with bands guiding
them and giving advice and
having an extremely fair
business
relationship.
Everything is out in the
open. We do not
believe that you can put a
price on creativity or
talent when it has to do
with someone’s artistic
ability.
JSZ:
What's the most stressful
part about being a record
label owner? The
most rewarding, and the
most interesting things
you've come across.
Craig:
Most stressful? Not
many stressful things
going on in Camp Sinister.
Just usually waiting on
art is the extent of
that. We had a
problem with the Arise
comp that took forever to
remedy. Since I know
only a bit about the
technicalities of
illustration programs, I
just take a back seat and
let the people who I put
my faith in finish it and
get it done in a timely
manner. Other than that I’m
pretty laid back.
JSZ:
What distribution
company(s) do you work
through?
Craig:
We just started Red Line
Distribution (www.redlinedistribution.com).
That is eight Chicago
labels working on a common
goal, more distribution
and better
promotion. We work
with other distributors
and stores. A few of
the distributors include
Revelation, Choke,
Lumberjack, Stick Figure,
Ebullition, some Japanese
distro’s, etc.
JSZ:
Lets talk releases...
current, future, comps,
favorite, most
prolonged... etc.
Craig:
Right now we have two
awesome releases- Division
and Spitalfield's
full lengths. Both
of these bands amaze
me. Divison’s
record sounds
unbelievable! We
have two releases coming
up in March- Logan's
Loss and Frontside/*tomsawyer
10 song split CD.
The Logan's
Loss stuff is by
far the best recording and
songs they’ve ever
done. They are
maturing into quite a good
band! The Loss rocks
a straight up punk
sound. The Frontside/*tomsawyer
record turned out great
with cover art by Tim
Biedron from Deluxe
Tattoo. Frontside
plays pretty tech hardcore
and *tomsawyer
has a small
brown bike feel to
them. The release I’m
probably most stoked on is
the Spitalfield
CD EP that will be coming
out in May, as well as
Frontside's new
full length. Do
yourself a favor and go
see Spitalfield,
the most amazing live band
I’ve seen in a
while. Way into the
future, were doing Arise
2k2 featuring bands like Spitalfield,
Rise
Against, *tomsawyer,
Miasis,
He
Who Corrupts + more
of your favorite or not
too favorite Chicago
bands.
JSZ:
How did you get interested
in the thought of starting
a record label?
Craig: I
wanted to be involved and
I couldn’t play
anything. My friends
had bands and wanted to
put records out, so I said…
lets do this! Ha! No, for
real, I wanted to take a
proactive part in the punk
rock scene.
JSZ:
Any interesting band news?
Craig:
All the sinister bands
will be touring this
summer, *tomsawyer
is going out for 40 days, Frontside
is going out for four
weeks, spitalfield
will be out for 3-5 weeks
and Logan's
Loss will be headed
out again this year.
JSZ:
Now it's time to say
goodbye. Any contact
info you'd like to leave?
i.e. address, email,
website? Thanks a
ton.
Craig:
Drop us an email Craig@Sinisterlabel.com
or check out the website
www.sinisterlabel.com
