TLOBF Interview: Full Time Hobby

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As Full Time Hobby celebrate their 4th Birthday this year, TLOBF scribe Simon Tylers had the opportunity to put some questions to label co-founder Nigel Adams about the past, the future and what FTH is all about.

Why did you originally start the label?
Wez and I were working for a big independent label, Mushroom Records (I was directly working on Infectious as part of that). The label was being bought out by Warners and neither of us were keen on the idea of working with a major label system plus we both felt it was time to do something ourselves.

What is the label’s ethos?
Primarily working with music we really love.

How do you pinpoint potential signings?
They come from lots of different sources. We have an A&R scout constantly bringing in new music for us to hear but a lot of music comes from varied sources such as the PR companies we work with, agents, word of mouth from labels or managers we know in the US. Most of the time is a tip from someone we know and respect.

There doesn’t seem to be such a thing as a typical Full Time Hobby band. Is there anything, apart from them being any good, that you look for the artists to do for you?
Specifically it has to be music that really moves us and that’s not really restricted to any particular genre. As a broad term I suppose you could call it eclectic independent music, terms like ‘alternative’ and ‘indie’ are so devoid of meaning nowadays. It really is limited by what music we love and as we have fairly broad tastes that could be folk, indie pop, electronica, instrumental hip hop, experimental rock etc etc

Is there anyone notable that you’re willing to admit you passed up on?
Not really, no one we regret not having worked with at least.

Is there an album or an artist that you wished you HAD passed on?!?
Not at all.

If push came to shove, what would be the best thing you’ve done to date?
I’d hate to pick one artist over another as we truly enjoy working with them all, so maybe I’d say the Dream Brother compilation? It took a long time to put together but we were really pleased with the end results and we ended up working with Tunng and Micah P Hinson as a direct result of that.

Does it have an effect on the label when something like the Hold Steady critically take off?
Certainly, it can only be a good thing as the label’s profile raises and that helps all the bands we work with.

How do you now view Radio 1 picking up on Malcolm Middleton’s We’re All Going To Die and touted it as a potential Christmas number one? It seemed, from this distance, to be taken out of your and Malcolm’s hands somewhat.
The idea for Malcolm to go for a Christmas number 1 came up in a casual chat with him last Autumn and once the idea got out there it quickly propagated, mainly due to the wholehearted embrace of the song by Colin Murray on Radio 1. It definitely took on a life of it’s own but I don’t think that was a bad thing at all, it got a lot more coverage for Malcolm for a song that was on his album anyway and made a few valid points, about the meaning of Christmas, the vacuity of the current charts and also Malcolm questioning existentialism. Not bad for a three minute indie pop song.

How do you see the current state of the industry?
It’s in a massive state of flux but great music continues to be made and will be listened to. Record labels are having to diversify and run much tighter operations but there are ways to still get by. I’m not sure about the widely touted subscription model for the future of the industry though.

The title of ‘Not Doing It For The Quids’ is a Creation Records reference – is that the sort of status you can see Full Time Hobby achieving?
Yes, definitely. Creation in it’s early days had a massive impact on me as a music fan, as did Sub Pop and what I learned about the early days of Elektra. The idea of gathering together all these great musicians and helping them find a platform to get their music heard always appealed to me, and those labels that did that in different ways or against the odds were particularly appealing.

Who’d be your three current dream signings?
Very hard to say – from the past? My Bloody Valentine, Love, Mark Lanegan when he started out solo off the top of my head but there are a lot of others.

Which new bands are you most excited about?
We’ve just signed a new band from New York called School Of Seven Bells. It all happened suddenly about a month ago and so it’s just sinking in that we’re lucky enough to be working with them.

What’s coming up for the label?
We’ll have lots of new albums next year by artists already signed to the label. Tunng are starting work on their fourth album (third for us) that will see the light of day in August. Malcolm Middleton will have a new album out May time, as will White Denim. There’ll be plenty more but that’s enough to be getting on with for now.

Full Time Hobby website