¤ F l a m i n g F i s h R e c o r d s ¤

FROM NEWSLETTER TO LABEL!  VMU catches up with the owner and founder of Canada's based Flaming Fish Records! "Carson Pierce" Dealing with many electronic, dance, goth, synth pop and industrial artists and also holding under his belt a magazine "Automata" and online radio "Flish" He tells us briefly how it all got started!

VMU:  Hey Carson how are you doing?
CP: Awesome! Completely overworked and tired, but awesome. I'm in the middle of releasing several CDs, getting the next issue of Automata magazine out, and preparing for Cornerstone. It's a lot to do, but it's also a lot of fun.

VMU: Flaming Fish has been around for a while now could you tell us briefly how you got started?
CP: It sort of started back in about 1993. I was a Christian kid
into industrial music, so I started searching out bands that had combined the two. I dug up some info on the internet (mostly newsgroups, then) that I then turned into an e-mail newsletter documenting these bands. After a while, I thought it would be cool to see if I could get these bands some exposure so I talked R.E.X. Music into putting together an all industrial compilation. The result was Electro-Shock Therapy. About a year later I decided to go at it on my own. I created Flaming Fish Music and put together the follow-up to EST: Full Frontal Lobotomy. Things just built up from there, mostly, as I kept reinvesting all the profits into making things bigger and better.

VMU:  What are the most successful acts on your label today?
CP: Level is really popular, and Audio Paradox also has a good following. The best probably is yet to come, though, as we're starting to implement a marketing strategy that should push our next batch of bands on to the next level.

VMU:  How many submissions do you get a month?
CP: I probably get 5-10 a month. Some just aren't appropriate for Flaming Fish, but most have something good to offer. I listen to everything that comes - usually many times over. We're not so big that you have to impress me in the first song like you hear about with major labels.

VMU: What do you look for in an artist or group?
CP: First off, they have to fit in with the styles of music that we deal with: industrial, goth, synthpop, ambient, dance and experimental. And of course, we have to think it's good. On the spiritual end, we want to be reasonably sure the fundamentals of their beliefs are on track. We don't even have to agree on lyrical content, as long as it's not problematic. We don't require that the bands we work with be preachy because that may not be how that particular band is called to work; we allow our bands to reach people in their own way.

VMU:  What are some of the biggest mistakes an artist or group can do by submitting their demo?
CP: I guess the biggest mistake I see is when bands send in their stuff and it's so completely removed from anything we would ever release. Make sure you know who you're sending to before you send it. The other thing is to make sure that what you send is as good as it can be before it hits the mail. Type out your cover letter. Make the CD packaging as nice as you can. And of course, make the music as close to perfect as it can be.

VMU: Do a lot of promos get thrown away like most labels do?
CP: We never throw anything away. Almost everything that is appropriate will at least get played on our online radio show and reviewed in Automata magazine. If it's something that I can't use for whatever reason, I try to find another home for it. Like maybe another label that would be more able to do something with it at that time.

VMU:  How do you feel about the mainstream Christian and Secular market?
CP: I love the Christian market. There's a neat family feeling here that you're not going to find anywhere else. That said, I'm not sure if it's totally a good thing or not. On one hand, it's important that Christians have something uplifting to listen to within the realm of their musical preferences. I mean, I can get into to a WOW Worship CD, but I think that my worship flows much more freely for me in the context of electronic music. When it comes to living out the purpose that I believe all Christians are called to, though (i.e. bringing others to God), it seems obvious that we should really be trying to break out in the secular market instead. Has Flaming Fish done that? Not very well, but we're working on it.

VMU:  You also currently run a magazine as well "Automata" how did that come about and how is it doing?
CP: Briefly, Automata originated from a series of cassette compilations I did called Ballistic Test. That spun off into an online 'zine, which I eventually turned over to Richard Maaranen. When I decided that a print magazine would offer things that an online mag just couldn't (we always talked about the bathroom reading factor), I had to come up with a new name: Automata. By issue four it seemed like I was doing almost everything myself: all the writing, layout, artwork, etc. It was getting to be too much, so I was ready to drop it. That's when about a dozen guys stepped up to the plate to breathe new life into it. We've since gone from putting out an issue every 6-12 months to getting them out about every four months. We have a great team behind it now and I think it shows.

VMU:  I thank you for putting my last project "Seal of the Living God" on one of your free samplers for the mag.  Is it hard to find the right artists for the samplers?
CP: I thought it would be tough, especially since we've gone to doing 3-4 issues per year, but it hasn't been that bad. There are a lot of very talented bands out there and more seem to pop up for each issue. And that's with us being pretty picky about who gets on - we haven't had to lower our standards at all for this.

VMU:  Is it frustrating taking on all that music that comes in, also running Flish Online Radio?  And do you have a staff that helps you organize?
CP: Frustrating? No - not at all. I really love what I do, so everything associated with it is really a pleasure. I love getting demos. I really enjoy chatting with other fans (though I don't seem to have the time for it that I would like to). The radio show, the store, dealing with bands, going to fests - it's all just so much fun. I wouldn't trade any of it for any other job. That said, it is a lot of work. More than I could ever do on my own. Automata has a staff of about 12 now, and growing. Flaming Fish itself gets a ton of help from Ballistic Test's Richard Maaranen, as well as some others. I really couldn't do it without them.

VMU:  Thanks for your time Carson! Any last words to the Artists out there that want to break into the scene?
CP: It's tough, trying to make it in the music business. Unless you hit it big, there's very little money to be made and it's often very hard work. Do it for the love of it or don't do it all. If you have the right attitude, you'll be far more successful in the long run.

--carson
Flaming Fish Music
http://www.flamingfish.com
AUG 1 2004