First could you tell something about yourself?

My name’s Kev and I run Big Scary Monsters Records. It’s a UK label based in Oxford, where I run it from my bedroom because I can’t afford a proper office!

How long are you running now Big Scary Monsters?

I started the label a bit over 5 years ago now, but have only been doing it properly for about 3.

How did it all got started? Why did you want to start a label?

I was writing for a couple of zines but wanted to try something new. My friend had just started a label so I helped him out with that a bit. After awhile he stopped doing anything and I was running it on my own. It was called Big Scary Monsters and that was it really.

How many people are running the label, only you or are there also other people involved?

It’s just me

You are going to release a compilation of Swedish music Svenskt, could you give a little introduction about this, is there a story behind? How do you think about the compilation now it is finished and almost released?

Basically myself and my friend Rik thought about releasing the compilation before, but wasn’t sure it was the right time. Then a few months ago the idea came up again and this time we thought we’d give it a go. We made a list of bands we wanted on there, got in touch with them and that was it really. I’m really happy with it now it’s complete. It’s a great CD with so many amazing bands on it. My girlfriend, Gemma, did the artwork and that looks really good too.

Why a compilation of Swedish music?  

There are so many amazing Swedish bands I just thought that people in the UK (and other countries in Europe) needed to hear more of them

How did you end up finding all the songs and bands for the Svenskt compilation? Was it easy and how did you get to know those bands?

Some of them we already knew (like Jeniferever and The Sound OE), some of them were recommended to us by friends, and others we just found through Myspace etc.

We found you on MySpace, how important is MySpace for you, Svenskt and for BSM?

I think Myspace is great for promoting bands, labels and releases. It helped us to find and contact some of the bands and I’ve used it a lot for advertising the release. I’m also keeping a blog on there which details the whole story of Svenskt, including our recent trip to Stockholm to promote the CD. www.myspace.com/svenskt

Are there other great sites like MySpace you are using?

I’ve got some videos up on You Tube but apart from that, no. Myspace is pretty much the only website like that which I use. I have an account on Last.fm too but haven’t had a chance to look at that properly yet. Looks like it could be good though, both for promoting my music and finding new stuff

Swedish (indie) music is so hot at the moment why do you think it grows in popularity so fast?

I don’t know, but it’s really catching on quickly. In the UK Swedish music seems to have become quite a cool thing, with bands like Love Is All and I’m From Barcelona beginning to get some attention. A lot of English bands try too hard to sound like their influences, rather than trying to find their own sound. This doesn’t seem to be such a problem in Sweden

What’s you favourite Swedish band at the moment, and you favourite non Swedish?

I love so many Swedish bands at the moment but my favourites are probably The Sound OE (www.myspace.com/thesoundoe) and Traktor (www.myspace.com/traktorbiz) – Both of which are on Svenskt. I don’t know about my favourite non-Swedish band. I’ve been listening to Richard Walters a lot. He’s a solo artist from Oxford who will be releasing a new EP on Big Scary Monsters in the new year.

What can we expect in the future from Big Scary Monsters Records?

There’s the debut EP from Yndi Halda (www.myspace.com/yndihalda), the Richard Walters (www.myspace.com/richardwalters) EP, as I mentioned above, and then new albums from Meet Me In St Louis (www.myspace.com/meetmeinstlouis), Jairus (www.myspace.com/jairus) and a bit later in the year from Secondsmile (www.myspace.com/secondsmile) and Itch (www.myspace.com/itch) too. Maybe another compilation of foreign bands too, who knows?


Thank you for you cooperation, we hope to hear more from Big Scary Monsters Records in the future!

Thanks very much

Kev

More information:
  http://www.bsmrocks.com