Six years after Kevin Douch founded Big Scary Monsters, the Oxford-based label has established itself as a minor fixture in the industry. Set up when he was a bored 6th former who, like so many others, thought “Wouldn’t it be cool to work in music?”, it gave Get.Cape.Wear.Cape.Fly his first break. It is now home to somewhat more obscure acts, the likes of Surrey post-hardcore band, Meet Me in St Louis and Kent post-rockers, Yndi Halda. Even so, Douch is unsure that his label is taken seriously: “Then again, who would with a name like Big Scary Monsters?”
Even so, the one-man label would like to think BSM could be a legitimate long-term home for bands on the rise. “I hope that the label won’t always be perceived as a stepping stone”, he explains, “Obviously the bands gaining the recognition they deserve is the main goal here, but if they can achieve that whilst with BSM then even better”.
Passion for the music is what drives Douch in his work. “I often get offered bands which I can see going on to sell a lot of records, but if I don’t like them I just can’t do it”. His current crop certainly piques his interest, Meet Me in St Louis a particular tip. “I think next year could be a good one for them: it’s so nice to see people singing along at gigs and leaving lovely comments on their myspace page”.
That sort of community spirit is at the heart of Douch’s vision for the independent label in the MP3 age, “something which might stand a chance of outliving the current record label mould”. Not that Douch knows, any more than the rest of us, what the future holds for the industry. Big Scary Monsters may never attain the prestige, or profits, of indies like Rough Trade or Domino Records. However, along with various other cottage industries across the country, and the world, it provides an invaluable service, supplying niche music tastes with the personal touch so lacking in the faceless multinationals that dominate the industry. In a time of great uncertainty for the music business, that might just be enough.
For more information, visit www.bsmrocks.com
OxTales: Robin Whelan meets the founder of Oxford label Big Scary Monsters
