It
all began in the fall of 1995. Our band, Pirate
Jenny, had gone into Slaughterhouse Recording Studio in Amherst, Massachusetts
(yes, it's actually located in an old Slaughterhouse...) to record three
songs with engineer, Mark A. Miller. With these songs, Pirate Jenny planned
to release a 7" record and a 3-song demo tape. It was only after the
recordings were finished and we had begun planning for the production of
the record and the design of the artwork that the idea of starting a label
came to us. By the end of that same afternoon, we had chosen a name, designed
a logo and we were on our way. Starting Red Hot gave us the outlet we were
looking for to reach out to the local music community. Our main goal at
Red Hot Records is to encourage interest and participation in the Northampton
area music scene and to support local bands in their endeavors to reach
an audience with their music.
The
first Red Hot Records release, REDHOT 001, was the self-titled Pirate Jenny
7" record ("Conversation X"/ "Folly"). It was released
simultaneously with REDHOT 002, the Pirate Jenny 3-song cassette ("Conversation
X"/ "Folly"/ "My Family"). The cassette has different
artwork and a bonus track. One thing we realized early on was the universality
of the cassette format. Almost everyone has access to a tape player. Also,
by using this format, we could do everything ourselves ... which is what
we wanted. We celebrated this dual release on December 7, 1995 in Red Hot's
hometown of Northampton, Mass. at the Fire and Water Cafe, a free and all-ages
performance space. Thus, our own band, Pirate Jenny, became the first on
the Red Hot roster.
At
this point, plans for the next project were well underway. We wanted to
get the label involved in the local music community as soon as possible
and REDHOT 003 promised to do that in the form of a compilation cassette.
Twelve Northampton area bands (including our own) were chosen to participate.
We decided that we wanted all the bands recorded live and in a common space,
so a two day recording session was set up for the weekend of December 16th
and 17th, to be held in our living room. This plan aleviated the problems
that arise in compiling songs of varied recording quality. We didn't have
to put one band's homemade 4-track mix next to another band's professional
24-track recording. It also eliminated the need for bands to pay their recording
costs. Instead, we rented a PA and a few good microphones, borrowed a DAT
machine, and recorded all twelve bands ourselves with the help of our friend/bandmate,
Jon Carisi.
This project was later dubbed Live in the Living Room, a suggestion made by Caleb Wetmore of the band, The Mitchells. The bands included in the project were: The Ray Mason Band, Encyclopedia Brown, Pirate Jenny, The Mitchells, Diana Davies, Tizzy, New Radiant Storm King, Pangloss, Ribboncandy, The Maggies, Hair Volume and Stringbean. The bands were scheduled to come every two hours from 10am to 8pm. Each band had two hours to load in, set up, play their song a few times, pack up and load out, so there was room for the next band to come in. It turned out to be a blast! People hung out before and after their sessions and we took lots of pictures.
The release party for Live in the Living Room was held on February 17, 1996 at the Grotto in Northampton (which is sadly no longer a rock club). The eight-band show sold out by 10pm and optimism ran high all night. Mal Thursday DJ'd local music in between bands. All in all, Live in the Living Room gave us a great taste for group projects, which there will definitely be more of in Red Hot's future.
For
REDHOT 004, we asked local artist, Diana
Davies (who had already contributed her "Who Were You Nancy"
track to the Live in the Living Room compilation), to let us put out six
of her songs on a cassette EP. For years, Diana has been an avid supporter
of local musicians, and many of us have benefitted from her constant documentation
of the "goings on" in the music community. We felt it was time
to turn the spotlight towards Diana.
Twelve O'Clock Girl in a Nine O'Clock Town (as the cassette was later named), includes the tracks: "Lives to Remember", "The Only News", "One Day in the City", "Ghost Town", "Who Were You Nancy" and "Blind Pig". We recorded the songs live in Diana's friend's garage on a 2-track cassette recorder. We wanted to keep it as simple as possible. We set up two microphones in the garage with Diana, her guitar and her amp. On the nights of Sep. 15, Sep.25, Oct.2 and Oct. 5 of 1996, we met Diana at our makeshift recording studio on Graves Ave. in Northampton and recorded. From these sessions we chose our favorite takes of each song. The result is awesome. When you listen to the tape, you could be right there in the garage with us.
On Dec. 12, 1996 , Red Hot put on a big ten-band show featuring Diana Davies to celebrate the release of Twelve O'Clock Girl in a Nine O'Clock Town. It was once again held at the Fire and Water Cafe because of their all-ages access and "no cover" policy. December is always a festive month in Northampton, and it turned out to be a wonderful night with plenty of geat bands, great songs and great people.
