ERINBURKETT

TALKS ABOUT THE FAT WRECK CHORDS FAMILY AND 25 YEARS

J.B: Hey I’m sitting here with the lovely Erin Burkett. How’s it going?ERIN: Not bad, how are you?J.B: A little tired. I think the Fat Wreck Chords pre Party took a toll on me last night! Fat Wreck Chords has been around for twenty five amazing years. During that process when it first started off with Mike touring with NOFX and getting the label name out there do you think it would have been different if he didn’t tour so much with the exposure?ERIN: I think one of the reasons why we are so successful is because of Mike being in NOFX and running a label ob-viously he was exposed to a lot of talent obviously while he was touring and lot of the bands were opening for NOFX and that’s where he discovered them. And also I feel because he’s in a band he has a perspective to see things from the

“WE ARE DOING SOMETHING RIGHT AND THAT MAKES ME PROUD”band perspective and also from the label perspective, and I think that’s really helpful being on both sides - we always understand how something’s going to make our band’s feel and I think that’s really been helpful to us.J.B: And that’s the Moto you guys have one record one year do what you want and free to go where you want from there right?ERIN: Yeah absolutely and I think that’s a better model for the record industry in general, it really should be that way. I mean, I want bands to put out on Fat because they want to be on Fat Wreck Chords not because they signed a piece of paper that says they have to be on Fat Wreck Chords. So I think it means a lot when bands like Lagwagon have put out and stayed for their entire career and continue to stay with us. That means a lot, that means we are doing some-thing right and it makes me proud.J.B: Yeah same as Strung Out?ERIN: Yeah!J.B: When you guys first started it was probably a lot of stress and working it and making it out of your apartment at the time and then you had to expand and now it’s a little bit different you got it in different areas like here in Canada and Europe.ERIN: Yeah we actually did have a European Office it was through Destiny

booking agency that most bands use so we actually did hire a couple of people and then mid to late nineties during that explosion and there was that good ten year period where punk just sort of exploded and it was sort of a really big time for us and we sort of had a Canadian office here with Mela-nie Kaye and then we had two people I believe working out of Germany. But you know the music industry sort of goes in waves and in cycles and it ebbs and flows, so when everything kind of blew up when the digital rev-olution happened you know that was huge to the music industry and at that point we had to downsize a little bit so those offices got cut. Actually at one point we actually had an Australian office as well, well not specifically an office but we had somebody working for us over there.

J.B: Also you had little side projects and affiliations like Honest Dons and I believe Red Scare Industries is a common thing. So that’s one of the questions I had was how do you sustain as an independent label with the industry and the onslaught of the internet and social media and downloading?ERIN: I think you know you have to sort of reinvent yourself, you know and figure out new ways. A lot of bands now make a lot more as bands touring then they do off of their album sales. Obviously we still do very well and our bands are very successful but you know it’s not the nineties any more. So I think for a lot of our bands they have to tour a lot more in order to make the same amount of money that they used to, and you know you sort of find ways of creating packages that people are interested in. You know we do a lot of limited edition colored vinyl to keep it interesting and people interested in it and the record collectors want stuff like that so it works.J.B: Was there ever a point along the way that you went “Holy Shit” this is really happening right now?ERIN: I had that with the Descendents because fifteen year old me was like I can’t believe we are going to put out a Descendents record and that to me was like the Holy Grail and I actually couldn’t believe it. I was like ‘I can’t believe they want to be on Fat’, because when that happened I was like ‘wow we must

“THEY’RE NOT A COMMODITY TO US THEY’RE FAMILY”

really be doing something right’. J.B: (Did Descendents put out an album before “Cool to be you”?) Other than the Descendents is there any other band that you would like to sign to Fat Wreck Chords?ERIN: I would love to work with “The Lillingtons”. We actually had an oppor-tunity at one point and it wasn’t the right record for us and I really regret that we didn’t put out one of their releases when we had the chance, I think they are awesome.J.B: I read on a previous interview that you were going into that your daughter is going to be taking over the label someday she’s going to be and turning it into an animal hospital - that’s kind of a Freudian slip there?ERIN: LOL ya I know! Well she’s our only child so that’s her birth right, this is her legacy so I actually thought well she likes a lot of the bands and I thought she might actually be interested in that but she literally looked at me and said “Mom nobody wants to do what their parents do” I don’t want that. I don’t think our bands would be happy if we turned it into an animal sanctuary!J.B: Ah you never know, some might right? (Anti-Flag) Was there ever a time when while running Fat Wreck Chords that you thought it might crash and you might have to do something else?ERIN: Ah you know again we have great years and we have bad years. There was that time during when the industry kind of collapsed where I was con-cerned obviously but to be honest it’s all I’ve ever done. I mean, I grew up running this label. I really have never done anything else. I mean I’ve had jobs, but I wouldn’t know to not have Fat Wreck Chords. It feels like it’s just part of me like an appendage, an extension of who I am. So no I can’t imagine doing anything else.J.B: And being on Fat Wreck chords is truly to be part of a family because everyone looks out for each other despite being a business relationship, so what does it truly mean t o you - Fat Wreck Chords?ERIN: All of us grew up together we have been around for twenty five years you know and Joey Cape is one of my very best friends and lot of these band members we are so very close so I think that’s what works for us because when you have this personal relationship we want our bands to do well because we care about them as people. They’re not a commodity to us, they’re our family!J.B: So I always end with a famous book or a famous quote that inspired you in your life, anything come to mind? ERIN: I can’t think of anything that inspired me! I mean I read but nothing is coming to mind.J.B: Well maybe end with words of wisdom to anyone who wants to follow their dreams or their heart?ERIN: Absolutely I think that’s why Fat Wreck Chords works because I love it and this business is my family and I feel if you stay true to yourself and you’re honest and you’re forth coming and you enjoy what you have a passion for then hopefully you will be successful.

SANFRANCISCO LINEUP