We’re Trying Records - Sound In The Signals Interview
I recently had the opportunity to interview Jordan of We’re Trying Records. We discussed the label’s ten year anniversary, one of the favorite things about running a label, learning experiences, favorite projects, the exciting and hard parts of releasing physical media, and more. Check it out below.
First, thanks for the interview.
Of course! Thank you for wanting to do this. It feels weird being the one interviewed when we're usually trying to set these up for our bands.
You’re celebrating ten years of the label. What’s it been like running the label that long?
Yeah, I can't believe it's been 10 years. Anything that has gone on this long is definitely a labor of love. The label is just me and – like many of the bands on the roster – I work on everything early in the morning, late at night, and every weekend. Throughout the decade, the label has played a major role in my life and has helped me accomplish so many things. It helped me get into grad school. It helped me get experience in the music industry when there were no opportunities.
And – most importantly to me – it kept my mind busy when life was uncertain. Over the years, I've had my fair share of run ins with disrespectful bands and other labels, but – overall – it's incredible to be apart of the DIY community and see so many brilliant people create and support one another.
What’s your favorite thing about running a label?
I would say being able to offer support to bands who have not had it before. A lot of these bands have done everything themselves since they started or are mostly focused on creating music. So, just being able to offer up some things that help amplify their messaging and get their music to a wider audience is a great feeling.
What has been some of your biggest learning experiences in the ten years?
These sound like common sense, but I would say:
1) Get everything in writing – you never know when you need to reference something that was agreed to.
2) Always be respectful – at the end of the day it's a partnership and there are few reasons to be an ass to someone.
3) Don't over promise – if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Always be upfront from the very beginning because the rest of the process will be smoother.
Can you tell us about a couple of your favorite projects to work on? Why?
This is like picking your favorite child. A couple projects that are near to my heart are:
1) Convenient, trash. – N*VY BLUE – This was the first time we received any sort of big write up from a publication. Zac (The Alternative) did a big interview for it in Chorus.FM and I couldn't believe it. He's always been a great supporter.
2) Year Twins – Perfect Forever, Forever Perfect – I just remember being home during COVID and listening to masters in my car while I was parked outside of a grocery store in the dead of winter – it really hit me at my core. But this was the first record we pressed to vinyl (and sold out) along with "Stun Gun Headbutt" getting mentioned in Stereogum. It was a big confidence boost for me.
3) Everything that came out in 2024– Last year was probably the most fun I had ever had running the label. Tracks were getting put into playlists, albums got written about in publications, the amount of vinyl we pressed was insane, and I really felt apart of the DIY community.
With the anniversary, is there any chance that you might release more cassettes for some of your previous releases or could you see that happening at some point?
It's still in the works, but there might be a chance of a compilation cassette spanning the last 10 years. There also might be an anniversary show in Chicago towards the end of August... but who's to say!
You started with cassettes, but you’ve also moved towards releasing some vinyl as well over the last few years. How has that progression been?
Cassettes are still a major part of the label, but it's been really fun progressing more into vinyl where it makes sense. I think we've been able to make this progression as vinyl pressing has become more affordable with smaller quantities. A small label like us can't afford to buy 300+ units at a time, so as technology has improved and it's been more widely available we've been able to offer it more often.
The hardest part about this transition is that I've had to learn to make these decisions based on facts and information I can gather rather than my feelings towards the music and bands. I love everything we put out and think it all deserves to get pressed, but those feelings might not be reciprocated by the wider consumer right away. I've seen so many labels or other entities get in over their heads and start pressing every release, but they aren't able to take on those expenses. In reality, it takes a minute to sell through everything and you have to be okay with sitting on some of the inventory and be able to endure those costs/risks.
The music community can be fickle and trends and bands come and go. How have you been able to stay relevant and continue to find new artists to work with at the label?
It's definitely not easy, but I think you just have to spend time going down rabbit holes. Whether it be sifting through a Twitter chain/Discord chat or going through all of the current releases on Bandcamp, it takes time and luck to find a band that is not signed and actually interested in working together on their next release. So many times I have found something I absolutely love, but in the end it just wasn't a fit and you have to move onto the next opportunity. No hard feelings, it just wasn't meant to be.
Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions. Do you have anything else that you would like to add?
I appreciate you asking us to do this interview! There's too many people to thank specifically, but I am so appreciative of everyone who has worked with me, answered my emails/messages, interacted with our music, and been a supporter in some other way. Ten years is nothing to sneeze at, but none of it would possible with all of you <3
Follow We’re Trying Records:
Follow Sound In The Signals:
No comments: