EXCLUSIVE: Interview with So Sweet Records

Just over a week ago, LA Beat Connection sat down with Paul Nugent and Tehmina Adaya, owners of So Sweet Records, for a chat at their hotel, the Shangri LA in Santa Monica. In addition to representing such up-and-coming talent as Le Castlevania, Reid Speed, Foamo, Computer Club, Eli Smith and Frankmusik, the So Sweet crew organized the Neon Garden stage (which boasted the likes of Simian Mobile Disco, Boys Noize, Fake Blood, and Major Lazer) at Electric Daisy Carnival, as well as the Queens Ground stage (which will boast the likes of Switch, Drop the Lime, Rusko, Skream, and DJ Falcon) at the upcoming Nocturnal Festival. It was a beautiful day and we had a long conversation ranging from So Sweet’s future plans to LA’s music scene. Thanks again to Paul and Tamie for taking the time out to talk to us and showing us their beautiful hotel!

Beat Connection: Can you please take us through a short history of how So Sweet Records started?

SoSweet:

Paul: Tamie and I met 5 years ago, on the music scene through a mutual friend and about 3 years ago Tamie decided that she wanted to start a record label. Tamie has always been very involved in the music scene, but felt that she wanted to contribute something more and decided that a record label would be a good way of doing that.

Tamie approached me and I had been in the music scene for about 15 years promoting nightclubs, being an artist manager; I’ve signed artists to major records deals with EMI, Universal, Warner Brothers (in the UK), etc. so it made sense Tamie and I should partner up and make something happen. We realized that we had similar music tastes and we liked music from pretty much every genre. We talked about what we wanted to accomplish with the label and what we wanted it to be, and the idea was to have it reflect what was going on musically and being on the cutting edge, on the frontier, but with a point of view.

We don’t need a music label for another Britney Spears or Backstreet Boys – the major labels they do that. We see the opportunity, as an independent record label, to take risks, to be different, and work with artists who are fresh and exciting.

That’s what So Sweet Records is about – providing a platform for new sounds, new music. Whatever we think is going on out there is what we try to reflect in our record label.

It is a point of view – it’s not just “this is the hot new thing, therefore this is what we’re into”. We have a certain aesthetic, a certain taste, a certain worldview – and that’s we try to convey through our label.

BC: What was your initial scope for finding music when you started the label?

SoSweet:

Tamie: Originally we thought we would do what we knew, which was LA and the UK, but given that the internet and the music scene in general is so international we quickly broadened our horizons – we’ve had a lot of success in Japan, the UK, etc. and we’re now working with all the major markets. We’re also making some headway in China.

There’s always fresh and exciting stuff coming out, you never know where the next great artist is going to come from. I guess that’s one the things that keeps it fun.

P: Yeah that’s what we realized, although we were most involved in the UK and LA music scenes, we quickly discovered that talent doesn’t constrain itself to one geographic location. Any great artist could come out of anywhere at any time. This was always true, but became more true since the proliferation of the internet.

BC: Tell us about how you grew out of the initial stages of the label.

SoSweet:

T: I think our growth has been very organic. At first you start working with artists, then you realize they need management as well and support in others areas as well.

P: For example, we manage Le Castle Vania – that came around naturally. We were working together and he’s fantastic to work with; he works very hard, is very talented and has a great energy.

T: Le Castle Vania is one of the few DJ’s I’ve seen who is like a live act, a real show. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen him live but he’s one of the most brilliant DJs out there. Le Castle Vania has incredible technical ability as a DJ, even if not everyone notices because his shows are so good.  He provides a spectacle with his energy and how involved he is with his music. Naturally, it made sense to take it a step further and manage him.

…our growth has been very organic.

BC: What kind of music were you into before you started the label?

SoSweet:

T: My roots are glam and punk. Gary Glitter, Slade, all that stuff. And then of course punk – Sex Pistols, Clash, Siouxsie and the Banshees. And being an LA girl out partying every night I happened to be at the first gig Guns N Roses when they were called Hollywood Rose. And I’ve always loved Italodisco like Georgio Moroder. What I currently find exciting is for me to be able to get involved with dance music and help make it even more global than it already is. For example, we’re regularly sending artists to Europe, South America, Australia and more frequently to China, Japan and Singapore.

BC: And what shifted your interest into dance music?

SoSweet:

T: I’ve always liked dancing. I find dancing, and therefore dance music, very inclusive. I’m an inclusive person and its natural to me to work with dance music, I like the culture of it. When you have an event like Electric Daisy Carnival, where So Sweet Records hosted a stage with Simian Mobile Disco, Boys Noize, Le Castle Vania, Diplo, Fake Blood, Computer Club, DJ AM, Eli Smith, Major Lazer, etc. etc, that has 135,000 people attending you know you are involved in something that reaches a lot of people. I’m excited by that.

P: I think the thing that connects it all is that we love music that allows people to express themselves while connecting to other people. That’s why music that comes from street culture such as punk or hip hop because its people who had something to say that other people could relate too.

BC: Right, and honesty is such a huge part of being a DJ.

SoSweet:

P: Yeah. Totally.

T: People can recognize authenticity a mile away. People can feel it.

BC: How do you go about choosing the artists for your label?

SoSweet:

T: It’s very organic. Generally what happens is we reach out to artists we think are doing something interesting, sometimes vice versa. We have the luxury of working with people we really love and enjoy hanging out with. We’re always having parties here at the hotel with our artists and the wider So Sweet Records Crew.

P: It’s important that we work with people who we like. We want So Sweet Records to be like a family. We don’t have the constraints of a major record label. We do things because they’re fun, they’re interesting, they’re creative. For example we had FrankMusik at the hotel just the other day, and I called up Mike from Computer Club and I said “FrankMusik’s leaving tomorrow but he’s here at the hotel hanging out, do you want to pick him up and collaborate on a track?

So Mike picked him up, they went back to Mike’s studio in Venice for a couple of hours, and they made a track. And even though they had never met each other before, Magic!

P: I talked to those guys a few hours later. I asked how did it go? They said it was amazing. Everything gelled, they got together and it was awesome. It just happened spontaneously that day. And that track’s gonna go out there and be played by other DJs around the world and people are going to feel that spontaneity in the track and it came out of this hotel, this record label, thats exciting to us. This release came out of excitement about collaborating, getting together, and wanting to do something cool. This story is both the reality and our fantasy of running a record label.

T: We don’t do manufactured. We’re about spontaneity and creative expression.

P: It’s the freedom you have with an independent label. You’re not trying to create a platinum album. We have the freedom to put out tracks on BeatPort to excited and motivated people and the music naturally spreads. It’s fluid and natural – it’s very exciting.

This story is both the reality and our fantasy of running a record label.

BC: Sounds like a great thing to be a part of. You were talking about how you tend to gravitate toward a certain sound. How would you describe that aesthetic?

SoSweet:

P: It’s constantly evolving. We like melodies and hooks, but we like stuff that’s dirty and edgy as well. We’re really into different sounds – sort of that fusion of accessibility and melody but also with that risk-taking element – where you try and do something new, different and uncompromising. We’re not scared of being popular, but we don’t want to be popular for popularity’s sake ether. Being part of something as big as something like EDC feels completely natural for us, but at the same time we also love throwing, say, a smaller party of 60 of our closest friends with our DJs/producers tag-teaming behind the decks.…but if 135,000 people want to come out and go crazy that’s great too.

BC: Categories? Genres? What would you file yourself under?

SoSweet:

P: For want of a better term I would say…post-electro.  All of our artists are working to push boundaries and trying to innovate and create new sounds. Justice popularized Electro and took dance music in general to the mainstream. In their wake there has been a rejuvenation and surge of creativity in dance music. Although none of our artists sound remotely like Justice they are part of the expansion of dance music that has taken place in the past couple of years. Our artists are helping define the current musical landscape.

T: Dance music is like punk in terms of how many genres it spawned

P: Right – goth, industrial, new wave, mod revival, thrash metal, oi, psychobilly, ska, etc, all these different genres came from punk. Similarly dance music has also exploded in a thousand different directions.

T: It’s so exciting being where we are right now.

P: There’s always an experimental element to what we’re doing. We’re always trying new things, pushing back boundaries within a dance music format.

BC: What’s been the key to your success the past few years?

SoSweet:

T: I think, first of all, the relationships that we have with each other – everybody that works with the label, and the artists, are like one big family.

P: We’re all on the same page – we’re just trying to create great music and events and have fun while being creative.

T: Paul is really innovative. He’s always trying to do something new. Always thinking outside of the box.

BC: Can we get an example of that?

SoSweet:

P: For example, the fact that we have a hotel is unique. I’m not aware of any other record label who’s ever had a hotel. Also, So Sweet Records is not just about selling our artists music, it’s also about helping our artists brand themselves. Making sure they find their natural audience.

T: So Sweet Records and Shangrila Hotel has become a nexus of popular and alternative culture. We want the Shangrila to be our generation’s equivalent of Andy Warhol’s Factory. Lofty goal we know, but we have many of the most interesting artists from the creative industries including fashion designers, photographers, writers, graphic designers and musicians coming together to exchange ideas and inspiration at the hotel. It’s exciting to provide a hub for people who shaping our culture.

BC: What role do you see social media playing in your operations?

SoSweet:

P: I think its obvious to most people that it’s the future. Everybody has a phone or laptop and you can find anything instantly. We’re all connected and I love the democracy of that. It allows So Sweet Records to focus more on creating substance and less on worrying about whether people can find us.

Dance music breaks down cultural barriers, it goes back to that primal thing we were talking about earlier. You have dance music without boundaries, information without boundaries, people without boundaries.  This convergence is very exciting for us, it’s like the wild west, a new frontier. We want to explore and push boundaries. We want to innovate. I’ve been working in the music business a long time and let me assure you, it has never been more exciting.

BC: So Tamie, are you the Twitter person of the label?

SoSweet:

T: We both use twitter. Paul does So Sweet Records twitter along with Trey Derbes, So Sweet Records label manager, and I have my own personal one.

BC: Is there something you’re doing with social media that you don’t see other labels doing?

SoSweet:

P: I think Twitter is a platform, like vinyl is a platform. With vinyl what counts is what’s in the grooves. That’s how it is with So Sweet Records. We’re presenting our point of view on dance music and culture in general, and there’s a certain aesthetic that we have. We’re using twitter to communicate that to people, and there’s an audience for people interested in that through twitter. Anyone can have a Twitter account, its about want you use it to say.

…what counts is what’s in the grooves.

BC: Do you yourself reach out to followers or do the followers you have now find you?

SoSweet:

P: You know, people just find you, and it goes back to what I was talking about everybody being connected. People just find us naturally. It’s great that we can have a real time dialogue with people who are interested in what we’re doing.

T: I love that there was a secret MIA show last Wednesday produced by our friends Danny Johnson, Matt Goldman and Mike Feinberg, and everybody found out about it a few days before through Twitter. The show was packed. Same when Franz Ferdinand was DJing in Bardot the other night, we saw that on Twitter and went down to see the singer Alex. It’s so amazing because back in the day you couldn’t even hear a punk song on the radio. Now everything you love is at your fingertips.

P: Reid Speed told me the other day she had to go over to her friends house so she could watch the Thriller premier on MTV. I had to do similar things too as a kid. Her story reminded me of hard it was to connect with the things you loved before the internet came along.

T: You go to listening parties at your friends houses where you would just listen to vinyl. Now we are all connected and have information at our fingertips that we never had before.

BC: Paul, coming from Britain, would you say that the UK is at the vanguard of dance music? The barometer, of sorts?

SoSweet:

P: That’s a good question. I don’t think that with dance or electronic music you can say that it’s all coming from one place. You’ve got these different pockets – obviously London is very important, France has a long history of electronic music from guys like Jean Michel Jarre + Space to Etienne De Crecy in the early 90′s and then more recently Ed Banger Records.

T: And you’ve got Northern Europe and Japan as well.

P: I mean look you’ve got Shinichi from Japan – he’s really flying the flag over there; then you’ve got Boyz Noize from Germany, you’ve got Australia – the Presets and the Midnight Juggernauts, and from Canada you’ve got Crystal Castles and MSTRKRFT. LA I would argue is the dance capital of not just the US, but the world in terms of the sheer number of quality dance events we have here and the enthusiasm and size of the audience. Every DJ in the world wants exposure to the club scene and the festival scene we have here. It feels good to know So Sweet Records is such an important of a scene that DJ’s around the world want to visit or be part of. We know that because many of them stay at our hotel.

T: 135,000 people at a dance music festival [EDC] in the US. That’s unheard of! There’s a world class massive pretty much every month in So Cal and of course Insomniac sold out the LA Coliseum.

P: I think as well it’s important to mention our partners Insomniac Events. They’ve done a fantastic job of cultivating dance music on the West Coast. They run a tight ship. The events are great, the productions are fantastic. People trust Insomniac – they’ve been doing events since the beginning; they’ve always been consistent and the events have just kept getting bigger and better. They really go the extra mile. They always do what it takes to make events the best they can.

We are very fortunate to be able to work with them; I can’t say enough good things about Insomniac. They’ve done a lot for dance music, globally. They’ve brought artists from all over the world – they’ve really been central to creating the LA dance music scene. The fact that it is so fresh and buoyant and exciting, even the fact that you guys wanted to start a blog about it – that there’s something to blog about, a lot of that is thanks to Insomniac. To us, they are a logical partner because they are in it for the right reasons, they’re great to work with, and they try to do things the right way. They have also shown incredible loyalty and belief in So Sweet Records. Insomniac have really helped us do a stellar job for them by giving us so much support. In many ways, they helped put So Sweet Records on the map.

BC: You say that LA is quickly becoming the dance capital of the world – can you comment on the LA dance scene and whether you think issues with vandalism, police, etc. are becoming bigger problems? Is there a cause for worry?

SoSweet:

T: Every problem gets a response and what we’re going to see is that any bump in the road is going to be navigated around because dance music is too popular and too successful for organizers not to figure out how to continue creating successful events. People have to realize that this is an organic scene – things always evolve. Everything is a process.

P: I think what’s important here is that the dance and electronic scene in Southern California is extremely healthy. There’s a massive nearly every month, it’s the biggest market for dance music, every DJ wants to come here. Promoters are smart, law enforcement is smart. They are not going to let any issue derail what we have. Too many vested parties and too much at stake for that to happen. I have nothing but optimism.

P: If you look at the bigger picture – GoVentures and Insomniac Events have been around for 15 years, we’ve got Vanguard and Avalon – world class venues. If you look at the overall infrastructure – the festivals, events, massives, clubs – it’s world class. Respect to Paris for generating so much artistically to dance music, but in terms of events, nowhere even comes close to LA! The venues and line-ups we have are amazing.

We’re spoiled here in LA, but we know people appreciate it because they come out.

We’ve got the talent and infrastructure in place, we’ve got (what we think are) the hottest DJs playing the So Sweet Stage at Nocturnal Festival and you’ve got the fans who want to come out and support. Those elements are fantastic – we have everything here.

BC: There’s definitely something in the air here.

SoSweet:

T: Don’t you think so? We’re definitely in the middle of something. It’s all changing. Despite of all the recent growth, I still feel like we’re in the middle of something that’s blowing up in front of our eyes.

P: I mean, 135,000 people showing up at EDC for one dance music event – it’s a cultural watershed in the same way that Woodstock or Monterrey Festival was in the late 60′s.

T: I really think we can make that comparison.

P: Maybe right now it doesn’t seem like it because we’re all in it. But when we look back, when VH1 is doing an “I love the 00′s”, I think we’re going to look at this decade as the age when dance music came of age and went totally mainstream in the US. Culturally, dance music is more important than ever.

Obviously there was a dance music scene in the 80′s and 90′s, and that was very important, but now it’s gone totally mainstream. And what’s important is that the mainstream breakthrough has happened done without dance music losing its integrity. Dance music doesn’t have an MC Hammer or a Milli Vanilli, haha. What’s more fresh, innovative talent keeps coming through because of cutting edge labels like us.

BC: Right, if you look at a DJ’s travel schedule these days you ask “Wow, is he really touring the whole world?”

SoSweet:

T: Oh it’s crazy. Dylan – Le Castle Vania, if you look at his schedule, he’s sometimes on 3 different continents in 48 hours. I don’t think ever in history have we seen artists routinely reach their audience in this way.

BC: Perhaps it’s got something to do with the nature of dance music?

SoSweet:

P: Definitely. That’s the thing about dance music. It’s more efficient than rock music which is part of its success. The days of 5 guys driving across the US in an old beat up van may well be fading away forever.

T: Dance music is quite primal – nearly everyone has an instinct to dance. It crosses all cultural boundaries. If music is lyrically or poetically based, then there can be a language barrier. But everyone wants to dance. And that’s why dance music is a global phenomenon – it transcends barriers. That’s why you have the French, Japanese, Germans, everybody not just coming together and enjoying dance music, but making it too. In fact, many of the best dance music artists are non-english speaking. You can’t say that about rock music.

…dance music is a global phenomenon – it transcends barriers

BC: Do you have any predictions you want to make about what will happen with dance music in the near future?

SoSweet:

P: What I will say is that I don’t think dance music is gonna go away. It’s too accessible. All you need in order to be into dance music is a desire to go out and dance, and when is that not going to happen? [Dancing] is like food or water. Dance music has been around since the ancient Egyptians, there’s music in every culture. I think you can safely say that rhythmic music is probably the most popular phenomenon in human history.

BC: It’s true, it really has been around forever. It’s in every culture.

SoSweet:

P: And now what we’re going to see is the splintering of dance music into different genres. In this whole wave of artists who want to make dance music were going to see them go in every direction creatively. Artists explore, thats what they do. Especially if they are good. For example, Sharkslayer, who are one of our artists from Finland, seem to push the envelope with every track they make.

T: What’s interesting is that dance music has never been taken seriously in America when compared with ‘serious music’ like Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, stuff that to me, can be a little miserable or depressing.

Take disco for example, it wasn’t really taken that seriously as a genre. People liked it, but it was mostly a guilty pleasure. As popular as disco was, the backlash, when it came, was very hard, but now dance music is being taken seriously more than ever before. In my view this is a watershed moment.

BC: What future plans do you have for the label?

SoSweet:

P: We want to go deeper with what we currently have. Clothing, videos, more releases and parties with our artists. We’re happy with what we’re currently, but we want to go deeper with it. Our focus is building the careers of our roster; Le Castle Vania, Computer Club, Reid Speed, Eli Smith, Frankmusik, Foamo, Sharkslayer, Will Bailey, Kelevra and so on.

BC: Are you going to be working on your own events anytime soon? Perhaps something west of the 405?

SoSweet:

T: (smiles) Probably not west of the 405, that’s a tricky one! We already have our pool parties and we do ‘word-of-mouth’ events at the hotel which are alot of fun.

We’re looking at maybe do a monthly club night, but only if its going to be right. The night has to convey our aesthetic and our vibe. We also want somewhere where our ever-expanding crew wants to party and feels at home.

P: …expand the community we already have. That’s also one of our goals.

We want So Sweet and the Shangrila to be the engine for popular and alternative culture. Like the opposite of a black hole, expanding in all directions.

T: It’s fun to be around creative people and collaborate. I enjoy that flow of energy. You build up relationships with people you like. Once you get comfortable with them, naturally you want to work with them. Like I said earlier, we like things best when they’re organic.

P: You know So Me from Ed Banger records? He did an exclusive shirt for So Sweet Records. We also collaborated with Madsteez who’s an LA based artist as well as clothing brand Grn Apple Tree. We did a shirt with Kesh who’s a British fashion designer living in New York and our friend Demon Babies. We collaborate and work with brands or designers who we’re excited about and want to share with our audience. These collaborations come about because we are friends with these designers.

T: Another example –  one of our favorite designers is Mishka, who incidentally just blogged about our hotel and said some very nice things about us. My signature look is a bright yellow motorcycle jacket they just came out with, I even bought a second one because I just like it so much, but yeah, the point is that we love working with other people.

We want So Sweet and the Shangrila to be the engine for popular and alternative culture.

BC: You guys are very artistically eclectic! It must be fun to be holistic and encompass all these different aspects of life.

SoSweet:

T: Yeah! We’re excited – Whole Foods is gonna be working with us in the hotel. All our food at the hotel is organic. We have a very socially conscious outlook. There was a special issue of Time Magazine where they listed the top 6 hotels in the world with the most important green designs and we were one of them. We’re into the green movement, organics, design and social responsibility.

P: We love working with our videographer Miles from Turbovision and our photographers Morb + Visual Adhesive who are also very talented, we met those guys through Nique Naque who is part of our crew and helps run So Sweet Records Clothing clothing line. Eskuche headphones collaborate with us to provide headphones for some of our artists and we have a lot of relationships with other clothing brands too. The future of So Sweet Records lies in the expansion of our creative community.

T: We just want to surround ourselves with people who inspire us.

P: It’s about creating your own world. And So Sweet’s world is about music, parties, fashion, videography and bro’ing down with the people who you really enjoy being around.

BC: You guys must get so much satisfaction out of doing everything you’re doing.

SoSweet:

T: I have to admit, I feel good about what we’re doing. In my opinion, to have real success you’ve gotta have fun doing what you’re doing. If you’re successful without having any fun, then what a miserable existence!

Soon we’re celebrating our 70^th year at the hotel. That’s a long time! We’re having an exclusive party at our rooftop bar that overlooks the Pacific Ocean, which is the only rooftop bar in Santa Monica. We’re gonna have fireworks, free-flowing champagne, a clam-bake, a raw bar…we’ve invited some friends and it’s going to be a lot of fun!

BC: Last question – besides the artists outside of the talent that you house, who do you see as the DJs who are really pushing the envelope?

SoSweet:

P: Easy – Major Lazer, and the Trouble and Bass Crew.

T: Trouble and Bass. Absolutely. They’re so good! We just saw the crew recently and they were brilliant to watch. We’ve also had a couple of them over at the hotel and they are just as fun in person. They’re having fun with what they’re doing, that means a lot to me.

P: They’ve clearly got their whole dark, vampiric, New York thing going on. I’m a sucker for style and people who take a risk creatively. I’m not revealing any inside secret when I tell you that they enjoy what they do. You’ve only got to see them playing together onstage.

T: Absolutely. The fun is contagious – it’s like when somebody else starts laughing really hard and you start laughing with them just because they’re laughing. Very important for a DJ – you’ll see that with Mike from Computer Club; very contagious. Mike knows how to laugh, as does Reid Speed.

P: A-trak as well – he’s great because he’s constantly tried to expand what he does. He doesn’t stand still, same with Diplo.

BC: Right, because A-trak started with scratching and turntablism.

SoSweet:

P: Yeah A-trak won DMC. He did DJ’ed for Kanye West, then branched out, started his own record label…  he obviously enjoys life. I really respect that.

BC: Well, that about wraps it up. Thanks for a great conversation and for taking the time out to speak to LA Beat Connection.

SoSweet:

P & T: Thank you.

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