Springfield experiencing a 'renaissance' of DIY music with 5 independent labels in town

When brothers Jason and Justin Kearbey started Wee Rock Records in 1995, they were college students eager to create art and showcase the work of their friends. They didn't imagine that nearly 30 years later they would operate the oldest independent record label in Springfield, with almost 100 releases to date.

Freshly arrived in Springfield for college, the Kearbey brothers started Wee Rock Records almost as a joke, they said, a way to release their first cassette tape for their punk band, Fugue. They were inspired by grunge record labels like Sub Pop, which released artists including Nirvana, Soundgarden and Mudhoney, and hoped releasing music under a label would make them appear more professional.

The Kearbeys don't recall any other independent record labels in Springfield operating in the late '90s. Today, counting Wee Rock Records, there are at least five independent record labels in town, the most that local record label managers recalled.

"Right now, it's definitely a renaissance," said A. Sprague, owner of Righteous War Records. "But no one's overlapping really, so that's really awesome, and everyone is supporting everyone. I love the support in the music scene and the community aspect of it all, and I feel like that's what a label is, a whole community of bands."

A common thread among the five "record" labels is a focus on cassette tape distribution and promotion. With National Audio Company in town — the only cassette manufacturer in the country — Springfield labels don't have to look far for production.

National Audio President Steve Stepp said the majority of orders the company receives are from independent record labels. National Audio works with about 10 major labels and more than 5,000 independent labels across the world.

The five Springfield-based independent labels include Wee Rock Records, Push and Pull Records, Righteous War Records, Obsidian Glacier Distro and 1(900)REC-ORDS. The News-Leader spoke with representatives from each label to talk about how they got started and the evolution of operating an independent record label over the years.

Wee Rock Records

In November 2022, Wee Rock Records released its 97th album, "Alien Emotion" by Deanna White, available on cassette tape or digital download from Bandcamp, an online audio distribution company.

The brothers agreed that their "serious" releases likely didn't start until around record No. 27. The output up to that point was mostly personal projects they created together.

"Early on, there were a lot of releases that we didn't even actually make copies of," Justin Kearbey, 43, said with a laugh. "It was a lot of stuff we did ourselves. We had some weird noise project stuff we'd do. We'd record a tape a weekend and I'd design a cover and stuff, but there wasn't a point of making copies."

For the first few years, Wee Rock Records released cassette tapes, duplicated by hand. Today, independent record labels in Springfield order cassettes through National Audio, but in the late '90s, the brothers recorded and duplicated cassettes one by one at home.

In the early 2000s, Wee Rock Records began to release CD-Rs, Jason Kearbey, 45, said, but most releases through the years have been on vinyl.

For the label's first batch of vinyl, the brothers worked with Rainbo Records in California, which is now closed, but soon after discovered United Record Pressing in Nashville, the company they have worked with since. It didn't take long for the Kearbeys to get into a rhythm, working with a mastering company in Colorado to clean up audio and Imprint Indie Printing in Florida for covers and sleeves, before assembling all the pieces together at home in Springfield.

Jason Kearbey said his ideas about operating a do-it-yourself, independent record label have evolved, from wanting to control every aspect of a release to being more relaxed about the process.

"At first, we handmade everything, we have control of the process 100%," he said. "I think if you don't hand dub every single tape, that's okay now. I guess that's how I've gotten over the last 20 years or so, from being militant about it to bands can figure out how they want to do it."

More:Springfield's music scene goes underground with DIY basement shows, social media

His brother Justin, on the other hand, feels differently.

"I still kind of struggle with that very much," he said, adding that he still prefers to hand design and develop each piece of a new release.

One thing has remained consistent: They were never in the business to make money.

The Kearbeys have never signed a contract with any of the bands they have worked with. When ordering media, whether it be cassette tapes, CD-Rs or vinyl, the brothers pay for half the order, receive half the product, and the band pays the other half, receiving the other half of the product.

"We're an official business now, but it was never planned," Jason Kearbey said. "The band would almost inevitably sell more than we did because they were playing shows, had the friends ... and then if they ran out, in theory, they'd buy them from us, but that only happened a handful of times over the years. We've rarely ever broke even from anything we've done.

"I think the best thing about it is the barrier of entry is really low. A band can just copy a few tapes, draw a cover, just put it together, and I think that low-run, low-risk is what we based our entire existence on for the first five, six, seven years."

In conjunction with releasing music, the Kearbeys have also co-managed two do-it-yourself-style venues in Springfield, including The Looney Bin on Commercial Street in 1999 and The 423 on Walnut Street from 2000-2003, Jason said. Both of these venues were operated by collectives of local artists who wanted to host concerts in nonconventional venues.

Wee Rock Records' merchandise can be found on the label's website at weerockrecords.com and Bandcamp at weerockrecords.bandcamp.com.

Push and Pull Records

Eighteen years after the Kearbey brothers started Wee Rock Records, a group of three friends decided to start their own record label for much of the same reason.

Steve Rector, Push and Pull Records founder, said when his band Reacharounds was finalizing its first, full-length album, he was interested in releasing it under a label. Around the same time, he went to a Suzi Trash album release show and after hearing the band, knew he wanted to release them under the label he was beginning to craft.

Straying from Rector's initial plan of releasing his own band under the label, Push and Pull Record's first release was Suzi Trash's "Sleep Through This" in 2013.

Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, Push and Pull Records has released 44 albums with 27 bands, including two compilation albums that feature about 20 different bands on each. The label has worked with musicians in Springfield, Poplar Bluff, Kansas City, Madison, Wisconsin, San Diego and Memphis in genres including punk, country, gospel, hardcore and indie pop. The label is planning three more releases this year.

For the first 20 albums, Rector said he managed the label primarily himself, before recruiting Suzi Trash member Justin Braunagel as acting president and Delaney Smith as director of social media and communications.

The record label has released a few CDs, LPs and 7-inch vinyl albums, but the primary focus is on cassettes manufactured at National Audio. Additionally, Push and Pull Records has released three zines and a few music videos over the years.

"I really wanted to showcase all the artwork that our artists in Push and Pull have outside of music," Smith said about these additional projects. She added that the label is working on its fourth zine.

For a few years before the pandemic, the label hosted Push and Pull Fest once or twice a year. The festivals, which highlighted musicians under the label, served as fundraisers to pay for future releases. Braunagel said the label has been discussing hosting another Push and Pull Fest in the near future.

Between the time of Wee Rock Records' establishment in 1995 and Push and Pull Records' start in 2013, another record label, Zero Youth Records, was in operation. According to the Zero Youth Records' website, Mohawk Matt and Loretta Lightningbolt started the punk label in 2003 and released 19 albums until the label ceased business in 2013.

Push and Pull Records' merchandise can be found on the Heavy Heads Records' website at heavyheadsrecords.com/pushandpullrecords and at Stick It In Your Ear at 300 E. Walnut St.

Righteous War Records

While Wee Rock Records and Push and Pull Records operate as multi-genre labels, Righteous War Records has a more specific focus, featuring hardcore, death metal, punk and metal core.

Sprague, 26, established Righteous War Records in May 2022 and performs in area bands Martyaloka, Menace and Primitive Rage. Sprague said one of the reasons she started the label was to fill a void she witnessed while on tour.

"When I'm on the road a lot, I see a lot of bands that are insanely good, and they don't have any physical music," Sprague said. "I want these bands, that I think are worthy of having music that aren't getting signed to big labels ... I want them to be able to have music."

Righteous War Records' first release was punk band Security Footage's debut album, "Bloater." Over the last year, Righteous War Records has released 11 albums with 10 bands from Springfield; Springfield, Illinois; Wichita; Des Moines; and Birmingham, Alabama. Sprague said seven more albums are in the works, expected to be released within the next three months.

Righteous War Records has only released cassette tapes, produced at National Audio, but Sprague has also booked concerts at the Outland Complex and house venues through the label.

Bands give Sprague their music for the tapes and often have an idea of the design work they would like for the cassette and packaging. Sprague said she has designed the majority of Righteous War Records' cassette tape J-cards, the papers inserted in the plastic storage case.

Managing the label on her own, Sprague said she foots the bills.

"I don't make any money off of it," she said. "It's mostly for the bands to make money, for them to have merch."

When it comes to ordering cassette tapes, Sprague said she gives the band 15% of the tapes ordered for free and then the band purchases the rest from the label at cost. Righteous War Records sells one cassette tape for $6 and a band usually wants between 50-100 tapes per order.

The name of the label stems from how Sprague believes the general public perceives hardcore music.

"There's almost a war against underground music, in some ways ... It's not exactly approachable music that's on the radio and a lot of people don't want to hear loud, extreme music, but it's a music that needs to be heard," she said. "In a way, by going and getting a cassette, it's like fighting in a righteous war."

Righteous War Records' merchandise can be found on the Righteous War Records' website at righteouswarrecords.limitedrun.com/ and at Stick It In Your Ear.

Obsidian Glacier Distro

Taking a different approach, 26-year-old Kasey Denton, drummer in bands Primitive Rage, Security Footage and Divine Terror, is curating musicians under their label, Obsidian Glacier Distro, to fit a fantasy narrative. Each musician or band with Obsidian Glacier Distro help make up this narrative through their sound.

"It's (a part) of this larger story about a fantasy realm, where thousands of years have passed in winter and this next civilization finds this cave, where all these ancient artifacts of music are just stored, inside an obsidian glacier," Denton said about the label's narrative.

All of the music under Obsidian Glacier Distro is dungeon synth, a genre of electronic music derived from black metal that became popular in the 1990s.

"The general vibe and aesthetic is the claustrophobic sound of a lot of early raw black metal releases, broken down into just a synthesizer," Denton said about dungeon synth.

Denton started Obsidian Glacier Distro in summer 2022 and has released two albums. The first was Denton's initial personal project for the label, "Obsidian Glacier" and the second was a re-release of Martyaloka's demo in collaboration with Righteous War Records. Obsidian Glacier Distro is also distributing Duskseeker's "Spiralscape," but it wasn't released under the label. All releases have been done on cassette tapes.

Crafting a universe under a record label may be unique to Springfield, but it's not a new idea. Record label IHC 1NFINITY, which gained traction in 2017, is known for its cinematic music videos that tell a cohesive story. IHC 1NFINITY has worked with musicians including JPEGMAFIA, Chela, Walt Disco and others.

Obsidian Glacier Distro's merchandise can be found on Bandcamp at bit.ly/40FKgFI.

1(900)REC-ORDS

For the managers of 1(900)REC-ORDS, the idea of starting a record label came to them at the C-Street City Market.

"It was child opportunity day or something, so there were tons of kids and they were selling all sorts of different stuff," co-manager Clifford Barratt said. "They had goo and dog treats and it was just a free-for-all at the market, and it was kind of like, it should just be like this all the time. We should just be able to sell cassettes and zines and buttons and t-shirts and vegetables."

Established in August 2022, 1(900)REC-ORDS, a multi-genre label, has released two albums, a collaborative release between My Ancestor and Misery Stairs and eel eye's "The Heart Etc." All of the label's releases have been done on cassette tapes, manufactured at National Audio. The label has also released a few zines.

Along with Barratt, the label is managed by local musicians Frances Day, Eve Russell, Davey Grumbine and Mason Tomlinson. Each believes upholding the do-it-yourself ethos it important in their lives as musicians and as community members.

"Art is going to get created no matter what," Barratt said. "It will either enrich a greater culture or it can enrich shareholders in a company or whatever. The art is going to be created, and doing it in a very local, DIY fashion, you're working to improve your circumstances. The point of the music isn't to have it go and become internationally famous. It's to make the lives of the people around you more interesting and more culturally rich."

1(900)REC-ORDS' merchandise can be found at Stick It In Your Ear.