Ten Years of Stardumb Records: A Major Minor Punk Rock Label

Hooray! Stardumb Records, the Dutch punk rock label you may know from releases by THE METHADONES, GROOVIE GHOULIES, THE APERS, THE MANGES or the European Pop Punk Virus compilations, made it to its tenth year. Magically this anniversary coincides with their fiftieth release, which is an awesome compilation featuring Stardumb bands and friends covering each other’s songs. Ten years, fifty records: time for a chat with owner Stefan Tijs (a.k.a. Stefan Stardumb) about the past, present and future of his major minor label: 1, 2, 3, 4!

By Willem Voorn

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THE EUROPEAN POP PUNK VIRUS

Stefan, for those who’ve never heard of Stardumb Records, what kind of label is it? Would you consider it a pop punk label?

No, but a lot of people do and I can understand that, since more than half of our releases are pop punk. But for me, rock ‘n’ roll is the binding factor. Attitude is the most important thing.

The city of Rotterdam (home of Stardumb) pretty much was the epicenter of the European pop punk scene in its heyday. What was the importance of your label?

I started Stardumb with Kevin of THE APERS and we put a lot into it, and I think without either Stardumb or THE APERS the scene wouldn’t have been there. Or at least not nearly as big as it was. Without us there wouldn’t have been so many bands playing in Rotterdam, and never so many people at the shows. At the time there were more pop punkers in Rotterdam than anywhere else in Europe. Remarkable.

The scene isn’t that big anymore. Do you think pop punk is on its way back?

Possibly, but I think every genre has its ups and downs. Here’s the interesting thing: halfway through the nineties pop punk was booming in America, with GREEN DAY and SCREECHING WEASEL and THE QUEERS. But when it collapsed and the labels that focused on pop punk either dropped their bands or went out of business, we were just up and coming. In a way we bridged a gap without even knowing it. When I met Johnny Puke of CLETUS a few years ago he put it like this: ‘Nobody cared for our music here anymore and the whole thing just seemed to slide right into the ocean… only to reappear alive and kicking on the other side!’ People like Johnny told me how important Stardumb had been for them, because we still cared for their music, and that meant a whole lot to me. However, we totally didn’t realize that at the time: we were just enthusiastic, we were just doing it.

IN THE BEGINNING THERE WAS…

Why did you start a record label in the first place?

It kinda just happened (laughs). It pretty much was a step by step process. It all started by designing flyers for bands I liked that were playing in the neighborhood: designing them, copying them, even handing ‘em out. Just out of enthusiasm, because I thought people needed to see those bands. I started doing more of that and at some point I became a band manager – whatever that means when you’re 18 – and from there on we just… started releasing music! Together with two friends I had the idea to put out a comp of all the local bands we liked and all of a sudden we had a record label, without ever really intending to. That was Little People Records, nothing more than a name and a logo really. Bands thought we were a real label though and started to send us demos, so we ended up doing some more releases… Six in all. When that was over and done with, Kevin Aper had the idea to start a new label himself as well and I decided to help him. I ended up doing pretty much all the work and when Kevin quit it became my label.

And why a punk rock label?

For me, the starting-point never was punk rock, but for Kevin it was. He’s pretty straight forward when it comes to music, if it sounds anything like the RAMONES he’ll dig it (laughs). I never considered myself a punk rocker, because even if I love punk rock, I like all kinds of music. But I had a lot of friends in punk rock bands and I hung around the scene a lot. I just felt really at home in the punk rock world, that was pretty much the reason it became a punk rock label.

You didn’t release only punk rock records, did you?

No, but rock ‘n’ roll has always been the common theme. When Kevin quit after a few years the musical range became a bit wider. Most off topic things I did were EL PINO & THE VOLUNTEERS, a Dutch alt country band, and Nathaniel Mayer, a sixty-year-old soul singer from Detroit. A bit of an outcast maybe, on a label like this, but it is rock ‘n’ roll and I love it, so I thought: Why not?

HOW TO RUN A PUNK ROCK LABEL

How do you choose the bands you work with? Natural selection?

Yes, it really is a natural process. I have never worked with a band just because of a demo they sent; especially when you’re talking about an album it’s always a cooperation for a longer time. This doesn’t mean we have to best friends, but we do have to get along and there’s got to got to be mutual understanding about music. I consider it a small marriage when you release an album. I’ve never looked at my label from a business perspective where you make decisions on a purely commercial basis. I’ve always worked on a human basis.

This keeps the label from becoming bigger I guess. Is that a problem?

Well, when Kevin and I started the label in 2000, when we were young and naïve, we really had this idea of: ‘Okay now we’re really going to DO something. We’re going to start a label and in a few years it’s going to be THE label for this kind of music.’ What we didn’t realize is that the scene is so small, that even if you are doing a good job, which I think for the most part we did, it doesn’t automatically mean it will be a company off of which you can make a living. And if you can’t make a living off of the label, you’ll need another job besides it. That leaves less time for the label, which automatically means you can’t do less good of a job and can’t promote the bands as much as you’d like to.

Nevertheless, do you feel you’ve succeeded in your goals?

To be honest, even if I’m happy with and proud of what we did in these ten years: Not completely. There’s a lot to running a label and one thing went better than the other. On a personal level for example, I didn’t succeed, because I’ve always been an illustrator and graphic designer and I thought: If I start my own label I can design all the record covers, which is pretty much the coolest thing you can do when you’re a record collector like I am. Of course records are about the music in the first place, but if the whole packaging comes together, in my opinion that can really lift the whole release. Like the first VELVET UNDERGROUND record for example. Without that sleeve the music would still be as impressive as it is, but that cover art doesn’t hurt it either! But in the end running the label on my own turned out to be so much work, there was hardly any time left to design record covers. It was often last minute work, and that way you’ll never produce your best art. So in that way I feel I didn’t reach one of my personal goals. Even if a lotta people complimented me over the years on how good everything always looks, I just know a lot could have looked better. But on a commercial level too, it didn’t really work out like I hoped it would. We didn’t sell enough records and there just wasn’t enough money to push the smaller bands. I haven’t been able to do for those bands what I really wanted to, so in that sense I didn’t succeed either.

Do you feel bad about it?

Well, not really, cause it is what it is! I’m not the person to regret things. We end up talking about some of the downsides now, but mostly the label brought a lotta good things. Both to me, to most of the bands I worked with and to the people who enjoy our releases and attended our festivals. All these great things mean a lot more to me than the things that didn’t go exactly the way I hoped. It also has a lot to do with decisions I made, but I would still make the same decisions now. I turned off offers from bands of which I was sure I could move multiple thousands records… But when I don’t really like it, when I’m not excited about it, I just can’t do it. When we just started out, we also spoke with some big industry people who were interested in working with us. But already at the first few meetings it was clear to me our ideas about music were just too far apart. I needed to work with contracts I wouldn’t even wanna sign myself if I was in a band. I just don’t like to work that way. At that point you realize: Okay, I’m not commercial enough. I’ll have to accept this will always be a small label. Which is fine.

A HIGHLIGHT: URINATING IN CBGB’S

Okay, maybe it didn’t all work out the way you wanted to, there’s gotta be some highlights. Give us your golden moment!

There’s a lotta great moments, but I guess the best moment for me was in 2003, when I toured six weeks across the US with THE APERS and THE GROOVIE GHOULIES, it was such an awesome tour! It was so cool to see that everywhere we went, in every state we visited, there were people who knew about THE APERS and Stardumb Records. There were people singing along at every gig! Everything especially fell into place in New York at CBGB’s: It was a sold out show (which was pretty bizarre by itself). The line up was amazing, with THE EPOXIES, THE ERGS and more, but still it felt like our party. At a given time I was urinating and I thought: Man, Deedee once urinated at this exact same spot! And then after the show when I was at the merch there was this kind of line of people who wanted to shake hands with me. Just because I was running this dumb little label (laughs). And one of those people was George Tabb, who had been my favorite MRR columnist for years, and he was telling me how great he thought Stardumb was. Very surrealistic. At that moment I felt really grateful: Okay, we did do something I can be really proud of.

Sure thing. At what point are you now?

For a couple of years now I don’t have to put money in the label. With just a release every now and then, we’re able to survive. With every new release, we automatically get some attention on our back catalog, that way we make just enough money to stay out of trouble. So, it works.

You’re happy with the way things are going now?

Yes. I’m still enthusiastic about music and I still enjoy working on the label. There have been moments I thought about quitting: I’ve worked with over thirty bands and it didn’t always go well, sadly enough. However: when I look back now, I see that I’ve learned a lot and that by itself already makes everything worthwhile. And we’re still able to do cool things, releases I would love to buy myself as well. Like this fiftieth release! I’m really proud about it, especially because it is something that never would’ve happened without the label. We’ve really created something together.

So… What’s in store for the future?

I have no plans to quit, and no plans to go crazy either. But I have to say, with this fiftieth release, so many new ideas came to mind for the future. It really got me going again!

Up for another fifty?

Who knows? When we started releasing records we did it one by one, but we cherished every release: the first, the second, the third. Now, ten years later, we’ll just continue that way and if we don’t quit – which we won’t – maybe we’ll live to see the hundredth!