Introducing | Sunbird Records

In 1999, Sunbird Records was created to promote The Full Zimbabwe’s album release.

The band released their debut album, ‘Land of the Vouty’, through the label and soon built up a community of local bands working together on their releases.

After things settled down for a few years, 2012 seen the re-launch of the label thanks to Jonathan Lindley who was keen to bring back the brand to make people proud of their local music once again.

We caught up with Jonathan to find out more about the label and its future releases.

Firstly, can you tell us more about how did label began?

In 1999 My Dad (Steven Lindley) was in a band called ‘The Full Zimbabwe’ and when they finished their debut album ‘Land of the Vouty’ they decided to start a record label so they could release their own album. To this day that album’s still one of our best releases. It was a British take on world music and sounds to me like the summer holidays. Then it just grew from there really, other bands wanted to get involved and it keeps on growing.

Where did the name come from?

It loosely hits on the state of the popular music. The idea is the ’Sunbirds’ of the ancient Bantu religion were two gold swallows “able to fly higher and swifter than even the mighty eagles”, the music industry is heavily controlled by a bunch of rich bullies, but we just carry on trying to make exciting music. I think the day you accept you’re not going to be a famous musician, you’re almost free to make the music you actually want to make. That’s the idea of being a swallow over an eagle.

Can you talk us through the bands signed up?

Yeah, we’ve currently got 9 artists/bands, we’ve also got 2 or 3 secret ones working on albums for next year. The labels about supporting each other, so we’re all pals, whether it’s lending someone an amp or showing someone how to mix drums, we’re all trying to grow as musicians. I’ve just been working with ‘Today, They Are Older’ on some cover art for their new album, which sounds unbelievable. They’re a post—hardcore band (heavy metal for anyone not into it) but their new material is insane, I can’t wait for people to hear it. In the next two months we’re going to get LSP into a studio to record some new material, which I’m really excited about. Sunbird isn’t limited to a style of music, we’re all fairly open minded with the music, but we are quite careful who we work with and who we want to represent the label.

Why do you think it’s important to champion the DIY scene?

Good question. I’m bored of being told what to listen to, what to watch and being controlled. The thought of Spotify suggesting similar artists makes my insides bleed. I get that it’s impossible to compete with the industry, but I’m not going to stop fighting it anyway. My favourite Refused lyric was “rather be forgotten than remembered for giving in.” There’s no way we can ever beat the music industry, but that doesn’t mean we can’t quietly do something better. Over the past few years I have been working on my album and just released it on the Sunbird site, I didn’t want to try and sell it because it’s not what I’m about, but a lot of people thought that devalued it. One of the many barriers carefully crafted by the industry, they want you to join them or give up. Well I won’t.

What are the label’s plans for the rest of the year?

Stay alive, party and keep recording. I really need to keep talking to people about the label; there are some incredible artists working with us, but I need to keep pressing people to listen to them. Caedan’s a genius, one day people are going to talk about how they heard him first, or how they saw him play a gig at the Student’s Union in Huddersfield. Jamie Hamilton’s working hard on some new music too. I helped him record his first album because at the time he wasn’t that confident writing electronic parts, but with his new material he’s on top of his game. He makes my electronics look daft, he’s done me proud. My next job is to find a printer to start printing out some of the old gig posters and getting them framed or something, I’ve got about 20 posters on my computer but they never get printed because sadly they just go online now, I want some print.

If you could sign one independent artist at the moment, who would it be and why?

This is hypothetical so I’m going straight to the top. I was really impressed when Thom Yorke put his new album out on Torrent, I thought that was cool. If I could only pick one right now I’d go with Ametsub, I heard this track called ‘Snowy Lava’ and it blew me away. I’d do anything to be that good. Having said that, Sunbird has been approached by some amazing bands in the past and we haven’t signed them because there’s nothing we can do to help them. We are trying our best to stick to our guns and not exploit anyone.

What kind of releases can we expect from the label in 2015?

Well the big one for me is the MYRA—fütaba album, we’ve got this big plan for a visual setup and we keep joking about a tour which I think might actually happen. Then there’s the LSP release. I think my Dads even going to put out another E.P which would be awesome. Tactical Dance Manoeuvre are also working on an album and there’s Jamie’s new material. We’ve got quite a busy 6 months ahead which I’m half excited for and half terrified of.

Anything else you wish to add?

We have to try and liberate culture from capitalism now, the creative industry is the saddest thing that’s ever happened. Creativity is a gift and instead of sharing it we capitalise off it. Money’s going to fail and the next big currency will be culture, at least in the first world. If punk bands don’t start standing by their principles now then no-one’s going to set a good example, and our art, film and music will continue to lose it’s integrity. If we can save culture, our children will be happier and live more meaningful lives than we have. Don’t sell out. + Thanks for having us. x

Visit the Sunbird Records website to find out more about the artists on the label and the forthcoming releases.




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