kultureflash

ARTWORKER OF THE WEEK #32

Steve Beckett

Founded by Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell in 1989, Warp Records was central to the acid house boom with pioneering releases by Sweet Exorcist and LFO. A focus on artist development -- then a unique practice for a dance independent -- led to long-term relationships with exemplars of contemporary electronica like Autechre, Squarepusher and the Aphex Twin. Since Mitchell's death from cancer in October 2001, Beckett has continued to propel Warp in new directions, including Bleep.com -- their MP3 download site -- and the Bafta-winning Warp Films (an upcoming Shane Meadows feature to preview at the Edinburgh Festival). Earlier this year, the label collaborated for the second time with the London Sinfonietta at the Ether Festival.

James Cowdery: There seems to be a wonderful serendipity about Warp's progress over the last 15 years. How much was carefully planned, and to what extent were you in the right place at the right time?

Steve Beckett: Ha! You always have these big plans and they obviously never turn out the way you planned them, but they always turn out close. The honest answer is I haven't got a clue!

JC: You've recently launched Bleep.com, and as a label you have a remarkable cross-platform presence...

SB: There is an organic feel but obviously it doesn't happen by accident. We sit there and definitely have vision meetings about the future and talk about how the future's changing. With the advent of MP3, people are listening to music in a totally different way. Bleep was planned two or three years ago and we're already thinking about the re-design of both the Warp and Bleep sites. We're talking to lots of other labels and bringing them on board. The idea is just to be a huge online indie store.

JC: And it was never going to be called clonk?

SB: That's version two!

JC: There's a similar diversity at work throughout the artist roster. Can you identify a commonality between Warp artists?

SB: It's partly musical taste. I don’t know many people who have got taste limited to a single genre. Even when we used to have the record shop in Sheffield, people were coming in buying a Danzig record, a Derek May record and an EPMD record. To me it's just trying to find music where the artists are genuine and authentic about what they do and who push whatever sound they're into. Also the artists that we deal with do tend to have a sort of maverick approach to their work. And not many of them are into promoting it!

JC: Is that a problematic?

SB: It's not problematic -- it comes with the territory. You can't expect these really eccentric people who are making incredible music to go "Oh yes, all that was bullshit -- I'm really into being a pop star and making videos and appearing on TV".

JC: How personally are you involved with A&R?

SB: That's all I'm doing today. All I'm doing is listening to music and talking to each artist about their album or maybe even specific tracks. That's my main role, and what I spend most of my time focusing on.

JC: The label is most readily associated with electronica, but you've released artists like Tortoise, !!! and Vincent Gallo. Was there a conscious decision to broaden the roster?

SB: It's just whatever moves you. It's not a reaction to anything else. It's just generally being into that music. I think the fourth record we signed was Mink, a hip-hop record. We also signed Seefeel which was a guitar band, Sabres of Paradise, Broadcast... We've got a new artist called Gravenhurst -- what they're trying to achieve is a cross between Simon and Garfunkel and My Bloody Valentine. It's just the ones you get known for are the Aphex Twins and Squarepushers.

JC: Is there anyone currently recording you'd like to sign?

SB: We tried to sign The Rapture. I think they're a great act. They've been a bit over-hyped, but I think they're really cool. The acts that we're really into we do tend to sign.

JC: There are a number of artists that have been with you since the beginning. How do you maintain these kinds of long-term developmental relationships?

SB: Just by being straight with them and trying to look at their creations from their point of view -- seeing what they want to achieve with it, so you're not just stamping your ambitions on them. You look at each individual artist and how they want to approach their "career", for want of a better word. Then there's the basic things like being straight with people, being honest, and paying them. Paying people makes a big difference. I've seen artists that get tinkered with and pushed about and it might work in the short term but in the long-term, the artist just doesn't connect. We're more about finding the people who are creative, then after that creative work has been done, you try and get it to as many people as possible.

JC: It may be something to do with the peculiarities of promoting electronic music, but for such a dominant label, Warp retains a rather enigmatic reputation. Have you deliberately tried to cultivate that?

SB: Partly, I think some people are intimidated by the level of the music. People like Tom [Squarepusher] and Richard [Aphex Twin] really intimidate other people, because other musicians -- this sounds really arrogant -- can be intimidated in that the music is at such a different level, that they really do get scared by it. It's also in terms of how far they're pushing the technology. I get the image of upcoming electronic musicians who are trying push a boundary or open a new door and every time they get through that door, there's an Aphex Twin or Squarepusher flag there, "I was here first".

JC: How did the Ether festival and the collaboration with the London Sinfonietta come about?

SB: It's very much from the Sinfonietta -- they've been trying to work with Tom and Richard for years. So every year, they're like, "Look we really wanna work with Squarepusher, is there any way he'll do this?" That's been for like six or seven years and eventually they suggested doing interpretations of our music. Last year's performance was great. Mira Calix performed the "Nunu" piece with live insects, and then Tom and Richard and Boards of Canada went down, saw it and were pretty blown away by it. As a result they got more involved this year.

JC: It was peculiar to see the Warp faithful knocking around the Royal Festival Hall.

SB: Yeah, I could see that guy raving to Violin Phase [Steve Reich]. It was like the new rave!

James Cowdery is a freelance music critic and regular KultureFlash contributor.