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Doing It Together: an interview with PNWK label

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There’s a moment in every music scene when something begins to shift. A band, a label, a shared philosophy starts to resonate in ways that stretch beyond the notes and words. For Aren’t We Amphibians (AWA), their signing to San Diego-based PNWK was a signal of a shared ethos—a belief in doing it together when the world insists you go it alone.

Formed in 2022 by Joshua Talbot, Brandon Cunningham, and Brandon’s brother Tyler, AWA carved their space in the crowded emo landscape with a sound that nods to midwest emo’s twinkling riffs but allows screamo’s raw emotion to bleed through.

Their inspirations—Macseal, Origami Angel, and Short Fictions—are clear, but the band isn’t looking to follow; they’re crafting their path. And now, with the announcement of a split EP in early 2025, the trio is proving their commitment to pushing boundaries without losing the heart that defines them.

Behind AWA’s signing is PNWK, an independent label balancing idealism and pragmatism. When asked why they started, the label didn’t talk about trends or market gaps. They talked about exhaustion. “Bands were burning themselves out, trying to do everything—write, record, tour, promote—all while juggling day jobs,” said Robert, one of PNWK’s founders. The label’s foundation is rooted in a “DIT” (doing it together) approach, stepping in to handle the logistics so bands like AWA can focus on what matters: the music.

This ethos isn’t just a tagline. PNWK has walked the talk, whether rescuing Leisure Hour from a disastrous van breakdown mid-tour or helping bands establish LLCs, navigate taxes, or strategize tours.

Every artist is treated as a partner, not a commodity.

“We don’t take ownership of their work. If we’re not honoring them, they can leave,” Robert explained. It’s a philosophy that feels almost radical in an industry notorious for exploitation.

For PNWK, signing a band isn’t about metrics or monthly listeners. It’s about gut feeling. Tracks loop through their offices, cars, and headphones, and decisions are made based on the emotional weight of the music. This approach has built a roster that reflects diversity within the alt, emo, punk, and rock spectrum, with AWA standing out as a band ready to take on the next chapter of their journey.

2025 is set to be monumental for both PNWK and AWA. The label is preparing for ambitious projects, including a collaboration with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for a free concert series. AWA’s upcoming split EP promises to be another step in a trajectory built on authenticity and community.

Our full interview with PNWK dives deeper into their approach, ethos, and what it means to navigate the modern music landscape. Topics include their hands-on artist support, upcoming releases, and their vision for the future. Dive in below.

PNWK (@pnwkrecords)
PNWK (@pnwkrecords)

What made you decide to start PNWK at a time when bands can pretty much do everything themselves? Was there a specific moment that pushed you to take the leap?

We were noticing our favorite bands burning themselves out, between day jobs and writing music, recording, playing shows, promoting, designing merch, fulfilling orders, and trying to save up to record in the studio. They could do it and they were doing it, but it was taking a serious toll on their mental and physical health in a way that made it unsustainable. We wanted to find a way to help our favorite bands continue to write and record music without draining themselves mentally and financially.

So we started talking to bands and finding out where the biggest pain points were and we discovered it was different for every band. So we committed to taking on that challenge, understanding that no two bands are alike and that every one would be a unique puzzle to solve. Going into it open minded and flexible really allowed us to carve out a little place where we and our bands could thrive.

You mentioned your DIT philosophy—”doing it together.” Can you share a specific story where this approach really helped one of your bands overcome a challenge?

Definitely! This approach is all about letting bands continue to control what they love to do and let us worry about everything else, and also making them feel comfortable to reach out when they’re in need no matter what the need is.

When Leisure Hour embarked on their tour, they were going to be gone for over a month on the road. Day 1 of that journey and they called us from somewhere in New York and their van transmission had blown.

They were stranded and had a show in Brooklyn that night. The cost of getting the van back on the road was more money than they were projected to make all tour.

They thought it was the end, but we were able to tackle the problem together, get them into a hotel, get them a rental van to make it to the show, and work with the mechanic to cover all the costs. It was a nightmare, but it was a manageable nightmare together. A lot of labels don’t even touch the live performance side of their artists lives, but for us we do it all.

Whether it’s talking through how to establish an LLC for the band, manage taxes, negotiate deals, record records, book shows, or just figure out how to navigate life as a rising artist transitioning out of your “normal life”, we’ve been able to just be there in ways that allow them to grow as people which directly impacts their music.

Your roster, with bands like AREN’T WE AMPHIBIANS, TINY VOICES, and EMWAY?, is so diverse, yet there seems to be a common thread. What draws you to specific artists? Is it more about the sound, ethos, or something else entirely?

Music is therapy to us, it’s not about a specific sound or technical perfection. It’s really about being able to connect on a level that is subconscious. It’s hard to articulate but we have a method for finding it. We never like to judge music directly, so we’ll often just put new demos or studio tracks on repeat and go about our day. It’ll be playing throughout the whole label, in our car as we’re driving, in our airpods when we’re walking. We’ll let it wash over us and see what it does to us.

PNWK label 1 min

The rule of thumb is, if we leave it on repeat, thats a good sign. If we find ourselves stopping what were doing to move to a riff or find myself trying to mentally breakdown a chord progression, then thats a great sign.

If I find myself completely out of it and just dancing through the halls and drumming along on my desk or steering wheel then we’re normally on the phone with a band within 24 hours. It’s almost entirely emotionally driven for us.

We don’t care about how many monthly listeners a band has, or what genre they consider themselves, although every band that cross our table falls somewhere in the alt, emo, punk, rock spectrum.

2025 looks like it’s going to be a massive year for PNWK. Which upcoming releases or collaborations are you most hyped about?

This year is a dream come true, we legitimately feel like we’re dropping our favorite albums of the year. Leisure Hour has a new single they just finished, that we’re planning an incredible video for that I’m dying to release.

The Tiny Voices ‘Reasons I Won’t Change’ LP will become a staple for me and I hope a lot of people this year.

The Casper Fight Scene’s LP is incredible from start to finish, we already dropped a single from it called ‘Young Neil, He Lives Here’ which is just a taste of that album.

Honestly though, every artist on the label is writing new music right now and every demo and stem from the studio they send me validates every decision we’ve made. 2025 is going to absolutely insane.

Your transparency and the fact that bands keep their masters are pretty unconventional in this industry. What inspired that approach, and how have artists reacted to it?

First you learn, then you earn, then you return. That has become our ethos as people. When I, Robert, first started in music I was 14 years old. I spent my entire life creating music, video games, and films, and other forms of entertainment.

The one consistent thing I discovered through my own creative journey was that the better I got at making something “successful” the more people tried to take it from me.

My art became lucrative, and with that came vultures looking to benefit from it’s existence. I hated it and I spent my entire life fighting for fair deals and honest partners. When we decided to launch PNWK the sole reason we did it was to give artists an opportunity to just create. Not to fight, not to negotiate, not to be forced to put a value on their creative expression.

That is why we never take ownership of a band’s work. We don’t restrict them to terms in our contract, they can leave whenever they want. If we’re not honoring them and their music, they shouldn’t be forced to stay with us. We also ensure that every band on the label has the exact same agreement. No favortism. If one band negotiates something better, it is retroactively applied to every other band’s agreement.

PNWK

No other label can compete with our terms, it’s financially impossible for them to do it, so bands are understandably overwhelmed by how artist-friendly we are as a label. The only downside to our approach is we’re limited on how many bands we can sign. Our approach is fantastic, but it’s not scalable, which is okay by us. We don’t want to be a huge label, we pride ourselves on being a two-person label and we hope to stay that way forever.

If you had to pick one release from 2024 that wasn’t under the PNWK banner but really inspired or excited you, what would it be and why?

Ben Quad – Ephemera with an honorable mention to Equipment – Tequila Redbull.

Ben Quad represents the raw talent and authenticity that we’re all about and Emphemera is a pretty transcendent experience live. They know they have an open invitation if they ever need anything from us but we take comfort knowing they’re being treated excellent and have a incredible future ahead of them.

Equipment and especially their single Tequila Redbull is on the other end of the spectrum for us in terms of pure fun and high energy.

Where do you see PNWK heading in the next few years? Any wild ideas or dream projects you’re hoping to dive into but haven’t yet?

We have an insane roadmap of experiments and big swings we want to take over the next few years, including a music-infused comedy album from an incredible comic we discovered in Seattle named JoJo Blacco.

We’ll be releasing a live / studio album with them in 2025 that isn’t on ANYONEs radar. In addition to that, we’re partnered with the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, OH and will be doing a Label Session where every PNWK artist will be present for a free concert series.

That’s something that we never even knew was possible a year ago, but the stars are aligning and we’re taking every opportunity presented to us!

Balancing creative and financial support for your bands with keeping the label sustainable must be a challenge. How do you manage that? Have there been any bold experiments—successful or not—that stand out?

What we have learned is that you have to lean in heavily at the beginning to create something sustainable. You have to be prepared to lose heavily at the beginning, to create a foundation for something that can last the test of time. That is our commitment. We are taking a gamble that if we support our bands with everything they need in their first two years, we can set them up for long term success at the expense of losing money at first.

The Label Session I just mentioned is probably the wildest experiment we’re attempting to 2025. It’s very untraditional but we are bringing every band in, including Aren’t We Amphibians from California, putting them up into hotels, hosting a series of talks from surprise guests from established bands and labels about recording, marketing, touring, etc and then hosting a concert series where any visitor to the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame can see our bands live during their visit.

It’s half artist development for our bands and half giving back to the community that has supported us so much in our first year. Let’s find out together if it’s successful!

Imagine it’s 2030. How would you want a new band signing with PNWK to describe the label to their friends?

I hope we haven’t changed. I hope in 2030, new bands describe us the same way our bands today describe us, as their music Mom and Dad. That they know, no matter what the issue is, they can come to us because we’re all in it for the long haul.

The last words are yours. Cheers!

Thank you so much for caring about what we’re doing and supporting this scene.

Honestly thats all it takes is for someone else to believe that what you’re doing is worthwhile and it keeps people like us going! We hope anyone who reads this checks out our bands, comes to our show, and if you see either of us there please say hello!

Karol Kamiński

DIY rock music enthusiast and web-zine publisher from Warsaw, Poland. Supporting DIY ethics, local artists and promoting hardcore punk, rock, post rock and alternative music of all kinds via IDIOTEQ online channels.
Contact via [email protected]

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