Some Will Never Know Zine had a chance to talk to Alex Fitzpatrick, owner of Holy Roar Records and guitarist in PARISO, “about the history of the label, difficulties he has encountered and odd formats among other things”.
How long has Holy Roar been going?
Alex: Holy Roar started in January 2006 as a rough idea. We did three releases in tandem in August and September 2006, they were Phoenix Bodies, Rolo Tomassi and a split 12” between Kayo Dot and Bloody Panda. But the idea for Holy Roar was kind of alive before that when I lived in Birmingham for Uni and we did a few small minor releases there, and that kind of sowed the seed.
So you started Holy Roar on your own?
Alex: It was me and Elen Godwin who co-founded the label and it was just us two doing it. She’s still involved in an advisory basis but I’d say it is just me doing it now.
How difficult has it been running the label? Have you encountered any difficulties or has it been plain sailing?
I’d say has there been any plain sailing amongst the difficulty?! I don’t know, there’s been some major things, like we had a manufacturing company go into liquidation with 2000 CDs of ours which was a couple of grand down the drain. That was the one major stumbling block I’ve faced. There have been obvious things like bands splitting up just before delivering the album they should have. There’s also when you’re lining up a band and they end up getting taken by a much bigger label just before they work with you, that’s frustrating, I’d consider that a stumbling block. I’d be interested to see where we would be now if we’d released the Fuck Buttons debut album, I think we’d be a slightly different label had that happened.
It’s all a gradual organic process really, lots of building and expansion. If you run a business you have to take the rough with the smooth, it’s a cliché but it’s true. Planning definitely helps, but you can’t pre-empt all of the problems that you will face as a label owner.
Read the full interview here.
PARISO – “The Huntsman” video:
