File 13 Stays Open
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Sinkovich’s experience with Epitonic had convinced him of the need for more independent imprints. “It seemed like there were a lot of great bands that hadn’t been able to find labels, and people often suggested that I should start [one],” he says, but he’d been discouraged by financial and logistical hurdles. File 13 already had a catalog with dozens of titles and a distribution deal with Sacramento’s prestigious Mordam Records, a company so democratic in spirit it consults with each label that it works with before adding a new one. And Sinkovich had personal connections with the label–it had released the first ABPK single, as well as records by his first band, Thumbnail. In fact, Thumbnail drummer David Burns had headed up the label when it was launched as a collective operation in Little Rock in 1989. (It moved to Philadelphia in 1996, when Werth took the reins.) “It’s an important part of my music history, and I’m pretty proud of some of those records,” Sinkovich says.
Meanwhile Bird was touring with O’Donnell and singer-guitarist Nora O’Connor. Last October, in the midst of a southeastern jaunt, he decided on a whim to book a couple of days at the Beech House in Nashville with producer Mark Nevers (Lambchop, Will Oldham). An EP, he figured, would tide his audience over until he could get around to finishing the album. The trio laid down basic tracks for four songs, and Bird was pleased–the sessions had been too short for his obsessive perfectionism to take over. “If I’m in a studio too long, I start to forget who I am,” he says. “I start thinking about things too much.” A month later he returned to the Beech House for a week and a half, tracking six more songs, adding string flourishes, and recording his introspective vocals.
Since the summer of 2001 independent promoter Derron Swan (d/b/a House Call Entertainment) has been booking live music at the Beat Kitchen, raising the venue’s profile with a steady stream of national garage and punk bands as well as the occasional country or pop act. But starting this weekend he’ll move his base of operations to Wicker Park’s Subterranean. “I can’t sell the number of tickets I need to cover the [artists’] guarantees,” he says. Not only is he booking future shows at the North Avenue club, he’s also relocating a slew of shows that he’d already booked into the Beat Kitchen.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Marty Perez.
