Silver Girl Records are based in San Diego but as well as having bands from the Bay area recording for them they often release music from around the US and Europe. Keith York told us a bit more about why they do what they do.

 

Are there not enough decent US bands around, or do you just happen to like the UK/European ,style'??

 

Since brevity is a sincere form of flattery... we have yet to sign" a

band from anywhere but the USA. We have released on compilations and on

7" singles bands that we like that live on other continents. The reason for this derives from the bands sending out tapes and making us familiar with them...their sincere desire to be released via a US label is testament to their own drive to have their songs heard by others than their fellow countrymen. The Drift, Laurens, Hem, Meek, McTells etc have all sent us tapes in hopes of being connected with our label and for that I feel a great deal of respect for bands that know labels and their own music and are able to match the two together. I am not saying we don't get bad demo cassettes just as often though...

 

What do you see as the actual difference between the music from these continents?
I can't identify differences categorically, although I hear them with my ear very often. When the bands display their angst or complacency it just seems to be projected differently in their songs. Optimistic pop bands seem to be lacking here in the States and when they occur they don't seem as genuine as the likes of The Field Mice, Wedding Present and some of the UK bands that hardly get to show their faces on these shores. The biggest difference that separates bands beyond their geographic locale is their wanton desire to be famous, successful etc. Some bands want that and others don't. I feel much more comfortable with bands that just want to roll the dice by releasing their songs, not having timelines or ladder steps to reach before they feel comfortable with their identity as a band.    
           
                   

 

What do you make of this Britpop thing?

 

Which Britpop thing are you referring? For me Britpop started in 1985 when I started buying records by the Age of Chance and it extends, til 1995 with great bands like Spare Snare.

  
Well, it's actually a recent term coined by the NME to categorise the ,scene' they >invented with the likes of Oasis and Blur being the main players, also Elastica, the Boo Radleys, Sleeper, Echobelly, Ash, Supergrass and Pulp. The NME really believe these bands will crack it in the USA.  


I feel that the NME as an institution has both falsified and defined how US
music fans understand the UK music mosaic. I have had my doubts about
promotion and hype theologies promoted by the British Music Press but
they're at times sincere in aiding us foreigners to discover new bands. I
think many of my peers have fond memories of the C tapes and the C86
album, to the extent of starting their own bands and record labels here in
the USA. As far as labels releasing Britpop superstars and their
subsequent tours here can be summed up by the Wedding Present's		  

misfortunes since entering the US label game. Few notable exceptions exist

though: Smiths, Stone Roses etc. Most of us in the USA know about these

Britpop bands' existence but it doesn't mean we embrace them like our own

domestic products e.g. Shellac, Pavement, Sonic Youth.

 

So what's new from Silver Girl?

There are new Holiday Flyer and Track Star records out now and Hula Hoop and Retriever records any day now.

Gapeseed has just recorded their 2nd album with Shellac's Bob Weston.