December 10th, 1997 to December 16th, 1997

Singer Amy Ray:

An Indigo Girl

by Gregg Shapiro

In the midst of a two-day concert tour in Chicago, Amy Ray, of the Indigo Girls, took some time to sit and talk with me about her daring and innovative independent record label Daemon Records.

Gregg Shapiro: Daemon Records' roster is one of the most eclectic artist rosters around. What are the qualities that you look for in a potential signee to Daemon?

Amy Ray: Well, songwriting is first, for me. The second thing is self-motivation, because I think that part of our biggest problem in the past has been whether the bands have been willing to tour, how involved they'll be in their own careers. I'm basically looking for people who are so passionate that they're willing to be on an indie label and do a lot of work themselves, tour a lot, pay a lot of dues, because that's really the only way we can sell records. I tend to like thinks that are a little off-kilter, whatever category it's in. I tend not to like stuff that's real straight. Although we do have some things that are kind of straight. The niche thing is ... we have so many different kinds of music, that's probably what's hurt us (in) trying to get somewhere, because no one knows exactly what we are, but we're still going to do it that way.

GS: Have you made a concerted effort to seek out openly gay and lesbian performers?

AR: I just work with whoever ... songwriting really is the first criteria, I don't even think about their sexuality, actually. I think about that more in terms of who is working for me. I tend to want people working for me that are more ... not necessarily gay, although we do have gay employees, but that are sympathetic to those issues. I don't sign artists that aren't sympathetic to them either. For my employees (at the label), two of them are gay and one is straight. As far as our artists go, I won't work with anybody who has got homophobia running through them at all. There really has to be an openness.

GS: Even before I made the connection between you and the label, I came across the CD by Holly Beth Vincent's band The Oblivious. I always loved Holly Beth Vincent's work with Holly & The Italians, and I was wondering if there was a new disc forthcoming from Holly?

AR: No. We did that record together ... I had heard her music, and I was a fan, and then I met her in L.A., and I basically said, "I want to do a record with you, a kind of cool, indie thing," and she was into it. We did it, and then the only problem I had was that she didn't really want to tour as much as I needed her to. She toured with Concrete Blonde for a while, but it was hard for her to do her own rock club tour and sleeping on floors and not making any money ...

GS: Having already done that earlier in her career ...

AR: Yeah. I think it was hard for her to adjust to it. So, that was kind of a drag, because I didn't feel like I could push the record as much ... I think we did the best we could. I mean, I thought that record was really, really great and I wanted it to get more out there ... so my only issue with her was, "I want your record to do well, and whatever I can do... ." But, I'm a small label, and I think maybe she ... a lot of artists think I'm bigger than I am. I have to do a lot warning, (saying things like) "You don't really want to be on Daemon (laughs). Not if you don't want to do all this stuff first." I still think Holly's an incredible songwriter.

GS: How does it feel when a Daemon-identified artist, such as Michelle Malone or James Hall, leaves the label to sign with a major?

AR: When I started Daemon, it was to be a stepping stone. I was trying to get artists specifically signed to bigger deals that could do more for their careers. Not necessarily major labels, but companies that were bigger than I (Daemon) was, that had more of a profile. Now, I'm trying to hold on to some artists. I understand if they have to move on, but now I'm interested in building a catalog and working with younger bands that might want to do a couple of records, so that I can build up a roster of really cool albums, just because I'm a big fan of music. But, when someone makes it to the next level, and they want to, if that's their ambition, I push for it. I have a band called Lift on my label, and they really want a major label deal. ... I try, I do what I can to get the A&R people out to their shows. I don't have any ego problem with competition between labels. In fact, I have an artist named Danielle Howle (on Daemon) who is on a lot of different labels at one time. To me, it's great. The more, the merrier.

GS: Have any Daemon artists gone to a major label, had it go awry, and then come back to you and said, "Please take me back?"

AR: (laughs) Well, actually, it's interesting because Michelle's (Malone) been back and forth. She put out a record called New Experience on her own, and I knew her then, and helped out a little, as a friend. Then she went to Arista, and then moved back to the indie world and did a record for Daemon, and then in the midst of the Velvel (Michelle's current label) thing happening, we licensed some of her other stuff, and now sell it through mail order. Kristen Hall is another one. [Formerly on Windham Hill's High Street label], now she's got a great publishing deal and she's writing some great songs. She also wants to create some studio projects and put them out through our mail order.

GS: What are the prospects for Daemon to hook up with a major label, for example the way that Scratchie Records has connected with Mercury, for distribution purposes?

AR: I think it's OK when that happens. Koch distributes Daemon right now, and I'm more interested in becoming even more independent, distributing myself. ... I probably could have gotten a major label to help me out in that way before, and I just haven't wanted to do it. I'm already on a major label, and I don't have an issue with that really, I mean I have some issues, but not in the realm of what's morally right. I think capitalism is capitalism (laughs), so it doesn't matter if you put your own records out on your own label, you're still doing it, and you're doing it commercially, it's just a matter of control. I want to evolve into being self-contained. I would really love to be able to distribute myself and do it successfully. Up to this point, I just didn't feel like I had the knowledge or the resources to do that. In the future, I might.

GS: I would imagine that one advantage of having your own record label is that while planning an Indigo Girls tour, you have the chance to expose a band or a solo performer on Daemon Records, as an opening act.

AR: It's a part of the whole thing. Emily's (Saliers of the Indigo Girls) contribution is that we agreed that when the Daemon bands come out we're going to take them on the road for a couple of weeks. It helps them, but I think it can also hurt them. Unless they're willing to follow-through, and go do their own shows, it's limiting to just play in front of our audience. Our audience is very diverse, but they have to go out, and make sure they hoe their own row. I'll work with some bands that are more ... punk-some of our fans will like them and some of the won't. If Daemon is so Indigo Girls identified, it could hurt a band. So, I try to walk the line. I'd really love (for Daemon) to be like Kill Rock Stars. Not necessarily an alternative (music) label, but a label that's recognized as being a quality label. ... I have to overcome a niche. People think I'm going to be a folk label, and I'm not. I mean, I like folk, but I like to do everything.

GS: Were there any Daemon Records artists at Lilith Fair, will there be at future Liliths?

AR: I haven't asked Sarah (McLachlan) to do that. There were some friends of ours, who aren't on Daemon, the Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet, who are great ... we played with them, and we wanted them to sit in with us at a show in Vancouver. We called and asked if they could be put on a second stage show, so we could give them a good reason to come up (to Vancouver) besides playing with us. I might (ask her about Daemon artists), since we're going to go out on part of the next (Lilith Fair) tour.

GS: Can you describe the process of soliciting work by performers for a benefit disc, such as the Honor 1: A Benefit for the Honor The Earth Campaign CD?

AR: (laughs) Yeah. I had a lot of help on that from my publicist, Lisa Markowitz, who is really totally behind the indie label scene, and is probably more involved with that than she is with the major label scene. We sat down and brain-stormed, and came up with a list of a couple hundred people. I wrote a letter and sent it out to everybody and followed up some of them with phone calls and some of them I just saw in person. It was good ... I got a lot of response for that CD. The only problem I had was that I can't seem to overcome the barrier of color. I really went to the Black community heavily and asked a lot of people to be involved and no one did. It was weird, I was hanging out in Atlanta after the disc came out, and this guy from this Atlanta-based production company came up to me and said that he was really into the disc and why didn't I ask him (to be involved) and I was like, I wrote so many letters to people in the community, and if I had only known. ... We have such different management systems and different promoters and agents. [Honor The Earth is a] grassroots environmental indigenous campaign and we raise money, political support and public awareness for these different indigenous groups. [We] give out grants, to all the grassroots organizations working in small communities around the Americas, including the Pacific Islands, Central and South America and Mexico and Canada. We've always been environmentalists and we met some Indian activists, and that sector ... is where all the big public policy decisions were being made at the time, about resources and environmental protection laws and what companies can and can't get away with. It's really happening in the Indian community more than in a lot of other places. And in communities of color, specifically with lower socio-economic levels. We do some coalition building, too.

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