With the upcoming release party for Harvest Sum's 20th disc, buffaBLOG got to talk to main man Mark Nosowicz about the early days, power in numbers, and the big big party Saturday night!
buffaBLOG: What are some of the biggest problems/cons running a record label.
MN: Well, I wish I could say that I ran a record label but Harvest Sum is really more of a collective of bands just helping each other out. We do label-ish things from time to time like pay for a band's album production or take care of event promotion, but for the most part we're just a group of 30 or so friends that really try to support each other's bands. The main benefit of operating this way is flexibility. No one is locked into any contracts or anything. In fact, getting our bands signed to a label with more resources is one of our main goals. One of the cons of operating a collective is sometimes lacking organization. None of us are getting paid to do what we do, so it takes a lot of commitment to keep the ball rolling all the time.
buffaBLOG: you've been there since the beginning. Tell us about the early days and how Harvest Sum got started. Was it just an idea you came up with at the bar, or did you always dream of having your own record label?
MN: I was just beginning to seriously run Harvest Studios as my main job and started to meet and record a lot of great musicians. After a while we all became good enough friends that we decided our bands should all stick together and try to pool our resources to see if it would give us some sort of advantage. In a lot of ways it made booking, recording, and promoting much easier, so ever since we've just tried to basically help each other out as much as possible.
buffaBLOG: 20 albums in and going strong, do you think you can make it 20 more?
MN: I definitely think we can make 20 more records. If anything I get frustrated that we're only on number 20. I'm always so surprised at how long it really takes to make a record. Even the ones that we just bang out as fast as possible still take about twice as long as we planned for. Its really just a matter of time before we put out number 40. Even now, our next 10 or so records are in the planning stages.buffaBLOG: Speaking of 20 albums. Tell us about the new sample cd, no.20 and the release party. what do you have planned and who's playing?
MN: Our summer sampler represents a sort of turning point for us. Half of the tracks are from debut records, so not only do we have a few brand new records coming out, we 've got a few brand new bands as well. We're all pretty excited about every one's new material and it's really pushed Harvest Sum morale to a new high. The release concert is at Mohawk Place on Saturday July 24th and will feature a nonstop blur of bands shuffling on and off the stage. Since there's 8 bands playing, we're going to keep sets short and sweet so it won't end up running mind-numbingly late. The music will span many different styles from indie to hip hop, to all out rock & a few weird genres we found in between. We're also giving out copies of the Harvest Sum Summer Sampler free with $5 admission. Personally, I'm really excited to get everyone from all the bands in the same room together. It doesn't happen all that often and when it does it's usually a ridiculously good time.
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