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PL: Explain what you do for Revelation Records.
GS: My job title is "Publicity" and pretty much a lot falls under that. It’s mainly promoting our bands, tours, releases, etc by setting up interviews, contests, giveaways, taking care of our print and online advertising, and in general, helping out the bands as much as I can.
PL: How long have you been working for them?
GS: Its been over three years.
PL: How did you get involved in this type of work?
GS: I started by interning at another record label while in high school and once I moved out to Orange County for college, I found other ways of staying in touch with the music scene such as by helping out with the local zines and pretty much going to every show at the infamous Koo’s CafÈ.
PL: What's it like dealing with different bands and their personalities?-both the good and the bad.
GS: Honestly, at first it was pretty intimidating but I was really lucky to have met most of the bands early on and every single one of them were awesome. During the beginning of my job as the publicist (I’d previously been working at Rev for a few months doing mail order) I frequented a ton of fests and that helped me get better acquainted with our bands. It’s definitely an interesting position- getting to know each band and their individual members in order to better the working relationship. This position in general is also more fulfilling for me as opposed to others because not only do I get to build relationships with the bands but also with the kids that do the zines. It’s the perfect mix.
PL: I've read in an interview with Elliot that working with Revelation Records has been a learning experience for both the band and the label. What have you learned from the different bands that you have worked with?
GS: I’ve definitely learned a lot from all of our bands. I’ve learned about technical stuff like the process of recording and also the more personal stuff such as the actual writing of music and lyrics. Most importantly, it made me realize how many bands are writing and playing music for the true passion of music as opposed to any other contrived reasons.
PL: How do you deal with relationships with bands going sour (i.e. whatever happened with the Movie Life)? Is that something that pains you or is it something that you just write off as part of the job?
GS: The Movielife was one of the only experiences that was never fully alleviated or smoothed out and that is bothersome, knowing a band left the label because of something that was amendable but in a case like that, I’m satisfied knowing that my relationship with the band did not end sourly. The reason they were ultimately unhappy with Revelation Records was something only the owner of Rev had control over. I was upset to see them go because things were wonderful until their van accident and its unfortunate we couldn’t have helped them out more than we did during that period of time but I’m positive they were happy with the way things turned out after their change of labels and that’s a great thing. This was pretty much the only instance where things were kind of dramatized and strange...well, that and the whole Drowningman situation...
PL: I've read that Shai Hulud and Elliot have both fulfilled their contracts with Revelation and might be looking at other options. Revelation has a lot of great bands on its roster, but those were two of the bigger names (as everyone else seems to be up and comers). If those two bands leave, what type of effect do you think that it will have on the label?
GS: Both Elliott and Shai Hulud have fulfilled their contracts for Revelation but that doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t be working with us on any future releases. However, Elliott just officially announced their break up which is pretty unfortunate because they were/are an amazing band. They’ll be touring Europe this summer, following will be a few US dates and that’ll be it for them. I’m sure it’ll be a quite strange not having Elliott anymore, as they were one of our more known bands. As for Shai Hulud, I’m not sure what their plans are but it’s definite that they’ll be touring non-stop for their recent release.
PL: You've mentioned in Emails that you were going to school. What were you studying and how do you apply that knowledge to your current job at Revelation Records (if at all)?
GS: I actually just graduated from college which is a huge relief. I finished with my Bachelors in Anthropology and a minor in English. It’s the first month in three years where I actually have time to do all of the things I set to finish in a day at Rev. It’s the first time I’m able to fully emerge in this whole thing and its awesome. As far as how my studies helped my job at Rev, I can’t say it did too much. They are fairly unrelated if you look at it through a textbook perspective but as far as the actual experience of college affecting my job, that definitely happened. Studying cultural Anthro and learning about different cultures and societies is really interesting, especially when you yourself are part of some sort of smaller culture or subculture, such as music. And of course the English minor helped with the writing aspect of being a publicist. You’re required to do a good amount of writing in this position and having to do a few essays a week in school only helped (at least I’m hoping it did!)
PL: Do you see yourself working in the music industry for the rest of your life? If so, are there any other "positions" that you might be interested in pursuing? If you don't see yourself working in the music industry, what other type of careers would interest you?
GS: I definitely see myself being involved with in one way or another. I don’t know about working in the music ‘industry’ but something more along the lines of starting an all ages venue/cafÈ out here as it is much needed. I’d love to start up a small label to put out friends’ releases as well. And of course the idea of grad school is lurking around in which case, I’d continue with a focus in Women Studies and eventually hope to teach that field of study.
PL: How has working in the music business changed you?
GS: In so many ways I can’t even begin to fully explain. The most obvious is how much more open-minded I’ve grown. Being able to travel around the country to watch some of my favorite bands and meet amazing people is something I was lucky to do because of my job and that is by far the best experience(s) I’ve gained.
PL: How do you apply what you've learned in dealing with bands to dealing with people in your everyday non-work life?
GS: I’m not sure how I apply what I’ve learned but I automatically do. For example, the need for patience is a huge thing. Having to be patient with bands for anything and everything translates over to my everyday non-work life and that’s a good thing considering my lack of patience pre- Rev.
PL: How has the music industry changed you since you became a part of it? Both for the good and the bad.
GS: As I said before, I was able to do tons of things most normal college students don’t experience in four years of school but I’ve definitely grown a bit cynical since by inception at Rev. Thinking about the whole ‘industry’ and how fast things change and grow ‘old’ in it and specifically, seeing hardcore go from basements to stadiums is something that still doesn’t rest too easy with me but I kind of hope it never does.
PL: How do you think your job would be different if you worked at a major label?
GS: Honestly, I'm not very sure seeing as I've never worked at a major label but I imagine things to run a bit differently considering how many more people work at a major. At Rev and maybe most other indie labels, the positions tend to overlap and there's lots of collaboration on certain projects but i'd imagine things at a major to be more black and white as far as what an individual is supposed to do, namely, their own specific work. But honestly, I have no idea. What am I talking about? Haha.
PL: What do you like and dislike about your job?
GS: I dislike the same thing I’d dislike about any other job- having to get up and come into work every morning but as soon as I’m here, that thought dissipates. And I can easily say that I enjoy most all of what my job entails.
PL: What advice would you give to people that might be interested in this line of work?
GS: Start interning at a record label, helping a zine, local venue, anything that could give you some idea of how things work.
PL: Is there anything else that you'd like to say?
GS: This is the first interview I’ve ever done. It’s a bit strange because it’s my job to send the interviews to our bands and having to do one myself is really interesting and actually fun so thanks! Your questions were all well-thought out and I greatly appreciate your sincerity and acknowledgement of this ‘job’. (Job in quotes because its something I love to do, not have to do).
Interviewed by RF