| Walking into the headquarters of Up Records, it was everything I’d hoped it to be—band posters covering the walls, t-shirts strewn everywhere, boxes of music waiting to be shipped out, and tattered old couches. The stereo was cranking some old soul tunes that were astounding, but sadly, as to not admit my ignorance, I was afraid to ask who it was.
Pete Ritchey, the man in charge of Up, sat down on the couch, lit a cigarette and said, “I don’t think I’ll say anything genius, at least I hope not.” What ensued was a three-hour conversation that involved the current state of the union, the absurdity of Aretha Franklin’s title as the Queen of Soul, and a brief history of Up Records.
Up is currently celebrating its tenth anniversary and just released its 101st release with Brent Arnold and the Spheres’ “Last Boat.” In the early ‘90s, Up’s founder, Chris Takino, was working at Sub Pop records officially as the receptionist. Unofficially, he was filling in on anything he could help out with. As a hobby, he started Up as a 7” only label in order to put out some of his friends’ music; Violent Green’s “You Make Me Wish I Had A Gun” was the label’s first release. The label continued to put out singles until Takino handed Doug Martsch’s demo to Jonathan Poneman of Sub Pop. Though Poneman felt it wouldn’t fit the Sub Pop catalog, he encouraged Takino to release the Built To Spill album on Up and provided him with tremendous amounts of help, in the form of moral and financial support.
When I asked Ritchey how he came to be affiliated with Up, he butted out his smoke and told me that he started working there on a full-time basis in March of 2000 when Takino was in the hospital. “At that point, it was just going to be temporary. I was going to hold everything down until he got back in.”
Ritchey first met Takino “because my roommate at the time was dating Chris’ roommate and they both knew me and Chris and thought that we should meet each other. We were both pretty resistant for a while. I mean, come on. I don’t know that I trust that [she would] really know what I’d like in somebody. I finally talked to Chris at a pre-Christmas Party and it turned out that I actually liked him. Then later, my roommate was working at a coffee shop and Chris had left his cigarettes there. She was like, ‘Do it, just go over there and bring him his cigarettes.’ So I went over embarrassed and gave him his cigarettes. We ended up talking for a while and finally we started hanging out. That’s how we met.”
The conversation then eased into the beginning of Up Records in Ritchey’s words, as if he just loved to tell the story. “At that time, Chris was still thinking of it as a hobby, but when the record came out, “There’s Nothing Wrong With Love,” it really took off. I think it did way better than anyone anticipated it would do and so that allowed for a lot of other things to start happening—for Chris to be more viable than just putting out 7”s. Chris signed all of the bands that he’s put out and that’s why we’re not signing new bands. That’s what he wanted to have happen—for us to continue to work with artists that were already on the label. We had a bunch of bands who were in the middle of things when Chris died in October of 2000 [of leukemia]. At that point we had about five records that were in the works.”
Ritchey, who left his full-time job at Amazon to fill in at Up while Takino got better, promised to keep the label running, but to only put out records from bands that Takino had signed—a tough promise to keep and one that Ritchey was tight-lipped about. In talking with Ritchey, though, I started to understand that Up was never about numbers and profits. It seems that the label is comprised of a close group of friends that just happen to be some of the Northwest’s best artists.
I had a chance to ask Polly Johnson, drummer for Up band 764-HERO, what it was like being on the label and her response really summed it up: “When Up was in the downtown location, I can remember just going there to hang out and talk with Chris and Britt. It seemed that someone was always sleeping on the couch and I would be talking Chris into letting me smoke cigarettes in the office. When they moved to Capitol Hill, it still had the same vibe. People would just be sitting around talking and listening to music... it really did feel like a group of friends, not just a business.”
On what would have been Takino’s 36th birthday in February this year, Up put on four nights of shows that benefited the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of America. In total, the event raised over $38,000, thanks in part to the bands playing for free (or for as little as the plane ticket to Seattle). Modest Mouse, Built To Spill, Duster, Black Heart Procession and Quasi, among many others, all paid tribute to a label.
Up’s future is as uncertain as the new music being made by the bands that are signed to the label. Upcoming releases will likely include new Duster and Sick Bees albums and a much anticipated live DVD featuring performances from the anniversary shows.
For more information on Up Records, check out uprecords.com. Oh, by the way, if you have any Modest Mouse releases from Up on vinyl that you could spare, Ritchey says he would love copies. It seems, in his generosity, he gave the last of them away and they’ve since gone out of print.
|
