FARRIN FOSTER | Photos HARMONY NICHOLAS
Tracks down one independent record label that’s bucking the slacker stereotype.

AC/DC weren’t kidding when they said it was a long way to the top. If you want to rock and roll as a successful musician these days the pinnacle of success rests at the end of a tiresome journey littered with paperwork, eternally-binding contracts and advice from lawyers about working with record companies.

The end result is often a deal with a label which will require you to tour at least eight months of the year, forego creative control, forget about royalties and generally become a media-friendly, celebrity-marrying whore. Such deals are standard in the modern music world, whether you’re signing with a major or a socalled independent makes little difference. No wonder so many people swap the guitar for a suit at twentyfive and become insurance salesmen.

The only upside of such a bleak status quo is the inevitability of resistance. And sure enough, if you look, you will find some guerrilla groups attempting to swim against the tide. They reckon that the coming of the digital age, which has broken down the music industry somewhat, provides the perfect opportunity to get in there and change things up.

One such pocket of resistance can be found in Adelaide’s Elizabeth North. The unlikely headquarters is a plain suburban house across from a plain suburban park inside which two people live with their son. Every day, they are doggedly trying to breathe life back into the idea that the music industry can be about music. Their names are Sledge and Blitz and they are the founders of Vicious Minds Records, a truly independent Hip Hop label which they operate from their lounge room.

When I arrive the house is full. There are at least six rappers in the backyard free-styling. Sledge and Blitz’s two-year-old son is ricocheting from room to room causing havoc. Sledge is in the lounge room making beats with MTV flashing video clips on a flat-screen plasma behind him and Blitz is at the door trying to introduce herself over the racket.

As I look in I think this is no record label. This is a commune. And the more I talk with Sledge and Blitz about how they undertake their operations – which cover an artist all the way from discovery, through help writing tracks, to recording and mastering, then finally onto the radio airwaves and into stores – the more I’m reminded of Marx.

“Anyone’s welcome to come, its just down to who’s dedicated enough and who’s like-minded. We do like to hear a bit of what people have got first though,” says Blitz.

“We’re independent which means we can do as we please. All our artists have free will to do whatever they want, they can go wherever they want and do anything as long as they stay dedicated to the fact that they are part of the label and they’re here to help make things happen,” adds Sledge

Practically, this means that some of what the Vicious Minds artists create is used to make money for the operation as a whole.

“At the moment there’s no money making involved, we’re just trying to get the name out there. All the artists know that and we’re thinking about making a mix tape, just so we can put money back into the business and upgrade the equipment,” says Sledge. This is certainly no rip off for the artists. The home studio I’m sat in was built and is constantly being upgraded using money directly out of Sledge and Blitz’s pockets. They offer the studio and their expertise in mixing, beat-making and recording to all their artists totally free of charge.

The reason that such a formidably un-capitalist way of running things can double as real-world record label operations is obvious as I talk with everyone present. In this room everyone has respect for everyone else.

“They (Sledge and Blitz) are just so honest, and I can be honest with them and say that I don’t really like something that’s not my style and that’s cool. They’re not trying to change me, they’re just trying to give me more confidence,” says Stasis, one of the guys who’d been free styling out the back when I rocked up.

They have ambition and a definite understanding of how the industry operates. And even with all this love in the room I wouldn’t call Vicious Minds and associated artists naïve.

“Its all about who you know in the music industry and its amazing who you meet at gigs. You’ve just got be real and talk to people and make the right contacts,” says Sledge.

With those contacts Sledge and Blitz hope they can start pulling in some recognition for their artists, but their plans have a broader objective as well. Since they first decided to make their own way part of the idea has been to include community outreach. The ultimate dream for them is to have a functioning record label which supports a youth centre arrangement and gives kids the opportunity to use the label’s resources.

“That’s where our plan actually started. There are youth centres around but a lot of the time there’s not people that kids can relate to there. We want to build something that’s supportive for youth who like the hip hop lifestyle,” Sledge says.

Even if that dream never eventuates Vicious Minds is doing something good; they’re hip-hop with heart that proves there is more than one way to be a record label.

If you like your Aussie hip-hop and you like it independent, take a road trip out to the Barossa for Vicious Minds’ August show. Details soon at www.myspace.com/viciousmindshiphop