Footstone at the 1999 Independent Music Festival
by Jim Testa
It's possible you won't recognize the name
Dromedary Records. But back in the Nineties,
the label released music from some of the
best New Jersey indie bands of the era; moreover,
the label's owner, Al Crisafulli, was a familiar
figure not just in the Garden State music
scene, but also in the pages of Jersey Beat,
where his criticism and insight enlightened
our readers for many years.
But as happens so often, the vicissitudes
of everyday life - the needs of family, career,
and the growing financial challenges to independent
labels - took their toll, and Al disappeared
from both the music scene and this fanzine.
But then, over the course of last year, Al
began to revisit his indie-rock years in a
blog that looked back at the successes, failures,
up and downs of his years as a record label
mogul and scenester. And lo and behold, Al
Crisafulli decided he wanted back in.
And so, Dromedary Records is reborn, its first
release a reissue of music by the hyper-melodic
indie band Footstone, with plans for more
reissues from the back catalog as well as
new music from current bands like Hoboken's
Stuyvesant.
We chatted with Al to find out what rekindled
his excitement over indie music, and why he
decided to resume his active participation
in the New Jersey music scene.
Q: Although you've been agonizing
over this decision on your blog for months,
can you explain exactly what awoke the interest
in restarting the label and what makes you
think it might possibly be a good idea in
these economic times?
Al: That's a question that can be answered
on multiple levels.
On one level, the economics of it don't matter
much. The goal isn't to make money - we've
been fortunate enough to have grown a little
older and wiser, and gotten a little more
perspective on things. Unlike 1992 when we
first started Dromedary, we already have careers
now. We're relaunching Dromedary in hopes
of turning people on to good music, and building
relationships with the people who like what
we do. Sure, we'd like for it to not become
a money pit, but I'd like to think that we
can manage the economics of it better than
we did fifteen ago.
On another level, though, I can paraphrase
Mac McCaughan of Merge Records. Recently someone
asked him a similar question in an interview,
and to paraphrase, he said that the market is
very bad right now for shitty music. But if
the music is good, people still want it. We
like to think the music we'll be releasing is
good.
Q: You're starting out with a Footstone
reissue and you've mentioned releasing some
of the other out of print Dromedary catalog.
Is the idea to make this material available
to fans who liked it back when but might not
have it anymore, or introduce the music to
a new generation of listeners. And if the
latter, what is your strategy to do that?
Al: It's a little of both, Jim. As I was
writing the blog over the last year, there
were people saying "It's a shame we can't
find this music anywhere." So making
that music available was a logical extension
to the story I was telling. At the same time,
as I started dragging these songs out and
listening to them, I fell in love with them
all over again. Some of this music is so great
that I couldn't help but think it was worth
introducing it to a new group of indie rock
fans that have never heard it before. So we're
hoping to introduce it to some people for
the first time - but for the people that already
know it, there will also be some surprises
- remastered versions, additional tracks,
clean copies of stuff that was once only available
on vinyl.
On top of that, there's a lot of music from
these bands that has never been released.
So we're going to try and get that out as
well. I can't count how many people have asked
for Schmeckle City Rubdown, the second
Footstone CD that never came out.
And of course there's a whole world of new
stuff - we've been talking to a lot of new
bands about getting their music out on the
label.
In terms of strategy, we've gotten to a point
where technology has evolved in such a way
that a lot of the impediments that we faced
in 1996 have been removed. We'd get fantastic
press coverage for a record, but our distribution
was such that it was very difficult to get
our records into stores, and what distribution
we had was consignment-based. So we'd lay
out all the money to produce a run of CDs,
send small quantities off to our distributors,
and if we were lucky enough to get them placed
into stores, we'd wait 90 days or more to
get paid. The financial outlay was massive
for us, and the return would trickle in over
months and months - if at all.
Today, we can distribute our music all over
the world with no financial outlay at all,
thanks to the Internet - our music can be
found in all the online retailers so you can
sample and download right at your fingertips.
So instead of having to lay out this money
to make thousands of CDs that would sit in
warehouses for months, we can divert some
of that money toward marketing, in hopes of
helping reach more people with the music.
And once they discover it, it's comparatively
easy to find.
I don't expect us to become the world's next
big indie label or anything like that - I
just enjoy feeling more confident that the
small segment of people who might be interested
in what we're doing will be able to find our
music online.
And for those people who want the actual
artifact, for many of our releases - not all,
but many - we'll be producing small runs of
CDs to meet that demand.
Friends, Romans, Countrymen
Q: One of the great strengths of the
Jersey scene of the Nineties is that no one
hid behind genres; bob fields would play shows
with Buzzkill would play shows with Aviso'Hara
would play shows with Little T and One Track
Mike. There's an enormous amount of energy today
in both New Jersey and the Brooklyn underground
scenes but it seems to me like it's all been
compartmentalized and sub-divided into little
niches and sub genres. Is that something you're
aware of, and is it something you'd like to
see the reborn Dromedary rebel against?
Al: I do think it's important for us to stick
with the kind of music we're good at - straight
ahead, guitar-based indie rock, pop, garage
rock, that sort of thing. For a small company
like Dromedary, I think it's important that
we communicate a consistent message to people
about what they can expect from us. Much like
if you bought a record on Amphetamine Reptile
in the early 90s, or on SpinArt in the late
90s, you'd have a reasonable idea of what
you'd be getting. So as much as I still love
to listen to Little T and One Track Mike today,
I don't think you'll see us putting out a
hip hop record any time soon.
How that translates into the scene, I don't
know.
Something I can tell you that today's local
scene is suffering from is a lack of Footstone.
In the 90s, Footstone brought everyone together.
They played shows all over - South Jersey,
Trenton, New Brunswick, Hoboken, and the Village
- and they fit into all those scenes equally
well. And as they moved around the state,
they took other bands with them. You'd never
see Footstone leave a show early, or show
up just before their set - they'd be the first
people at the club, introduce themselves to
every band on the bill, get to know everyone,
stick around for every band's set. And they
were comfortable onstage with a surf band
like Kid With Man Head, a straight ahead punk
band like Flatus, an indie pop band like Ditch
Croaker, a louder band like Boss Jim Gettys.
They really encouraged friendship between
bands, which brought a lot of different kinds
of fans together.
Recently I saw Stuyvesant play a show in
Brooklyn with a bunch of bands. There were
four or five bands on the bill, but only one
band besides Stuyvesant seemed to have any
interest in hanging around to get to know
the other bands. It was weird.
Stuyvesant, at the old Charleston bar in Williamsburg
Q: Back in the day, you wrote for
Jersey Beat, and fanzines (along with college
radio) were pretty much how you kept in touch
with new music. Nowadays it seems that's all
moved to the blogosphere. You're older, you
have more adult responsibilities, I doubt
you get out to clubs (not to mention DIY performance
spaces and basement shows) as much as you
used to... How will A&R work for the new
Dromedary and how do you think you'll be able
to find the new Footstone or FRC?
Al: It's funny. We spent a lot of time at
clubs in the 90s, but not a single record
we put out was a result of seeing the band
live. Sure, after we heard their music we'd
go to check them out, but the demo - or the
recommendation from a friend - always came
first. This seems to be a little non-traditional,
as far as labels go. But I've always been
the type to want to hear as much new music
as possible, and so while other indies were
always saying "We're not accepting unsolicited
demos," we were saying "Sure! Send
us whatever you've got!" We'll keep on
doing things the same way.
The blogosphere will be immensely helpful
in this regard. I love the idea that we've
finally reached this nirvana where anyone
can truly be a "broadcaster." Anyone
can get their message out there, whether it
be through blogging, podcasting, or social
media. It's truly awesome. I'm glad to be
a part of it, but I'm also glad to take my
cues from it. Already I get a couple of notes
a week - "Hey, check out this band,"
or that sort of thing. I love it.
Q: Tell us what you're got on the
drawing board for the rest of 2010 and any
events coming up that our readers should know
about.
Al: We've actually got plans to release more
music in 2010 than we did in the entire 6
or 7 years that Dromedary was an active label
in the 90s. On our website right now, to help
celebrate what we're doing, we're giving away
free downloads of Footstone's "Wobbles
From Side To Side" seven-inch, plus one
additional track that was previously unreleased.
That record came out in early 1994, just as
Footstone was beginning to evolve into the
great band they'd become.
Beginning in February, we'll be releasing
tons of stuff digitally - music that originally
came out on Dromedary, unreleased recordings
from those bands, and recordings from other
fantastic bands from the time, like Jenifer
Convertible and Friends Romans Countrymen.
There will be a number of great surprises,
as well.
Probably the biggest event in the immediate
future, though, will be taking place at Maxwell's
on Saturday, February 6. On that night, Footstone
will be reuniting for the first time in ten
years, and headlining a fantastic lineup that
will also include a reunited Friends, Romans,
Countrymen, and the Dark Brothers, a great
band that includes Josh Silverman, formerly
of Shirk Circus. Everyone should try and get
to that show - Footstone was one of the best
live bands that this area has ever seen, and
they haven't played together in public since
1999. It should be an incredible night.
And to celebrate that reunion, we'll be reissuing
their incredible 1995 CD Lippy, which
will be available for download on our website
and all the major online music stores beginning
on February 2.
For more information, check out Al's
blog
as well as the Dromeday
Records' website.
