PropertyOfZack had the chance to speak with David Conway from Doghouse Records and Working Group Management just a few weeks ago for a fantastic Label Talk interview. If you’re not familiar with the label, Doghouse started by putting out records from The Get Up Kids and Hot Water Music, among other classics, but has now shifted their focus and has bands like A Lot Like Birds and With The Punches. David and I discuss the new direction for the label, management, and a whole slew of other great points. Read up and enjoy!

We’re doing this interview to discuss Doghouse Records, but you work on an incredible amount of other projects as well. Can you just give a description of everything you do to begin with?
I’ve been with Doghouse since 1999 or 2000. I started as an intern in Boston. I was also running my own label really horribly out of my parent’s basement, but that had a couple bands, which was good. I did the first Senses Fail and Halifax records and I did a terrible job with it. I pressed records at the wrong resolution. So I was doing that and went to Doghouse to intern and then started working for Doghouse 6 months later. I went to college at night and worked at Doghouse during the day. Then, I left Doghouse and worked at Atlantic doing A&R and totally hated that and called Dirk who owns Doghouse and asked him if I could have my job back at Doghouse and I also told him I wanted to start a management company and for some reason he said yes. So we started Working Group probably in 2007 and starting signing, that’s when Doghouse had a deal with Warner Bros and Atlantic, so we were doing stuff with them and starting Working Group. So those have been my two main focuses for the past long while. Doghouse has kind of morphed a bunch over that time period. From having a deal with Warner where we were just like trying to find bands that we thought could up stream to Warner Bros, so it was kind of like the dark ages in a way. It was a label that had so much culture in the late 90’s and early 2000’s and then when the All American Rejects blew up and there was the buzz of anything blowing up when they sign with Jay, we did our deal with Warner Music and it was like, “Shit, let’s find stuff that we think can be pop stars and can be huge.” The business model became like, let’s find stuff that we can up stream, instead of what it probably should have been, which was more nurturing and still try and keep a genre for the label and a scene in place. It was pretty random for a little bit. Right now we finished our deal with Warner Bros. We up streamed Meg & Dia, The Honorary Title, and we did at that time too, but none of that stuff really took off on that label so we don’t have that deal anymore. We did a deal with Red and we’re kind of in the middle of re-launching the label right now in a totally different way that I’m really excited about, like the way that the business is structured and the bands that we are bringing in. So that’s different right now and then I have maybe 5 or 6 bands that I do through Working Group and the same staff for Doghouse and Working Group, there’s about 8 of us total; A bunch out here and two guys in LA right now. So it’s kind of weird. Same staff, new company, and we are just trying to do stuff that we’re proud of. We wanted to build a company that people wouldn’t hate. We’re still learning every day and trying not to be shitty.
 
Looking back at it, do you guys kind of regret the whole up streaming nature of just trying to find bands that could potentially blow up on major?
Yeah, it just wasn’t a healthy way for us to be a label. I don’t know. Yeah we just signed a lot of stuff and maybe the thought process was wrong. A lot of labels are doing that. At that time there was a lot of bands getting signed. We became kind of the pop scene to the major labels. At that time I just didn’t know anything about radio or pop or what that stuff needed to be so I think a lot of that stuff wasn’t right for the deals that we had made. We kind of figured out what stuff we should do on the managing side that we understand, and then created a lot more streamlined kind of model for Doghouse so that we can work with bands and have the same expectation and exceed on the business and creative level.
 
2010 was a rather small year for the label with only a few releases from You, Me & Everyone We Know and The Bigger Lights, and this year has been even slower for Doghouse. Have you guys been restructuring over there?
We did a deal with Red Distribution, which we’re really excited about right now. We can then do whatever deals we want. The plan was basically to re-launch the label with You Me & Everyone We Know, a band that I’ve loved forever, and then start signing band to really short-time deals and kind of more of a collaboration between the bands and the label instead of a giant business deal. The thought process was for You Me to be the first band for the new Doghouse and that went really well for a while and we had a lot of things in place for them touring-wise, radio, and everything and it fell apart when the band disbanded. That was a big hit for us because we put a lot into it time-wise and I’ve been friends with Ben for 6 years now, so that was another one of those things where friendships come into play. That was a major setback for us because it was a release that I was really passionate about. So we did that and now we have gone into phase two. We signed a couple of bands right now, and I’m looking to sign probably two more before the year ends. I think A Lot Like Birds is kind of our big focus release right now. We just signed a band With The Punches that have a record dropping next year. Those are kind of in the next 4 months everything, but we want to get the release schedule a lot more active. Probably 5 or 6 releases a year and then a bunch of fun stuff like 7 inches and things like that.
 
What’s your regular day like with the label while focusing on your other priorities too?
It’s pretty random. I think I send an exhausting amount of emails to everyone, which drives them crazy. My goal is kind of talking with the band, telling them my ideas and what I think, taking their vision, and then passing that along to our staff. But I send really long rambling wordy emails with ideas and then I’ll have to stay on top of people to execute those ideas and then make sure those ideas are healthy for the bands, and then track what stuff actually created bands and record sales. Every day is random, sometimes I’m travelling a lot or just sending a ridiculous amount of emails.
 
Doghouse Records is really known for a lot of its past artists like The Get Up Kids, Hot Water Music, and Chamberlain, among others. Do you think people will be open to the label changing what it’s catering to?
I think it just comes down to us hopefully doing good stuff. We signed a band for a record called Grown Ups and their kind of like a Cap’n Jazz meets Lifetime kind of thing, and we thought initially from the kids at the core of their fan base who only knew Doghouse for some of the major label stuff think that they sold out, and then the band just made an amazing EP for us. So still, we’re the same human beings. So I think if we can do good records and be really legit to the bands we work with I think the only reputation I care about is for fans when they’re on tour to say, “Doghouse did a great job, we feel like they really put every ounce of everything they had into this.” I think the record will just spread word of mouth from there. At the end of the day, good music just spreads. We can do our job to try and make sure that everything is there so that people can find the music and be aware of it, but I think at the end of the day just good stuff spreads word of mouth. I just want to try and put out good music on the label. I don’t even know what the brand of Doghouse means anymore because it has changed so much after the past decade. I hope that like 3 years from now people just associate it with good music.

Most recently it was announced that With The Punches had signed to Doghouse. What did you guys see in them originally? And when should we see a release?
Kyle who does a lot of the stuff for Glamour Kills lives with me, and he manages the band. He played me stuff a while ago and they were talking to some labels and I thought it was awesome. I told him to keep me posted and we could do something fun and chill if you decide you aren’t feeling any of the labels that you’re talking to. He came to me and said they didn’t feel 100% with any of the labels, so we sat down and worked it out over a beer and now we’re doing it. They’re going to record a single next month and we’re going to put it out in December and then we’re going to try and have the record out probably February or March.

And you see A Lot Like Birds as well as maybe being like the flagship band for Doghouse?
Yeah I think the record is just really creative and there is a history to the band and it’s a band that we just want to build as a live touring band. We’re just trying to keep all of the aesthetics around the band just amazing, we hired this artist and the artwork for the record is mind-blowing. It’s like the first record that I’ve looked at in a while where I feel like the artwork actually is art. We’re doing all these art pieces actually based on the art. I just think it fits the music really well and it’s something that I can sit and look at as I listen to the record and it adds to the experience of it. I’m proud of that side of the record a lot.
 
With the industry not always booming how do you make decisions about who to bring into the Doghouse family and how to market them?
I mean the way we are doing it now is kind of a collaborative between the band and the label so it’s like a joint kind of business venture, which is pretty exciting. I think the way that we do business differently now than we did when we were getting money from someone else to hopefully up stream bands, back then if the band was brand new we would still create this $100,000 advertising campaign and rollout, everything would start right at the beginning. That just doesn’t make sense anymore. It’s not a smart way to spend money and it’s just a waste. So I think the way that we work now, which is a little different, is we give the band what we feel is the healthy amount of money to make a record that they’re going to believe in. To get all the aspects in place we have a huge team behind it here. The main thing we try and do is to get the music circulating, so it’s really press based and creative based off of that. Then when we see the sales or streaming numbers we know it’s time to spend money on this, this, and this, instead of just spending it off the bat. We’re a lot more reactionary now because if we want to stay in business we can’t just dump a bunch of money at the beginning.

Has it been difficult changing the mechanics of how you handle the business side of Doghouse?
I think it’s been fun. I mean I know a lot of people say the industry side of it is kind of fucked right now but that’s only true if you’re comparing against what the business was in the 90’s. That part of the business sucks but at the same time I find it to be maybe the most exciting time to do stuff because the focus that we have is getting the brand of the band big enough where they have a touring business and a merchandising business, and then there’s like 10 million types of little revenue streams you can create for the band right now through all these things that you have to discover and find. We have bands that sell 100,000 records on the Mansions side but they do the business of a band that sells 1 million records. So, for them their career is just as healthy as that size of band. The only people who are really losing out is the record label for some of those bands as far as the record sales. I find it enjoyable. We have bands that have really healthy long-term careers and they are based in creating a brand and finding all of these other businesses in it.

There’s been a lot of talk about Ace Enders releasing a new 7” called Hole In The Wall. Is that still happening or no, and what’s been the delay?
Yeah I think it will happen at some point. Ace is just so busy. We agreed to do it and Ace sent over some stuff but then he just got backed up with the record and The Early November stuff so I think it’s just something that one day Ace will sit down and send me a couple .wav files and then the record will exist. When that day is, I’m not sure. But I love him and he makes great music so the second he sends that I will put it out.

Does Doghouse have any more announcements regarding signings in the near future?
I don’t think so. I sent out a couple emails today to some bands that I really like so we could have announcement next week or maybe not if they hate me, so I guess it will be based on that.
 
So just in the next year or so you guys are going to hopefully start putting out 5 or 6 albums a year and you’re going to be more active is the plan?
Oh definitely. I think in 2012 we’ll have to have 5 records out for the year just to stay visible and relevant. I’m just going to keep looking and going to see bands play.