PropertyOfZack’s next installment in the Label Talk feature comes from Chris Hansen, president of No Sleep Records. No Sleep is at the front of the recent resurgence in the music scene during 2010 and will continue to be in the future, so it is absolutely our sincerest pleasure that Chris had the time for one incredibly long interview. Chris and I discussed how 2010 went for the label, his take on the music industry and its future, what’s coming in 2011, and more. Read up and enjoy, it’s one of the best we’ve ever done!

To put modesty aside for a moment, it has been a hell of a year for No Sleep Records starting The Wonder Years and The Upsides and soon to be ending with Stay Ahead Of The Weather 7”. How would you describe the last year?
It’s definitely been awesome. It’s been the biggest year for No Sleep and it’s helped No Sleep grow and it’s helped the bands to grow as well because when the label does good the small bands get more attention too. It definitely helps to keep going down the road and get attention from people that need to know of No Sleep and help to get attention to bands who are larger and wouldn’t think of signing to No Sleep before. It’s definitely exciting seeing something I’ve put my everything into grow and become something. It’s definitely weird, I’m starting to have more and more people wanting meetings with me and interviews and stuff like that. To me it’s still like, something I started for fun or something I wanted to do and still to me it’s the same it was on some level because I still enjoy it. It’s definitely more stressful now because it’s getting bigger and there’s more to do and there’s a lot more bands and stuff, but it’s definitely exciting. It’s definitely awesome seeing people love the bands and releases and love the label. Seeing the bands grow and get on awesome tours, getting awesome support, it’s definitely exciting.

AbsolutePunk put No Sleep in their Label Approved feature this year and in it Soupy from The Wonder Years mentioned that from the day you two had lunch at Denny’s or Ruby Tuesday’s, whichever it was, that from then on out he’s only watched you and the label grow. Was it always just a matter of time in your eyes until this extreme growth spurt took place, or is it still a surprise?
[Laughs] Yeah, Ruby Tuesday’s. I always hoped it was going to happen obviously because this is what I want to do. It’s definitely still a surprise though. I thought I was going to do good…Actually, I definitely saw it turning into something like eventually, but it’s definitely happened sooner than I thought it would. There’s always been good traction with the label and good reactions from everyone as far as the bands go and how super diverse our roster is. I’m definitely surprised that it has been so fast, and this year especially has been insane and 2011 is going to be a really good year for No Sleep. Lots of good things that will help us move even farther.
 
You brought on Chase Igliori to the team as the label’s manager. How big of a help has he been and what exactly does he add to No Sleep that was missing before?
There’s Chase and my other friend Mitch, who’s helping over at the warehouse and stuff. It’s definitely a load off my shoulders having some help because it’s been like five or six months now I think since they started and it’s definitely taken a load off. Before it was just me and I was doing everything. I was doing mail order at night. I was literally working and working all the time. Chase definitely has brought a lot to the table. He’s helped make connections in more of the indie world of bands that I’ve lost touch with. I used to love indie-rock and now I don’t know who any of the indie-rock bands are, which sucks. He’s had some connections that have been good to us and has brought some awesome bands like Now, Now and The Felix Culpa to No Sleep. It definitely makes thing a lot easier having a support system too; people that I can ask for advice and are working to help get the label to grow and are working for the bands. Definitely is good for all the bands too to progressively have more employees because they’re more people to do everything. I was definitely spread pretty thin. There was a lot going on and it was growing and there was a lot of mail order and new releases. It’s helping on many levels. It’s made life a lot less stressful, which is good.
 
What’s your regular day like at the label? It is it more kind of managing how your roster is doing as a whole and prepping releases, or is there a lot more to it that most people wouldn’t think of?
It’s everything you said like prepping releases, getting everything together so it’s on time, even though lately nothing is on time because of manufacturing issues. There’s making sure every artist is on schedule for things, making sure releases are on time, making sure everything’s set up. Making sure all the press campaigns are in order, the radio stuff. Trying to get more people that need to know about the bands to know about them. There’s like a million different factors that go into it for sure. It’d take forever to list everything. Just making sure everyone is promoted and is getting noticed. Lots of emails, lots of design work, lots of everything.
 
Giants like Warner Brothers can, essentially, manage lower sales for their bands and artists because those names are more likely to sell out larger arenas like MSG or Staples Center in LA. How do you, as a smaller label, handle the same issue of decreased music sales?
We’re still small enough to where it doesn’t really hurt us, it hurts us, but it doesn’t hurt us as badly as it does a lot of other labels. I think also, I started a label when things were changing already, so No Sleep’s grown during the change, which I definitely think helps because we’re not having to learn a new system, which is why a lot of the large labels are having issues because they know the old way and are having a hard time changing to how things are. Having people download and having things leak definitely hurts artists and hurts the label because obviously the more children that download the release the less chance the labels will be able to release music, the less chance bands will get on the road and tour. Large chance they’ll have to work somewhere in the stock room or something like that. We’re definitely growing right now and it definitely effects us because one kid, okay, but lots of kids download everything illegally these days, and that’s how it is, but luckily with doing vinyl and stuff, there’s no money in it, but you can’t steal vinyl. It just adds something to it. When you do vinyl you just make your money back, barely, because the costs are so high on that. Also I think downloading helps for some of the smaller bands because people download it and then the band might make a new fan who might go see them and buy a shirt or something. There’s a good and bad to it. I think CD’s will be around for a long time still and vinyl will be as well. People still buy CD’s, just not as many. I definitely want to keep physical on every level, like CD’s and vinyl. I feel one thing kids are missing out on when they steal a record is the art. The music’s art and the artwork that comes with it. Especially with No Sleep, all of our work is the band’s ideas and it goes along with the feel of the record and it just adds to the mood. Its just art, so when people steal it they’re missing out on the big picture of what the band. It’s the full picture from the band.
 
We saw just how effective tools like Bandcamp can be this past summer with Man Overboard’s handling of their leak, so what are your opinions on not only Bandcamp, but just the sale of music in general in terms of iTunes and the new push in vinyl?
Having things widely available is definitely good because it’s easier for people to find it. Some kid who might not get it originally, but might see it at whatever price somewhere else might get it. I also think it being spread around in a way hurts things because then kids don’t really know the one place to go. I just go straight to labels because there are more options then and I like physical over digital, always, even though I listen to everything on my iPod. I want the physical. It’s good and bad just because it’s widely spread, which is good on some levels, but then kids can’t know which is the best place to go.
 
With the industry struggling the way that it is, how do you make decisions about who to bring into your family and how to market them?
I definitely just try to bring in bands I enjoy even if they’re not going to do very well with the industry changing and stuff like that. Obviously it’s risky bringing in some bands when one genre, specifically, isn’t doing very well and you won’t make your money back or whatever, but to me it’s about releasing quality music from quality bands who are a good group of musicians who care about what they’re doing. Obviously it’s a company too, so we need to make money because we have an office and employees, but you take risks because a lot of the genres that we do, it’s in the world where everyone steals everything. Because of the world changing it’s harder to do projects from a band that’s not going to tour, where back in the day you could handle bands that weren’t going to tour because people would buy the music. We definitely need to make sure the bands tour because kids might buy the music at a show or merch from the bands so they can tour more and more and get more fans. As you make more fans, some of them will support the bands and they’ll be able to keep going. We definitely have to make sure the bands are stable and that they’ll be around because if there are issues the band breaks up and No Sleep or whoever the label is will lose a bunch of money and then it’s harder to keep going. It’s definitely hard to make money in this industry and smaller labels do it because they love music and they want to be involved. It’s definitely hard to keep going at times because it’s so hard to get money these days.
 
Over the last year No Sleep really has sort of diversified its lineup with Double Vision and more recently Now, Now. Previously you guys were more labeled as a strictly punk household, but do you definitely see more branching out into the more indie, hardcore, and possibly hip-hop fields as well?
That’s the thing; a lot of people say No Sleep is a pop-punk label, but the first release on No Sleep was like American Football/Get Up Kids indie-rock and my second was like Minus The Bear/Modest Mouse. The label’s been super diverse from the beginning. The larger bands stand out and since The Wonder Years are on label, people assume we’re a pop-punk label. It’s definitely funny to be classified as one thing when from the beginning No Sleep was super diverse. I like all kinds of music so I want to release all kinds of music and show that there’s more good music than one style and that kids don’t need to just stick to whatever their friends listen to because that’s what is cool to their friends or something. From the beginning I wanted a hip-hop group eventually, and with Now, Now I’ve always wanted an awesome band in that genre. It’s definitely hard to find good bands in a lot of the genres and it’s finding a good time to bring a band in. The label is diverse but you don’t want to go crazy and have a bunch of wild cards right away, because then it’s harder to be a success. You have to make sure things are okay before doing something different. This is my passion, this is what I want to do, I love music, so I need to do things right so I can keep going and hopefully be around for a while and work with more bands of good quality and have fun.

While Now, Now’s in the air; I know that Chase had been in talks with Jess for nearly a year about her solo work and then all of a sudden a night before their EP release you guys swept in there and made an offer. If all parties are willing, is there a chance that you’ll truly sign the band as well instead of just putting out this one release?
I would definitely like to work with them more. Obviously whatever is best for them is what I want. I would definitely like to work with them more and more on whatever capacity. I love those girls and brad. Awesome group of kids. I love their music. Their new demos are awesome. Great, incredible musicians..
 
The Wonder Years’s recent success story is no secret to anybody who looks just below the first layer, but you’re obviously the person who saw the band grow from nothing into the new emerging giant in the pop-punk scene that they’re becoming. Even though they’ve switched to Hopeless at this point, how happy does that make you as one the president of No Sleep and two as one of their closest friends?
Definitely. It obviously sucks to see them go, but I want whatever’s best for them at the end of the day. I’m definitely stoked for them. They’re getting big, and it’s awesome too, because they were with No Sleep when No Sleep was nothing. I was basically one of the only people that cared about The Wonder Years at that time and no one gave two shits about No Sleep either, so we both grew together. They’re definitely one of my most proud accomplishments because we worked together from both of our beginnings and we’re still both great friends and all that stuff. When they signed to Hopeless and they did that pancake video, they did a joke and covered the No Sleep logo with a huge Hopeless sticker, and all these kids thought there was tons of beef between No Sleep and The Wonder Years. It’s just funny because I love those guys and I’m definitely super stoked for them. I’ll be working with them more still. We’re doing a collection release next year and various other things. Definitely talk to those guys all the time and I’m very happy for them.
 
Do stories like theirs kind of give you hope in terms of running a label? What are your thoughts more in general about where we are in the music industry and where we’re going?
The industry’s changing all the time, I feel. There are definitely always new things that come into the mix. I think pretty much, all the new comers like No Sleep, Top Shelf, Run For Cover, and so on, they just need to keep releasing more music and try to release all fans that will hopefully help to try to change how people support bands. I think between me and this label and smaller ones that are growing right now, it’s created a community again. When I was first buying records, you could count on a label for quality music and you’d go to them whenever they had a new band. You just knew you could count on them for music you’d enjoy. Trying to bring back that will help because then hopefully kids will realize it’s okay to actually like music you like instead of just liking whatever sells. That’ll help change things, otherwise there’s just a lot of really bad music out there, but then again I have to hand it to them because they’ve created something that does well for them. It’s definitely coming more and more difficult to tell how it’s going to be. I think a good community is starting to be built again with fans and smaller labels right now.
 
Similar to what’s now called “The Drive-Thru Era,” more and more people are starting to call No Sleep and Run For Cover Records the two new giants for the scene in terms of the labels themselves and the bands under the hood. Is that humbling in a way?
It definitely is. It’s definitely is weird too. Like I was saying before, a lot of people say we’re a pop-punk label, but our roster isn’t very Drive-Thruish at all. It’s just funny hearing people say Drive-Thru and stuff when barely any of our bands would actually fit in with Drive-Thru. It’s just funny, but it’s definitely cool being compared to labels that I supported and bought records from. It’s definitely nice getting a lot of good comments from people and people enjoying what I’ve been doing. It’s humbling and nice to hear that because it makes all the work and hours and massive nights I spent on this back in the day worth it
 
To close things up, 2010 is obviously winding down and to start of 2011 we’ll be seeing a new release from The Felix Culpa, but what else can we be on the lookout for?
Former Thieves are recording in Seattle and that will be out in March. La Dispute just did the first session for their new record, and they’re doing the second session March, so that’ll be out in the early summer. Aficionado are recording a new record. Balance & Composure are going in in January to record their new full-length. The Wonder Years collection. I Call Fives are working on a split right now for another label, but something I Call Fives next year. New Into. It Over It. full-length is going to be recorded sometime early next year. Another Stay Ahead Of The Weather EP, probably. Probably another Frontier(s) EP. There’s a lot for next year, it’s going to be good. Lots of good full-lengths, which will help No Sleep and the bands grow even more.