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"Winky Dog is a fictitious twee band that
Ryan's roommate made up to define the Kindercore
sound the way Flagpole and other critics have
talked about us," says Dan Geller, co-owner of
Kindercore Records.
"Yeah, Winky Dog doesn't exist," rejoins Ryan
Lewis, Getter's partner. "And, sadly, the days of
Winky Dog are gone."
In fact, Kindercore's upcoming festival, "Expo
2000," will find the young entrepreneurs sur
rounded by their most musically and geographi
cally eclectic lineup to date, all dancing together
ecstatically on the grave of Winky Dog and the
one-dimensional label identity it represents. DJ
collectives, acoustic duos and Elephant 6ers will
join Kincaid and the other usual Kinder-suspects
on-stage at various venues around town in cele
bration of Athens' longest-lived and most suc
cessful independent record label to date.
Geller and Lewis put Kindercore into motion in
1996 as an imprint for a self-released 7" single
they released for their band, Kincaid. While they
were waiting for the vinyl to come back from the
manufacturer, they decided to use the imprint to
release a cassette compilation of some of the other
bands around town. They were able to compile,
produce and begin selling that first compilation,
titled The Treble Revolution, before the company
they'd hired to do their single could even get the
45's manufactured.
After that first compilation, Geller and Lewis
knew they could get things done, and they knew
plenty of musicians, so they decided to keep the
label going. But they needed to nanow the focus.
Their attempt to establish an identity for the label
amounted, at first, to identifying themselves with
the youthful, innocent pop sounds that have
haunted them ever since. Early releases by Athens-
based Kincaid and Gritty Kitty seemed to define
the Kindercore sound.
It's strange that Kindercore has become so suc
cessful with an early focus on "pop." The most
identifiable "Athens sound" in the massive local
music community was definitely not pop when
they created the label.
"When we started, the paper hated us, every
body here couldn't stand what we were doing,
most of the other bands couldn't stand it, most of
the clubs couldn't stand it," remembers Lewis.
‘ But we found other people that liked it. We
played in houses to the point where the houses
were being advertised in the Flagpole. To the point
where somebody from the Flagpole actually went
and saw it and said, 'Hey, this isn't that bad!"'
In a way, Geller and Lewis helped to create the
very scene that they have documented over the
years by introducing future bandmates to each
other and allowing an outlet for otherwise
neglected talent.
Kindercore continued growing for over a year,
signing mostly Athens-based bands. Kindercore has
always been about a sensibility, a dependable
brand name that lets people know that if you like
one group on this label, you'll probably like the
others, even across genres and nationalities.
In 1998, citing little job opportunity, restless
ness after five years in Athens and nostalgia for
the Northeast where he grew up, Ryan Lewis
deeded to move to New York. The trip was also a
business move, Lewis explains: "We couldn't do the
label the way we were doing it for much longer if
it was going to keep getting bigger. Money-wise,
we couldn't afford to work on it full-time, but we
would've hed to quit our jobs if we were going to
continue to qrow. That was one of the things I had
in mind going up there."
The owners say their success is due primarily to
their willingness to work and to take advantage of
opportunity. The label's biggest opportunity came
when Lewis set up a relationship between NYC's
own Emperor Norton Records and Kindercore. Geller
moved to New York in April of '99. as soon as the
two were sure of the deal. In June of that year,
thanks to their new sponsors, Geller and Lewis
were able to quit their day jobs and do the label
full-time.
"Give a man a fishing pole instead of a fish,
that might be what they did for us," says Lewis.
Geller adds, "You can interpret that however
you want: a green fishing pole with George
Washington's face on it, maybe."
Empe r or Norton provided much-needed funding
for expanding Kindercore's efforts, and agreed to
share a warehouse an. co-release several albums.
But Geller and Lewis are still the sole owners of
the Kindercore label: they still decide who gets
signed, and they are saddled with all the adminis
trative burdens of a small business.
Shortly after the Empero' Norton deal came
through, Dan snd Ryan came back to Athens.
Ultimately, it was a decision to move out of New
York rather than a decision to return to Athens.
What they needed was cheap offices and houses,
which they knew they could find back in Georgia,
so they returned to the Classic City with an
investor and an eye for expanding their roster.
Lewis and Geller seem determined these days
to get out from under the "kiddie-pop" tag from
their early years. "We're a mature, diverse label,
but everybody heard the Gritty Kitty record and
that's all they think we are." Recent and pending
releases include electronica, acoustic folk
(Norway's Kings Of Convenience), E6 side projects
from Bill Doss and Julian Koster, an emo side pro
ject from Promise Ring frontman Davey Von
Bohlen, and others. The label's dedication to get
ting things done is what has allowed Kindercore to
pick up cc .eted European acts like the Kings Of
Convenience and DJ collective Electric Watusi
Boogaloo. Lewis says the secret to luring sought-
after foreign acts is that the label will "bring those
guys to America and have them stay here, record
an album and tour. They know that production deal
they might've signed with some big company
might've been three years of them waiting and the
band breaking up in the meantime."
Kindercore's commitment to releasing whatever
they want to release, in any genre and from any
where in the world, has kept the imprint vital and
respected in the Athens scene and around the
globe.
Ryan Lewis: "This is really a showcase of every
thing we do. Anyone who comes to see the same
old thing will probably be disappointed, because
most of what people assume we are doesn't even
exist anymore."
Brandon Butler
7 i ■■ ? 7'7-^7 I',
285 W. Washington St. Athens, GA • Call 549-7871 for Show Updates
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Jjtfc doors open at 8pm MUSIC AT 8:00 SHARP!
eight dollars at door or $30 tickets for sale at wuxtry or kindercore com ^
A** /K
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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9 X
i I AM THE WORLD TRADE CENTER
* VELMA • EASY • SLEEPING FLIES jj.
4 8-TRACK GORILLA • JAPANCAKES *
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i THURSDAY) AUGUST lO
KINCAID • BABALU • TULLYCRAFT 4
& KINGS OF CONVENIENCE
MASTERS OF THE HEMISPHERE «-
f THE ESSEX GREEN • OF MONTREAL *
• 40f
A >.)»»****•••
FRIDAY. AUGUST 11
£ THE MYSTERY BAND *
* THE FOUR CORNERS • GREAT LAKES £
RICHARD DAVIES • VHS OR BETA W
*• FROM US 2 U £
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***•*♦**■*,«.-»*.#»*»■ »*••»•••««. «»*»»#* -
X SATURDAY. AUGUST 12 V
i SUMMER HYMNS • C.A.R.
r MARSHMALLOW COAST X
X JUNIOR VARSITY • DRESSY BESSY
BIRDIE • THE SUNSHINE FIX £
-Ar -Ar A -Ar A: ipr A A* A -A" A A A: A A Ar A Ar A
MONDAY. AUGUST 14
D GCiMPSIR ^
URBAN HENRY
doors open at 10pm three dollars
COMING SO ON
8/19 KEVN KINNEy
8/21 THE CRACKER APOTHECARY
with ex-members of CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN
8/26 POSIES / SHANNON WRIGHT / GRITTy KITTY
9/22 yO LA TENGO / VERSUS
* Tickets Available at Big Shot & Lo yo yo
AUGUST 9, 2000 FLAGPOLE ED