I would doubt that there are any Fear & Loathing readers who haven’t got at least one or two records released by that loveliest of record labels, Damaged Goods. Having originally started-out with the intention of just releasing a one-off reissue of the Slaughter & The Dogs classic ‘Where Have All The Bootboys Gone ?’, Ian Ballard gradually developed the label, moving away from reissues of older material in to the realm of new bands. His criteria has always remained the same ; if he likes a band and he has a chance to work with them, he’ll do so. Although over the years most often associated with Garage bands such as Thee Headcoats, the label has also released new material by classic punk bands like the Buzzcocks and Johnny Moped, vintage hardcore such as Deep Wound and indie pop from the likes of Tallulah Gosh. It really is a label that has something for everyone (except U2 fans, who don’t deserve anything…)
Taking everyone by surprise (Ian included) Damaged Goods has outlasted many of the more celebrated independent labels and continues to release great records to this day. I doubt if you’ll be a fan of every one of them, but that’s not the point. Almost like John Peel’s legendary radio shows, Damaged Goods makes the music available and all you have to do is pick and choose your favourites. The only thing that’s pretty-much guaranteed is that there will be something in there that you’re going to love.
With over 500 releases to its’ name, Damaged Goods is now celebrating its’ 30th Anniversary, with special gigs and even-more special releases lined-up to keep the party swinging. With all of this in mind, I decided that it was a perfect time to interview Ian and try to get the whole story. However, I also knew this wasn’t going to be easy. Having known him since about 1990, there was no way we were going to be able to do an interview without being continually distracted or without a large consumption of beery-substances. Indeed, it eventually took two evenings at different pubs to get all of the questions answered (at least, that’s our excuse…) What follows is a highly sanitised and massively-edited transcript that actually makes our conversation seem quite sensible. Trust me, it really wasn’t so…
Taking everyone by surprise (Ian included) Damaged Goods has outlasted many of the more celebrated independent labels and continues to release great records to this day. I doubt if you’ll be a fan of every one of them, but that’s not the point. Almost like John Peel’s legendary radio shows, Damaged Goods makes the music available and all you have to do is pick and choose your favourites. The only thing that’s pretty-much guaranteed is that there will be something in there that you’re going to love.
With over 500 releases to its’ name, Damaged Goods is now celebrating its’ 30th Anniversary, with special gigs and even-more special releases lined-up to keep the party swinging. With all of this in mind, I decided that it was a perfect time to interview Ian and try to get the whole story. However, I also knew this wasn’t going to be easy. Having known him since about 1990, there was no way we were going to be able to do an interview without being continually distracted or without a large consumption of beery-substances. Indeed, it eventually took two evenings at different pubs to get all of the questions answered (at least, that’s our excuse…) What follows is a highly sanitised and massively-edited transcript that actually makes our conversation seem quite sensible. Trust me, it really wasn’t so…
As the first round of beers reaches our table, I began by asking how Ian had first got involve with the music business and how this had led to the birth of Damaged Goods…
‘Well, my first dalliance with music was when I was working for the PRS / MCPS in Berner Street, just up from Soho. It was a quite interesting job for a 17 year old, I suppose, because I’d be analyzing live sets to see what songs they’d played, who’d written them and who published them. These receipts would come in from bands like Generation X, Judas Priest, even Queen, and most of the time they were actually written-out and signed by a member of the band themselves. During my lunchtimes I’d either go down to Hanway Street or Berwick Street market and hang around, spending all my money on new records. One of the stalls on the market was Red Moon Records, run by a bloke called Bob Moon. I used to hang around there, just talking about records, and eventually he just asked me if I wanted to work there ? So I had to decide if I wanted to give up my proper job, working for a proper company with real job security, to go and work for a bloke on a market who often didn’t pay me on time. But I would also be getting very cheap records, so I was happy with that ! We were mostly selling old Jam records to Mods, who came along from Carnaby Street. I used to go up to a warehouse in Harlesden, buy boxes of those singles for cheap and then we’d sell loads every weekend. Things went quite well so we set-up a proper shop in the basement at 21, Berwick Street and I was running that for a while. It was a fascinating place to work for someone obsessed with records, like me, but I eventually realised that I was just making money for someone else and that led me to leave and set-up my own thing, which was the poster company that’s still going today, alongside the label. That gradually started to do pretty well so I ended-up with some spare cash for the first time and I decided that I wanted to make a record. I wanted to reissue something that I really liked rather than releasing something by a new band, which was odd really because around that time, 1988, I was going out all the time to see bands like Snuff, Senseless Things and Mega City Four. But I didn’t really know what I was doing soI just decided to write a letter to Decca Records and ask them if I could reissue ‘Where Have All The Bootboys Gone’ by Slaughter and the Dogs. The whole story is as ridiculous as it could be, as I had no idea of what I was doing. I knew what records should look like, but I didn’t have a clue about licensing something or getting a record pressed. So I sent the letter to Decca saying, ‘Hello, I run a label and I would like to reissue this single by Slaughter and the Dogs which you originally released in 1978.’ A few weeks passed until I got a phone-call from a bloke at Decca saying that he’d got my letter. Straight-off, he asked me what kind of advance I was intending to pay, to which I asked, what does that mean ? I then had to own-up that this was the first record I would be releasing, but fortunately he wasn’t too bothered about it and said that he’d try to sort things out. He then called me again a couple of days later and said he had a contract and the mastertapes, and could even drop them in to me as he lived quite close to where I was. He turned up with the contract which was like a telephone directory, so I was a bit wary about it, but he just said, don’t worry, just sign-it… the labels is going-under shortly and it won’t even exist ! So I signed it, he gave me the tapes and I got on with it. I found a pressing plant called Vinyl Cuts in Stratford, designed a new sleeve and got it printed by Delga Press, just because I’d seen their name or other record sleeves !’
‘Well, my first dalliance with music was when I was working for the PRS / MCPS in Berner Street, just up from Soho. It was a quite interesting job for a 17 year old, I suppose, because I’d be analyzing live sets to see what songs they’d played, who’d written them and who published them. These receipts would come in from bands like Generation X, Judas Priest, even Queen, and most of the time they were actually written-out and signed by a member of the band themselves. During my lunchtimes I’d either go down to Hanway Street or Berwick Street market and hang around, spending all my money on new records. One of the stalls on the market was Red Moon Records, run by a bloke called Bob Moon. I used to hang around there, just talking about records, and eventually he just asked me if I wanted to work there ? So I had to decide if I wanted to give up my proper job, working for a proper company with real job security, to go and work for a bloke on a market who often didn’t pay me on time. But I would also be getting very cheap records, so I was happy with that ! We were mostly selling old Jam records to Mods, who came along from Carnaby Street. I used to go up to a warehouse in Harlesden, buy boxes of those singles for cheap and then we’d sell loads every weekend. Things went quite well so we set-up a proper shop in the basement at 21, Berwick Street and I was running that for a while. It was a fascinating place to work for someone obsessed with records, like me, but I eventually realised that I was just making money for someone else and that led me to leave and set-up my own thing, which was the poster company that’s still going today, alongside the label. That gradually started to do pretty well so I ended-up with some spare cash for the first time and I decided that I wanted to make a record. I wanted to reissue something that I really liked rather than releasing something by a new band, which was odd really because around that time, 1988, I was going out all the time to see bands like Snuff, Senseless Things and Mega City Four. But I didn’t really know what I was doing soI just decided to write a letter to Decca Records and ask them if I could reissue ‘Where Have All The Bootboys Gone’ by Slaughter and the Dogs. The whole story is as ridiculous as it could be, as I had no idea of what I was doing. I knew what records should look like, but I didn’t have a clue about licensing something or getting a record pressed. So I sent the letter to Decca saying, ‘Hello, I run a label and I would like to reissue this single by Slaughter and the Dogs which you originally released in 1978.’ A few weeks passed until I got a phone-call from a bloke at Decca saying that he’d got my letter. Straight-off, he asked me what kind of advance I was intending to pay, to which I asked, what does that mean ? I then had to own-up that this was the first record I would be releasing, but fortunately he wasn’t too bothered about it and said that he’d try to sort things out. He then called me again a couple of days later and said he had a contract and the mastertapes, and could even drop them in to me as he lived quite close to where I was. He turned up with the contract which was like a telephone directory, so I was a bit wary about it, but he just said, don’t worry, just sign-it… the labels is going-under shortly and it won’t even exist ! So I signed it, he gave me the tapes and I got on with it. I found a pressing plant called Vinyl Cuts in Stratford, designed a new sleeve and got it printed by Delga Press, just because I’d seen their name or other record sleeves !’
You adapted the artwork for your release from one of the rare foreign sleeves and pressed the record on red vinyl… were you intending to release it as a ‘collectors item’…
‘No, I just wanted to make it a bit more interesting. I was a record collector myself so I didn’t want an exact copy of a record that I already had. The whole punk rock collectors market back then wasn’t anything like it is now, so people were buying records more because they were nice rather than they might be worth something. So I based the new sleeve on the artwork for the original Spanish release, which most people wouldn’t have seen before, and with the first pressing I included a post card and some stickers. I just wanted to release something that looked interesting, really, something that I’d want to buy, so I went with that. I hadn’t even thought about distribution so I just went around all the record shops I knew and asked if they wanted to sell some for me. I also sent copies to the weekly music papers and, rather surprisingly, it got really good reviews. From those, I got phone calls from a few different distributors and I ended up working with Nine Mile, who were part of The Cartel.’
As that single did pretty well, you followed it by reissuing the Slaughter and the Dogs album, ‘Do It Dog Style’…
‘I hadn’t really intended to do anything else, I’d just wanted to release the one single ! But it went so well that I started thinking, this is easy ! And then, one day, I got a phone call from Lol Prior at Link Records. I didn’t know him at the time and I think he was almost just trying to suss me out… you know, he wanted to know who I was and how I’d managed to put out the single. I told him that I already had some of the records he’d put out and after about ten minutes we were getting on pretty well, so he suggested I should try to license the album. He said that he’d tried to license it for Link, but Decca had been awkward about it. But he thought that, as I’d already done the single with them, they might be more willing to let me license the album, and that’s what happened. He ended up giving me a lot of advice about export companies and things like that, so I started getting better distribution, sold more records, repressed the single and then reissued the album. That was a real revelation, because I hadn’t realised up until then that albums would sell a lot more than singles. I only did 1000 copies of it to begin with and they sold old pretty quickly, so I ended-up having to repress it again and again and I even made some money from it… Not a fortune, but at least I wasn’t losing money !’
‘No, I just wanted to make it a bit more interesting. I was a record collector myself so I didn’t want an exact copy of a record that I already had. The whole punk rock collectors market back then wasn’t anything like it is now, so people were buying records more because they were nice rather than they might be worth something. So I based the new sleeve on the artwork for the original Spanish release, which most people wouldn’t have seen before, and with the first pressing I included a post card and some stickers. I just wanted to release something that looked interesting, really, something that I’d want to buy, so I went with that. I hadn’t even thought about distribution so I just went around all the record shops I knew and asked if they wanted to sell some for me. I also sent copies to the weekly music papers and, rather surprisingly, it got really good reviews. From those, I got phone calls from a few different distributors and I ended up working with Nine Mile, who were part of The Cartel.’
As that single did pretty well, you followed it by reissuing the Slaughter and the Dogs album, ‘Do It Dog Style’…
‘I hadn’t really intended to do anything else, I’d just wanted to release the one single ! But it went so well that I started thinking, this is easy ! And then, one day, I got a phone call from Lol Prior at Link Records. I didn’t know him at the time and I think he was almost just trying to suss me out… you know, he wanted to know who I was and how I’d managed to put out the single. I told him that I already had some of the records he’d put out and after about ten minutes we were getting on pretty well, so he suggested I should try to license the album. He said that he’d tried to license it for Link, but Decca had been awkward about it. But he thought that, as I’d already done the single with them, they might be more willing to let me license the album, and that’s what happened. He ended up giving me a lot of advice about export companies and things like that, so I started getting better distribution, sold more records, repressed the single and then reissued the album. That was a real revelation, because I hadn’t realised up until then that albums would sell a lot more than singles. I only did 1000 copies of it to begin with and they sold old pretty quickly, so I ended-up having to repress it again and again and I even made some money from it… Not a fortune, but at least I wasn’t losing money !’
Was that when you decided to carry on with the label as an ongoing thing ?
‘Well, I’d done two releases, so I could begin to call it a real label, but I still wasn’t thinking, this is the life for me ! It was just something I was doing as well as my proper job, which was selling the posters. But I was enjoying it so the next thing I did was the Snivelling Shits album. Their ‘Terminal Stupid’ / ‘I Can’t Come’ 7” was one of my all-time favourite singles, just a wonderful record, and someone had told me that Giovanni Dadomo , the singer, was working at Record & Tape Exchange in Notting Hill. So next time I went to the shop, I guessed which person he was and spoke to him. I gave him a copy of the Slaughter and the Dogs record, told him that I ran the label and said that I’d love to reissue the Snivelling Shits single, thinking that was all they’d done. I didn’t know that Arthur Comics on the ‘Streets’ compilation was also them, and they had used a different name because Beggars Banquet bottled-it and thought no record shops would sell the album if it had the word ‘Shits’ on the cover ! Anyway, he asked if they’d get paid anything and I told him yeah, but it wouldn’t be very much because I’d only be releasing 500 copies. Then he asked if I’d be interested in any other tracks ? It had never occurred to me that there might be other recordings which had never been released, so he told me about the Arthur Comics track and also about other songs that had never come out. They’d recorded songs for a second single which didn’t happen in the end, and there were a few other things. The tapes were all at his Mum and Dads’ house in Arnos Grove, so I arranged to go around there with him and he got all these old cassettes and stuff from his old room. He also had an acetate of the proposed second single, so we were able to master from that, and he actually gave me the acetate, afterwards - bless him ! One of my mates put me in touch with Dave Goodman, who still had a studio in London at the time, so I arranged for me and Gio to go there with everything and we mastered the whole album from those tapes. We made it all sound as good as possible, and that’s how it all came together. In a lot of ways, it’s still probably the favourite album I’ve ever done, just because we were so involved with it. And even though it’s never been a big seller and it probably took about ten years for the original pressing to sell-out, there’s always been people who want it and, basically, I think it’s a great record. But it certainly didn’t sell as well as the Slaughter and the Dogs album, so that was a bit of a reality check for me. It didn’t get any reviews in the music papers, but it did okay, it probably sold around 500 copies straight off and I had my other job, so I could wait for the others to go. I also followed it up with ‘Isgodaman’ as a 7” with some demos on the b-side. I even did that as a 7” boxset with stickers and a postcard, just because I wanted to do it ! I was just messing about, really… there was no big plan, there never has been ! If I had set out with a plan, I’m sure the label would have gone bust a long time ago !’
‘Well, I’d done two releases, so I could begin to call it a real label, but I still wasn’t thinking, this is the life for me ! It was just something I was doing as well as my proper job, which was selling the posters. But I was enjoying it so the next thing I did was the Snivelling Shits album. Their ‘Terminal Stupid’ / ‘I Can’t Come’ 7” was one of my all-time favourite singles, just a wonderful record, and someone had told me that Giovanni Dadomo , the singer, was working at Record & Tape Exchange in Notting Hill. So next time I went to the shop, I guessed which person he was and spoke to him. I gave him a copy of the Slaughter and the Dogs record, told him that I ran the label and said that I’d love to reissue the Snivelling Shits single, thinking that was all they’d done. I didn’t know that Arthur Comics on the ‘Streets’ compilation was also them, and they had used a different name because Beggars Banquet bottled-it and thought no record shops would sell the album if it had the word ‘Shits’ on the cover ! Anyway, he asked if they’d get paid anything and I told him yeah, but it wouldn’t be very much because I’d only be releasing 500 copies. Then he asked if I’d be interested in any other tracks ? It had never occurred to me that there might be other recordings which had never been released, so he told me about the Arthur Comics track and also about other songs that had never come out. They’d recorded songs for a second single which didn’t happen in the end, and there were a few other things. The tapes were all at his Mum and Dads’ house in Arnos Grove, so I arranged to go around there with him and he got all these old cassettes and stuff from his old room. He also had an acetate of the proposed second single, so we were able to master from that, and he actually gave me the acetate, afterwards - bless him ! One of my mates put me in touch with Dave Goodman, who still had a studio in London at the time, so I arranged for me and Gio to go there with everything and we mastered the whole album from those tapes. We made it all sound as good as possible, and that’s how it all came together. In a lot of ways, it’s still probably the favourite album I’ve ever done, just because we were so involved with it. And even though it’s never been a big seller and it probably took about ten years for the original pressing to sell-out, there’s always been people who want it and, basically, I think it’s a great record. But it certainly didn’t sell as well as the Slaughter and the Dogs album, so that was a bit of a reality check for me. It didn’t get any reviews in the music papers, but it did okay, it probably sold around 500 copies straight off and I had my other job, so I could wait for the others to go. I also followed it up with ‘Isgodaman’ as a 7” with some demos on the b-side. I even did that as a 7” boxset with stickers and a postcard, just because I wanted to do it ! I was just messing about, really… there was no big plan, there never has been ! If I had set out with a plan, I’m sure the label would have gone bust a long time ago !’
You also released a 12” version of ‘Young Parisians’ by Adam and the Ants, which had originally been released as a single by Decca, so I assume that came about due to your previous dealings with them.
‘Yeah, as it was probably the only other thing they had that I was interested in. I mean, they also had the original Cocksparrer recordingss, but they were more of a band for Link Records or whatever. So I licensed the two tracks from the ‘Young Parisians’ single and I also had a couple of old interview tapes, so I stuck those on the b-side. Someone had told me there was no copyright on spoken word, so I decided to add the interviews to make it a bit different. It also had a different sleeve, it was on white vinyl and there was a fanzine with it, so it sold pretty well. I also tried to license the so-called ‘Decca Demos’ and they nearly let me have them, but then someone realised that they didn’t have the necessary legal rights to do that and turned me down. So that was pretty much the end of my involvement with Decca.’
But, around the same time as that, you bought the rights to the back catalogue of the legendary Seventies Punk label, Raw records and began reissuing some of their old releases as well as making previously unreleased material available…
‘Yes, I think I did it mainly so that I could release The Killjoys album and a Raw Records compilation. The label was originally run be Lee Woods, who I’d first come across even before I’d started Damaged Goods, probably in around 1981 or ’82. He used to buy bootleg tapes from ‘someone I knew’ down on Portobello Road. In them days, there was a big demand for live cassettes of the early New Order gigs and someone who may since have been involved with Damaged Goods, allegedly, may have been helping to meet that demand… or so it’s been claimed… Anyway, Lee used to come down and buy a lot of tapes, many of which would later be pressed-up as bootleg albums, although I’m sure those had no connection with him... Anyway later on, around the same time that I started doing the label, he started publishing Spiral Scratch magazine, so I did some advertising with them and they reviewed some of my releases. At some point, I wanted to license The Killjoys material to release it as an album and, as it turned out, Lee owed me some money for some records he’d bought and he suggested that he’d could sell me the rights for the whole label. So, we came to an agreement, I paid some extra money on top of what he owed and he handed over all the original tapes and artwork. There were a few things that he didn’t have full rights to, such as the Soft Boys, so when I included a couple of their tracks on a later compilation, I had to pay a small advance to Robyn Hitchcock, but mostly there were no problems. I was able to reissue records that were still pretty sought-after and release a few things that had never been available before, and do them all properly.
‘Yeah, as it was probably the only other thing they had that I was interested in. I mean, they also had the original Cocksparrer recordingss, but they were more of a band for Link Records or whatever. So I licensed the two tracks from the ‘Young Parisians’ single and I also had a couple of old interview tapes, so I stuck those on the b-side. Someone had told me there was no copyright on spoken word, so I decided to add the interviews to make it a bit different. It also had a different sleeve, it was on white vinyl and there was a fanzine with it, so it sold pretty well. I also tried to license the so-called ‘Decca Demos’ and they nearly let me have them, but then someone realised that they didn’t have the necessary legal rights to do that and turned me down. So that was pretty much the end of my involvement with Decca.’
But, around the same time as that, you bought the rights to the back catalogue of the legendary Seventies Punk label, Raw records and began reissuing some of their old releases as well as making previously unreleased material available…
‘Yes, I think I did it mainly so that I could release The Killjoys album and a Raw Records compilation. The label was originally run be Lee Woods, who I’d first come across even before I’d started Damaged Goods, probably in around 1981 or ’82. He used to buy bootleg tapes from ‘someone I knew’ down on Portobello Road. In them days, there was a big demand for live cassettes of the early New Order gigs and someone who may since have been involved with Damaged Goods, allegedly, may have been helping to meet that demand… or so it’s been claimed… Anyway, Lee used to come down and buy a lot of tapes, many of which would later be pressed-up as bootleg albums, although I’m sure those had no connection with him... Anyway later on, around the same time that I started doing the label, he started publishing Spiral Scratch magazine, so I did some advertising with them and they reviewed some of my releases. At some point, I wanted to license The Killjoys material to release it as an album and, as it turned out, Lee owed me some money for some records he’d bought and he suggested that he’d could sell me the rights for the whole label. So, we came to an agreement, I paid some extra money on top of what he owed and he handed over all the original tapes and artwork. There were a few things that he didn’t have full rights to, such as the Soft Boys, so when I included a couple of their tracks on a later compilation, I had to pay a small advance to Robyn Hitchcock, but mostly there were no problems. I was able to reissue records that were still pretty sought-after and release a few things that had never been available before, and do them all properly.
Nowadays, Damaged Goods is better known for releasing records by current bands or artists, but originally it took a while before you decided to start releasing records by new bands rather than just reissues…
‘Well, the first record I ever released by a new band was by The Roadholders and I have to say, it was mainly because one of them had previously been in another band that I’d really liked. A couple of my mates introduced me to the band and their drummer, Nicky, who was better known as Rocky Rhythm from the Revillos. I’d always loved The Rezillos and Revillos so I got quite excited by this and decided that they were great. I asked if they wanted to do a record, even though I’d never released anything by anybody new before then, and we agreed to do a single which I really thought it was going to do well . But, of course, this was in 1989, four years after The Revillos had split-up and no one else seemed to care about them. It was something that I wanted to do, but very few people bought it, unfortunately. I think I pressed about a thousand, which is probably why I’ve still got some of them. I should have only done 500, but I was really enthusiastic about it. I ended-up losing most of the budget I had for the label on that one, but the older releases were still selling and that seemed to balance things out. Surprisingly, I wasn’t put-off and decided to release something by another new band, the ‘Summer Girl’ 12” by The Sect. The thing was, 7” singles were supposedly out of fashion by the late Eighties and everyone was doing 12” singles, but of course, they cost as much to make as a whole album and you can only sell them for peanuts compared to an LP. It was never going to be a good, money-making decision, either for the band or the label, but it looked good, sounded great and the band were really lovely people, so I did another record with them, the ‘Remembering’ EP, which probably sold less than the first one, even though I thought it was brilliant. I also released a flexi-disc by a band called The Shout, because they talked me into it. Basically, I wanted to do a flexi that I could just give away.’
‘Well, the first record I ever released by a new band was by The Roadholders and I have to say, it was mainly because one of them had previously been in another band that I’d really liked. A couple of my mates introduced me to the band and their drummer, Nicky, who was better known as Rocky Rhythm from the Revillos. I’d always loved The Rezillos and Revillos so I got quite excited by this and decided that they were great. I asked if they wanted to do a record, even though I’d never released anything by anybody new before then, and we agreed to do a single which I really thought it was going to do well . But, of course, this was in 1989, four years after The Revillos had split-up and no one else seemed to care about them. It was something that I wanted to do, but very few people bought it, unfortunately. I think I pressed about a thousand, which is probably why I’ve still got some of them. I should have only done 500, but I was really enthusiastic about it. I ended-up losing most of the budget I had for the label on that one, but the older releases were still selling and that seemed to balance things out. Surprisingly, I wasn’t put-off and decided to release something by another new band, the ‘Summer Girl’ 12” by The Sect. The thing was, 7” singles were supposedly out of fashion by the late Eighties and everyone was doing 12” singles, but of course, they cost as much to make as a whole album and you can only sell them for peanuts compared to an LP. It was never going to be a good, money-making decision, either for the band or the label, but it looked good, sounded great and the band were really lovely people, so I did another record with them, the ‘Remembering’ EP, which probably sold less than the first one, even though I thought it was brilliant. I also released a flexi-disc by a band called The Shout, because they talked me into it. Basically, I wanted to do a flexi that I could just give away.’
But you then had considerably more success with your next release, the ‘New Art Riot’ EP by Manic Street Preachers…
‘I’d bought an EP from them, ‘Suicide Alley’, which they did themselves. It was kind of like a demo, really, one of those things where they went into a studio for a day and they had a single to take away with them by the end of it. They were just using them as promo’s to send out, but they also put an advert in the NME or wherever, so you could send a postal order to get a copy. I sent off to them and got a copy of the record together with a letter from ‘Jamie’. A bit later I got another letter, from Richie, to tell me they would be playing their first gig in London, so I went along to see them. I thought they were great ! Four pasty boys from Wales, all dressed in white with slogans over their clothes, playing right in front of the audience on the floor because there wasn’t any stage… very much like The Clash, basically. But it was really good and full of energy, one of those great little gigs. So I went up to talk to them afterwards and asked if they’d like to do a record. They said, Yeah, but also seemed a bit wary and said they’d want to work a few things out first. So they arranged to come and see me at my house to talk things through. We talked about doing the record but mostly talked about other bands and records, as well as playing games on my Sega Megadrive, which was quite a new thing at the time. By the next day, we were all mates and agreed to do the record. They recorded four tracks in two days for £186.00, which was just about all I could spare ! They did a few more gigs in London, so they’d started to build-up a bit of a following by the time the record came out and people seemed to be getting excited about them. I pressed-up 1000 12”s and they all went fairly quickly. They’d also got a manager by then, Philip Hall, who was fine to deal with, but then other labels started to get interested and it was my first involvements with the ‘proper’ music industry. When you’re doing a label like Damaged Goods, you only really get involved with any of those people when they want something from you. They suddenly get interested in a band because someone else has told them they should be, so they turn-up asking for free copies of the record, fucking twats ! The Manics thing had started-off really small and by the time the record came out, in June 1990, they were headlining places like the Rock Garden and the Bull & Gate, but when the record came out, it started to explode for them. That was when Heavenly Records nipped-in and offered them £5000, which I wouldn’t have been able to do, for their next two singles, ‘You Love Us’ and ‘Motown Junk’. Actually, the funny thing about working with the Manics was that it alienated me from a lot of people because they had a habit of slagging-off other bands. Some bands really used to hate them, but for the label, it did really well and we sold quite a lot of records again. It was like, the Slaughter and the Dogs album did really well, so it paid for the Snivelling Shits records and the Ants, and this time the Manics EP made-up for the losses I’d had with some of the other bands.’
‘I’d bought an EP from them, ‘Suicide Alley’, which they did themselves. It was kind of like a demo, really, one of those things where they went into a studio for a day and they had a single to take away with them by the end of it. They were just using them as promo’s to send out, but they also put an advert in the NME or wherever, so you could send a postal order to get a copy. I sent off to them and got a copy of the record together with a letter from ‘Jamie’. A bit later I got another letter, from Richie, to tell me they would be playing their first gig in London, so I went along to see them. I thought they were great ! Four pasty boys from Wales, all dressed in white with slogans over their clothes, playing right in front of the audience on the floor because there wasn’t any stage… very much like The Clash, basically. But it was really good and full of energy, one of those great little gigs. So I went up to talk to them afterwards and asked if they’d like to do a record. They said, Yeah, but also seemed a bit wary and said they’d want to work a few things out first. So they arranged to come and see me at my house to talk things through. We talked about doing the record but mostly talked about other bands and records, as well as playing games on my Sega Megadrive, which was quite a new thing at the time. By the next day, we were all mates and agreed to do the record. They recorded four tracks in two days for £186.00, which was just about all I could spare ! They did a few more gigs in London, so they’d started to build-up a bit of a following by the time the record came out and people seemed to be getting excited about them. I pressed-up 1000 12”s and they all went fairly quickly. They’d also got a manager by then, Philip Hall, who was fine to deal with, but then other labels started to get interested and it was my first involvements with the ‘proper’ music industry. When you’re doing a label like Damaged Goods, you only really get involved with any of those people when they want something from you. They suddenly get interested in a band because someone else has told them they should be, so they turn-up asking for free copies of the record, fucking twats ! The Manics thing had started-off really small and by the time the record came out, in June 1990, they were headlining places like the Rock Garden and the Bull & Gate, but when the record came out, it started to explode for them. That was when Heavenly Records nipped-in and offered them £5000, which I wouldn’t have been able to do, for their next two singles, ‘You Love Us’ and ‘Motown Junk’. Actually, the funny thing about working with the Manics was that it alienated me from a lot of people because they had a habit of slagging-off other bands. Some bands really used to hate them, but for the label, it did really well and we sold quite a lot of records again. It was like, the Slaughter and the Dogs album did really well, so it paid for the Snivelling Shits records and the Ants, and this time the Manics EP made-up for the losses I’d had with some of the other bands.’
It also must have been around that time that you first started working with Billy Childish, who is probably the artist that Damaged Goods is most associated with…
‘Yeah, well, I just used to go and see Billy’s bands quite a lot. I wasn’t a particular fan of The Milkshakes but I really loved Thee Mighty Caesars and thought they were great ! I’d been a fan of Billy’s music for a long time, but I’d actually been scared to talk to him, because he was quite a drinker at the time and he was still with Tracy Emin, who could be a real fucking nightmare. But one night I was outside The Dublin Castle for what would probably have been the last Mighty Caesars gig, just around the same time he was starting Thee Headcoats. Billy had arrived but none of the other members had turned up, so he was just sitting on the step outside the pub. I gave him a copy of the Slaughter and the Dogs single, told him I had this label and asked if he’d like to do a single… he just said, yeah, what tracks do you want ? Oddly enough, the way things worked out, the first thing we actually did was by Thee Headcoatees, which was the girls backed by Thee Headcoats, doing ‘Headcoat Girl’. That did really well, pretty much straight away, and in some ways I think those girls singing with Thee Headcoats was probably the most popular thing that Billy ever did. It just worked really well, so when I pressed 2000 they sold-out really quickly and actually got into the Indie Charts, which was the first time for the label. A lot of the first pressing sold on export to places like Japan and America, so I was suddenly out of stock and needed more for the UK. I was using a different pressing plant by then and we needed the second pressing urgently to keep it in the Indie Charts but I think they struggled a bit to get it done on time. So it was really hands-on and that was more fun. It turned into a bit of a success and I was really getting along with Billy, even though he was still drinking at that time and could still be a bit up and down. But we became mates and I think we just understood each other. He’s always had people who come along and try to make money out of him, even now. People will get in touch and try to get him to play at some festival in Europe for 500 Euros, which is really fuck-all when you consider all the expenses. He’s already done loads of gigs like that back in the late Eighties and early Nineties, so these days he just wants to make sure that everyone gets paid fairly. People sometimes think he must be really well-off because he does so much stuff, but actually a lot of the things don’t make much money at all. He just does them because he wants to do them and knows that he has a large-enough audience to cover the costs. The only thing we really make any money out of is the back catalogue because, obviously, once you’ve released something, you don’t have the same expenses when you reissue it. The older records still sell so he gets a chunk of money from them every year, but when you consider the size of the catalogue, it still isn’t that much in real terms… As for the label, the good thing with Billy is that as soon he does one thing, he goes on to another, which means there’s always something to work on. I think a lot of people who have heard of Damaged Goods probably associate it with Billy Childish, which is quite funny because I expect he hates most of the stuff I put out, but being a bloke who’s never been in a band and has just put out records, I’m flattered to be associated with him.’
‘Yeah, well, I just used to go and see Billy’s bands quite a lot. I wasn’t a particular fan of The Milkshakes but I really loved Thee Mighty Caesars and thought they were great ! I’d been a fan of Billy’s music for a long time, but I’d actually been scared to talk to him, because he was quite a drinker at the time and he was still with Tracy Emin, who could be a real fucking nightmare. But one night I was outside The Dublin Castle for what would probably have been the last Mighty Caesars gig, just around the same time he was starting Thee Headcoats. Billy had arrived but none of the other members had turned up, so he was just sitting on the step outside the pub. I gave him a copy of the Slaughter and the Dogs single, told him I had this label and asked if he’d like to do a single… he just said, yeah, what tracks do you want ? Oddly enough, the way things worked out, the first thing we actually did was by Thee Headcoatees, which was the girls backed by Thee Headcoats, doing ‘Headcoat Girl’. That did really well, pretty much straight away, and in some ways I think those girls singing with Thee Headcoats was probably the most popular thing that Billy ever did. It just worked really well, so when I pressed 2000 they sold-out really quickly and actually got into the Indie Charts, which was the first time for the label. A lot of the first pressing sold on export to places like Japan and America, so I was suddenly out of stock and needed more for the UK. I was using a different pressing plant by then and we needed the second pressing urgently to keep it in the Indie Charts but I think they struggled a bit to get it done on time. So it was really hands-on and that was more fun. It turned into a bit of a success and I was really getting along with Billy, even though he was still drinking at that time and could still be a bit up and down. But we became mates and I think we just understood each other. He’s always had people who come along and try to make money out of him, even now. People will get in touch and try to get him to play at some festival in Europe for 500 Euros, which is really fuck-all when you consider all the expenses. He’s already done loads of gigs like that back in the late Eighties and early Nineties, so these days he just wants to make sure that everyone gets paid fairly. People sometimes think he must be really well-off because he does so much stuff, but actually a lot of the things don’t make much money at all. He just does them because he wants to do them and knows that he has a large-enough audience to cover the costs. The only thing we really make any money out of is the back catalogue because, obviously, once you’ve released something, you don’t have the same expenses when you reissue it. The older records still sell so he gets a chunk of money from them every year, but when you consider the size of the catalogue, it still isn’t that much in real terms… As for the label, the good thing with Billy is that as soon he does one thing, he goes on to another, which means there’s always something to work on. I think a lot of people who have heard of Damaged Goods probably associate it with Billy Childish, which is quite funny because I expect he hates most of the stuff I put out, but being a bloke who’s never been in a band and has just put out records, I’m flattered to be associated with him.’
But, at the same time, anyone who pays attention to all the different things you’ve released would have to agree that you’ve never tried to stick with any particular style or genre…
‘No, not at all. I like a lot of different music so that’s what I’m going to release. I get great records sent to me by Garage bands all the time and a lot of them are very good and a lot of fun, so I could easily just put-out a couple of dozen albums by Garage bands every year and I’m sure they’d all be good records. But I don’t want to be just a Garage label, in the same way that I don’t want it to just be a Punk label or an Indie label… I’d never want to pigeon-hole the label as just one thing. Sometimes I like a really daft Indie record, sometimes I’ll like a really great garage record and other times I’ll like a Hardcore record. I’ll admit that I probably deal with more Garage bands than anything else, because that’s what I’m into, but deep down I’m a punk rocker who likes a great pop song, done in whatever way you do it. Unfortunately, there are times when I’ll really like something but I just can’t see a way that I’d be able to sell it, and I do have to think about that because the label doesn’t have the sort of funds that I could afford to lose. In those cases, I have to write back and say, I really like what you’re doing but I just wouldn’t have a hope in Hell of selling it for you... whereas a different label might be able to. Other labels have different funding and might be able to take the time to work with them. But especially these days, I have to feel confident that I’ve got at least a good chance of breaking even in a reasonable amount of time. But that doesn’t mean that I would release something I didn’t like just because I knew it would sell a lot. I’ve never put something out where I’ve thought, well, I’m just doing this for the money, but I’m sure there are other labels that would be quite happy to do that. That being said, I can’t say when I look back that I still love every record that I’ve released and there are probably a few things that I’d look at now and think, what was I doing ? But, actually, that’s probably an easy one to answer - I was drunk when I agreed to them !’
‘No, not at all. I like a lot of different music so that’s what I’m going to release. I get great records sent to me by Garage bands all the time and a lot of them are very good and a lot of fun, so I could easily just put-out a couple of dozen albums by Garage bands every year and I’m sure they’d all be good records. But I don’t want to be just a Garage label, in the same way that I don’t want it to just be a Punk label or an Indie label… I’d never want to pigeon-hole the label as just one thing. Sometimes I like a really daft Indie record, sometimes I’ll like a really great garage record and other times I’ll like a Hardcore record. I’ll admit that I probably deal with more Garage bands than anything else, because that’s what I’m into, but deep down I’m a punk rocker who likes a great pop song, done in whatever way you do it. Unfortunately, there are times when I’ll really like something but I just can’t see a way that I’d be able to sell it, and I do have to think about that because the label doesn’t have the sort of funds that I could afford to lose. In those cases, I have to write back and say, I really like what you’re doing but I just wouldn’t have a hope in Hell of selling it for you... whereas a different label might be able to. Other labels have different funding and might be able to take the time to work with them. But especially these days, I have to feel confident that I’ve got at least a good chance of breaking even in a reasonable amount of time. But that doesn’t mean that I would release something I didn’t like just because I knew it would sell a lot. I’ve never put something out where I’ve thought, well, I’m just doing this for the money, but I’m sure there are other labels that would be quite happy to do that. That being said, I can’t say when I look back that I still love every record that I’ve released and there are probably a few things that I’d look at now and think, what was I doing ? But, actually, that’s probably an easy one to answer - I was drunk when I agreed to them !’
The first time that Damaged Goods got some National press coverage was when you released the Wat Tyler ‘Sexless’ EP. It was a work of genius, of course, but it has to be said, the press coverage was more concerned with the accompanying booklet, which parodied Madonna’s ‘Sex’ book, rather than the music itself…
‘Yeah, we got a lot of press on that one, weirdly. It had lots of pictures of naked people in it and some might say that they weren’t as attractive as Madonna, but that’s really very one-dimensional. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, after all ! Personally, I can’t think of anything more attractive than Sean hanging over the wall with his arse out, or the picture of Aidan with his finger down Ben’s bum ! It wasn’t being sexist, it was being sexy ! ‘Sexist’ is being against someone, but that booklet truly had something for everyone ! And strangely enough, we never had any problems about releasing it at all, either from Madonna’s people or irate parents. In fact, I think the reason why Wat Tyler decided to release it on Damaged Goods in the first place was because they thought they were going to have problems with it… I don’t really know the full reasons why it ended-up on Damaged Goods, as Sean already had the Rugger Bugger label, so it seems strange that he would want to release it on a different label when it had a chance of being quite successful. I just wanted to do it because it was fun and they were looking for someone who didn’t mind printing-up the whole booklet and including the tin foil thing… plus, a bit later on we also did the picture disc, with Sean’s arse on one side and Smithy’s willy on the other ! I don’t suppose many labels would have wanted to do that. But for me, it was all really good fun, and it was also the first time I worked with Sean, who I’d only really known from gigs and record shops before then, being the sad record collectors that we are. It just evolved from a conversation either in a pub or at a gig and became something much more than we ever expected it to be. It seemed like a great idea and all they had to do was to re-stage the photo’s so we could do the booklet and make it look like the ‘Sex’ book, albeit a punk rock version of it. The booklet was printed on high-gloss paper, which, thinking about it, is probably why Sean wanted me do it, because it wasn’t just a 7” single in a cheap paper sleeve - it was a quality item. I started by pressing-up 1000, hoping that I wouldn’t regret it, but in the end I we sold at least 5000 and it got picked up and featured by national newspapers, like the Daily Star. It even got a full-page article in an Australian magazine called ‘Tidbits’ which was really funny because it was one of those magazines that’s full of supposed-celebrities falling out of their bras, and right in the middle of it was a whole page about Wat Tyler ! The article was all about these hilarious Poms who were taking-on Madonna and not worrying about being sued… In fact, the only bad thing about any of it was that we ended-up having to use about thirty rolls of tin foil and had to write rude words on every piece of it ! There’s only so many rude words you can think of…’
And soon after this media blitz, you were also featured on a Newsnight feature about the music industry…
‘Yeah, that’s right, it was all about CD prices… It was probably a few years after the Wat Tyler thing, I think, when I was also involved with Shellshock Distribution. It was a bit strange when they approached me to do it, because I’d just always kept-on doing stuff that I wanted to do and there was never any plan or anything to try and get noticed. It was always just a case of, what’s the next record ? Things like that just come along, once in a while…’
More recently, Damaged Goods were featured in the film ‘1-2-3-4 !’…
‘An old friend of mine was the Director of the film, but I didn’t know that he was going to include Damaged Goods in the actual film. I knew that Betty & The Werewolves, who were on the label at the time, were going to be featured in the film, but I didn’t know that there was going to be that bit about the character sending me a demo tape ! In the film, they actually used a made-up address for the label, which is good because I get enough demo-tapes as it is ! Funnily enough, I watched the film again when it was on TV recently and I thought, it’s not a bad film at all, actually. It’s alright, I really like it.’
‘Yeah, we got a lot of press on that one, weirdly. It had lots of pictures of naked people in it and some might say that they weren’t as attractive as Madonna, but that’s really very one-dimensional. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, after all ! Personally, I can’t think of anything more attractive than Sean hanging over the wall with his arse out, or the picture of Aidan with his finger down Ben’s bum ! It wasn’t being sexist, it was being sexy ! ‘Sexist’ is being against someone, but that booklet truly had something for everyone ! And strangely enough, we never had any problems about releasing it at all, either from Madonna’s people or irate parents. In fact, I think the reason why Wat Tyler decided to release it on Damaged Goods in the first place was because they thought they were going to have problems with it… I don’t really know the full reasons why it ended-up on Damaged Goods, as Sean already had the Rugger Bugger label, so it seems strange that he would want to release it on a different label when it had a chance of being quite successful. I just wanted to do it because it was fun and they were looking for someone who didn’t mind printing-up the whole booklet and including the tin foil thing… plus, a bit later on we also did the picture disc, with Sean’s arse on one side and Smithy’s willy on the other ! I don’t suppose many labels would have wanted to do that. But for me, it was all really good fun, and it was also the first time I worked with Sean, who I’d only really known from gigs and record shops before then, being the sad record collectors that we are. It just evolved from a conversation either in a pub or at a gig and became something much more than we ever expected it to be. It seemed like a great idea and all they had to do was to re-stage the photo’s so we could do the booklet and make it look like the ‘Sex’ book, albeit a punk rock version of it. The booklet was printed on high-gloss paper, which, thinking about it, is probably why Sean wanted me do it, because it wasn’t just a 7” single in a cheap paper sleeve - it was a quality item. I started by pressing-up 1000, hoping that I wouldn’t regret it, but in the end I we sold at least 5000 and it got picked up and featured by national newspapers, like the Daily Star. It even got a full-page article in an Australian magazine called ‘Tidbits’ which was really funny because it was one of those magazines that’s full of supposed-celebrities falling out of their bras, and right in the middle of it was a whole page about Wat Tyler ! The article was all about these hilarious Poms who were taking-on Madonna and not worrying about being sued… In fact, the only bad thing about any of it was that we ended-up having to use about thirty rolls of tin foil and had to write rude words on every piece of it ! There’s only so many rude words you can think of…’
And soon after this media blitz, you were also featured on a Newsnight feature about the music industry…
‘Yeah, that’s right, it was all about CD prices… It was probably a few years after the Wat Tyler thing, I think, when I was also involved with Shellshock Distribution. It was a bit strange when they approached me to do it, because I’d just always kept-on doing stuff that I wanted to do and there was never any plan or anything to try and get noticed. It was always just a case of, what’s the next record ? Things like that just come along, once in a while…’
More recently, Damaged Goods were featured in the film ‘1-2-3-4 !’…
‘An old friend of mine was the Director of the film, but I didn’t know that he was going to include Damaged Goods in the actual film. I knew that Betty & The Werewolves, who were on the label at the time, were going to be featured in the film, but I didn’t know that there was going to be that bit about the character sending me a demo tape ! In the film, they actually used a made-up address for the label, which is good because I get enough demo-tapes as it is ! Funnily enough, I watched the film again when it was on TV recently and I thought, it’s not a bad film at all, actually. It’s alright, I really like it.’
Going back to the mid-Nineties, you were also involved with the Fierce Panda label. As you already had Damaged Goods, why did you get involved with that ?
‘Well, it was a mate of mine, Simon Williams, who was writing for the NME, although I knew him because he lived near me in Walthamstow. I think we were all at a gig in Islington one night and he suddenly asked me about setting-up a new label with him. In many ways, it was really an off-shoot of Damaged Goods, although there were a few other blokes from the NME involved. Initially, the idea was to release sampler EP’s as sort of taster of new, up and coming, unsigned bands, which at the time included the likes of SMASH and Supergrass. The other blokes gradually went off to do other things, so after a while it was really just me and Simon, which I preferred. We carried on releasing the singles, but things started getting a bit more serious. We were releasing records by bands like Placebo, Embrace and even Coldplay, and we ended up with us signing a deal with Mushroom Records, which meant I was actually working for Rupert Murdoch ! That was pretty strange, although it did mean that, for the first time in years, I was actually receiving regular wages every month. But the deal was only for two years and at the end of that, Simon was keen to set-up a new deal with someone else and I wasn’t, so I decided to let him have everything and I went back to just working on Damaged Goods, which I’m much happier with.
Is there anything that you regret concerning the label over the last thirty years ?
‘That’s the big question, isn’t it ? I don’t think there’s ever been any bands that I wish I hadn’t worked with, although there may have been a few odd occasions when I’ve had problems with a couple of people. So when you count up all the records I’ve been involved with, it’s only been a very miniscule amount of problems. Of course, when I was involved with Fierce Panda, we did have a few more problems with people and bands there. But just with Damaged Goods, it really has only been one or two problems, which out of 500 releases, isn’t bad. And it’s only ever been things like, bands thinking they should’ve sold more records or got more reviews, in which case I’ll just say, we did our best, if you want someone who can do more that that, then you obviously need to be on a major label… so good luck with it ! I’m not saying we’re perfect and we can definitely fuck-up, sometimes, but we always do our best with everything and I only release something if I think it’s worthwhile.’
Are there any bands that you missed the chance to work with who you now wish you had been able to ?
‘Well, I had a funny experience in Brighton recently, at the end of an Amyl and the Sniffers gig. I was handing out flyers for the album and a bloke behind me suddenly asked, ‘Are you from Damaged Goods ?’ I turned around and said yes, just chatting away while I handed out the flyers. He said that he’d given me a demo once, up at Rebellion in 2012. I sort of had a vague memory of this, because I remembered getting a demo when I was up there, so I said that I hoped I at least wrote back to them. He said that I had and I’d written a nice letter but said I wasn’t really interested. Then he said they been disappointed because, at the time, Damaged Goods had been their dream-label ! I apologised and said, well, I’m sorry, but I just can’t do every record… And it was only then that I realised that his band were Slaves ! But he was very cool about it, and, to be honest, they’ve probably done much better than they ever would’ve done on Damaged Goods ! I mean, it would’ve hardly been a match made in heaven, and if I had released a record on Damaged Goods, it might not have got anywhere. But I just loved the fact that they thought Damaged Goods were their dream-label. And they’ve done alright for themselves, so it was pretty funny. It’s quite nice when someone reminds you of your mistakes in that kind of way !’
‘Well, it was a mate of mine, Simon Williams, who was writing for the NME, although I knew him because he lived near me in Walthamstow. I think we were all at a gig in Islington one night and he suddenly asked me about setting-up a new label with him. In many ways, it was really an off-shoot of Damaged Goods, although there were a few other blokes from the NME involved. Initially, the idea was to release sampler EP’s as sort of taster of new, up and coming, unsigned bands, which at the time included the likes of SMASH and Supergrass. The other blokes gradually went off to do other things, so after a while it was really just me and Simon, which I preferred. We carried on releasing the singles, but things started getting a bit more serious. We were releasing records by bands like Placebo, Embrace and even Coldplay, and we ended up with us signing a deal with Mushroom Records, which meant I was actually working for Rupert Murdoch ! That was pretty strange, although it did mean that, for the first time in years, I was actually receiving regular wages every month. But the deal was only for two years and at the end of that, Simon was keen to set-up a new deal with someone else and I wasn’t, so I decided to let him have everything and I went back to just working on Damaged Goods, which I’m much happier with.
Is there anything that you regret concerning the label over the last thirty years ?
‘That’s the big question, isn’t it ? I don’t think there’s ever been any bands that I wish I hadn’t worked with, although there may have been a few odd occasions when I’ve had problems with a couple of people. So when you count up all the records I’ve been involved with, it’s only been a very miniscule amount of problems. Of course, when I was involved with Fierce Panda, we did have a few more problems with people and bands there. But just with Damaged Goods, it really has only been one or two problems, which out of 500 releases, isn’t bad. And it’s only ever been things like, bands thinking they should’ve sold more records or got more reviews, in which case I’ll just say, we did our best, if you want someone who can do more that that, then you obviously need to be on a major label… so good luck with it ! I’m not saying we’re perfect and we can definitely fuck-up, sometimes, but we always do our best with everything and I only release something if I think it’s worthwhile.’
Are there any bands that you missed the chance to work with who you now wish you had been able to ?
‘Well, I had a funny experience in Brighton recently, at the end of an Amyl and the Sniffers gig. I was handing out flyers for the album and a bloke behind me suddenly asked, ‘Are you from Damaged Goods ?’ I turned around and said yes, just chatting away while I handed out the flyers. He said that he’d given me a demo once, up at Rebellion in 2012. I sort of had a vague memory of this, because I remembered getting a demo when I was up there, so I said that I hoped I at least wrote back to them. He said that I had and I’d written a nice letter but said I wasn’t really interested. Then he said they been disappointed because, at the time, Damaged Goods had been their dream-label ! I apologised and said, well, I’m sorry, but I just can’t do every record… And it was only then that I realised that his band were Slaves ! But he was very cool about it, and, to be honest, they’ve probably done much better than they ever would’ve done on Damaged Goods ! I mean, it would’ve hardly been a match made in heaven, and if I had released a record on Damaged Goods, it might not have got anywhere. But I just loved the fact that they thought Damaged Goods were their dream-label. And they’ve done alright for themselves, so it was pretty funny. It’s quite nice when someone reminds you of your mistakes in that kind of way !’
Obviously, over the 30 years that Damaged Goods have been operating, there have been a lot of chances within the music business. In particular, the formats for music releases have changed, firstly from vinyl to CD, and more recently the popularity of digital downloads. How much have changes like that affected the way that a label like Damaged Goods is run ?
‘I think we’ve been able to adapt to different formats pretty well, even though I still prefer vinyl myself. I even released a compilation of material by the band Rudi which, so far, is only available digitally… although that was a one-off thing I did with Brian Young from the band to tie-in with the ‘Good Vibrations’ film, as Rudi are featured in it quite a bit. Whether you like these new formats or not, you have to be able to adapt. I’ve never done this to try and make a career out of it, but it is the case that you have to keep up with things to make sure that you’ll be able to continue. There are some things you have to do to ensure this, although there are other things that I’d prefer to avoid, like Record Store Day. When that started out, it was a good idea, but now it’s just totally missing the point. All these big labels just reissuing their back catalogue… who cares ? The whole thing just sucks so much energy out of you. But on the whole, I think I’ve been quite lucky with Damaged Goods in that the more successful releases have always been able to cover those that haven’t sold so well, and we’ve also been lucky in that bands like White Stripes invited Holly Golightly to sing on one of their albums, which created a lot of interest in the next LP she released with us. And Graham Coxon also championed Billy Childish for a while, which brought his music to a lot more people. So I’ve never had to rely on the latest trends or anything, I’ve just been able to continue releasing things that I enjoy and it seems to work.
I believe you have plans for some birthday celebrations coming up over the next six months ?
‘Well, first-off, we’re releasing seven 7” singles and, as we all know, 7 x 7 = 30, or near-abouts. I’ve been surrounded by enough people talking bollocks over the last thirty years, so I think I should be allowed to make-up some shit now ! Anyway, there’s going to be seven amazing 7”s coming out and they’re all very lovely. There’ll also be a 30th anniversary compilation, featuring around forty tracks on double vinyl and, of course, there’s going to be a big gig with Billy Childish and Johnny Moped at the Music Machine, which people incorrectly insist on calling Koko these days. Then, in December, there’ll be another plus four gigs at the Lexington, headlined by Graham Day, Holly Golighty, Hardskin and Johnny Moped. And one of the nights, the support is going to be a very special sort-of reunion by the Snivelling Shits, which I’m really looking forward to seeing. There’s also going to be a tie-in with Vive Le Rock magazine in November, which will feature a big article on the label and a free CD of Damaged Goods bands. So I think by the end of the year, everyone will have had an opportunity to know about it and then I can just get on with it again – until we make it to the 40th Anniversary!’
‘I think we’ve been able to adapt to different formats pretty well, even though I still prefer vinyl myself. I even released a compilation of material by the band Rudi which, so far, is only available digitally… although that was a one-off thing I did with Brian Young from the band to tie-in with the ‘Good Vibrations’ film, as Rudi are featured in it quite a bit. Whether you like these new formats or not, you have to be able to adapt. I’ve never done this to try and make a career out of it, but it is the case that you have to keep up with things to make sure that you’ll be able to continue. There are some things you have to do to ensure this, although there are other things that I’d prefer to avoid, like Record Store Day. When that started out, it was a good idea, but now it’s just totally missing the point. All these big labels just reissuing their back catalogue… who cares ? The whole thing just sucks so much energy out of you. But on the whole, I think I’ve been quite lucky with Damaged Goods in that the more successful releases have always been able to cover those that haven’t sold so well, and we’ve also been lucky in that bands like White Stripes invited Holly Golightly to sing on one of their albums, which created a lot of interest in the next LP she released with us. And Graham Coxon also championed Billy Childish for a while, which brought his music to a lot more people. So I’ve never had to rely on the latest trends or anything, I’ve just been able to continue releasing things that I enjoy and it seems to work.
I believe you have plans for some birthday celebrations coming up over the next six months ?
‘Well, first-off, we’re releasing seven 7” singles and, as we all know, 7 x 7 = 30, or near-abouts. I’ve been surrounded by enough people talking bollocks over the last thirty years, so I think I should be allowed to make-up some shit now ! Anyway, there’s going to be seven amazing 7”s coming out and they’re all very lovely. There’ll also be a 30th anniversary compilation, featuring around forty tracks on double vinyl and, of course, there’s going to be a big gig with Billy Childish and Johnny Moped at the Music Machine, which people incorrectly insist on calling Koko these days. Then, in December, there’ll be another plus four gigs at the Lexington, headlined by Graham Day, Holly Golighty, Hardskin and Johnny Moped. And one of the nights, the support is going to be a very special sort-of reunion by the Snivelling Shits, which I’m really looking forward to seeing. There’s also going to be a tie-in with Vive Le Rock magazine in November, which will feature a big article on the label and a free CD of Damaged Goods bands. So I think by the end of the year, everyone will have had an opportunity to know about it and then I can just get on with it again – until we make it to the 40th Anniversary!’
So, there you have it, the entire sordid story in all of its’ lurid glory ! It’ll give you a lot to think about and, if you should wish to investigate further, you just need to click this link ;