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 Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 7:54 pm
An interview with John Janick, co founder of Fueled by Ramen.
Fueled by Wentz
It's 1:30 AM in New York when AP manages to locate John Janick, who it thrilled to talk about the blowout year Fueled by Ramen just went through, in large part thanks to AP vets Fall Out Boy and their heirs apparent Panic! At the Disco. Turn back the clock just two years, and FBR was watching nearly half its roster break up. But thanks to a pressure-be-damned attitude from Janick and label co owner/Less Than Jake drummer Vinnie Fiorello, they fought on.
If Vinnie of Less Than Jake is who everyone knows as the head of FBR, then why am I talking to you?
Vinnie and I actually started the label together back in 1996. I had been doing some other label stuff and was wrapping up college, so we decided to start something together. Vinnie's plan was never to handle the day to day tasks involved with the label, though-not really different than how Dexter [Holland, frontman of the Offspring] does things at Nitro. From day one, Less Than Jake has been his priority, and Fueled By Ramen his "other" project. It's been an amazing help to have Vinnie on our side, though, with the obvious visibility of Less Than Jake, as well as his experience in the music industry and knowing how to promote and develop bands. He's actively involved with the label, but I'm the one everone gets to officially call their "boss."
It seems like Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy is taking over your label. Is Decaydance planning a hostile takeover?
[Laughs.] All those guys in Fall Out Boy have been awesome from the day I signed them. As they developed into the platinum band that they are now, Pete and I would always talk and share ideas about how to keep the band moving forward. I was really impressed with the breadth of his knowledge of the music business, and that's only growing by the day. He'd always give me suggestions for bands to consider for FBR, and finally, after his band hit a level where they could take on the responsiblity of managing a record label, I told him that he could take on an imprint. The Decaydance family is, for all practical purposes, part of Fueled By Ramen-I manage that label in the same way that I do FBR-but Pete chooses the bands and comes up with all the marketing strategies. As everyone can tell by the success of Panic! At the Disco, he seems to know a thing or two.
If labels like FBR, Victory and Epitaph can produce records that regularly chart on Billboard now, why should a band even want to sign to a major label anymore?
That's an interesting question, because the positives from all these indie labels can almost overvalue the positives of being on a major. Of course, with a major, you'll have the oomph of the label bosses being able to basically just call up MTV or KROQ or whoever and just say, "Can you spin this band for me?" I certainly don't have quite the same power. At the same time, though, indie labels like ours are very personally connected to your band, and give you the feeling of being part of a family, rather than part of a company. You feel much safer and much more cared for. It's exciting that Fueled By Ramen has gotten to the level now where a band would have a very valid reason to want to spend time on our label before or even instead of signing with a major label.
Before there was Wentz, FBR was essentially ruled by Rory Phillips of the Impossibles and Jamie Woolford of the Stereo-what's going on with those guys right now?
Rory is absolutely one of the most gifted musicians I've ever met, and we're still very good friends. He's been involved with a lot of production recently. As far as I know, he's not playing with any serious bands at the moment, but I'm sure he's got something in the works. Time will tell. As far as Jamie goes, he's got an amazing band called Let Go who are signed with the Militia Group, and he's also remained a good friend of mine over the years. Jamie came to us about releasing their record, but their situation didn't allow them to do any touring, and we just weren't in a position to take on a band with no touring plans. Jamie and Rory are both really talented guys and old friends, but unfortunately neither of them currently have anything in the works for us.
In 2003 and 2004, you went through a wicked streak of band breakups-the Stereo, Teen Idols, August Premier, Whippersnapper-was it a curse?
Things happen so fast with a record label that I really either didn't notice or mentally blocked it out. There's no doubt that it was discouraging, and added pressure to each subsequent signing to do twice as well as each one prior, but if I wanted to dwell on bands that broke up all the time, we'd be in trouble. I just try to do my job the best I can, and hope the band will follow suit with hard work on their part. Of course it sucks if a band breaks up, especially when they leave behind a tremendous record, but we have to just move on and find the next band.
Now, for the obvious: How'd the label get its name?
I started the label when I was just a poor college student, and anyone who's gone to college knows the drill. You'r going to have a heavy dose of ramen in your diet. This also translates to our music, though: Most touring bands aren't making thousands of dollars a night or getting catered meals, so the label name is really a tribute to all the bands out there braving the road and doing the work to be heard.
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Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 7:59 pm
5 Essential Fueled by Ramen Albums
As selected by John Janick
Fall Out Boy
Take This To Your Grave
"I knew from the second we heard the record that it would be huge."
The Academy Is...
Almost Here
Gym Class Heroes
The Papercut Chronicles
The Stereo
300
The Impossibles
Anthology '94-'98
_______________________________________
Fueled By Ramen
Location: Gainesville, FL
Established: 1996
Employees: 16
Number of releases: 78
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Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 8:16 pm
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Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 8:35 pm
100 bands cont'd
Paramore
HQ: Franklin, TN
Check Out: All We Know is Falling
For Fans of: Acceptance, Fall Out Boy, Jimmy Eat World
Forget drinking; when Paramore joined the Warped Tour last year, some of the band's members had just reached legal driving age. What's more, the Tennessee emo quintet were also one of the few female fronted bands on the annual summer bro down-but, says the band's powerhouse 17 year old singer, Hayley Williams, they weren't sweating it: "When we first started, it probably went through my head, like, 'I'm going to have to prove myself,' or whatever, as a girl," she explains. "But as soon as we started playing live, all I knew was that I was having the time of my life. By the time we were on Warped, I didn't even think about it. It's just second nature to be hanging out with these guys and playing shows with bands that don't have any girls in them." Paramore-Williams, bassist Jeremy Davis, guitarists Josh Farro and Hunter Lamb, and drummer Zac Farro-were signed by Fueled By Ramen co owner John Janick after he attended just one show, and they've been spreading the hooky riffs ("All We Know"), call out anthems ("Whoa") and poignant lyrics ("Pressure") ever since. This year finds the band joining the Take Action! Tour and doing another round of Warped dates, as well as landing in the hearts of many. "A lot of younger bands have been writing us on Myspace and telling us, 'You guys have proved that our band can do it,'" says Williams. "It's cool to be an inspiration to people who are young."
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Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 8:45 pm
Even MORE cont'd
October Fall
HQ: Chicago, IL
Check Out: A Season in Hell
For Fans of: The Click Five, Jack's Mannequin, Straylight Run
For someone who grew up going to punk shows at a Knights of Columbus in Chicago, October Fall frontman Pat D'Andrea isn't afraid to namedrop Third Eye Blind in an interview. "We are heavily influenced by Third Eye Blind, Eve 6 and Tom Petty," the 19 year old singer says without apology. "We want our influences to shine through." Originally forming in the same suburban Illinois scene as Fall Out Boy and the Academy Is..., October Fall started as more of a missionary style pop punk band before recording A Season in Hell, an album that re imagined their muted major chords with piano rock bravado. A tour last fall with Ashlee Simpson underlined the band's interests in less, shall we say, "credible" genres, and soong, October fall, as D'Andrea put it recently on the band's website, became "your new favorite band to love or talk s**t on." "People think that the only kind of pop band that can exist is one that comes out on a major label," the singer says. "Like, when Third Eye Blind came out, they weren't on an indie label first. So for a pop rock band to be on an indie label? It's turning some heads."
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Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 8:57 pm
Ohmigawd even more cont'd?
Cute Is What We Aim For
HQ: Buffalo, NY
Check Out: Demos ( www.cuteiswhatweaimfor.com )
For Fans of: An Angle, Saves the Day, the Early November
One day last April, Cute is What We Aim For's Shaant Hacikyan was online when he recieve a message from Ship Goodman, a name producer who's become famous over the past few years for working with people like Lee Ann Womack and Mandy Moore. If it seems kind of funny to you that someone like Goodman would be IM'ing a bunch of unknown teenagers from Buffalo, well, you're not alone. "It's a funny story," says Hacikyan, the band's 19 year old frontman. "Of course, when you see Mandy Moore and all these impressive names from this random guy IM'ing you, you're a skeptic. But it panned out." Indeed, Goodman was so impressed by the songs the band posted on the internet-which alternate between hooky indie rock, bratty emo pop and introspective singer songwriter fare-that he and his partner Kenny Gioia asked to record five songs for the band's forthcoming Fueled By Ramen debut. This February, CIWWAF-who have been together now for a whoppin 15 months-also began tracking material with Panic! At the Disco producer Matt Squire. "Holy s**t," Hacikyan says in genuine awe. "In one year, to have all of this stuff happen? This is [more than] some bands get in their whole career."
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Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 9:07 pm
How many FBR bands are on this thing?
The Hush Sound
HQ: Chicago, IL
Check Out: So Sudden
For Fans of: Fiona Apple, Ben Folds, Ben Kweller
At age 17, Bob Morris emails Saves the Day, offering to become their new guitarist. No reply. Fast forward three years to the fall of 2004: Morris spends more and more time with classically trained pianist Greta Salpeter. They write jagged, hooky, broken hearted pop songs that alternate between fast and quirky(his) or quiet and earnest(hers). In January 2005, they convince drummer Darren Wilson to join, and the following month, bassist Chris Faller starts learning the songs. In a rush to cut an album before Salpeter leaves for college, they record So Sudden that March. How sudden? "Very," says Morris, who's been in bands since he was 12. "We wanted to get something out fast, so we could play shows fast. But unlike every other time I'd recorded an album, where I had to rethink and rewrite everything and pine over every note, this one felt completely natural. This is exactly the sound we wanted." A year later at an STD show, Morris gets a backstage pass to meet the band, but chickens out. What the hell; he's happier playing in his own band, who will start recording their second album this spring.
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