go backi n t e r v i e w s

in Record Collector magazine, 1988 - author: Peter Doggett

NEW ROSE RECORDS

PETER DOGGETT VISITS THE PARIS-BASED INDIE LABEL WHO CAN BOAST A RICH CATALOGUE OF RELEASES BY CULT HEROES LIKE ALEX CHILTON, ROKY ERICKSON AND THE CRAMPS, PLUS A COLLECTOR’S LABEL DEVOTED TO REISSUES AND ARCHIVE DISCOVERIES

Britain and America have always been very dismissive of the European contribution to rock’n’roll. Outside of the German ‘prog’ bands like Can and Kraftwerk, few European musicians have been accepted in the English-speaking world. So it’s ironic that one of the most successful and ambitious rock’n’roll labels of the Eighties is based, not in Notting Hill or the Lower East Side, but in the centre of Paris.

Easybeats (Fan Club records)New Rose have had plenty of prejudice to live down. The two French labels that had previously made most impact on the British scene, Skydog and Eva, had some interesting releases, but always verged on the edges of legality; no-one was ever quite sure how much of their product was authorised by the artists concerned. Like the top British reissue labels, New Rose’s subsidiary Fan Club is fully above board, licensing material through all the correct channels. And more than that, New Rose itself has been responsible for launching or rekindling the careers of many cult rockers from the States and Europe - plus, in the case of the Saints, Australia and beyond.

Like many indie labels, New Rose began life as a shop, which still exists at 7, Rue Pierre Sarrazin, Paris 75006, just off the Boulevard Saint Michel. It specialises broadly in music from the past twelve years - punk, new wave, garage, psychedelia, guitar groups in general. And the New Rose label itself spans similar horizons, with a strong accent on American bands.
As the select discography at the end of this feature reveals, New Rose have a label roster to rival anyone in the Eighties. They have collectable releases by British punk bands like the Buzzcocks and 999, plus work in a similar vein by countless French bands, and the Saints from Australia. They’ve issued important archive releases by some of the more legendary cult figures of rock history, like Alex Chilton, Roky Erickson and Sky Saxon, plus several releases linked to the New York Dolls. Their reissue label has offered excellent packages by the Easybeats, the Sonics, the Remains and former Flamin’Groovy Mike Wilhelm. And they have also produced or co-ordinated releases by fascinating American bands like True West, the Divine Horsemen, the Band of Blacky Ranchette and Dramarama.

So their catalogue has a unity which eludes larger labels. It’s the product of the joint taste of two men, Patrick Mathe and Louis Thevenon, who between them run the label and the shop. New Rose’s first releases were by the Saints, as Patrick explains: "We always had it in mind to start a record label one day, but we had no specific plans. Then we read in the music press that the Saints had been dropped by EMI. We both were - and still are - big fans of the band, so we rang Giovanni Dadomo, who’d written the article, and asked him to put us in touch with Chris Bailey of the Saints. Chris phoned us, and the result was that our first record was a 12" single of the Saints ‘Paralytic Tonight’, which Chris had only issued as a 7" on his own label in Australia. He had been reduced to busking in the tube, so the arrangement worked out very well."

An album, "Monkey Puzzle", soon followed, and subsequently the Saints have issued "Out In The Jungle", "A Little Madness To Be Free" and "Live In A Mud Hut" on the label, besides Chris Bailey’s LPs "Casablanca" and "What We Did On Our Holidays" while the Fan Club label reissued "Eternally Yours" and "Prehistoric Sounds" last year (the latter ending up one of our albums of 1988).

LICENSING

Many of these releases were proper New Rose projects, rather than licensing deals. Some of the label’s catalogue was available in Britain through other companies, of course. The Buzzcocks and 999 LPs were specifically licensed for release in France, though they were imported into Britain. .And throughout its life, New Rose has picked up the European rights to albums that were issued in Britain on other indie labels - like the Gun Club's "Fire Of Love" (out here on Beggars Banquet), the Cocteau Twins’ "Head Over Heels" (a 4AD release in Britain), and modern guitar band albums by US groups like the Replacements, Giant Sand, the Shoes and Green On Red, all of which were issued hi Britain by the Demon/Zippo group.

Cramps (New Rose records)Several Cramps releases also turned up on New Rose, but here the French label actually stole a march on their British rivals, with several tracks reaching the shops in France long before they did in Britain. Patrick and Louis pride themselves on being able to move from finished tape to finished record in a handful of weeks, without the long delays that often dog releases by the major labels.

But the most interesting releases on New Rose are obviously those which they put together themselves. One such was Alex Chilton’s album "Feudalist Tarts", which began an artist/label liaison which has survived to this day. "At the beginning we were a little scared of Alex’s reputation," Patrick admits, "but he turned out to be the most professional guy you could imagine. He’s wonderful - we’ve never had any problems at all. He recorded 'Feudalist Tarts’ in Memphis for us, and it was only then that he was able to get a deal in the States with Big Time. Then both labels collaborated to produce his last studio album, ‘High Priest’. We also put together the compilation album ‘Lost Decade’ with Alex." "Lost Decade" is a vital artefact for anyone who has followed Chilton’s career through the Boxtops and Big Star, as it mixes previously unissued early Seventies studio tracks with a group of songs by other bands which Alex produced during the same period.
Now Chilton has just produced a record with a European band on New Rose, the Lolitas, which Louis says combines "good French lyrics with European rock, with a definite garage flavour. The Lolitas are the first European band Alex bas ever worked with. We are also about to release a l0th anniversary live album by Panther Burns, with Alex on guitar."

Like Alex Chilton, former 13th Floor Elevators leader Roky Erickson has become a legend as much for his lifestyle as for his music. New Rose issued a mini-LP of studio recordings a couple of years back, "Clear Night For Love", and then sent over the money for a full album. "He agreed to do the LP," recalls Patrick, "but when the time came he didn’t want to record. But he did play through some songs in his hotel room on an acoustic guitar, which turned out to be a very interesting document in itself, so we released that as 'The Holiday Inn Tapes’. Then we also had a live album, 'At The Ritz 1987’, which was actually recorded by his mother on a portable tape machine! But at the moment he doesn’t want to play music any more. Maybe he will decide to do a record again one day; we would love to do it; but that’s up to him." "After he recorded ‘Clear Night For Love’, he thought his voice had gone," Louis adds, "he thinks he can’t play music any more. What can you do?" Patrick reckons that "If Roky was a little different, he could be very successfull. He’s one of the few geniuses I’ve met."

LEGEND

By comparison, the label’s link-up with yet another U.S. legend, Johnny Thunders of the New York Dolls, was more difficult - though also more rewarding in the end. "The 'Hurt Me’ record was recorded here in Paris," Patrick says, "and the sessions were very strange. We ended up with miles of tapes, very little of which we could use." But New Rose’s Thunders releases, notably "Hurt Me" and "In Cold Blood", have been among New Rose’s biggest sellers - their success matched by Fan Club’s archive releases by the New York Dolls. "Sons Of The Dolls" (FC 002) is a compilation of material by individual Dolls members, but the real meat is on "Red Patent Leather" (FC 007), a lo-fi but still exhilarating live album, the tapes for which came from Dolls producer Marty Thau. The band’s Sylvain Sylvain provided the raw material for "Tokyo Dolls Live", a set recorded during the band’s final Japanese tour, which is credited to ‘David & Sylvain’ in recognition of the band’s fragmented state at that time. Once again, the record’s documentary importance overcomes its aural deficiencies.

These releases highlight the fact that Fan Club is not just a reissue label. It specialises in unearthing rare or previously unheard archive recordings, ranging from the superb double album of singles, demos and rarities by Boston’s finest band of the mid-Sixties, the Remains, to the label’s latest release, a fiery live album and CD by the early Eighties U.S. power pop’ band, the Plimsouls, which could easily be mistaken for the Flamin’Groovies on a good night.

Elliott MurphyAmong Fan Club’s other releases are the first legitimate reissues of material by two of America’s most famous garage bands of the Sixties, the Sonics and the Wailers. "We licensed them from Etiquette Records in the States," Patrick explains, "who took a lot of persuading! This was the first ever licensing deal for the Sonics’ stuff. We’ve done reissues of the original two albums by them, plus a live set, ‘Live Fanz Only’. There’s also one LP by the Wailers, but though the music is very similar, they don’t have the same reputation, so I don’t know if we’ve sold enough to justify a second LP."

SLOW

Many of Fan Club’s releases - and New Rose’s, for that matter - are now available on CD. Some of the British reissue labels have been very slow to pick up on the CD boom: "They’re wrong!", as Patrick says. "We’ve issued close to 100 CDs so far, and we’ve had great sales for things like the Sonics and the Easybeats on CD. I think we were actually the first indie label ever to issue a CD, when we put out the Cramps’ ‘Smell Of Female’. We also issue some of our material on cassette, but not usually the Fan Club stuff; that’s very much aimed at the vinyl junkies."

Releases like the Leaves’ "1966",. the reissues of Mike Wilhelm’s material as a soloist and with Loose Gravel, and the issue of the Stooges’ "Rubber Legs" have all filled gaps left by U.K. reissue labels. But they aren’t the only material from the New Rose stable which is destined to be collectable. Although they don’t trade in 'manufactured’ collector’s items, New Rose have issued some tasty titbits along the way like boxed sets of singles by the Cramps and Panther Burns, a double-pack single with two live tracks by Alex Chilton, and a pic disc of the Cramps’ "Faster Pussycat". Many of the label’s early releases are now deleted; many more never made it into Britain in any quantity in the first place. But Patrick and Louis refuse to promise that they won’t reissue anything on the label which looks like becoming a major collector’s item!

Most of their time is devoted to modern music, though in the classic rock tradition, and the label has issued a dazzling array of guitar-orientated albums through the Eighties. If I had to pick out some highlights, both in terms of music and likely collectability, I’d settle for the batch of albums and mini-LPs by the Divine Horsemen. The band, who split up late last year, were led by Chris D, an associate of the Gun Club, and former leader of the Flesheaters, whose "Greatest Hits" compilation was issued by Fan Club. They boasted a wonderful female vocalist in Julie Christensen, and the combination of her clear country vocals with Chris’s punky drawl was highly effective. Musically the band always showed a strong country influence, combined with tough rock and roll; and it’s not just their electric cover of "Gimme Shelter" that evokes comparisons with "Let It Bleed"-era Rolling Stones. They’re definitely worth investigating if guitar rock is your cup of meat.

Similarly, psych specialists much prefer True West’s "Hollywood Holidays" LP, compiled by New Rose from their initial 12" single and additional material, to the later "Drifters", which appeared here on Zippo, and also on New Rose. And anyone who has fallen under the spell of Howie Gelb and Giant Sand will already have succumbed to the charms of the first eponymous album by his country spin-off, The Band of Blacky Ranchette.

ENDEARING

More recently, New Rose have provided a European outlet for the album by Pianosaurus (an endearing set featuring a bunch of rock musicians, including Peter Holsapple of the DBs and now REM, playing toy instruments); Eddie Ray Porter, with searing guitar solos by one of Green On e; and a couple of fascinating mini-LPs by arch U.K. psychedelic exponent Paul Roland. Imitation LifeThen there are the LPs by former-’new Bob Dylan’ Elliott Murphy ("We’re the first label to have done three of his albums," says Patrick proudly), Stranglers offshoot the Purple Helmets, reviewed recently in these pages, the "Down Home Blues" compilation masterminded by Memphis producer Jim Dickinson - the list goes on and on.

Finally, New Rose specialises in compilations, not just samplers of their current catalogue, like the new "Laserock’n’Roll Party" CDs, but also bumper packages of material recorded specifically for the purpose. Previous sets, like "Play New Rose For Me"; have been reviewed in RC; the latest release, "Everyday Is A Holly Day", is reviewed elsewhere in this issue. Available as either a double-pack 10" LP, or a CD with seven bonus tracks, it connects rock’n’roll ancient and modern with interpretations of Holly classics by artists like Elliott Murphy, the Lolitas, Chris Spedding, the Shoes, Paul Roland, Chris Bailey. and (on CD only) Roky Erickson. This linking of old and new is typical of the New Rose catalogue. Although their releases are based on France, they are distributed here through Pinnacle; as the discography shows, they’re well worth further investigation.

Peter Doggett

from Record Collector magazine, 1988

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