Well, where to start, hmmm, let's start at the start. I signed my first record deal with Creation Records back in 1998 after 10 years slogging it around Manchester's gig circuit. At the time I was being managed by Derek Ryder, who named 3 of the cities most used venues The Bermuda Triangle as it was where bands disappeared never to be seen again. I had been signing on for 10 years playing in bands, clubbing, getting stoned, living with girlfriends and mates, buying the NME every Wednesday. You know, the usual indie lifestyle for a lad in a band, in Manchester. I'd been sitting in an office with Derek for 3 years, demoing tracks, watching Black Grape form and fall apart, having a laugh and getting nowhere. A tape had landed in the office and as Friday rolled around, Derek and I had our weekly A&R session. The tape had The Buicks written on the cover. We nearly didn't play it. Derek said Buicks were shit but the fact of the matter was, there were no other tapes to play that day.

After a couple of plays and as many days, I'd renamed the band Pavarotti's Management, met the lad who wrote the music and convinced him my band were his band and Derek had sent it to Alan McGee. Alan had listened to it coming back from America and wanted to see the band play. So off we went to London and in walked McGee, who signed us on the spot.

In the lawyers office signing the contract, George Babbington explained to us what the royalty per record sold would be laughing slightly. £1.75, between us. None of us cared, we thought we were gonna be rock stars. After a meal and no drugs, we went home as One Lady Owner, new Creation signings. We couldn't use Pavarotti's Management, the real PM would have sued us. The experience lasted 18 months, three singles, one album, six toilet tours, critical disdain and no royalties. Alan dropped us on the eve of the millennium. I felt like killing myself.

Two years later, after completing three tracks with a mate as an experiment, BMG offered me a publishing deal and My Computer was born. We continued the experiment, finished it and called it Vulnerabilia. It took us a year of talking to record company pricks, like the guy from RCA who had signed Take That, who just kept looking me in the eye with an 'I signed Take That' T-Shirt on. I could see he was trying to unnerve me, so I looked him back in the eye with my best 'Take That are shit' look and he eventually went away. A few months later, David Holmes signed us to 13 Amp.

Vulnerabilia came out to nationwide critical acclaim in 2002, but with no marketing, one tour, one Jo Whiley radio play and an absolutely terrible Yoko Ono situation developing between me, my mate and his nineteen year old nightmare girlfriend, things deteriorated pretty fast and 13 Amp was sold to Universal.

Lucian Grange, head of Universal thought that he would be getting Sigur Ros in the deal, but Sigur Ros were taken to EMI in the morning before the deal was inked. This left us, Joy Zipper and Children up shit creek without a paddle. We were in the studio with John Leckie writing the follow up to Vulnerabilia, No CV. We finished the record and got dropped. My ex mate had mixed the album in a seamless 5.1 surround sound mix. They couldn't open the bleeding thing. I got a call off my A&R man.

"Chesy, your next call is BMG"

So I rang BMG and they got us a new manager (Derek suffered too much from Lazyitis). The new manager knew Rob Partridge at Coalition who knew Guy Holmes at Gut. My Computer signed to Gut thinking the money Guy made from the crazy frog could be put to good use. We must have been crazy.

No CV came out, again to nationwide critical acclaim, again to an indifferent general public who didn't buy it. In fact, to this day I have no idea what either Vulnerabilia or No CV have sold. Have I recouped? Who cares? It's just a tax loss, right?

So, my girlfriend of 7, nearly eight years gets off. I felt like killing myself.

At the age of 35, I get my first job, cleaning. I start at the bottom and work my way up, 15 jobs later, to advertising salesman paying the mortgage from hell. I keep writing and sending my music to my music business contacts and my publisher. They don't wanna know. I get back in touch with Alan McGee. He gives me a gig at Death Disco. It's a good night out, but a shit gig. My band mate tells McGee that he looks like a fat Boy George. We leave. I feel like my music career should end. Now.

But that night, I see a band that excites and terrifies me in equal measures. That band is from Mexico and they are called The Hong Kong Blood Opera. They restore my faith in music as a powerful, healing force. I head back to Manchester, deflated and invigorated in equal measures.

I think to myself. I've got an unplugged My Computer album called No Computer draped in Blues on cdbaby doing nothing. I've got a Good Neighbour album, my northern soul record called 'There Was A Time' that got a Guardian New Band Of The Day, in my drawer at home, doing nothing. I have just finished eViL sPaNish, the first My Computer album made as a band, verified by john Leckie as stunning and proper, doing nothing. Time to get a grip.

I set up a My Computer website for eViL sPaNiSh. It gets hit 4,000 in the first week. I send a Good Neighbour track 'To Be Free' to Media2Radio. They start plugging it to worldwide radio. I start to think more like a label than a musician. I come up with the name Recreation Records, for a number of reasons. I search Google and find someone has already registered it as a company. Then, I meet someone who wants to set up a label website for me. I search for the domain name www.recreationrecords.com. It's available. I buy it. I do a label sampler and get it to the breakfast show producer. I decide to do it and fuck the consequences. It can't be any worse than the four record deals and the publishing deal I've signed and besides, I don't write music to sit in a drawer all day.

And so, I give you a truly independent record label that launches on April 27th 2009. With single releases by Good Neighbour, The Hong Kong Blood Opera and Black Jackson. This triple single launch is followed on June 24th with the start of the release of three My Computer albums 'Death Of A Duo' 'No Computer' and 'eViL sPaNiSh'. Towards the end of August, we will be bringing you the debut albums by Good Neighbour, Black Jackson, Pete King and The Hong Kong Blood Opera. My first novel 'Don't Go Where I've Been' about Manchester life and Manchester music, will also be available as an e-book.

To conclude...I personally guarantee you no shit music. It's not a company, it's a website.

Andy Chester

 

N.B Alan McGee has e-mailed me this week to say and I quote,

"Keep on writing amazing music...you only need one Magic Bus"

p.s See you in court over the name of your record company. I own the name Recreation Records too!!!

 

Thanks for the compliment, but it's not a company Alan...It's a wabel and I own the domain name. Listen to Majic Flat on 'Vulnerabilia' and you will see I have already written my Magic Bus, for My Generation!!!