Seattle Subsonic

A Little Q & A with Hardly Art

January 14th, 2009

For those of you not yet aware of the Seattle based record label Hardly Art they host a handful of up-and-coming talent on their repertoire with names like The Moondoggies, Athur and Yu, Le Loup and The Pica Beats. Former Sub Pop founder Jonathan Ponanman started the label along with Sarah Moody who worked as Sub Pop’s publicity department, and with them came Nick Heliotis who managed to give me a little Q & A about the label…
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1. Nick whats your role at the Hardly Art label and how did you get involved?
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My official title here is “General Employee”, the joke being that Sarah is the General Manager and I am the only employee. Together Sarah and I handle all the day-to-day stuff here, and my focus is a bit more on the retail/distribution and tour promo/press side of things. Both of us are pretty involved in everything that is happening here, sort of the point of a two-person operation is tighter communication and coordination between the “departments”. Previous to working here I was interning at Sub Pop, largely for Sarah who was then working in the publicity department there. We got along really well and she was nice enough to bring me along when she was put in charge of Hardly Art.
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2. I read online that the Hardly Art name came from either The Thermals lyrics “No Culture Icon”, or from Sean Fennessey’s blog Hardly Art, Hardly Garbage (which has since changed)… sooo which one?
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The name definitely comes from the Thermals lyric—did you really think we’d name our label after a blog?

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3. I really like the selection of bands on the roster, many of them with female, male vocals… is there currently a niche your label has found or is it personal taste selections?
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Decisions about which bands we work with are really just based on what we at the label are excited about—I think despite some superficial similarities none of the records we have put out really sound that similar. Part of the really exciting aspect of the label (I think) is that artist selection is a little more “shoot from the hip” than it might be at other labels. When we find something special that we all see potential in and can get behind we have the freedom to just go for it.
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4. What (if anything) has your team (Jonathan Ponamen, Sarah Moody and yourself) carried over from Sub Pop to HA?
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We’ve definitely benefited hugely from our association with Sub Pop—in addition to Jonathan we get hugely valuable guidance and assistance from Megan Jasper (Sub Pop VP) and Tony Kiewel (Head of A&R at Sub Pop) as well as material assistance from the label itself. Beyond the tangible support, there is the positive association that people have with Sub Pop and for me just a lot of inspiration in working out of the same office as Sub Pop. Being around such an amazing label run by such an amazing group of people certainly makes coming to work everyday an exciting experience.
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5. I saw on your website HA and Sub Pop teamed up with Suicide Squeeze at CMJ… were any of the HA bands on the roster to play? If so which ones? And do you plan on doing more showcases in the future at CMJ and other events like SXSW, Coachella?
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Are you asking if any of our bands played that showcase? If so yes, Pretty & Nice and the Dutchess & the Duke both played. Showcases just sort of come together on the fly—Sub Pop always has a showcase at SXSW and at CMJ and have been gracious enough to involve us in those the last few years. A big part of it depends on how many of our artists are going to be at CMJ and/or SXSW.
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6. Online music sales and downloading has become so competitive with mechanical sales at record stores and shows… whats HA doing to try and keep up or set the pace?
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The realities of downloading and the shift to digital sales were there when the label was started and they are certainly something that has to be taken into consideration. That said, I personally believe that the new set of realities in many ways helps a label of our size—illegal downloading helping to spread word about brand new bands for example. Furthermore, I think the basic truth is that certain people want to buy music and those are the people that we sell records to.
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7. Does HA have a blog or forum coming so we can keep tabs and make comments?
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We don’t have a blog but we do update our current favorite music at our website every month (http://hardlyart.com/bs.html). If people want to “comment” they can come to Happy Hour and say it to my face.
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Nick be joining the Seattle Subsonic crew at the monthly Moe Bar happy hour, I’m sure there will be plenty of promo to have at and definitely good peep to mingle with. And Kevin said he’s got Moondoggies tickets to boot… was I supposed to say that? Heres the addy its this Thursday the 15th and goes from 5-8…
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Seattle Subsonic Monthly Happy Hour

Moe Bar Every Third Thursday 5-8

1425 10th

Seattle, WA 98122