Starting a successful record label can be an incredibly arduous and complex challenge. In todays ever developing online focused world, simply putting out quality music can often not wield the results it once did. In order to succeed as a new label you must build a likeable and accessible brand that can flourish on multiple media formats. Max and Will Owen, the founders of Fraise records have done just that. In just under a year they have established themselves as the founders of one of the most exciting labels in the UK.
I chatted with both Max and Will over Zoom to discuss their love for garage, their vision for giving young and exciting artists a platform, the success of their first record and their efforts to build a label which is larger solely than its releases.
Hey guys could you give us a little background into who you are, and where you come from?
M: Me and Will both grew up in Southend. I am currently studying in London.
W: I am a quantity surveyor.
How old are you two?
M: I’m 20
W: I am 24
Do you think your older brother has been an influence on you Max?
M: Yeah definitely, just spending time with my brother and his mates exposed me to house and garage and lots of dance music earlier than most.
W: He had no choice, he was brainwashed.
Garage is clearly a big part of your sound both with Fraise and as DJs. Are there any garage artists or labels who you really enjoy, either production wise or as DJs? And are any of these particular inspirations behind what you are trying to do with Fraise?
Max: I really like what Dr Banana does with his label. Where he re-releases old tracks alongside championing new producers. Also what he does with his clothing is really really cool. In terms of an artist Mike Millrain.
Will: Yeah definitely Mike Millrain. Jeremy Sylvester as well, he has had a massive impact on the garage scene. The samples and demos you hear today are based around his work, a lot of the stuff me and Max try and make uses a lot of his sample packs. Our influences really though have just come from always listening to music. Quite a lot of the music we listen to and play is rare or unheard artists and tracks.
What about garage specifically has excited you?
W: For me, its fast paced and I love the constant change in drum patterns. You never really know what is going to happen in a garage track. It can bring a real energy to a crowd.
M: All the samples, vocal stabs, there is a groove to garage that just makes you want to dance.
W: There are a lot of genres, minimal for example, which feature complex songs but in a party atmosphere can become quite saturated and boring. With Garage and breakbeat the vibe is always changing and people are always excited by those changes. For me garage can always just bring and excite a more energised crowd compared to some other genres.
Why did you guys want to start a record label?
M: There has always been a scene in Southend but at times we almost felt trapped. Through DJing a little and going out we met a few producers who we felt weren’t getting the exposure they deserved. We wanted to try and build a platform to put forward who are in our eyes really talented artists.
W: I had been DJing in Southend for three or four years and back in the day when I turned 18 the Southend scene was popping. As we grew older and Max started getting involved the crowds and events were starting to die down and become pretty stale. We just thought why don’t we try and build something ourselves. Then we can play what we want to play and push the artists who we like who maybe wouldn’t get the attention from bigger labels because they dont have the right social media profiles. We wanted to build a label for people who dont have the platform or the followers but who we know are making good music.
That is a very selfless and mature attitude to take for two pretty young label heads. Doing it to create a platform.
W: Well I think both me and Max have sort of felt at times underapreciated. Where we host parties and put a lot of effort in and then because the style of music isn’t quite what people wanted. Often we have sent people tracks and reached out to people and been ignored and you don’t even get a response even though there could be good music involved but because people dont know who you are they ignore it.
Your first release came out last month, It’s a class EP. Peaky Beats is amazing and I wasn’t aware of him until I noticed you guys. How do you know him, do you know him well or is that a relationship that blossomed through emails and getting in touch online?
M: Me and Will used to play a lot more minimal and I discovered him on Beatport and then we just kept an eye on his releases. He just started up a garage alias and we just messaged him
W: He is probably one of the most genuine people we’ve met through starting up the label. We just got in touch because we noticed he was doing a lot of stuff live and we love live sets. It was convenient that as we got in touch he was just starting a garage alias and he sent over some tracks and we loved them.
First release is sold out right?
W: Yeah all gone, sold three hundred records in under a month so couldn’t be more pleased with the response.
Did you expect that or has that initial success taken you by surprise?
M Yeah I mean we’ve learnt a lot.
W: There have been a few hiccups and it’s been our first time doing this sort of thing. I was expecting it to sell well but we definitely were not expecting it to sell out as soon as it did. It’s been crazy. I think we got Peaky Beats at a good time, and the Urulu remix rounds it off so nice. He has been around for years and in his remix you can hear his talent. It’s mental it’s constantly changing, so good.
How did that remix come about?
M: We just messaged him.
W: Yeah we have been a fan of his for a while and didn’t actually think anything would come of it but we sent him a message and he was keen.
The Urulu remix is a beauty, both Will and Max spoke about the success Urulu has recently received under his alias ‘Liquid Earth’, this remix is a beautiful example of why Urulu has been gaining so much traction. Upon first listen its a breakbeat and ambient floater which grows and builds in a way only an Urulu production can.
What are the plans for future releases in terms of style and genre? We have spoken a lot about garage but an Urulu Remix is far from simply garage.
M: Yeah me and Will want to release what we like, we play across genres all the time. The label reflects our style as well and hopefully that comes through when listening to the first EP.
W: Well we want to establish ourselves as a label, as a brand and as a sound but we aren’t going to focus purely on one genre because garage, breakbeat and further electronic music have such similar influences. All the styles we like cross In a way so one of the reasons we wanted the Urulu remix on there was to differentiate ourselves from purely garage labels on our first relase. We have some more garage coming soon, the second release and its info is coming in a few weeks and that is by a young duo making a really big impact at the moment. That has two garage tracks and then two set starter more minimal tracks. We have some more releases coming focused on a more breakbeat and rave style sound and we have a spin off series which we cant talk too much about at the moment.
This release was vinyl only right? I just wanted to pick your brain on that and why you went down that path?
W: Funnily enough Strawb001 isn’t going to be vinyl only. We just released the vinyl first because we wanted to get the records out there and the digital is going to follow in six or seven months time. We just think vinyl is such a different culture of music, it’s not just buying a track you are buying a physical record, you are buying it because you love all four tracks on that e.p. Vinyl can be so much more of a social median as well, if you are buying records you go to records stores and interact with people in those places that can be into the same stuff as you, you can then find out even more music you maybe haven’t heard before and we just love that concept.
As well we also think our decision to put out a physical record is much more of a statement for us and for the artist as well. We believe in their music so much that we want to print their record and we want people to have a physical copy of that record. We would love for people in a few years to be hunting in a record shop and find a record we have put out and be like wow what is this, this is sick!
M: I think yeah just having a physical copy of your hard work to look back on and to see how your style and sound has changed over the years makes the record become a staple timepiece.
Thats awesome, I feel like so much marketing and promotion, not just In the music industry but in all industries is focused on online advertisements. I feel that a lot of face to face and physical interaction has lost value and importance when it still has a huge role to play in building a brand. You have mentioned the word brand a few times and that you are keen to build more than just a record label, how did your launch party back in February go?
M: Yeah it went amazing. We were over the moon about it really. At first we just thought it would be quite small and a party for a few close friends, we didn’t expect for anyone we didn’t know to turn up so It was pretty surreal to see people we didnt know show up and have a good time. The actual party went really well, the lineup all smashed it. Peaky Beats played live which was really cool, Pinder, Taye and Tom were really good too.
Will: We couldn’t have asked for a better response, it was full to the brim all night and the music was great. We have lots more planned for the future, we had one planned pretty soon but thats looking unlikely now.
How has the current Corona virus situation impacted on you guys starting and running the label?
M: To be honest its not had too much of an effect, obviously its a shame we cant host a few of the parties we had planned.
W: The situation hasn’t had an effect on us selling our first record at all. So I think when people are sitting inside listening to new music they are still grabbing records. It has obviously had an effect on the industry but I think we have to adapt. We have just launched some Fraise T- shirts on Everpress and that has had a really good response. We cant complain at all.
The whole image and artwork of Fraise is really cool and unique. How did you come up with all the artwork?
M: Just kind of sketching and brainstorming really, one thing that starting a label has taught me is you don’t really realise all the little things like artwork that you have to create and manage. There is so much that goes into running a label that you just don’t see behind the scenes.
W: A lot of our artwork we try not to make it too serious, we aren’t too serious of a label anyway. We wanted to make it memorable and fun. It’s just about creating something bold and memorable and not too ‘cool’ and serious. There isn’t anything much more memorable than a big fuck off strawberry.
Fraise have started alongside their parties and release a really interesting mix series, where the artwork is focussed on a different desert for each mix, the mix series is called “Slice of the Month”. London party starters Tesselate the 8th and latest Slice of the Month is as tasty as expected.
Max I know when we last spoke in person you said you had some production courses planned, I wondered if you guys had been producing lately and are planning on releasing any of your own music soon?
M: Yeah I literally just finished that course, but I have been busy with uni so I haven’t been producing too much lately. Will is always producing and stuff.
W: I am not gonna say too much but funnily enough but one of our upcoming EPs coming out in the summer is featuring two of my tracks. I am very excited for that EP. Its my first release but as well the other two tracks on the record are featuring another really talented producer and they are just outrageous.
Any closing thoughts and comments?
W: Well the response has been phenomenal in the 6 or 7 months since we have started the label but we are not in any rush. We really want to grow naturally rather than trying to force it.
Fraise is a really interesting and different record label. It has immense potential for releasing amazing music in the future and throwing excellent parties. It was ever so exciting to chat to these two incredibly talented and motivated young label heads. In their ambition and confidence was patience and a sense of humbleness despite their almost instant success that I feel will serve them incredibly well in the long term.
Check out Fraise records on Soundcloud, Bandcamp and Facebook
https://fraiserecords.bandcamp.com/releases
Thanks again for having us on!
Love what these guys are doing keep it up lads
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