First Pressing

For Skinny O’Leary, the most rewarding part of any video game is the sidequest. In life, he’s said yes to a lot of side quests too…including developing a career in music and artist management through SIDEQUEST records.  SIDEQUEST is both a label and a management company. A multifaceted project championing indie sounds across Perth including Ursula, Mal De Mer and Smol Fish. Forming in 2021, the pr...

On this episode of First Pressing Mark is catching up with old friend and mentor Greg Sanders of Gun Fever Music. Growing up in Armadale, the musician and label head first remembers getting swept up in the magic of indie rock listening to Weezer on his walkman.  This love extended into adulthood with the birthing of Gun Fever Music, an independent record label championing local indie sounds from t...

You can’t talk about WA punk without talking about Kyle Gleadell.  Like many Perth artists Kyle moved to Melbourne and while he was there discovered the underground punk scene, warehouse gigs and fanzine culture. Upon his return he was invited to join Helter Skelter as their bass player and in 2012 launched Helter Skelter Records, distributing records and producing punk music across Boorloo. The r...

Today, things are about to get a little bit louder…   In a growing digital world, Ben Docherty of Televised Suicide Records prefers to let the wax of his punk label sell out before he releases his music online. Launching in 2015, Televised Suicide strives to keep physical merchendise and music alive in a growing digital landscape.  Since its inception it has featured some of the best of what Austr...

A mainstay in the local music community, Adem Kerimofski knows a bit about independent record labels. You may remember Adem from a little project called Turnstyle. Emerging out of the grunge tinted sounds of the mid 90s, Turnstyle bucked the trends of mainstream music cementing their unique sounds through the use of Casio keyboards.  Around this time, as a budding young Perth based musician, Adem...

At a time when record labels were uncommon, Martin Clarke pioneered Perth’s first independent platform Clarion Records. Founded in 1962, Clarion Records is considered one of the most influential labels of its time for its dedication to promoting local talent and producing high quality recordings through the introduction of new and innovative technologies never before seen in Perth. As well as upli...

First Pressing returns for season two with a new cast of local label heads championing independent music! You may recognise Nici Ward as the voice of local indie-rockers Lonesome Dove. But when she’s not fronting one of Perth’s favourite indie bands she’s running Pink House Records. From humble beginnings singing Suzie Quatro on the coffee table of her childhood home, it makes perfect sense that N...

Across seven episodes Mark Neal has been catching up with the people behind local record labels to chat about Perth’s music scene and the wonderful communities they nurture.  In this bonus episode of First Pressing, RTRFM music director Matthew Perrett shifts the spotlight onto the label head to chat about Blue, Grey, Pink records. Blue Grey Pink was founded by Mark in 2017 and aims to platform ar...

Sam Ford is a Perth based musician and producer who has worked with some of the biggest names in WA music – from Abbe May to POND, Romeo Walker and the Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. He’s also the brains behind Tone City Records, a local label with a passion for supporting and nurturing the next generation of music makers and putting WA on the national and international map. Grown out of a love for th...

This fortnight Mark Neal sits down with Peter, Georgie and Connor from Midnight Elevator. Midnight Elevator is a Perth/Boorloo independent label and events collective, co-ordinated by Connor Golder, Georgie Berry and Peter McAvan; collectively with the help of incredible artists in sound, spatial and visual aesthetic alike. Since their inception in July 2020, Midnight Elevator have placed a strong...

Claire Pannell aka Furchick is an Australian experimental artist and owner of Dog Park Records. Born and raised in Perth, she ran away overseas to New Zealand to pursue music; coordinating The Stomach music centre, Valve zine and Yellow Bike Records with Dave White. She also funded a PhD at this time by working as a sound engineer before heading to The Big Apple, playing in many weird and wonderfu...

In a share house full of likeminded, creative types, Rockton Records was founded with the intention of shining more light on the projects of friends and artists around them that often sit on the fringes of the mainstream. Hiding on hard drives or in SoundCloud aliases, the idea was simple, more people might want to hear this music.  Ryan Borrett, the brains behind Rockton Records, sits down with M...

In today’s episode Mark Neal hits the dance floor with Ewan Jansen, founder of Red Ember Records. Located in Perth, Red Ember Records was founded in late 1996 by Ewan alongside producer and musical confidant Justin Zerbst to celebrate and seek out true underground deep house and electronic sounds in Boorloo. Since then the duo have taken Perth club sounds around the world, with a global compilatio...

Em Burrows is a song writer, educator and producer from Perth who is passionate about gender equity and representation in the arts. She is also behind Group Therapy Records, a label which started as like minded friends supporting each other in their sonic and creative endeavours. Though no longer running, there is no denying the label is embedded in the local music scene for its role championing i...

Our series begins with Ray Grenfell, the musician and brains behind Stock Records. You may know Ray from local band Last Quokka but behind the scenes he runs a socially conscious record label providing a hub for musicians making raucous, punk sounds in WA and beyond. From hosting WA’s biggest backyard party YARDSTOCK, to passionately advocating for social and political issues through their DIY pun...