If you like your music to be of the east coast variety and a little loud then you’re in luck. Jon Landry, producer and folk-rocker frontman for The Stanfields, has come out with a surprise launch for his own label, Ragged Head Records.
“Since this label project has been stewing for a while, I suddenly felt like I needed to push myself off the cliff,” says Landry about this morning’s decision to announce the label weeks ahead of schedule.
Landry is no stranger to the East Coast music industry. His place in the hard-rocking quintet has earned him plenty of awards and a strong following over the last decade. His work as a producer at Iron Tulip Audio and as Managing Director of GroundSwell Music have also given Landry him perspective and experience on the backside of the industry.
“With both The Stanfields and my work with GroundSwell, I’ve had the privilege of making friends with many rock bands all over the place,” says Landry.
What that translates to, at least for the moment, is Ragged Head Records taking a heavy focus on East Coast musicians.
Self-described as having been “conceived to be a label home for Atlantic Canada’s best established and emerging rock and roll bands,” the GroundSwell sub-label fills the louder niches it’s folkier parent company doesn’t quite accommodate.
“It’s in the GroundSwell family but I wanted to raise a flag for music like this – the kind that gets me out of bed every day!” Which, for Landry, means plenty of noisy guitar rock: “the kind where the artist is trying to blow everything up.”
Rather than succumbing to the temptation to place The Stanfields as their label’s flagship artist, Landry explains that the band will be sticking with their place at GroundSwell.
“Though we have a tendency to get carried away and fit the Ragged Head bill at times, The Stanfields are a bit too rootsy for this, I think.”
The decision not to include The Stanfields within Ragged Head Records also give a clear delineation on what can expect from the label’s sound.
“No jigs anyway,” says Landry. “But make no mistake, I’m utterly convinced that there is a significant audience for the ‘just-shy-of-straight ahead’ rock music we will be bringing to the world.”
Ragged Head Records is preparing for an official launch in early May. While the launch will coincide with the release of the first single on the label, any details of who the artist is remains a mystery.