Olive Juice Music is a D.I.Y. label, studio, and mail-order distributor, based in New York City, interested in helping people who are in the developmental stages of trying to do something with their art connect with people who are in the developmental stages of appreciating it. OJM is not a traditional record label. For the most part it is a testament to what one guy, working out of his apartment, with a lot of help from his friends, can do.The artists associated with Olive Juice Music take an active part in how their art is produced, financed, and commodified. They in turn receive more of the direct profits gained from the distribution of that art, which is how it should be. The strength of OJM relies upon the active participation of its members to share resources and help promote a communal spirit among everyone involved as well as claiming responsibility for taking their art to wherever they would like it to go. Olive Juice Music is about independence and community.
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The Deli / Trakmarx / Boog City / The Village Voice / Urban Folk
1998-99:
Major Matt Mason had a dream. A dream of joining forces with other like-minded
musicians to get their music to more places than just their backpacks
and bedrooms. The dream called Olive Juice first took shape in 1999, shortly
after Matt recorded his first cd, Me, Me, Me, with fellow songwriter
and recording engineer Tom Nishioka. He started chatting with Tom about
the possibility of creating a collective/label called Olive Juice and
involving both Matt & Tom's musical projects.
Nan came into the picture in the spring of 1999, after she caught wind
from Jon Berger to check out this Major Matt fellow. She saw his show
one nite at the Sidewalk Cafe and asked him out a short while later, thinking
to herself, "What a catch. Schwervon! began soon after she and Matt
began dating, and that became another band to include in the Olive Juice
roster.
At this time, Matt was working at a post-production house, editing sound
for commercials. He was able to use their studio at night to mix the first
Schwervon! record, and also to record the debut Prewar Yardsale record,
Lowdown. Mike Rechner had been playing solo for a while but had
starting incorporating his wife Dina into the songs, playing buckets and
singing. Prewar Yardsale was one of the first projects Matt recorded and
it whet his appetite to make some changes. He quit his job at the end
of 1999 to do freelance sound engineering and to devote more time to his
music and the engineering of musicians. Tom Nishioka helped put up the
first Olive Juice website, along with Chris Hart's help later (who has
since moved to Paris). Prewar Yardsale, Schwervon!, Major Matt Mason,
and Tom Nishioka (and his project Never Louder Than Lovely) were the first
Olive Juicers. Soon Randi Russo, American Anymen, and Derek Richmond were
welcomed into the OJ family too.
2000:
In the beginning they would meet monthly and have snacks and they even
had a dues system and would use the money to take out ads in indie rags
together. They helped each other get some press and they talked about
the Olive around town and at parties. Somewhere around that time Toby
Goodshank (of the Moldy Peaches) joined the team, and Peter Dizozza too.
They began having cd release parties & Olive Juice shows at Sidewalk
Cafe and Galapagos and other NYC/Brooklyn venues and a community was slowly
being created--though a lot of the acts met and were friends already through
the antifolk scene and the Sidewalk Cafe.
2001- early 2002:
The team Olive decided that getting people together for monthly meetings
was too difficult because of busy schedules and it was taking a lot of
time to make simple decisions because they had to wait for collective
agreement. They let Matt take the reins of Olive Juice as Executive Decision
Maker. All of the artists were still promoting the label in various ways,
but were free to act independently in regards to their music without checking
in with the whole group.
After Matt was appointed Executive Decision Maker, he began to sell other
musicians' stuff off of the site, on the On-Line Distribution Page...
not just the people officially "on" the Olive Juice Label. This
helped foster even more of a sense of community, not to mention the growing
fascination of opinions expressed on the OJ
Message Board.
Matt released an Antifolk compilation cd entitled Call it what you
want with a slew of musicians in the immediate community and one
who was far away, Daniel Johnston.
2002-2003:
Nan Turner (solo) & Pantsuit, & American Anymen were added to
OJ. Prewar Yardsale, Major Matt, Randi Russo, Toby Goodshank, and Schwervon!
all were taking periodic trips to the UK and Europe. Mike and Dina had
a baby named Harmon Gillespie Levy Rechner.
2004:
Knot Pinebox and Secret Salamander were added to the OJ artist pages.
Major Matt tours the UK with his sister. Knot Pinebox moves to Seattle.
Schwervon! tour europe with Kimya Dawson. Matt's recording business picked
up momentum ensuring that he didn't have to do freelance commercial editing
anymore. OJ becomes a hotbed of new talent and added more artists to their
pages: The Babyskins, Dream Bitches, Kansas State Flower, Snap Pusher,
Double Deuce, and The Wigg Report.
2005-2006:
January 1st Olive Juice Music launches a brand new website designed by Yoko Kikuchi. OJ radio, a periodic streaming Internet radio show of Real Independent Music, begins soon after. Several OJ artists tour Europe. The OJ Messageboard evolves into a community resource as well a center for discussion of topical subjects, philosophy, and good old fashioned gossip.
The OJ Vol. 2 CD is released and OJ distro's profile is amped by carrying the complete comic book works of Jeffry Lewis as the Distro catalogue continues to grow.
OJ begins hosting regular live music nights
in NYC's Lower East side at Bar 169 and in 2006 at The Cake Shop.
2007:
The first annual OJ All Day festival takes place at The Cakeshop on May 19th featuring 20 live performances on 2 stages by various artists associated with the Olive Juice Music community.
Dave End joins the Olive Juice Music family with the release of his latest album Fruits Commonly Mistaken For Vegetables and chips in with some much needed help around OJ Headquarters.
The first issue of Elephant Shoe (a zine by Olive Juice Music) is born.
