After spending years championing the cause of local bands as promoter, photographer, and blogger, Jonny Leather has decided to throw his hat in the highly competitive record label ring as founder of the Mecca Lecca Recording Company . Employing the same name of his rather splendid blog, Jonny’s freshmen class includes six lesser known artists that are sure to become recognized acts in 2011. Those acts include Christopher Paul Stelling, Holas, Howth, Right on Dynamite, The Sanctuaries, & Unicycle Loves You.
A snippet of the initial press announcement reads, “we hope to join the ranks of the independent labels we love by consistently releasing intelligent, well-crafted music that doesn’t follow trends while maintaining a strong, unique personal relationship with our fans.” If Jonny’s past endeavors are any indication, it is highly probable that the Mecca Lecca Label will handily succeed in its stated mission.
*****
Q & A with Jonny Leather of Mecca Lecca Recording Company
Mark: You’ve been promoting local artists and bands for several years in NYC and Brooklyn under various hats, why the move to form a label at this juncture?
Jonny: The label has definitely always been something I’ve wanted to do and considered doing. In the past I’d always step back from it out of fear, but this time the opportunity presented itself and it was too good to pass up. The fact that bands I really loved were expressing interest in the endeavor pushed me forward.
Mark: How did this initial roster of artists come about?
Jonny: I’ve had a long standing relationship with pretty much all of the bands. My oldest brother plays drums in HØLAS. Christopher Paul Stelling and The Sanctuaries have both played a load of my concerts over the last two years. Unicycle Loves You are old friends who were very influential in motivating me to start the label. And Right On Dynamite is a band I’ve long been a fan of and have had the privilege to become friends with. All of them had albums in the works or already completed with no real outlet for release. So, rather than self-release or tear their hair out shopping their records to other labels, we decided to join together and form Mecca Lecca Recording Co..
Howth is the one band of the six initial bands on the roster that I haven’t known for multiple years. I discovered them earlier in the year and became obsessed with their record, which they had independently released via bandcamp. It quickly became one of my favorite records I’d heard in a long time and wanted to do whatever I could to get it into the hands of a wider audience. Fortunately, they decided to sign on. Continue reading »
RSS
">
