Music Week, February 27, 1988

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Music Week

UK & Ireland magazines

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Demons and wizards


John Tobler

With the departure of founder Andrew Lauder, the signing of Elvis Costello to WEA worldwide, not to mention the winding down of the associated Zippo label, there has been speculation on the future direction of Demon Records devoting all its energies to its acclaimed re-issue label, Edsel.

Incoming Demon MD Andy Child says that speculative reports of a change of direction are entirely inaccurate. "Elvis is still very much a part of Demon. We released his last album, Blood & Chocolate in Britain because he has just completed his contract with RCA in this country, but owed Columbia another album in the US. Having completed that obligation, he was finally free to make a worldwide deal. Demon, which he helped to found, retains all his back catalogue. Contrary to what many people, particularly Americans, seem to feel Demon isn't Elvis's label, although he is a director and will remain so. We are all getting bored with people blaming Elvis for Demon releases they didn't like. He doesn't vet everything we release by any means, although he does suggest things from time to time, like the Agnes Bernelle album, Father's Lying Dead On The Ironing Board."

On the folding of Zippo, Childs comments: "It was started by myself and Pete Flanagan, who runs the Zippo Music shop in Clapham, as a label to release new acts on small American labels which weren't getting picked up by anyone in Europe. We started with acts like The Long Ryders, Green On Red and The Replacements, and I still feel that the stuff we released on Zippo by them was superior in most cases to what they've done on major labels subsequently. At this point, there isn't the same need for Zippo as there was when we started it, and Pete Flanagan has his own labels now, like Hertland, Five Hours Back and One Big Guitar. This tended to confuse things, because they're not part of the Demon group. We agreed that it was confusing for there to be a Zippo label, but in future they'll be released on Demon.

What else will be on Demon then? We'll still be looking for new acts and giving them the chance to make an album at the start of their career, as a kind of springboard to a major label deal. It's not viable financially for a company like us to try to continue with an act after one or two albums, and we'd rather acts like that signed with a bigger label, which has the ability to spend more money on things like marketing. After all, we only release singles very occasionally, because we're not geared up to that, and that was one of the main reasons why Andrew (Lauder) decided to leave. He wants to bring acts from being virtually unknown to the very top, which he did before his Demon days. He'll be starting his own label, as well as continuing to work with us on a consultancy basis."

The re-issue label Edsel will continue as before, and Childs reports that two of the labels whose product is licensed to Demon, Hi and HDH, still have exciting material to be re-issued. Additionally, the various items from Rory Gallagher's back catalogue which has now reverted to him will be re-issued during 1988, while ties with US label Rounder will continue. The first batch of Rounder material is a series of six albums from New Orleans, released to tie in with the recent BBC-2 Arena Special on the Mardi Gras Festival.


Tags: Andrew LauderDemonBlood & ChocolateAgnes BernelleFather's Lying Dead On The Ironing BoardEdselThe Replacements

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Music Week, February 27, 1988


John Tobler interviews Demon Records MD Andy Child about the future direction of the label.

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1988-02-27 Music Week page 14 clipping 01.jpg
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