  |
| Geoff Travis on Rough Trade's 25th anniversary |
|
 |
posted by davidt
on Wednesday February 21 2001, @10:00AM
TrblLuvsMe sends:
EVENING STANDARD, February 16, 2001
He likes a bit of Rough;
Rough Trade, former home to early punk - not to mention The Smiths is celebrating its 25th anniversary. ED GLINERT meets the founding father Geoff Travis
Ed Glinert
Excerpt:..."The label and shop were run as a co-operative," says Travis. "There was a strong ideological base to our decisions. We were pro-feminist, pro-humanitarian, antifascist, antiauthoritarian." In 1983 the label hit the big time with The Smiths, fronted by the enigmatic Morrissey, whose This Charming Man from that year Travis cites as his favourite Rough Trade release. Full article:
(more)
TWENTY-FIVE years ago, on 23 February, 1976, Geoff Travis, a young Cambridge graduate, leased a rundown shop with a huge cartwheel outside at 202 Kensington Park Road, Notting Hill. Inside he sold records, but it was really somewhere for him to sit all day and listen undisturbed to his favourite tracks by the Velvet Underground and New York Dolls.
He called the shop Rough Trade, and in 25 years, it's grown into London's best-known and best-loved independent record shop-cum-label.
Travis picked the location "because it was close to Powis Square, where one of my favourite films, Performance starring Mick Jagger , was filmed". Then, the area was the closest thing to New York's Greenwich Village or San Francisco's Haight Ashbury. In keeping with the Bohemian spirit, the shop racks were filled not with chart-topping LPs by Queen, but with hardcore Jamaican reggae, then unavailable in London. Here you could find obscure American 1960s releases by the Seeds, Roky Erikson and the Count Five - groups who had never charted either side of the Atlantic, but had a small cult following in the UK. Travis had picked the ideal time to sell this stuff.
Elsewhere in London, other bands were listening to it, then making their own music. Punk was born.
Within a year, the Rough Trade record shop became the hangout in (daytime) London for hardcore punks, would-be punks, fanzine writers, rock journalists and the bands themselves, who would bring in copies of their records and pin the sleeve on the wall next to their rivals' efforts. When the Ramones arrived, prior to their gig with Patti Smith at the Roundhouse, the shop was mobbed. "It was probably the only place in London that would have been mobbed," says Travis. The rather more sophisticated Talking Heads provoked no such riot, though. "Instead of being upset they said, 'This is great' and proceeded to chat and browse their way around the store." Soon musicians were asking Travis to help them get a record out - including Daniel Miller, who'd recorded two songs at home (including Warm Leatherette), and wanted to release them himself. "We instantly loved it," says Travis, "and made very encouraging noises to Daniel who went off and started Mute Records". Warm Leatherette later became a big hit for Grace Jones, and Mute made pots of money over the next 15 years from Depeche Mode.
Travis soon came to the conclusion that he should put the stuff out himself, and so in 1978 the Rough Trade record label was born. Early releases included the whimsical English eccentricity of Swell Maps, the slapstick of the Monochrome Set, the brutal onslaught of Stiff Little Fingers, and the deadpan satire of Cabaret Voltaire's Do The Mussolini.
"The label and shop were run as a co-operative," says Travis. "There was a strong ideological base to our decisions. We were pro-feminist, pro-humanitarian, antifascist, antiauthoritarian." In 1983 the label hit the big time with The Smiths, fronted by the enigmatic Morrissey, whose This Charming Man from that year Travis cites as his favourite Rough Trade release.
BY the mid-1980s Rough Trade had helped build a record distribution network that, according to Travis, "gave independent bands a national network to plug into without having to rely on the majors". It was through this alternative system that Joy Division, New Order and Depeche Mode became established.
Sadly, the good times didn't last. By 1982 rapid expansion resulted in cash-flow problems. Eventually the Rough Trade label, which passed through the hands of various owners, recently returned to Travis.
Meanwhile, the shop, which had been established as a separate concern in 1983, moved to nearby Talbot Road. (There are now shops in Covent Garden and Tokyo.) For Travis, Rough Trade, "is ready to take up the mantle again". It is too early to say whether Rough Trade is about to enter a new golden age, with a 21st century Smiths perhaps, but with Travis, who also manages Pulp, Scritti Politti and Beth Orton, in charge again it might be worth listening out.
Rough Trade is hosting London concerts, and releasing a compilation album.
Details from 130 Talbot Road, W11, or 020 7221 3600.
---
Matt Zolan also writes: I received this from the Music365 email list today...
Calling all alternative music junkies! Visit www.deo.com featuring the
Rough Trade 25th Anniversary site with full listings for the 10 day
event,streaming tracks from the 25th compilation,prizes & exclusive live SMITHS footage circa 1984 + UNCUT videos from Cardigans & Marilyn Manson.
|
|
|
|
|
|
It could have been a beautiful ending for The Smiths and Rough Trade if someone had done their sums right or, in fact, done any.
Cheers Geoff!