I caught up with the man behind the new label that’s caught my eye recently, Chasing Unicorns. Perhaps a little too ‘grilling’, but I think it’s an interesting venture to set up a new digital label in a time where you see a new one pop up every five minutes. I knew it’d make for a good read, especially since the labels releases have been superb so far. Chasing Unicorns’ beautiful and unique art and music is what has made their first step into the market a big one, and one that made me take note.
Setting up a label in this digital era, what’s your motivation behind it?
Wellllll, after I saw how much fun Mike was having with S&C it was always something not far from my mind, in fact, I have to give him most of the credit for him for persuading me to do it! The motivation is really just to build and create something, and if it’s something people can enjoy then that’s great. I always wanted to stay involved in dance music after Mike and I stopped promoting together and this is a much better way to do it, to be honest I should have done it ages ago!
What does Chasing Unicorns bring to the table that other labels don’t?
Prime beef and impeccable manners. No errrrrrr, I’d like to think the things that are most important when it comes to music – creativity, musicality and originality. If we can succeed in those, I’ll be happy.
You’re set up in Sheffield, renowned for it’s ‘local support’, yet none of your artists are from Sheffield, is this on purpose?
No, of course not! I just utilised the contacts I had when we were setting it up… I mean René was an obvious choice to get things started – we’d got to know him when we brought him over from Holland for a couple of events we were promoting, and he genuinely is a very talented musician. He HAD to do the first one I think, and I’m very thankful he did! The hook up with Brabe came from René as they are good friends, so when Brabe was looking for a home for some of his material René kindly pointed him our way. So really it’s coincidental that the first two releases come from Dutch artists…
The artwork so far is pretty special, who is the artist and where can we see more?
Totally agreed on that, it’s sick isn’t it. The artist is Sally Linsdell, of Inhabit Online fame. Again, incredibly appreciative of her input. You can check out more of her work here http://cargocollective.com/sallylinsdell/
What have you got planned for the rest of the year and what’s your major goal?
We’re gonna take our time with the releases I think and not rush into anything, but hopefully we can get another couple of digi releases out before the end of the year. There is talk of a collab between René and Brabe that I’m particularly excited about, possibly an LP. But apart from that the main goal is gearing up for vinyl distribution, it’s really interesting that it’s on the rise again and pretty exciting, I cant wait to get pressing! Dusty deep house grooves here we come…
