Psychedelic Spotlight : Fruits de Mer Records Interview (Part 1)
Andy Bracken and Keith Jones, the combined minds behind unique indie label Fruits de Mer Records, are skipping merrily along a polychromatic highway armed only with a handful of coloured vinyl and an off-the-wall, ready wit, as anybody who’s read one of their press releases will surely agree.
Our love of the label is well documented already, so as part of the occasional Psychedelic Spotlight series, Head Full of Snow imposed itself on one half of the team, Andy Bracken, to find out what makes them tick.
HFoS – For those that don’t already know, can you tell us what Fruits de Mer Records do and what makes you different from the rest?
Andy Bracken – We release limited edition vinyl records of songs originating in the late 1960s/early 1970s, in a psych, kraut, folk, prog vein, covered and reinterpreted by contemporary artists… Sounds quite complex when you write it down like that.
What makes us different from the rest is that we don’t really have a clue what we’re doing, but do it anyway. With smiles on our faces. And it works!
HFoS – Where did the idea for Fruits de Mer come from?
AB – It was mine, all mine! Kind of. I’d been running a label (Bracken Records) for a few years, and had known partner (that’s label partner) Keith for many years. We’d sit in pubs and muse the notion of starting a label together, but wanted an angle rather than simply setting up another indie imprint.
Keith wanted to re-release some of our favourite more obscure or under-appreciated tracks from 1966-1973 on 7” vinyl, but I was never too keen on that. As it happened, nor was EMI, so I suggested we get a contemporary band to cover the tracks we’d already acquired a licence for.
I pulled in a band I knew, they nailed the tracks, Keith liked them, we put it out, it sold out, and a monster was born…
HFoS – And the name? What’s the relevance of fish?
AB – Ha! Keith’s partner (that’s sexual partner), Liz, came up with it, as it’s her favourite meal. It seemed right, in an odd way, as we’re dredging up old gems and serving them up in a fresh and appetising way. That’s good – I may use that on the PR…
HFoS – How do you go about choosing which bands to work with?
AB – Initially, there has to be something we like in their sound, but we’re also always listening for potential in terms of re-interpreting. I think to successfully pull off an FdM release, the artist has to have a strong identity and a quite individual sound. The third element is then hearing what they could cover and how they could make it different or (hopefully) better.
HFoS – And who chooses which songs to cover, you or the bands?
AB – It really is a collaborative thing. We brainstorm with the band, and perhaps 20-30 tracks may be thrown into the mix before we settle on a few. We also have a bit of a say in how it’s done, as we don’t have any interest in simply putting out reverential covers. The new version has to “bring something to the party.” The whole thing is about finding the right dynamic – the right song, covered by the right band in the right way.
HFoS – Mark Fry stitched together his own fragmented, acid-folk lullaby ‘Dreaming with Alice’, bucking the trend of current band covering somebody else’s classic. How did this particular collaboration come about?
AB – I hooked up with Mark via MySpace, of all things. We exchanged emails and he and his wife came and stayed with me for a few days. The Frys are two of the loveliest people I’ve met in recent years. I suggested Mark cover some tracks for us and, after initial reticence, he agreed. There was a rumour going around for years that Mark Fry was long-departed, so it was nice to see he wasn’t. At least I don’t think he was – he ate well enough…
HFoS – Who had the idea of recording ‘Dreaming with Alice’ as a single entity? (On the original 1972 album of the same name, the track is broken up into short verses and sprinkled across its duration)
AB – Erm, that was me again (I’m feeling a bit boastful now). Mark and Keith ‘got it’ as soon as I suggested it. Mark did tell me that he wished he’d thought of it.
HFoS – Are there any plans in the pipeline to collaborate with other original artists on their own material?
AB – No, not at this juncture, but you never know. We’ve had contact with a few people from “back in the day”, so…
HFoS – Has there been feedback from any of the original artists?
AB – Yeah, we had a bit from Van Der Graaf Generator and Rod Argent (The Zombies), but those were initiated by us. I doubt any of the original artists are even aware of us, to be honest. At the end of the day, we’re hardly all over NME and ToTP, or whatever. Is Top of The Pops still going? I have no idea.
And on that note we appear to have run out of room, so we’ll leave Andy and ourselves pondering the current status of Top of The Pops until next week, when we may, or may not, discover the answer.
Make sure you tune in then for part 2 of our interview with Fruits de Mer Records’ Andy Bracken.
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