Safe Suburban Home
Founded in York in 2018, Safe Suburban Home has quickly become one of the most exciting independent record labels of 2020 focusing on single releases with physical formats on cassette and 7”. With an enviable roster covering a mix of genre’s we caught up with Jim Quinn from the label to talk all things Safe Suburban Home.
“SSH is all about connecting with people to new music, that introduction to a band that creates a lasting bond, in the same vein as the great singles clubs and is an incubator for the best new talent around. A physical copy of music is really important to us. We want our listeners to be able to create a meaningful, physical connection between themselves and the band - with the classic artwork, lyric sheet and tangible “object” to love. We want to provide people more from their musical experience than the empty process of streaming music.”
2020 started off with releasing The Early Mornings single Artificial Flavour/Just A Picture. “Lockdown was particularly heartbreaking for The Early Mornings. They were doing so well, selling lots of records and playing to rammed rooms up and down the country. They were really starting to tick live and the bookings were flooding in, this was then taken away from them by lockdown. We thought there must be loads of bands in the same situation.”
Safe Suburbans Home then embarked on a run of 6 cassette single releases in the midst of lockdown, starting in July with the release of The VAT-Egg Imposition. Followed up with releases from Berlin based synth indie duo Superlove, melodic indie guitar band Cowgirl and the latest installment coming courtesy of Pool Sharks. “The idea was to do a load of quick fire releases to help bands keep ticking over throughout lockdown. Cassettes are relatively cheap, you can do smaller unit runs and the turnaround time is loads quicker than vinyl. I love the fact that it is so varied. It reflects my own musical tastes.” Jim states “If I'm into something, I'll put it out. As we're predominantly a singles label, we're always looking for a strong melody or hook, and stuff that's a bit out there, but they're the only limitation really.”
Looking to the year ahead and keeping options open for an uncertain few months Jim says: “I have loads of plans for next year. It all depends on the live scene. If we can get venues open again I'd like to release a couple of albums on 12" next year. If it's a similar outlook COVID wise next year then I think we'll do more cassette releases. I'm also trying to convince everyone else at the label we should buy a vinyl lathe! If we can scrape the cash together for that then I hope to do maybe 4 or 5 super DIY EPs on 10". Loads of options, but we'll definitely be active!”
