Like father/daughter dances and The Godfather before them, a little label run out of San Francisco called Father/Daughter Records aims to put family first. In some ways, labels do end up becoming like your brethren or kin—working with bands you love and being tirelessly devoted to their babies (aka records), label mangement is best left to the fiercely devoted and passionate. Father/Daughter is run by, well, a father and his daughter (with a little help from a husband), and has of late been putting out some of the most excited, immaculately curated roster of bands. After a highly anticipated showcase at Muchmore's last night for CMJ, it was clear that the roster on F/D is full of all-stars: Bent Shapes, Body Parts, The Everywheres, Mutual Benefit, Flagland, and Running in the Fog only go to show that good taste sometimes comes naturally to people.
The History
The idea for Father/Daughter came about 34 years ago when my mom gave birth to me. For as long as I can remember, music was my life, although I can't play an instrument to save it. My dad and I always bonded over music and we came up with the idea to start a label together about 5 years ago. The rest is history. The meaning of the label name is pretty straight forward—it's a label run by a father & daughter!
The label started and is still run from home, even though that home has since relocated to San Francisco. I work from home, in a spare bedroom, although the label and its records have since taken over much of the apartment. I like having such close proximity to Father/Daughter HQ because my brain never stops working and some of my best ideas are sprung late at night or early in the morning. Makes it easier to get things done on my own watch.
My dad (Ken) and I came up with the idea but I pretty much handle all operations for the label. My husband has since come on to help with some of the production end of things. It's pretty rad getting to work with my two favorite dudes.
The first release was a 7″ from now defunct Family Trees. I was living in Brooklyn at the time, came across their tunes on Bandcamp and emailed them. After many drinks were shared at Manhattan Inn, we decided to do a record together. So bummed they aren't together anymore!
Growing Pains
We're still learning how to balance the creative with the business side of the label. I have pretty big ideas, sometimes (okay, most of the time) too big for my wallet. For me, that's the hardest part, being stifled creatively due to lack of budget. We're still a small label, still getting our name and presence out there, and working with new(ish) bands, it's a fight to get people to notice. I feel like if your heart is in the right place, the business shit will work itself out. First rule of business: don't work with assholes.
The Roster—Now and In The Future
The roster continues to come together organically. Basically I spend way too much time listening to/talking about music. Eventually a friend will tell me about a band or I'll come across someone who just blows me away. My musical tastes are pretty all over the place, which definitely is a reflection of our catalog.
The only direction we wanted to take the label in was a positive one. Every record we release positively impacts our little music microcosm, whether it's known or not. We're helping make music be heard, we're helping deserving musicians kick start their careers.
The future holds way more music, more fun times, more events, just MORE. We now have distribution (thanks Redeye) which will undoubtedly help gain exposure for our bands. Our first release of 2014 is from Flagland, a fucking killer trio from NY. I can't even begin to explain how much I love their LP. Then a Cocktails full-length. Who knows after that!
