How did you come to start a record label?
Well, the label started at the end of the ‘90s. I finally decided I was going to do a label called Dirtnap in ’99. The first record came out in 2000. It was probably just a few days after New Year’s, so we’re probably one of the first punk labels of the 21st century. I pretty much started it because I was doing a radio show called Dirtnap Radio on an Internet Radio station called Antenna Internet Radio. The show actually developed a pretty loyal following for the couple years it was on the air. I would get people all the time writing in asking where they could find this stuff that I was playing on the radio show. I started buying stuff wholesale – the stuff I would play – and trying to sell it to listeners of the show, which was probably a huge conflict of interest. So I called that Dirtnap Mailorder, and I at the time I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I had no idea about e-commerce, so I just had people send me checks in the mail.

Starting a label had always been a goal, always been something I wanted to expand into. There was a band from Sweden who had sent me some MP3s for me to check out and hopefully play on the show, and they were called the Don’t Cares. I remember we talked on a Friday afternoon and they were like, "If you know any labels in the US who might want to put out a 7-inch by us, let us know." I thought about it over the weekend and I wrote them back on Monday and said "I’d love to have you be the first release on Dirtnap Records," and it just kind of started from there.

I’d always wanted to start a record label as far back as I can remember. I probably wanted to do one for 20 years before I actually did it.

How does a band end up on Dirtnap Records?
It’s changed a lot, really, in that at this point, in 2014, Dirtnap is a relatively established label, so I have a lot of bands coming to me, more than I could ever possibly put out, and that’s just talking about the really good ones. I put a thing on our website recently asking people not to send in submissions because we just get to many of them to go through, and we never really find bands that way anyway, yet it doesn’t really seem to be stopping anybody, because we still get them. Being able to find bands isn’t a problem. In fact, it’s kind of the opposite, we have too many bands to choose from. Most of the time though, when we sign up bands, it’s not from bands sending stuff in. It’s word of mouth – bands on our label tend to recommend other bands. I still go and see bands a fair amount, more so than a lot of people my age, so I find bands that way.

Every once in a blue moon a demo will cross my desk that’s so good that I have to say, "Oh screw it, I’ll just put that out." That was the case with this band from Michigan called Legendary Wings. But that was one of the only bands in the 130 or so releases that we have that we found that way, so it’s kind of a rarity for band submissions to wind up becoming a record, but I guess it does happen.

What have you learned in the 15 or so years you’ve been running the label?
On one hand I wouldn’t say running the label was easy, because I have put in a lot of work and continue to put in a lot of work. But, one thing I did realize is that it’s a lot less daunting and impossible than I thought when I first started. One thing that had kept me from doing a label for well over a decade, probably closer to two, is that it just seemed really impossible, you know? I was like, "I don’t have any money, I don’t have a lot of connections in the punk rock scene, I’d love to start a label but people like me can’t just start labels and have them become a thing." In my case, that’s pretty much what happened. It really improves my outlook and my self-confidence realizing that you can just start a label. You don’t have to have some secret knowledge or have to have a ton of money in the bank or know every band in the world to do it. You can just start small and build from there.

You run the label out of the Green Noise Records store in Portland. What’s it like running Dirtnap out of a record store?
It has its advantages and disadvantages. When there’s nobody in the store I’m sitting behind the counter working, which can get very distracting since I have to be able to drop what I’m doing at any given minute and bullshit about music with people for a half an hour. So that can get a little frustrating, although I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining because I wouldn’t really trade the job for anything. It’s also a really good way to discover new music. We’ve definitely had a couple of bands wind up on Dirtnap because people wandered in asking about their 7-inch – you know, some band I’ve never heard of – and then a couple of people ask about their 7-inch and eventually I track down some of their singles and then I wound up totally falling in love with the band and end up putting out their record. I’ve been exposed to a lot more than if Dirtnap were run out of my bedroom.

A lot of the Dirtnap bands tend to share a similar sound. Is that intentional?
It’s pretty intentional, actually. I’ve really gone out of my way to specifically give Dirtnap a certain identity. I’m definitely going for a certain aesthetic with our releases, trying to maybe paint a bigger musical picture than any individual release. When I look at new bands for Dirtnap, I definitely take a heavy look at not just how great the record is, but also if it fits in with Dirtnap and with the other releases that we’re doing. But with that said, it’s also, at the end of the day, about how much I love the band. So occasionally there will be things that don’t really fit in with the aesthetic of Dirtnap, but I decide to put it out anyway just because I like it so much.

On a day-to-day basis, how much help do you have running the label?
We have two extremely part-time employees at the shop here. We also have people that we hire out as needed. I have a publicity guy who works for us on a month-to-month retainer. Even though he’s not an employee of the company, he’s been essentially working here for years now.

What can we look forward to from Dirtnap this year?
All kinds of stuff. I’ve been here at the store packing up the orders for the new Sonic Avenues record. I’m really, really excited about that one. I think our next release is probably going to be a new LP by the Steve Adamyk Band from Ottawa. They just got through recording in Oakland with Matt Melton, and we’re still getting that mixed and mastered. Oh, actually the next release will be the new Estranged LP. It’ll be the third record we put out by them. That one was supposed to be out a while ago but it turned out to be a real production. Also coming up we have a new Sugar Stems record. We’re doing their third record. They’re in the studio recording it right now. Something Fierce is also in the studio recording a new album. We’re going to do a split 7-inch with Low Culture and a really great band from Canada called Needles and Pins. I’m really looking forward to that one, it turned out really good. At some point we’re going to be doing another Radioactivity record. From what I understand it’s 90 percent recorded. There’s a really great band from Finland called The Splits, and we’re going to release their Dirtnap debut; second album overall, first album for us. They’re recording that right now, so we’re probably going to try to shoot for July or August to get that out. It seems like the label is really stable and active right now, and all the bands are really proactive about wanting to pump up their releases and go on tour and not break up five minutes after their record comes out, which is kind of unusual for us.

Oh, Legendary Wings from Michigan. I knew I was forgetting one. That’s another band that has 10 new songs recorded toward a new LP, and that’ll be their second album for Dirtnap. I’m really excited for that one – an underrated band on our label. We’re also doing showcases in New York next month at the Cake Shop. It’s going to be a pretty good bill, it’s got Steve Adamyk Band, Sonic Avenues, Legendary Wings and Something Fierce. We’re also doing a Dirtnap showcase for Ottawa Explosion in June. It looks like that’s going to be Marked Men, Sonic Avenues, Steve Adamyk Band, White Wires and Voicemail.