by Brad Rose

I began the label as part of a larger project that also included art and writing called Pendu Org to release my own work along with the work of some of my friends. It was an extension of my first project begun several years earlier. In 1996 I started a distro called Disillusion Records that became a label and in 1997 I released a CD compilation of d.i.y. hardcore bands like Submission Hold, Acrid, MK-Ultra, etc. I had plans to release more music in the future and the comp did well, Old Glory Records even picked it up and put out an LP version, but unfortunately the HC scene was breaking up around the same time and the label fell with it. In late 1999, I had begun a new project and needed a platform to get it out there. So I started Pendu. The d.i.y. aspect of hardcore has stuck with me throughout and you could say in the last few years that it’s felt more like those old days again except with new music and new bands and a d.i.y. ethic that’s even more ‘core. In some cases, everything homemade… homemade music, homemade instruments, even homemade lathes, you know? That’s just what I’m naturally drawn to.

Pendu in French means the hanged-man or the hanging and simultaneously refers to the suicide of Gérard de Nerval and the 12th Arcana of the Tarot. Nerval, who was a 19th century French mystic poet and a member of an anarchist group of writers and artists called the Bouzingo, committed suicide by hanging himself outside of a half-way house after being refused shelter. The hanging was a direct result of society keeping an artist outside. In Tarot, the Hanged-man is the 12th Arcana and is an image of a man hanging upside-down by his foot attaining enlightenment from his new perspective. Combining these ideas into a single concept seemed to fit in perfectly with my aesthetic and philosophy for a project.

Love of music and making art, period. The seemingly non-stop hailstorm of new shit from all corners, the endless morphing of sounds and ideas, the interstitial smashing of genres, the new musics that keep cropping up, the endless creativity…

Just about everything about running a label is pretty easy, it’s just time consuming, really. It takes a bit of stick-to-itiveness to follow through, maintain a schedule, stay organized, and get things completed. Each release is different for me, because I do some stuff by hand such as my limited cassette releases, but I also put out LPs which is a lot more managerial. I think if anything, it’s making your money back that is actually hard, but that’s just how it is.

It’s hard to answer that question without feeling like it would be a public display of wish fulfillment. I guess we’ll just have to see what happens. I would definitely like to curate a series of collaborations with various outer-musics and free-jazz artists that have not previously worked together. I think that would be an exciting project to undertake.

If someone wants to send a demo, that’s cool; I love listening to new music. They’d have to understand that it’s fairly unlikely that I’d be able to release something by them even if I’m into it, because I’m just too small an operation. It usually works out that if I am into what an artist is doing and am able to set up a record with them, I’ll contact them and hope for the best.

I have some killer stuff coming ahead. New Gang Wizard LP in April, a rad collaged cassette comp of 30+ artists called Rippers and Creepers coming in March, a project with Nonhorse, new tapes from my own projects Ghost Moth, Abuse Report, and CM, and even further still, a solo LP from Daniel Carter, the legendary free-jazz multi-instrumentalist of Test! etc., plus a bunch of stuff still under wraps. I definitely have more projects then the funding needed to make them happen so I’m always searching for ways to raise money. I also run an online gallery/art magazine that is expanding right now with all kinds of new work. Anyone can keep up with the goings-on at www.pendu.org

For me, Demons were kings of 2007... but honestly though, I’d have to say 2007 delivered too many killer records to list here. It was an especially amazing year for music. Let’s hope things will continue in 2008.

Don’t make boring art.