Luke Dalton aka Tincture
Remember those guys you knew who were always at gigs, or working somewhere new and cool, and always had some impossible project like a record label? Yeah well those guys are Hugh Francis and Luke Dalton, and that record label is Silo Arts; which is now pushing boundaries and using Internet culture to create a workable online market for music. The label has a reputation for genre defying electronic music, carrying notable artists like Rainbow Chan, Friendships, and Tincture (manager Luke's other project, one of the label's biggest acts).With Hugh based in New York and Luke based in Brisbane, Silo Arts lives and breathes thanks to the Internet. We chatted to Hugh and Luke about being two dudes with computers, getting picked up my influential New York record distributor Frenchkiss, and balancing boss with artist.THUMP: How do you curate the artists you carry? Is it just the two of you making creative decisions?
Hugh Francis: Yeah, it's just us. We started a beats collective, so I guess at the start we were releasing stuff from the other guys we were hanging around with. We didn't consider ourselves a real record label until the start of last year. That said, we were born out of gallery shows and sound art—something that's always been really important is aesthetic, both visual and auditory. We like artists who have a strong sense of identity. People can pick integrity from a mile away; we only sign artists who know who they are, and what their sound is. Friendly, smart people.You're on other sides of the world from each other; do you think the time will come where Silo grows so much you need to be in the same city?
Luke Dalton: I feel like we're just playing it by ear now really. It's not a full time job yet, and we've really been trying to approach it in a way that allows us to do our own thing whilst also running the label. That way our decisions aren't based on how much cash we'll make. It's kind of cool being on that Sailor Moon tip though: law student by day, record label dude by night.
Hugh: I don't think we'll ever need an office. We Skype a bunch, and the whole label lives on the cloud. I think it makes us pretty dynamic, and we need that, we're awful decision makers.How did Frenchkiss come on-board as a distributor? Did you pursue them?
Hugh: (Laughs) That's still something I'm not quite sure of, I was doing some design stuff with a NYC music festival called CMJ in late 2012 and somehow they heard our Soundcloud. We had a small Internet following and not much else, so I have no idea how they found us or knew I was in New York. We never really chased them up, but they were excited by our handful of tracks, and had a contract to us in a couple weeks. They're pals.You define yourselves as an "internet record label", what's the role Internet culture plays creatively and in your business model?
Luke: Running a record label as partnership split between the hemispheres means that pretty much everything we do occurs online. We say the label is run Brisbane via NYC, but really it doesn't exist anywhere other than online. I think I speak for both of us when I say we spend way too much time on the internet, so it's only natural that internet culture affects the way we do things, and the way we try to portray the label.
Hugh: We try not to get too sucked into internet culture. But I love it man. Floppy discs have a special place in my heart. IRL we're none good.Half of your management team (Luke) is also one of your biggest artists, how do you leave Tincture behind when making decisions?
Hugh: That's been kinda funny. Basically whenever we have to make a decision about Tincture I say to Luke, "imagine this is Friendships". Or "what if Rainbow Chan got offered this".
Luke: It can be hard to separate the two. When I'm getting emails from people submitting beats, and I have to make a call on whether I feel it's any good and whether we should consider it for the label the producer in me is kind of saying, "who are you to be the judge of this". I know how much effort people put into making this stuff, having experienced it first hand, so yeah it's a difficult line to walk sometimes. When planning things the label definitely takes precedence, I don't get shitty about not being headliner or whatever for gigs we organise or anything like that.How do you make sure you're working for your other artists while making sure you're getting as many opportunities as possible as Tincture?
Luke: Tincture has existed since we started Silo, so they're both equally important to me. I doubt I would have ever graduated from getting stoned and messing with filters if it wasn't for the label, so I guess I don't really differentiate between the two? I don't know. I guess, the harder I work on the label the more opportunities there are for everyone on Silo Arts, including myself.Follow Mitch on Twitter: @MitchMaxxParkerTincture's new single "Similar Circles", from forthcoming EP Tryst, is out now. Help yourself to a free download.
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Hugh Francis: Yeah, it's just us. We started a beats collective, so I guess at the start we were releasing stuff from the other guys we were hanging around with. We didn't consider ourselves a real record label until the start of last year. That said, we were born out of gallery shows and sound art—something that's always been really important is aesthetic, both visual and auditory. We like artists who have a strong sense of identity. People can pick integrity from a mile away; we only sign artists who know who they are, and what their sound is. Friendly, smart people.You're on other sides of the world from each other; do you think the time will come where Silo grows so much you need to be in the same city?
Luke Dalton: I feel like we're just playing it by ear now really. It's not a full time job yet, and we've really been trying to approach it in a way that allows us to do our own thing whilst also running the label. That way our decisions aren't based on how much cash we'll make. It's kind of cool being on that Sailor Moon tip though: law student by day, record label dude by night.
Hugh: I don't think we'll ever need an office. We Skype a bunch, and the whole label lives on the cloud. I think it makes us pretty dynamic, and we need that, we're awful decision makers.
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Hugh: (Laughs) That's still something I'm not quite sure of, I was doing some design stuff with a NYC music festival called CMJ in late 2012 and somehow they heard our Soundcloud. We had a small Internet following and not much else, so I have no idea how they found us or knew I was in New York. We never really chased them up, but they were excited by our handful of tracks, and had a contract to us in a couple weeks. They're pals.You define yourselves as an "internet record label", what's the role Internet culture plays creatively and in your business model?
Luke: Running a record label as partnership split between the hemispheres means that pretty much everything we do occurs online. We say the label is run Brisbane via NYC, but really it doesn't exist anywhere other than online. I think I speak for both of us when I say we spend way too much time on the internet, so it's only natural that internet culture affects the way we do things, and the way we try to portray the label.
Hugh: We try not to get too sucked into internet culture. But I love it man. Floppy discs have a special place in my heart. IRL we're none good.Half of your management team (Luke) is also one of your biggest artists, how do you leave Tincture behind when making decisions?
Hugh: That's been kinda funny. Basically whenever we have to make a decision about Tincture I say to Luke, "imagine this is Friendships". Or "what if Rainbow Chan got offered this".
Luke: It can be hard to separate the two. When I'm getting emails from people submitting beats, and I have to make a call on whether I feel it's any good and whether we should consider it for the label the producer in me is kind of saying, "who are you to be the judge of this". I know how much effort people put into making this stuff, having experienced it first hand, so yeah it's a difficult line to walk sometimes. When planning things the label definitely takes precedence, I don't get shitty about not being headliner or whatever for gigs we organise or anything like that.How do you make sure you're working for your other artists while making sure you're getting as many opportunities as possible as Tincture?
Luke: Tincture has existed since we started Silo, so they're both equally important to me. I doubt I would have ever graduated from getting stoned and messing with filters if it wasn't for the label, so I guess I don't really differentiate between the two? I don't know. I guess, the harder I work on the label the more opportunities there are for everyone on Silo Arts, including myself.Follow Mitch on Twitter: @MitchMaxxParkerTincture's new single "Similar Circles", from forthcoming EP Tryst, is out now. Help yourself to a free download.