The Rock Garage

As the second gilded age shoots us in the face with tear gas canisters, it can be hard to give a shit about anything fun, like, say, going to see bands, or listening to music.

Please do not forget about bands, or music. Even with elections looming and protests growing, music can replenish us. Give me some music; music, moody food of us that trade in love (wrote Shakespeare).

Michael Crawford has not forgotten about music. In what has to be one of the heart-breakingest labors of love seen in our time, photographer, editor, and music fan Crawford got into the record business this summer with two CDs - a brilliant comp, and Pocket FishRmen - and the heady promise of more to come.

Comps are always a hard sell. I remember when I wrote for Carbon 14 magazine, they literally gave comps away with each issue, and they were usually rare tracks, previously unreleased. They are collectors items now, but it takes time. I have zero patience and watching sales trickle in one by one would frustrate the hell out of me. But Crawford can hang. The Rock Garage Live In Texas comp is great quality stuff and should be required for all fans of these bands - completists or casual.

Since it debuted this summer, the Rock Garage comp has seen some excellent reviews, and FX Network's Sons Of Anarchy used Churchwood's song "Rimbaud Diddley" in a recent episode.

Crawford said, "It's very rewarding when one of your favorite bands that happens to be on your record label lands a placement on one of your favorite TV shows. Such is the case when Churchwood's song "Rimbaud Diddley" will appear in episode 404 'Una Venta'."


I first met Michael at SXSW in 2007. We are both members of Turbojugend, a fan club for the band Turbonegro, and not surprisingly, we were at most of the same shows. He took the time to do an interview with me.

Do yourself a favor - get this comp for yourself, cousin, or cool dad. Get it for gifts for the holidays, get it because music matters and you aren't yet dead inside.

Michael Crawford
I got to Austin in 1993 late 1992. I’ve always been into music, worked in record store in high school, had a radio show in Tulane, we played Nirvana before Nevermind broke. I got the bug early. When I got to here, wanted to be a photographer, so I got a job in a lab and started shooting bands. Then came the Austin Chronicle, Thrasher, Details...Then I went into TV and video, and recording audio with video. I liked to record live shows to listen to later. I had a 2-track. I’d put up mikes, put them into one mix on a DAT. I was never happy with it, it wasn’t record quality, nothing like a soundboard. Then I got a job at Apple in the Logic department, learned the programming, learned the software, and acquired the rest of gear needed. This allowed me to record multi channel and come up with a mix that is commercial quality. That was what I wanted to do – logic and a Mac allowed me to do this. Then it was just a matter of going out and recording everyone.

From the Chronicle days and being part of the scene I knew a lot of people and bands. Almost all my friends are musicians. From that, it was easy because they said sure, and let me do whatever I wanted.

I started collecting mixes that everyone was happy with, so I started putting out comps.

The bands I choose to record are probably my favorites. From being in the scene I think others are interested in them too.

There’s a lot of people that come to Austin but aren’t that knowledgeable about what to see. Maybe they read about it in the paper and in a magazine, but they time they get into print, they’ve already been around for a while.

Some of the bet bands we have here don’t get to be in print or a magazine before they break up or have a lineup change.

I do hope these bands have some commercial viability. This project is one of the harder things I’ve done. Any entrepreneurial business can be a challenge, certainly with the state of the music industry being in flux. After iTunes came out, people were still buying music Now with Spotify, bands and labels don’t get paid for every stream. It’s like a penny a stream. Someone that may have purchased it may be contributing 10 cents, when before it may have been a dollar a download.

As far as the business end goes, I’m sure a lot of the digital distributors are working to increase the cost per stream that these host companies are paying. It’s going to be a difficult road ahead. For all types of music on the web, for digital consumption, it will be interesting to watch.

The Pong record is mixed and in the can. Should be out in the next couple months. The second Rock Garage comp will have similar selections of bands. I don’t want to name names. Sort of similar – all recorded live, maybe 15 artists. An equally interesting collection of music. I’ll have another party. If anyone didn’t play at the first show, will get them to play the second.

Local clubs have been really helpful in this project. The Continental Club has given us good access, so has Red Eyed Fly, many bands were recorded there. Scoot Inn was great. Stubb's Inside. Red 7. Mohawk. One recording was at Emo’s – the original Emo’s. Hole in the Wall has a couple. Beerland, a few were recorded there. Also Ruta Maya.

I’ve done most of the work myself. My friend Jeff Smith helped with promotion, sent out a lot of CDs, helped with press. Had another publicist. Jeff did a great job. Trying to get fans to help hand out flyers. I encourage the bands to forward web links to stores so people can click and get the record, through Facebook or whatever.

Sales aren’t where I want them to be. I’m trying to get the word out. I’ve gotten a lot of good reviews. One magazine, Shindig, said it was the best comp to come out of Texas since Woodchuck – best in 25 years. I’d like to agree with that. I think all the bands are great. I’d like nothing more to see all these bands break on a national level, and I wanted that before I recorded them. Some bands don’t have the same recognition as other bands. Like Dirty Charley, he’s kind of underground. I’d like it if he or Pocket Fishrmen got a boost. I caught Brutal Juice at a one-off; to get them was pretty lucky. They don’t play anymore. A label wants their bands to stay together, but High Watt Crucifixers played their last show at Mohawk, and for me to capture this stuff at a critical moment, live, from a historical perspective, to capture their sound in 2009 is something that will have value going down the road. Like the Live at Woodstock record, which is a historical record of an event.

My stuff, I hope it is a timeless example of what we have here In Austin.
Emo’s (on Red River) will be gone soon. All those clubs in Red River will be closed down eventually, not just because of imminent domain, or an increase in their property values that will cause owners to change more, so small club owners won’t be able to continue operating. Most of those clubs operate on a shoestring budget anyway and make little money after the bills are paid. The economy is another factor that endangers these clubs on a nightly basis. In my opinion, this is some of the best music in the world. If a song is played, and it’s good, and it gets on the radio…there is no difference between these bands and Led Zepplin, except Led Zepplin gets played a million times.

The Rock Garage Texas Live Concert Series and Pocket FishRmen Seasonal Fish-Fry are available on CD Baby and iTunes.