They said “Don’t Ask”, however after Cheltenham based DIY label Don’t Ask Records kept throwing consistently great releases at us we decided to ask anyway. Fortunately Don’t Ask Records co-founder and Austeros frontman Jeremy decided to rebel against their name and answer our questions. “When we were trying to think of names, I asked our mate Dan if he had any ideas. He replied: don’t ask me. And thus Don’t Ask Records was born.” Maybe the label is fine with people asking then, and on the excitement of the origin of the name Jeremy tells us “I told you that story sucks, you chose not to edit it out so really, it’s your fault the readers are bored.”
The creation of Don’t Ask Records came about when Scottish punk rock label Round Dog Records (run by Fraser from The Murderburgers) needed someone to release the second Austeros EP with them “we thought ‘what the heck, we’ll start a label and co-release it with you!’ Our drummer was away for 3 months at the time, so Steve and I had lots of time on our hands – which we decided would be well spent starting up this project.”
Alongside releasing the fantastic Lessons Learnt by Austeros, they felt it was only right to re-release the first Austeros EP on 7” via the new label and find some excellent new bands to release music from: enter the incredible Happy Accidents from Southampton and equally good Haters from Brighton to the Don’t Ask Records family that is still in its early stages, but already forming its own sound. Don’t Ask released cassettes of EPs from Haters and Happy Accidents, the latter’s run having sold out completely; a great success for such a new label, having only started mid-2014. A second run of Not Yet Jaded by Happy Accidents is expected.
You can put your trust in Don’t Ask Records for good, honest music, they clearly have a good attitude behind the label, rather than caring about commercial value. Jeremy says “we want to put out music that we like, that’s made by good people. We’ll never put out anything by a band if they’re assholes, no matter how good or ‘big’ they are.” Having had some success releasing cassettes Jeremy tells us “tapes are definitely the worst format out there,” but assures us that “we love them, despite their shortcomings.” Vinyl is certainly the focus though, “the massive vinyl resurgence shows that people aren’t satisfied with just MP3s. And vinyl makes for a much better listening experience anyway, so it’s not just about having something physical, it’s about hearing it differently.”
Looking ahead to the rest of the year, things are vinyl-heavy at Don’t Ask Records. Jeremy gives us the scoop on what’s coming up “our next release is the new EP from Glasgow’s The Kimberly Steaks. It’s out in March on 7″ vinyl. We’re co-releasing it with Round Dog Records.” However the most exciting release they are currently working on is a 4-way 7″ split with Happy Accidents, Young Attenborough, Isaac and Austeros, which is a rather excellent selection of bands. “We’re also releasing the debut LP from Nottingham-based Isaac,” Jeremy tells us, with this album being the first full LP released by the label. That’s not all though, Jeremy is keen to keep us teased for the future “can’t mention what else we’ve got planned for the year, but it’s all very good stuff and we’re super excited about it.”
You can hear what Don’t Ask Records are all about by downloading their free compilation from their bandcamp page. You can buy all their releases via their webstore.
