When NZM last published a feature on Rattle Records, back in 2006, Kiran Dass reported that the three partners in the then 15-year-old label were still coming to grips with what was needed to make the label ‘work’. Another 15 years on Richard Thorne finds the streamlined label continuing to honour its original objectives, and even looking to extend repertoire as owner Steve Garden celebrates Rattle’s 30 anniversary year.

In the first 20 years of existence Rattle Records released a total of 18 albums, the very first of which was Gitbox Rebellion’s widely acclaimed introduction ‘Pesky Digits’. (“This is nine acoustic guitars. Nine players. Nothing more.” – as the liner notes point out.)

Label founders Steve Garden, Tim Gummer and Keith Hill had a shared vision for an artist-focused label that would be an advocate for composers, performers, and ensembles engaged primarily in acoustic instrumental music.

During the label’s third decade that output has leapt to 160, of which 24 were rolled out in 2011 (but more explanation of that release explosion later). By any measure it has been a very active independent record label, and by any commercial measure it is an anachronism.

2021 marks Rattle’s 30th year recording and releasing artful music, and as the label’s website observes, there couldn’t be a more fitting way to kick-off the anniversary celebrations than with ‘Curveball’, a brand new two-CD album from Gitbox, the Nigel Gavin-led Kiwi acoustic guitar “super group” that launched Rattle back in 1991.

As the Auckland label celebrates 30 years of commitment to diversity and excellence, so too does Rattle owner and sound engineer, Steve Garden. Gummer and Hill left the company in 2009 and 2011 respectively, leaving Garden in charge as sole owner, a position that has evidently suited him well.

“It’s just me. It’s my expensive hobby – although of course it’s more than that because it is a full-on every-day, every-night, every-week, every-month, every-year commitment. I wake up to Rattle and go to bed with it.

“My days are spent either recording, editing, mixing, mastering, writing applications for funding, working on cover designs with our terrific designer (Carolyn van Hoeve of UnkleFranc), liaising with our brilliant printer (Dave Trotter of Studio Q), filling orders, dealing with licensing requests, constantly updating the website, uploading digital files to online retail and streaming sites, setting up and attending launches, having meetings with artists about future projects, promoting the catalogue, answering emails from a seemingly endless stream of people who either want something or want to offer something… and that’s before my morning coffee.”

Yes that last bit is a joke, but Garden admits to being so distracted by his “hobby” that some days he gets around to breakfasting about midday, hence a coffee habit that stretches through the day. The label’s HQ used to be his Sandringham home’s laundry, before that it was the property’s garden shed.

 

Everyone involved ought to celebrate the actual launch of a new album, however in today’s ‘normal’ record label world the sparkling wine celebrations stem from digital streaming numbers, inclusion on influential playlists, radio plays, syncs and various associated chart placements. The tricky thing for Rattle is that, being art-music and album-based, none of its musical output falls into those kinds of readily measured realms. With little expectation of resulting income much of the cost-covering is derived from grants and patronage.

All Rattle releases still enjoy a printed CD with deluxe artwork and packaging that the artists can utilise for their own marketing/sales, but for the label itself, strong reviews, radio play and licensing returns (RNZ Concert has long been very supportive), occasional online sales and artist satisfaction are about it for the ‘returns’ column.

 

“I have to say that ‘sales’ is the last thing on my mind these days when it comes to all things Rattle,” Garden admits, with no sign of rancour or frustration. “It simply doesn’t factor into any decision I make, or any of the criteria I use to determine what projects to pursue. Revenue from retail is a trickle, and that includes sales we generate directly through Bandcamp (both CD and digital).

“I’ve said it many times before, but if we ran Rattle as a business (even from the start, frankly), we would have shriveled up and died a long time ago. From the get-go we wanted to provide a platform for people we knew and liked, and worked with, to present their music in a way that was a context for that certain kind of instrumental art music.”

“And that ‘idea of Rattle’ has grown over the years, it hasn’t diminished at all, and this year particularly it could expand further to take in some sorts of music we would never have considered, such as working with singer-songwriters.”

Ironically, he says, it’s the releases Rattle committed to that no self-respecting, money-focused record company would ever touch that have been among the label’s most enduring and acclaimed.

Te Ku Te Whe back in 1994 for starters, followed by Te Hekenga-a-rangi (2003), Tuhonohono (2004), Te Whaiao and View From Olympus (both 2006).

“Then there’s the four Tania Giannouli albums, music by a Greek pianist whose albums have garnered increasingly wide and enthusiastic acclaim throughout Europe – particularly Rewa, an album of improvisations between piano and Rob Thorne on taonga puoro, and last year’s In Fading Light, which is also getting excellent reviews.”

 

Another valuable component among the non-monetary rewards are the seemingly annual inclusion of Rattle artists among the NZ Music Awards (now Aotearoa Music Awards) winners and finalists. The label has a proud record of 47 finalist nominations out of 160 titles (close on a third of the catalogue Garden notes) – of which 21 have been Tui winners, mostly in the Best Jazz or Best Classical categories.

“As hit-rates go that’s quite an achievement, and it’s all down to two things: committing to support good composers and performers without any concession whatsoever to commercial imperatives; and insisting on high-quality production standards, from the microphone choices to the shrink-wrapping.”

As illustrated by Garden’s own list of acclaimed releases above, Rattle has had a very important role as champion of the recording of taonga puoro by some of the nation’s most highly regarded modern exponents, and in turn the inclusion of historic Maori instrumentation has become a significant aspect of the Rattle catalogue.

 

“Very much so, and an influential one too. I’m extremely proud of the work we have done to support the revival of taonga puoro, starting with the ground-breaking Te Ku Te Whe by Hirini Melbourne and Richard Nunns in 1994 and continuing through to recent projects with Al Fraser, Rob Thorne and others. In fact some of my favourite Rattle albums are taonga puoro projects, including Tuhonohono, Rewa in 2018, Te More (2011) and Utterance from 2017.”

 

One illustration of the label’s diversity is the 2020 album entitled inst.19-20 by Wellington electroacoustic composer and audio engineer Jack Woodbury, derived from installations that ‘… explore and acoustically signify the compositional influence of the audience and loudspeaker’.

Acknowledging it’s the sort of album that will likely appeal to very few people, Garden says he loved that Woodbury was doing that specifically, putting all of his creative energies into making those sort of sounds and compositions.

“It’s great. It’s deserving of being on a label like Rattle I think.”

He’s even currently considering working with a young singer-songwriter who’s writing what is essentially pop music, but very artful and unique.

“In most cases my decision to release those projects will still be based on whether or not it fits with Rattle’s general ethos or kaupapa, but that is broadening, probably in line with my own interests.

“I see Rattle as basically an art music label, there’s no need to limit it to say jazz, classical or our traditional musics, it can be broader. Over the last two years my attitude has changed a lot, along with the way that the recorded music industry has declined and sales have turned into streaming. If music’s going to be free predominantly, then how do I do what I do?

“Well, I approach it as purely a cultural thing, Rattle is just about culture, music and the artists we champion. The label can no longer pay royalties, because there are none to pay. Instead I make sure the artists get everything they need in terms of revenue for what they do, plus have stock to sell for their own income. I make sure that every project is, as much as possible, cost neutral from the get-go. Try to make sure we have the funding or support necessarily, and where we don’t I pick up the slack, not so much with money as with my time. I’m happy to do a lot of work, like recording, or mixing, for nothing – that’s Rattle’s buy-in to the project.”

Glancing across the label’s more recent jazz-based releases in particular it’s evident that a number of the projects are from academia-based artists, university tutors and lecturers likely fulfilling their own academic development requirements with the recording and release process. Names like Roger Manins, Dixon Nacey, John Psathas and Paul Dyne.

 

It was just that kind of academic outpouring that resulted in the great release flood of 2011 and the following disruptive period in which the label changed ownership hands to Wellington’s Victoria University (VUW), then back out again less than three years later. While an important financial salve at the time, it’s evidently still an emotive and touchy subject for Garden, as he explains.

“Rattle released 24 albums in 2011, which was an extraordinary undertaking – literally two albums a month. This happened in part because Victoria University was coming to the end of its PBRF research cycle (six years I think), so there were a lot of composers and performers within university ranks who needed to get their work published before the deadline.

“Consequently, Rattle was offered lots of projects, all with significant funding. It basically saved the label, because in the wake of Tim’s departure as label manager at the end of 2009, the label was in a rather precarious financial position. Keith and I did a lot of work to sort that out, but when he left in early 2011 there was still a way to go to become solvent. The PBRF projects sorted everything out. Rattle was back in the black.”

Victoria University took note of the results Rattle delivered and subsequently offered to secure the label’s future.

“In 2013 they bought the label (for a modest amount), put me on their payroll, then left me to it… for nine months or so. But in 2014 they began insisting on changes that were counterintuitive, not least the daft directive to shut down the Rattle website and shoehorn it into the Victoria University Press site, a site with no style or vision designed (to use a flattering word) to sell books. It looked, to all intents and purposes, more like a second-hand bookshop site than an art-music flagship. Rattle was virtually invisible on that site, and no one at VUW cared about my reservations. From that point, life became unbearable. For the fist time in my life, I looked forward to Fridays.”

In 2015 VUW management called for a “review” of Rattle, a clear signal to Garden that nails were being readied for the label’s coffin.

“They resolved to “divest themselves” (to use their parlance) of the label in October 2015, with a settlement date set for December 20. Why? I have no idea. Why they offered to support Rattle in the first place and why they told me to go away (putting it nicely) 33 months later are mysteries to me, but I believe that the motivation to support Rattle was as genuine as the decision to dump the label was callous and expedient neo-liberal bean-counting.

“It’s very telling that the new Head of Department they foisted upon us was a middle-manager with an agricultural background and no experience of or feeling for arts and culture. Go figure. At least I managed to extricate Rattle intact, but 2016 was a very hard year. VUW left both me and Rattle stripped of finances and locked into a commitment to release four albums (agreed to under their watch) but with no money in the kitty to pay for them. Somehow, we managed to get through it. We endured, and here we are now celebrating our 30th year.”

 

With some aplomb it should be noted. Rattle’s increasingly diverse catalogue is showcased superbly on the label’s website, and Garden points to a visibly growing international label reputation, with evident artist enthusiasm for the kind of supportive co-production model he offers.

But still, operating a music label at the very edges of financial viability is the kind of challenge that would wear anyone down. Having very impressively survived three decades what lies ahead? Now entering his 60s Garden says he’s not worried that Rattle really is Steve Garden – but says he is still ambitious for the label and hopeful that someone who shares the same kind of aspirations may in due course come along and take it over.

“What Rattle is speaks for itself, so if that happened, the person coming in would know what they are aligning themselves with.”