Named after an Olympic wrestling form, Berlin and London based collective Greco-Roman is an electronic music-fuelled meeting of minds.
Run and supported by some of the music industry’s most exciting talents – including Alexander “Full Nelson” Waldron, Dominic Mentsh, Joe Goddard, Ross Allen and Raf Daddy – Greco is the go-to source for tomorrow’s next big tune.
When did you first begin the label? Our first release was in 2007 but it wasn’t until we released our first album at the end of 2009 that we considered ourselves a real label, that’s when we realised we didn’t have a logo, a website, an accountant or a lawyer.
What distinguishes Greco-Roman from other record labels? We hardly release any records! We are more of a party and a DJ team really.
How do you discover the majority of the new music you sign? We sit around twiddling our thumbs waiting for the postman to bring us cassettes in the post.
How do you define what you consider to be good music? It needs to make you think. You need to be able to see it.
Who are your strongest musical influences and references? Wookie. He played our last party, it was magic.
What are some of the barriers to entry you have encountered whilst establishing your label? Let’s just say admin isn’t our strong point
What are your plans for expansion? This year we have lots of new signings, more parties in Berlin and London and our first proper label compilation.
What are some the major labels you aspire to build Greco-Roman to the calibre of? We all met whilst working at Island Records in 2002, before it was swallowed into Universal. Its offices were a true inspiration, releasing cool, iconic, popular music for decades, a lot of which was electronic. XL isn’t a major label but it might as well be classified as such these days, and it continues the same legacy.
What is the strongest band or artist you have signed to the label? Watching Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs grow over the last few years has been really rewarding for us and he’s a great ambassador for the label. And working with a musician of Joe Goddard’s calibre, both as an artist and a partner, is exciting.
How do you describe the aesthetic and ethos of the label? We make colourful music because we dance in the dark.
What have you got coming up for the label in 2012? We are just about to announce a few new signings, some of which are hidden in this mixtape… so you’ll have to work it out!
Describe a typical day at work at the label? Holly sits in the hall of the Berlin office waiting for one of us to turn up with the key, then we all bitch about facebook and minimal techno stereotypes for hours before going home.
