A Decade Of Decibels

It's been a decade since Pete Collins and Ben Dougherty started Mere Noise Records – the indie label that started for their own nefarious band needs but which eventually became home to many fine acts such as HITS, Texas Tea, The Standing 8 Counts, Undead Apes, Keep On Dancin's and Tiny Migrants, to name but a few – and they're celebrating in that old rock'n'roll tradition; putting on massive party for their friends.

“I'm pretty proud of what we've achieved really, for people who didn't really know what they were doing in the first instance,” Dougherty reflects of the milestone, “and then just kind of learning from our mistakes and from other record labels and other people in the industry.”

“We had a lot of cool guidance in the beginning from people like Loki [Lockwood] from [Melbourne-based indie] Spooky Records,” Collins continues. “Mere Noise pretty much started because Loki was making the first [Vegas Kings] record, and when we were talking to him about what we wanted to do with it – how we'd had a few people asking us to put it out – Loki took us aside and said, 'You guys should put it out yourselves, I'll show you how to do it'. So we decided to put it out ourselves, and then I guess the big thing to actually make it a label is to put out someone else who's not yourself, and us getting The Standing 8 Counts – who it's been pretty well-documented were our main influence in Brisbane when we were starting out as a band – as our label's first non-Vegas Kings release made it feel really good.”

They haven't been massively prolific as labels go – preferring quality over quality – but they've still amassed an admirable catalogue over the journey, especially this year where their Mere Noise Singles Club saw them release a steady stream of seven-inches by artists such as Cosmic Psychos, SixFtHick, Bob Log III and Spencer P Jones.

“It'll be forty releases by the end of the year – and that includes the Singles Club – so we haven't been a mega-productive label, but we've done enough with jobs and families and everything else to be always working on something,” Dougherty reasons. “So we're always kinda busy, although we've never taken on too much that we couldn't handle, because I guess in truth it's kind of a hobby label really.”

“Yeah, we've always maintained our own jobs and our own bands, and that's usually enough for people to have in their life, but we took on putting out other bands as well,” Collins concurs. “We also took the philosophy that we'd only ever put out bands that we wanted to put out as well. With an independent label, you've got to work with the band, and the releases that have gone best with us are releases where bands have got involved with us in putting it out. If a band comes up to us and says, 'Put this out!' and doesn't help us, we're two guys with families and jobs, and although we do the best that we can it's got to be a group effort.”

“It was excellent being able to put out stuff by these great bands that we've come into contact with over the years,” Dougherty offers of the Singles Club. “All of these artists that we've put out we've had some kind of relationship with, so in our mind there's a theme to it – they're all people that we've met along and we've liked, or who have helped us out.”

And of course no Mere Noise party would be complete without an appearance from Vegas Kings – reforming for their first show in three years – not just because Pete and Ben were in the band and they were the label's first release, more because they've been an integral part of happenings from the outset.

“I actually really missed just hanging out with Ben and Angus [Chapman – drums],” Collins says of the band's sojourn. “It's a really clichéd thing, but you spend ten years doing it and it's a long time, so you miss those people. And obviously I don't get to see the people in Europe or the people in Melbourne that I used to get to see all the time, which is why it's a good opportunity to catch up with some people at the parties that I mightn't have seen in three years.”

“We never said that we'd never do it, although we did say that our last gig was our last ever show,” Dougherty laughs. “We're not coming back in terms of we're going to be playing shows again, it's just for these shows. Although you never know, there could be some other occasion, like my retirement when I'm sixty, or perhaps a child's wedding, whether they like or not – 'Now my Dad's punk band is going to play for all you nice people!' – that would be pretty cool!”

“I met so many awesome people during my time in Vegas Kings – friends for life kind of stuff – that I would never have met if I hadn't become friends with Ben in university,” Collins reflects. “He taught me how to play guitar and Vegas Kings is the only band I've played guitar in really, so had none of that happened I wouldn't have made those amazing friends around the world. A couple of years ago, going to America and being able to stay with all of the people that I've met through music – I wouldn't have had those opportunities, and my life would have been worse off.”