Caps Lock Records: "I Feel Like The Concept Of Nightlife In Adelaide Is Quite Limited"

It isn’t an exaggeration to say that caps lock records has been making the Adelaide music scene a better place.

The DIY record label based on Kaurna Land, with virtuosic musician and music educator Thea Martin at the helm - known for being an essential part of such projects as Twine and Any Young Mechanic - works to facilitate meaningful engagement with local and interstate art.

The label started the year with a bang, curating a compilation of songs by Adelaide-based musicians, aptly-titled (by local musician Jachin Mee) Sitting In The Same Chairs.

Martin explained to The Music in January, “I love the work that Benji [from the Naarm-based band Garage Sale] does in creating beautiful limited physical releases and compilations with their project sore horse, and wanted to encourage a similar attitude to archiving the scene here.” The compilation “features released, unreleased and demo tracks to push against the notion that artistic work can only be legitimised in complete and fully produced formats, and only when distributed through the major streaming services,” Martin said.

On top of the curation and distribution of this precious relic of the current Adelaide scene, caps lock has also been hosting a series of gigs at Goodwood Books, a local bookshop that lovingly curates secondhand volumes, with an emphasis on feminist literature.

caps lock hosted their first gig at Goodwood Books in February, with a line-up consisting of short snarl and resting mind flowers. The next gig will take place on June 10th, featuring local folk darlings Gilly & Bede, and Boorloo-based art-folk artist Nika Mo. This upcoming show is especially exciting, given that it will be the label’s first time hosting an interstate artist.

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Martin, deeply passionate about the meaningful consumption of art, explains how the Goodwood Books shows allow the label to decentralise alcohol consumption within the music scene, how they are attempting to “carve out a space for both audiences and artists that is underrepresented in the Adelaide music and arts scene, and also nightlife.”

They say, “I feel like the concept of nightlife in Adelaide is quite limited, usually referring to pubs and bars and nightclubs, which are all great, but if that’s the only experience people can have being immersed in culture at nighttime, I think that’s quite limiting.

“And then, from an artist’s perspective, from kind of the moment you start playing in the music scene, you’re being paid largely in drinks and underpaid in money, so I wanted to offer a space that is not tied to alcohol, and that still offers a competitive artist fee, some kind of compensation. It could still of course be higher because we’re running on a DIY model, but I’m proud that we’ve been able to pay all of the artists who have performed at these shows and to pay a small venue hire fee to Goodwood Books to support them so that it’s a mutually beneficial undertaking.”

Martin sings the praises of the shop. “Going to book store at night - it’s such a novelty, it’s so much fun! To be able to look at books in a social setting and have it attached to music and art is beautiful.

“Doing the shows at the bookshop has been really special because they have such an amazing collection. It’s such a well-curated bookshop. And I think the more that we can weave arts experiences together…Having art coexist is really powerful and kind of opens up the idea of what a show can be, what an arts experience can be. And the books also kind of double as really great for the sound. They deaden the space, so it actually works quite well from a sonic point of view. And I feel like spaces like bookshops facilitate really beautiful interactions between people, and it’s been really nice to observe how people meet each other and how conversations start. It just feels like a pretty perfect merging of worlds.”

Not having alcohol at the shows also allows for them to easily be all-aged. “We haven’t really marketed them as all-ages gigs just yet, because I feel that I want to kind of convince young adults around me of the concept, rather than just ‘all-ages’ being a thing that means no alcohol or less alcohol. But I’m really excited to expand our audience and also the artists we’re working with to include younger people, because I think we need more DIY spaces, places that are not bars or night clubs, for young people to perform in and feel safe going to.”

Martin discusses the upcoming June show. “We have Nika Mo, who is an artist from Western Australia, and I’m hoping that that can be the start of making the caps lock shows, making Goodwood Books, a place that artists travelling also feel that they can come into. There’s no real DIY venues in Adelaide, or very few, so having more places that alternative artists can come into, and particularly that offer alternative show experiences, making a trip to Adelaide more viable is something that I really care about.

“Plus I’m very excited to have Nika Mo perform.”

Tickets are now available to purchase online now.