UGA's Student Run Record Label Takes The Stage

From Left to Right: Ethan Payne, Ben Tinsley, John Cable, Ryan Saunders

by Drew Dixon
04/28/2008

A local Athens band is ready to step up to the next level,
leaving the comfort of the den behind.

When The Cubs signed with indie label Big Bear Records in January of this year, they didn’t know what to expect out of the literally brand-new team. Big Bear Records was founded in January as part of the University of Georgia’s Music Business Program. In the program, students create their own indie - meaning not affiliated with any of the major distribution companies like Sony or Columbia - labels appropriately dubbed Student Run Record Labels.

This idea is not new. The University of Colorado, Denver, for example, has CAM, the label of the College of Arts and Media, which got a demo in spring of 2005 by a promising student group, now known worldwide for their hit on Grey’s Anatomy “How to Save a Life.” The Fray, that is.

With Athens renowned music scene, it’s fairly easy to see a quality band any night of the week. While working with the SRRL, The Cubs say that their ways of going about business were pretty much the same, only with more deadlines.

“I didn’t really know what to expect,” says Ben Tinsley, who sings vocals and plays rhythm guitar for the group. “I thought that it would act more like a tour manager which would just book us shows in cities outside of Athens. When it came to our first meeting with the members from our SRRL, I quickly realized that wasn't the case. Their goal was to set us straight in stuff we hadn't really considered, like press releases, and a bio, things like that.”

In an ever-changing music industry, the business side of “the biz” is more important than ever. Bands looking to take their success to the next level need to have more than just talent. Street teams, MySpace, Wikipedia, and an original website are essential for any band to make their name stand out from the thousands of others hoping to make it to the top. “No matter how good some band is or how interesting their stage show is, if they don't have the right people representing them, they'll never leave their hometown,” says Tinsley.

Members of Big Bear Records helped the band to put on a professional face, at least on paper. “I enjoy making the posters and putting them up for our shows, so I didn't really want to give that power up without a fight. [I] continued making the posters, but rather than just deciding to put them up whenever I felt like, it was Nathan, one of the guys from our group, telling me to put them up by a certain day,” says Tinsley.

Other aspects of the partnership between the SRRL and the band included updating The Cubs MySpace page, creating a Facebook page, building a media kit, and promoting upcoming shows. Big Bear also collaborated financially with The Cubs to get recording time at Pig Pen Studios in Athens.
READ! is the band’s newest album, collecting influences from artists such as Velvet Underground, Pavement and the Strokes. Still, The Cubs like to pride themselves on what they do onstage, not just in the studio. Tinsley cited bands such as the Black Lips, Je Suis France, and Of Montreal as all having, “a lot to say on what we want to do live.”

For the future, Tinsley says that within six months to one year The Cubs will either be broken up, or the biggest band in America. No middle path.

The band has five upcoming shows in the next two months, all of which are in Athens.

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