Escho: Interview

There is a strange Danish band called Düreforsög who formed in Copenhagen in 1994 and signed to ex-Faith No More man Bill Gould’s Kool Arrow six years later. Around that time they came over to the UK in support of US prog-punk acts Bluebird and Cave-In. Criminally nobody seemed to care and they returned to Denmark where a year or two later the band went on one of those dreaded indefinite hiatus (for those who worry about these things, we've looked up the plural of haitus and it turns out to be... haitus ed.). The various members involved themselves in about a million different audio-visual projects that rarely stuck to convention or genre.

Drummer Andreas Hauer-Jensen and guitarist Nis Bysted then got together to form the Escho label. Despite record sales falling and downloads increasing the label takes great care and effort to make each release as much a visual treat as an aural one with some beautifully designed packaging.

Andreas and Nis were kind enough to talk about Escho and their plans for world domination…

New Noise: Why did you decide to start a record label?
Andreas: Like most of the things we do, this wasn't a conscious decision or something we sat down and planned in advance, it just sort of happened. We've always been very interested in the whole process of making records, and the experiences with Düreforsög, and the other bands and projects we've been involved in, has taught us a lot. We don't consider ourselves as a record label, but more as a platform where ideas can develop, and music is presented in a new and different way.

In the summer of 2005 Nis decided he was going to finance the release of Ordklover's "Byen Buldrer", an album that had been completed for two or three years but never properly released, and that started the whole thing. Then we began to figure out how to make it work, getting ideas for visuals and packaging and shortly after Nis Siggurdsson, a very gifted graphic designer and old friend of ours, joined along with Anders Jørgen Mogensen who is the singer in KLoAK.

NN: What were your intentions?
Andreas: In the last couple of years we have felt the need to create an outlet for all our different ideas and the great new sounds that surrounds us. For us it's a matter of making a documentation of the artists and their work, and we think of Escho almost as an archive. We wanted to set up shows with our favourite bands here in Copenhagen, but also to create a special atmosphere and a new setting with each concert. So far we've hosted shows with the Boredoms, Gang Gang Dance, White Magic, Charles Hayward and others.

NN: Where does the name Escho come from?
Nis: It means many different things in Danish, it is sort of a summer adjective, and it stands for something good.
Andreas: It's old slang from back in the day. You can put it in front of other words to enhance their meaning. If something is on another level it's Escho. It could be Escho good, Escho bad or just Escho weird. The word has a nice quality to it, and it's great to pronounce. Eeeessssccchhhoooeee.

NN: The lovely individual packaging for each release is a great idea. Now that people are downloading music the packaging seems to be less important. When, why and how did you decide to take such care in gift wrapping the music?
Nis: Making special art work has nothing to do with downloading or anything like that; it is just love for the complete package so to say. The audio, the visual, and the sense part in which all the senses are combined.
Andreas: I think downloading is all the more reason to present the sounds in beautiful wrapping. We want the Escho releases to be special, items crafted with great care.

NN: Tell me a little bit about your reasons for taking on board the likes of Kloak, Tepop, Ordklover and Ts Hoeg...
Andreas: They are some of the acts that excite us, and we find them all unique. Although they are very different sounding, there's still an overall theme that runs through all our releases. It has something to do with presenting an alternative, a different view on things, but still reaching out to the recipient and not being too exclusive.

NN: What are your plans for Escho?
Andreas: We've just released "Boobies/Spaniel", the new and very catchy mint green single by the lovingly abrasive KLoAK and also a vocal/drum fever dream collage called "Alle med balloner og terraser" by KLoAK singer Anders Jørgen Mogensen and me, Andreas Hauer-Jensen. Later this summer we will release "Hip Hop Nation", the playful and mesmerizing debut from Lamburg Tony, and an "all horns" album by TS Hawk., both on vinyl, and in September we're setting up a show in Copenhagen with Black Dice. There's also a compilation in the works. It will contain Escho acts as well as new favourites and other unheard Danish sounds.

With this compilation we hope to embrace everything Escho's about. So far we've managed to stay inspired and have continued to come up with new ideas, and for me that is the most important thing. It has to be an organic thing where ideas comes and goes and everybody participates on more than one level, a mix of new and old. That's when the really great things start to happen.