Visit the Grenadine website.

First of all, please tell us who you are.
Eric Lapointe and Alex Megelas, Grenadine Records.

When did your label start? (Don't panic; these questions will become more interesting soon. We're catering to the readers here.)
In February 1999. After two 45s under a different label name, our first release under the Grenadine moniker was the Syrup & Gasoline Vol 1 compilation CD -- 20 indie-rock/garage, Franco and Anglo bands from across Canada, all in the hopes of breaking down this country's Two Solitudes (Americans probably won't know what that is, but that's okay). Timeless Pop Attitude, I guess.

Let's go on with the predictable stuff. How did you come up with your label's name? What other names did you consider?
When we wanted to put out the Syrup & Gasoline comp, we realised by doing a net search that there was another label by the same name out of NYC (Bittersweet Records). We tried to brainstorm a new name, but couldn't come up with anything that was any good so we ran a contest on our mailing list with the winner getting a copy of all our future releases for life. We are forever indebted to one Dan Bryk, Chapel Hill resident and a stellar musician in his own right. Check out Dan's site at www.bryk.com. His music is brilliant. I really can't think of the other submissions we liked. Here's one that really stood out: Fuck Me Now Regie Records.

Do you have a slogan or tag line? If so, what is it? We eat that shit up.
It's a good thing you eat that shit up, because I already mentioned it above. I could erase it since it's an email interview but that would take all the fun away, now wouldn't it?

Every label seems to have horror stories about would-be signers sending god awful, inappropriate demos, e-mailing MP3s or generally embarrassing themselves. Please share some of yours!
I still have a dial-up modem access so stuff like that used to really take a bite out of my day. Fortunately, I've finally figured out how to limit my download size through my server so I don't have to sit through huge downloads anymore. We also get quite a few packages in the mail -- a lot of which doesn't remotely fit what we do as a label. But generally speaking it's a process I don't mind. Plus -- free bubble packages!

What does your label do that no-one else does? What's your niche, in other words?
Whereas some other labels have cars, we bike and use public transportation. Some say it's because of financial constraints -- we stand by our belief in healthy living and reducing toxic emissions. If you meant music-wise, We have a bilingual (French + English language) aspect to our label because of our surroundings in Montreal. Our mother tongue is French but we both grew up in English cities (Alex lived in New York for a while and I grew up in Ontario). This is why our website is 100% bilingual and why we choose to release French music (Les Séquelles and individual bands on our Syrup & Gasoline compilations) along with our English-language artists (Shy Child, Blurtonia, Music For Mapmakers, and Alexis O'Hara -- who actually does have a track in French on her upcoming album). We're still a young label, so hopefully we'll have lots of great new French acts to throw your way in the future.

What do you know now that you wish you'd known when your label started? What would you do differently?
I don't know... It's been a work in progress. Sure, in hindsight there's a lot of stuff that I'd probably do differently but in a lot of ways, I think it's important to make mistakes -- but to learn from them as well.

When it comes to dealing with bands, do you favor contracts or handshakes?
Contracts. A lawyer for each party and they go back and forth, figuring something out that's legal and that covers all the points. This way, there's no surprises. It's a bit more expensive, but well worth it in the end. I think this kind of an approach just goes a long way to promote a serious, professional outlook for young artists towards their careers -- to get them to understand that it is a serious undertaking, that there are responsibilities involved and that this could become a career.

Tell us, about the most painful lesson you've learned -- business, poor judgement, watch your footing on the stairs, whatever -- since the label started.
There haven't really been any truly painful lessons so far, although in hindsight I did learn a few things pertaining to artist selection and relations. Since you'll end up working with these people on a long term basis, I found out that it's important to be comfortable with them and to implicitly trust your artists. The other lesson I picked up, and this goes back to writing contracts, is that everyone involved in a project (all the band members and the label) should be clear as to what is expected from everyone. Although you should be comfortable with the bands and hopefully be friends, I don't think you should lose focus that in the end, this is also a business relationship.

Now, to cheer everyone up again, tell us about something good -- the event (or whatever) that made you realize that your label would be a long-term concern rather than a glorified hobby.
I think a combination of getting sales and press off our first release, the Syrup & Gasoline comp... It did really well, both with medias and at the retail level across Canada. Since I'd never done anything like this before, my expectations were really low to begin with and I was doubly surprised by how well it did. It made me realise that you could actually make a living off independent music.

If you could pay half the rent you currently pay for office space (if you have it), or have twice the space for the same amount of money, which would you choose?
We're very fortunate to have landed a rent-free space and like we all know from basic math, two times zero and one half of zero is still zero -- so the question doesn't work. Still, the space we have is comfortable but small. It's well suited to our needs and I wouldn't really see the need for larger space for the time being (although maybe in another year or two things'll be different...).

An independent label is, like any other operation, a business. What day-to-day aspects of business most get in the way of the fun parts of the job?
Bookkeeping, accounts receivable, accounts payable, sales reports, etc.

How has your attitude toward music -- buying it, listening to it, seeing it -- changed since you've been associated with your label?
Well before we started the label, I was working at a community radio station and that's what motivated me to start it up, so I used to buy and support indie music and shows back then too. Since then, I don't think my attitude's changed all that much -- except maybe that I've gotten a feeling of perspective and respect for the work that goes into putting out some of these releases.

What are the secret perks of operating an independent label?
Uh...Perks? I guess you could count being guestlisted for shows a lot. Also stuff like travelling and going out for a living, meeting a lot of people...

We know you're proud of all of your bands, but who has been your proudest signing/biggest find? (If diplomacy prevents you from answering this with anything other than "I'm proud of all of our bands", we understand.)
We love all our children equally.

Of the artists/bands on your label...

a) Who would you most want on your side in a bar brawl?
Alexis O'Hara. She's wrestled before. Plus, she's probably a mean drunk.

b) Who is most likely to get hopelessly lost while on tour?
Shayne Cox & Derek Ma (of Music For Mapmakers). In fact they did get lost in Montreal one night and waited outside Eric's apartment for about two hours at around 4:00 am. Luckily he did come home that night. They were worried he'd ended up crashing across town.

c) Who is most likely to record a two-disc concept album about elves?
Probably me. Nobody else seems to dig D&D.

d) Who is most likely to be featured in Tiger Beat?
Shayne Cox, sexxxy drummer of Music For Mapmakers.

e) Who is most likely to have a song in a Gap commercial?
Uh... I'll check and get back to you. Some day.

If you were given $10,000 to create a tchotchke/doohickey/promotional item to raise awareness of one of your upcoming albums, what would you make? And for which album?
$10,000 for a promotional item? If this was an idea that came from an employee, I would fire them. But if this was money that was given to us and I had no other choice on how to spend it, I would probably buy a van with a big Grenadine logo on it and drive it across North America to meet with as many kind-hearted souls as possible to share this wonderful new album. I would call it the "Promo-bile". Word of mouth is the most powerful tool, so I'd turn this $10K into something that actually works.

Which three of your releases, taken as a group, best represent your label's philosophy?
See, you're making me pick again! Our last two albums plus Les Séquelles represent our label's philosophy quite well. Blurtonia = a sincere rock & roll attitude, Shy Child = our evolution towards something new, and Les Séquelles = our admiration of the French culture.

If you had the funds and inventory to give just one of your releases to everyone in America, which would it be?
Either Les Séquelles, since in every American there's a Frenchy dying to get out, or Shy Child, since it's their home country after all.

You've been given the chance to take another label's entire roster and do with it as you please. Whose acts do you grab, and which bands particularly attracted you?
We haven't done that yet, and we hope we never need to.

We asked the previous question to a whole bunch of labels. Which of them, if any, named your label's roster as their most-wanted list?
I'd be flattered if other labels named our roster as their most-wanted list but I think we're still a pretty young label for that to happen just yet. Some of our artists have been approached by either majors or other indies but in the end, they know damn well Grenadine will do the better job. I'm being facetious but we are starting to build a strong network so that bands will be able to stay with Grenadine for the long haul.

Who would win in a fight -- ninjas or pirates?
Ninjas, unless the pirates are boozin -- then forget about it.

How long has your label had a website? How has it changed over the years? How has it, and the internet in general, affected the way you do business? (This is a boring question that everyone asks, so please try to come up with an original and unusual answer!)
Well, we've had a website for about two years and we've built up on it progressively.. The internet really hasn't changed all that much, I don't think. I'm just waiting for cyberspace to kick in, then we can all connect our computers directly to our brains.

What's your attitude toward MP3s? How (if at all) has it changed over the last few years?
We provide a few samples for free on our website. MP3s help get the word out there. The only people that are hurt by MP3s are major labels that are trying to promote one single. In that case, why buy the entire album? It's different for indies -- we need to get the music out there so that people realize that these bands even exist.

Would you sign a purely studio-based band? Why or why not? (And if you already have, how has it worked out for you?)
No. It's just not our thing.

The most surprising change in music in the last ten years has been...?
I guess it's kind of funny that swing came back and went again.

How many label profiles have you responded to before this one? Don't they suck?
I wish you could all agree on a specific set of questions. Then I could just cut and paste. Alternatively, there could be only one magazine/website/radio station in the whole world and that would solve that problem as well.

I have $5000 in cash sitting on the desk in front of me. I could use it as seed money for a record label or spend a few months roughing it in Europe. Which should I do, and why?
Europe. Can I come?