Interview – Strong Island Recordings – Breaking Glass Magazine

A Record Label Rich with Talent & a Lot of Love for Portsmouth…
Interview with Brad Sked by Kieran Tibbert

Strong Island Recordings are a Portsmouth-based Independent Record Label who work with new and upcoming artists, in addition to hosting their own gigs at a variety of different venues across the south. I was delighted to have the opportunity to speak with their Label Manager, Brad Sked, about their past, present and future shows, as well as some of their artists that are rising to fame.

Hi Brad! How are you doing, and where are you in the world right now?

Brad: I’m very well, thank you! I’m currently in Portsmouth very much enjoying the sunshine we’re having.

This week, on 2nd February, you have the second instalment of your series of free shows at The Vaults in Portsmouth. How has the overall reaction been to these gigs that are free-entry?

We’ve only had the one so far in Portsmouth with LIPWORMS, Jules Smith and Number 9 and it seemed to go down very well. It was a busy one, and everybody there seemed into it, so it was a lot of fun. The venue as well was happy, so it’s a win-win all round!

You’d expect bigger crowds if there’s no entry fee, so have the artists that perform at these shows benefited from them in any way?

Whilst it could be assumed there would be a bigger crowd, money is still very tight for people at the moment, with the cost of living crisis and all, and people do have their own life stuff going on, so I’d never expect people to just come down. Saying that, you are likely to see more people because it’s free, so in a way, there’s less anxiety on ticket sales, and because bands know they should be playing to a crowd, the worry of ticket sales is mitigated in the process. Hopefully also with the free shows, bands can then sell their merch a little easier as well.

One of the artists performing at next week’s show is Daisy & The Dead Heads. What can we expect from them throughout this year?

I expect they’ll have a bunch of shows and other things going on. We actually released their record ‘I Hate The Sea’ at the tail end of last year. They’re always playing around the capital though; I highly recommend people catching them live at some point, as they’re ace!

Which other upcoming artists under your label have new music on the way? Do you have a personal favourite or one you’re looking forward to the most?

Until stuff is all fully 100% set, I don’t usually like to talk about upcoming stuff as there’s always so many factors involved that could see said things not happen; we’ve even had stuff pulled 12 hours before a release in the past and it is what it is. With that, we do have a new release from Brighton-Folk meets Baroque-Pop artist Woody Green this week that also features the wonderful Nina from The New Eves. Real nice Leonard Cohen meets Velvet Underground vibes; it’s really really good anyway. Brighton seems to be a hotbed once again for new artists.

The music scene is always changing, but have you seen or experienced any changes to the local music scene in Portsmouth as of late?

I think there’s a little live music renaissance for sure, which is nice. The Vaults are making a great effort to make the space more of a music pub, letting the likes of Washed Out and ourselves put on free shows, which is really great and is something I’ve wanted to do down in these parts of the UK for years, so I’m incredibly grateful for that. You also have ABH Promotions at Edge of the Wedge, Neu Waves at The Deco, some cool garage rock shows at The Barn, Future Folk at Guildhall, and The Vaults, everyone’s favourite record cafe in Pie and Vinyl doing shows at the Pier, plus there’s lots of others too, so it’s good to be a live music fan in Portsmouth at the moment!

The city could still really do with another 100-200 capacity venue though, but especially a 600 to 800 capacity venue too. I look at Southampton, with the great venues they have in Heartbreakers, Joiners, plus 1865 and Engine Rooms for larger touring shows, and I can’t help but feel Portsmouth is missing out. With that said, I kind of see the Portsmouth and Southampton music scene as one big thing ultimately, so in a way, I guess it’s also good that there’s more of a spread.

You’ve been involved with some Food Bank Fundraisers, which we previously saw back in November last year with your Interstellar Food Drive. Is this something you’ll be aiming to continue and do more of this year?

Yeah, we aim to do the food bank drives annually. I’d like to do them more often, but there’s so many logistics involved, that it’s not always possible, but we will be bringing the Interstellar Food Drive back this year for sure. We don’t have a set date yet but in my head, I’m thinking around early November, or late October again. Saying that, I really would rather that we didn’t have to do them at all though and that food banks weren’t even a thing at all, as they shouldn’t be. Sadly though, they are, as a decade-plus of this current government and their failings of the people has meant that the usage of them is rising year on year.

A big event that you were involved in for several years was Dials Festival, which sadly hasn’t run since 2019; Do you think 2024 could see it, or something similar, return?

Yeah, we had some fun plans for 2020 for the following year, as 2019 was a real success, so it was a shame to not continue. It’s never been officially announced though but I can’t really see Dials returning again. Maybe something similar down the line might come about. Portsmouth could do with another multi-venue festival for emerging artists for sure as Southsea Fest and Dials seemed to always go down well, but they are a lot of work though and it really does require a good team of people.

You’re always keen on working with newer artists that are just starting out in the music scene; Who are some of the more recent ones you’ve worked with and why should people check them out?

So, we’ve worked with Daisy and The Deadheads of course, plus we released Anona (the project of the insanely talented multi instrumentalist Ella Oona Russell, also of The New Eves), Baby Vanga, Michael Georgian and lots more. They’re all just the best.

What other shows and gigs do you have coming up throughout the year that people can look forward to?

We will be continuing our free series of shows on the first Friday of each month at The Vaults, with 1st March featuring label family London psychedelic pop outfit Baby Vanga, who are great, and are like Babe Rainbow meets Syd Barrett. They’re such a blast live and they’re the nicest folk as well, so I’m always excited to see them. Support is from Bernardo, who’s really incredible, and we have Portsmouth locals Making Eyes as well, who are one of the finer new outfits from the city. Then on 5th April we have label family Woody Green and special guests. We have lots of other fun things coming up as well, we’ll be back at the Alt Escape again, and we’ll probably be doing the odd London show on top, as we haven’t done many for a while!

As outlined by Brad, the next opportunity for you to see some of the talent that Strong Island Recordings work with is on Friday 2nd February 2024 at The Vaults, Portsmouth, and entry is free. Check them out on Bandcamp here.