THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, JUNE 2, 2014
LOCAL MUSIC
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PAGE 9
Irish musician creates label
DYLAN GUTHRIE news@kansan.com
Sitting across from me on the wellworn leather of my living room couches last Thursday, Nick Carswell began describing himself.
"Well, I'm a music type," he said.
Carswell, a local Lawrence musician, performs with Carswell & Hope as well as Pink Royal, and he is also the founder of Silly Goose Records, a music collective and independent record label that Carswell formed in 2010 while he was living in his native Ireland.
Most recently, Carswell hosted MixMaster 2014 (MXM2014) in Lawrence on May 4, an event that showcased local musicians, and released a Carswell & Hope album on May 15. He has also planned an upcoming Irish tour of 14 shows in 12 cities, where one of his previous bands, The Elective Orchestra, will merge with members of Carswell & Hope.
In Ireland, Carswell was making a living as a full-time musician, playing both commercially and recreationally. He was booked at restaurants, hotels, weddings and parties, but Carswell had different plans for his original music—he wanted to tour in Ireland.
In 2010, two of his bands were nearing the end of the long, meticulous process of creating and releasing an album. He and his bandmates had an idea: to form a record label to help promote and release their music. The idea came to fruition in the form of Silly Goose Records.
Carswell hired a publicist, ran public relations campaigns, acquired legal and technical consulting and booked his first tour in 2010, billed as the "Hope Tour." Featured on the tour were Carswell's band at the time. The Elective Orchestra, and another Limerick group, the Brad Pitt Light Orchestra. The tour was such a success
that he booked another one.
Carswell released one record in 2010 and another in 2011. Meanwhile, he got a master's degree in music and media technology and moved from Limerick, Ireland, to Lawrence with his wife, Hannah Down, in 2011.
In Lawrence, Carswell got a job at Barrel House piano bar, which is now Leroy's Tavern, where he met a number of local musicians, including Austin Quick, a recent University graduate of the Kansas City soul/funk group The Phantastics. He said he became a part of Silly Goose Records for the community aspect.
What I love about Silly Goose is that it's an easy outlet for serious musicians to get together and really try to make a good start. NICK CARSWELL Founder, Silly Goose Records
"Lawrence is so communal, and so is Silly Goose," Quick said. "The Silly Goose mentality fits right in."
Carswell echoed that sentiment.
"We thought that we could all help each other by working together, and so we restructured Silly Goose Records to include various people that we met from playing music and who were trying to do stuff with their music, to put out records, and actually do something with their music," he said.
Initially, the collective consisted of The Phantastics, Carswell & Hope and the female soul vocalist Faith Darnell's self-titled solo project, F.A.I.T.H., but grew to include Pink Royal, Forrester and most recently the afrobeat group SUNU. Many of the musicians in the collective are recent University graduates or current University students.
Carswell said he hopes that his collective can help emerging acts gets a good start.
"It feels like every year new students come to town and new bands show up [and] are formed. The idea is that they can make a career out of it if they do things right and they're good at what they do," Carswell said. "Even though they're here to study, they don't have to become lawyers or accountants. We want to let them know that it is possible to support yourself with music".
When Carswell formed the collective he knew he wanted to have a showcase performance of all the bands in the collective. Through his day job at InterUrban ArtHouse, a Kansas City nonprofit that supports emerging visual artists, he approached members of the Midwest Music Foundation, the Kansas City Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts with his vision for MXM2014.
The City of Lawrence liked the idea, and the Cultural Arts Commission offered Carswell a grant to help with event costs.
The May 4 showcase involved a workshop during the day where promoters, booking agents, music columnists and attorneys shared information with the musicians who attended, and the showcase at night with performances by all six bands in the collective—their first appearance in the public spotlight.
Quick said he was surprised at how successful the event was.
"What I love about Silly Goose is that it's an easy outlet for serious musicians to get together and really try to make a good start," Quick said. "It's not just a couple of guys jamming in basement. Everyone in the collective is trying to raise the bar."
Edited by Emma LeGault and Tom DeHart
DYLAN GUTHRIE/KANSAN
Ireland native and Lawrence musician Nick Carswell strums his guitar on a May afternoon. Carswell is the creator of Silly Goose Records, a music collective based in Lawrence that includes many local acts such as Forrester and Pink Royal.
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