Spunk Records, one of Australia's most important and influential independent labels, is calling it quits after 25 years.
Their enviable 700-plus discography reads like a who's who of indie music, introducing local audiences to Sufjan Stevens, Mac DeMarco, and Arcade Fire before they became indie powerhouses.
From internationals like Big Thief, Spoon, Joanna Newsom and Aldous Harding to homegrown talent like The Middle East, Holly Throsby, The Ocean Party and many more, Spunk was ahead of the curve on so many artists, helping tour many on our shores for the first time.
Spunk founderAaron Curnow joined Karen Leng on Double J Lunch to reflect on the life and times of a beloved Australian music institution.
"The type of business that I run… you get to sprinkle a little bit of magic," says Curnow, who enchanted us with anecdotes about hanging backstage and surfing with the stars, the time Big Thief made him cry and more.
Spunk's origins and ethos
Spunk began as a fanzine in 1994 as a way for Curnow and his colleagues to showcase "bands that we loved [and] needed our support", with a focus on American alt-rock acts like Sonic Youth, Guided By Voices, Sebadoh and, in particular, Pavement.
"They're pretty much the reason I've had this career. We just wanted to put out bands like them."
Spunk Records officially launched in 1999, carving an indie corner at a time when pop, R&B, and nu-metal dominated the mainstream.
"There was literally no one looking after that sound in Australia."
And what sound was Curnow looking for to establish Spunk's aesthetic?
"Basically songs in the minor key," he chuckles. "That's how I got a 25-year career."
Spunk's first release was Will Oldham's I See A Darkness, under his Bonnie 'Prince' Billy alias. (The title track from that album was later covered by Johnny Cash.)
American singer-songwriters like Oldham, Bill Callahan (aka Smog), Bright Eyes and M. Ward were a staple of Spunk's early output.
The label also cottoned on early to Scotland's fertile music scene, representing Mogwai, Belle and Sebastian, and Arab Strap down under.
His fandom, and having his finger on the pulse, meant the label continued introducing Australia to some of the world's most acclaimed and influential albums: Joanna Newsom, Sufjan Stevens, The Shins, Spoon, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Four Tet, My Morning Jacket, Okkervil River, Andrew Bird, Bat For Lashes — you get the picture.
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"I was so obsessed by finding the greatest new artists that a lot of the time I was even beating a lot of the US and UK labels to these artists. Therefore, I was contacting them before a lot of people had ever reached out to them."
As well as getting in on the ground floor with emerging talent, Curnow also credits his enthusiasm as a crucial factor to getting so many respected artists to sign on early.
"Contacting an artist when they're small, they haven't had those 10 to 15 years of everyone telling them how good they are.
"…they're like 'Wow, oh my god. We got this guy in Australia. He loves our music!'"
"When you approach with lots of enthusiasm and even particularly back then, pre-internet, a lot of those artists… No one kind of cared about them on a worldwide basis."
Going gold and touring Australia
Throughout the 2000s, Spunk became a trusted name, a reliable sign of quality even if you didn't know the artist.
The label's early mission statement was "just not selling out," jokes Curnow. But over its quarter-century, Spunk certainly had its share of hit records.
That includes Gold-certified sales for Sufjan Stevens' Illinois, Anohni and the Johnsons' I Am a Bird Now, Mac DeMarco's Salad Days and Arcade Fire's first three albums, including 2009 Grammy-winner The Suburbs – Spunk's biggest selling title.
"I don't think any of those [acts] when I first heard them were aiming for the stars. It was just they made a record, people heard it and went crazy over it."
Curnow never saw himself as the record company stereotype with gold plaques lining his office. "There's literally nothing in my house to show towards anything that I've done."
But he has made one exception.
"The Mac DeMarco record went Gold, and Virgin [Spunk's distributor] made up a gold record for me… I claimed that moment, I must say. That's the only one in my house. It's upstairs hidden somewhere."
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Spunk also made many of its artists available to Australia by bringing them to our shores, often for the very first time.
"I never saw myself as a professional tour promoter," says Curnow.
"It was just kind of helping these people get out to Australia."
"I never wanted to be Michael Gudinski or Michael Chugg.
"I used to book lots of shows in Byron before Byron became a thing."
The noughties line-ups Spunk booked at Bangalow's cosy A&I Society Hall rivalled larger music festivals and are remembered just as fondly.
"So many people at my A&I Hall shows would then write to me and go, 'I met my partner [there] and we're now going to put our wedding on [there]'," Curnow says.
"I still get that from all the different shows all over the years, or the artists. It's been wonderful like that. You make people happy."
Curnow also fostered close personal connections with Spunk's international roster. He was part of their inner circle, even as their growing popularity demanded graduating to the country's bigger stages.
"When you're texting with Joanna Newsom in America on a regular basis, you know she loves your work and wants you to keep working with her, then you've got a strong bond," he says.
It sometimes meant rubbing shoulders backstage with "some of the most famous people on the planet," says Curnow.
"Particularly with Anohni… because she's so sweet people want to be around her.
"Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ralph Fiennes, Lou Reed — the list is kind of endless… So that's one of many."
In other instances, the green room could be a lonely experience for artists making the long trip down under.
"Those bigger venues where the Sufjan Stevens… the Bill Callahans and the Joanna Newsoms play, you go to these concerts, and you think they're incredibly successful and have thousands upon thousands of friends.
"Meanwhile, you are their friend in Australia. You're the only one backstage. It's quiet… it's kind of highly unusual to tell you the truth."
Surfing with the stars
Spunk was a "totally family-run business," says Curnow, "that certainly aided the success of the label.
"Most of those famous American artists and all the Australian artists have stayed at my house."
Running the label from Thirroul, north of Wollongong, Curnow is an avid surfer who'd take his roster out on the board to experience Australia's "pretty wild" waves for the first time.
"Many of them, weirdly, had never even swum in the Pacific Ocean," he says.
He admits he "nearly drowned" several artists, including Bill Callahan, Mogwai, and Big Thief's Adrianne Lenker and Buck Meek.
"I don't think they had a career in swimming. I took them to a beach, [and] they got swept out to sea from memory," he says.
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Big Thief were another example of Spunk's uncanny ability to pick a winner, putting out their first two records in Australia.
As he'd seen many times before, Big Thief blew up. The band's homespun folk-rock made them critical darlings, enjoying crossover attention from a broader audience.
"I kind of gauge a band's success on when I hear them in cafes [and] I feel that I hear Big Thief as much as anyone these days," says Curnow, who's happy for the band's success.
"By the time I probably catch up with them again, they'll be playing even bigger venues."
When Big Thief moved onto a new deal with 4AD, Lenker "wrote me this lovely, lovely letter, and I literally bawled," reveals Curnow.
"Because generally when people leave, a lot of the time, they don't say thank you or anything. But that was a great one… I'll always remember it."
'Wild times' with The Middle East
There's a long list of Australian artists Spunk has championed over the years. Jack Ladder, Seeker Lover Keeper, The Ocean Party, Floodlights, and more recently, Babitha and Charm of Finches — to name just a few.
Looking back, Curnow is especially proud of how Spunk helped so many local musicians establish fruitful careers outside the major label system.
"I remember when I first put out Machine Translations and Holly Throsby, both got kind of successful fairly quickly. J. Walker from Machine Translations is now a producer, Holly now writes books," he says.
However, the Spunk act that arguably left the biggest cultural impact was The Middle East.
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Hailing from Townsville, the indie folk group were beloved if short-lived, beginning with their breakout 2009 single 'Blood', a goosebump-inducing dose of drama that has taken on cult Australian classic status.
"There's been only a handful of songs in my life that I've heard and went, 'Oh my god. I can't believe I got sent this or I've heard this,'" remarks Curnow.
"I played it and literally flew off my seat.
"From the moment I took that song to radio, it just completely blew up. Suddenly, they were playing huge shows, US management companies were flying people out and it became pretty crazy for them."
The seven-piece didn't savour the attention very long, breaking up in 2011 — live on stage at Splendour In The Grass — just months after releasing their J Award-nominated debut album.
Curnow was able to coax The Middle East into reuniting for Spunk's 20th anniversary show at the Sydney Opera House, and the group reconvened once more for the Spunk 25 Finale shows at the same historic venue last week.
The end of an era
Part of the Vivid Live program, Spunk's final blowout also featured Aldous Harding and post-rock figureheads Explosions In The Sky playing their 2003 opus The Earth Is Not A Dead Cold Place over two nights.
"It feels like my wedding and my funeral at the same time," jokes Curnow, who was already in talks with Sydney Opera House about commemorating 25 years when he dropped the bombshell.
"I went 'What about a 25-year finale show?' [They] were a bit shocked… but I just thought it was time."
The music landscape is almost recognisable to the one Spunk came up in. A time when blog culture helped indie music flourish and physical sales still turned a decent profit.
Running an independent label is "a bit of a lost art form," says Curnow.
"There's, who knows, 50 active ones in Australia over all different genres. But I wouldn't think many of them had that luck that I did, that they were working on them for 20 years full time."
Spunk has been a part-time venture in the past five years.
"Things have been hard… trying to keep the label afloat," admits Curnow, unable to invest the same monumental time, sweat and tears after taking on a new role as Live Music Coordinator for Parramatta City Council.
Shutting down Spunk is not a decision he takes lightly, and significant because it also means "the closure of a period in my life," says an emotional Curnow.
"I guess you'd look at the past and want it to be like that, without getting too teary. It's hard looking as it gets smaller and smaller without being too sad about it."
But Curnow is also looking at the silver linings. After giving so much of himself to Spunk and its artists, he's now making more space for himself and his family.
"Most bands, most artists, most record labels have very, very, very short careers. I went, 'Wow, 25 years. Let's call it.'" he says.
"If I can get an extra couple of surfs a week. If I can kick the football a bit more with my kids… That's gonna be the aim."
Hear Karen Leng hosting Lunch on Double J from midday Monday to Thursday.
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