Music based on good sound

-- Bob Longmore

Martin Devaney assumes the stage of The Entry in Minneapolis, his curly brown hair looking quite mussed and his scraggly beard hiding his young face. Even though I have seen him perform a number of times, I am always a little surprised at his slight build. That slight build and his fragile voice, however, have become a staple of the Twin Cities music scene, and Devaney’s impact on the universe of Minnesota music is expanding.

Devaney, maybe until recently, was best known as a local landmark of the laidback folksy singer-songwriter genre. When his first album, "Somebody Somewhere," came out, Bob Dylan comparisons were flying from every direction. Devaney, however, has persevered and escaped that impossible pigeonhole. Instead of releasing his second album, "September," on no label, Devaney said he, "wanted to create a situation where it looked like [the record] was on a legitimate label." So he formed Eclectone in December of 2002.

Within six months of starting the label, Devaney found other musicians who were looking for what Devaney called, "an aesthetic home." Local alternative country band Big Ditch Road’s album, "Ring," was the first release on the label that wasn’t Devaney.

"We are trying to create something larger than any one of us," said Devaney. Working as a collective of artists, the individual artists can utilize the brand name of Eclectone to increase visibility both locally and nationally. With so many bands in the Twin Cities forming and breaking up, Devaney said, "It’s likely that a lot of artists get lost." The label helps people keep in touch with musicians, "You notice people that are consistently there."

The bands help each other with cross-promotion. All the bands on Eclectone (seven at this point) are associated with each other and the label. When an article about an Eclectone band comes out, there is usually a reference to Eclectone and Devaney says that his name and Eclectone are always mentioned in the same sentence.

This helps reinforce the sound of Eclectone, a sound that Devaney has tried to cultivate. "By and large it is roots rock or Americana, but with an indie rock aesthetic to it," he said. Devaney defines the sound to its elements, "Music based on good songwriting, its band and people with good songs."

Devaney said running a label takes a lot of time. He balances the work of the label with his work as a solo artist, and working a day job at a bookstore. He admitted that his intertwined objectives fuel each other.

Devaney had no experience with record labels before forming his own. He said that a lot of it is common sense but admitted he has learned all he knows by, "going through the fire with it.”"

In addition to the personal commitment it takes to run a successful label, there is the money, a necessary, if uncomfortable part of running a label for the sake of art and the artists. “You have to spend money to make money,” said Devaney. Buying advertisements in music magazines like Magnet, Harp and No Depression and supporting the bands when they tour are the investments required to expand the reputation of a record label.

Eclectone has had a good past few months as far as its local profile goes. Eclectone artists Big Ditch Road, Charlie Parr and Dan Israel have all released critically acclaimed albums. The label had a showcase at the Varsity Theater in Mpls, which received a fair amount of press and praise. Devaney explained all of this helps in an effort to spread the word and further the label’s notoriety regionally, and hopefully nationally. In March, Devaney joined Big Ditch Road and Charlie Parr on the label’s first packaged tour, "a showcase of one label," said Devaney.

Andrea Myers, assistant editor of Howwastheshow.com, thinks that local labels like Eclectone are vital to local music. "It builds a sense of community and the smaller acts on the label can be fueled by the more established bands. I have known Martin for a while, and seeing him go from an unknown coffee shop crooner to the head of a quickly expanding record label is really exciting for me."

Where Eclectone was once just a loose collective of bands with a common goal, it seems now that it is a focused effort of Devaney and his small staff of two. With his effort in pushing the label beyond the constraints of the Twin Cities, Devaney is on the way to bringing himself and his label to a higher artistic plain.