Today we’d like to introduce you to Trevor Skarie.
Hi Trevor, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Dirty Laundry Records was founded in 2020 by two friends, TK and Skarie, with a mission of making excellent records and helping musicians succeed.
The combination of TK’s recording studio, LVNDR Sound and Skarie’s design and print studio, Shred Design Co. is what makes Dirty Laundry Records possible. After years of writing and playing original music we learned enough skills to take on the entire recording and releasing process ourselves. TK built a recording studio in the basement of his home in Mankato. It created a space where we could record our own music the way we wanted it to sound. Skarie built a design and print studio in his home in St. Paul Minnesota, which created a space where all design and print related work could be done.
One day in the summer of 2020 while we were recording a new record for our own band, Aperture, and we looked at each other and said, “could you imagine if we had all of this knowledge and gear available to us when we first started playing music? Imagine where we would be today if we did.” We both know that we wanted to start our own record label someday when we first got into writing original music, and it just so happened that day became our “someday.”
After agreement to officially start our own label we knew we wanted to stay away from the “traditional” policies of record labels. We weren’t in it for the money or the fame, we were in it to make excellent records and to help musicians succeed. That’s why we started this label as a non-profit, we wanted to put the musicians first and not worry about finances. Rather than cutting a check for the band and expecting to make money on the return like a traditional label would, we wanted to gift our time, knowledge, and access to our gear. This is how we do everything for free.
What we offer to the bands we sign is to help them plan and launch a full scale release campaign all for FREE. We are offering them exclusive access to all of the resources and gear we have acquired and refined over the years that we’ve personally used to release our own music. These resources cover all of their audio, visual, and promotional needs. All they have to do is do what they do best: write great songs.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No road is ever smooth in the music industry, there’s always going to be surprises and dilemmas, we’ve certainly had our fair share of them.
There’s been a couple times where TK’s studio had been flooded from the spring thaw. His house sits on a hill and the foundation of the house is quite old. Luckily the floods were super mild and built up to only a couple inches of standing water and only minimal gear damage was inflicted.
We’ve had a couple cases of bands changing members part way through our process. It makes for a little bit extra work to redo recorded parts or retake portraits, but nothing too crazy.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Dirty Laundry Records?
We are a non-profit record label. We work with guitar-centric type bands in the veins of punk, grunge, metal, rock, and beyond. With the combined efforts of LVNDR Sound Studio and Shred Design Co. offering bands a 100% free recording and releasing process is what makes Dirty Laundry Records unique.
What we offer to the bands we sign is to help them plan and launch a full scale release campaign all for FREE. We are offering them exclusive access to all of the resources and gear we have acquired and refined over the years that we’ve personally used to release our own music. These resources cover all of their audio, visual, and promotional needs. All they have to do is do what they do best: write great songs.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
Right now the book that’s been inspiring us the most is Rick Rubin’s “The Creative Act: A Way of Being”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://dirtylaundryrecords.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/dirtyLaundry.records
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dirtylaundry.minnesota/
