Small town, big ideas

At the start of the decade, Jetplane Landing frontman Andrew Ferris decided to start his own label called Smalltown America. Initially intended to solely release output by his band, the record company has since grown over the last eight years to become one of the most important indie labels in Ireland. Currently boasting the likes of Fighting With Wire and And So I Watch You From Afar on its roster, Andrew’s original pie in the sky idea has blossomed to become a bit of a dream come true.

“STA was formed out of necessity,” says the Derry native. “We genuinely felt that no ‘real’ record company would be interested in the music that Jetplane Landing were trying to make, looking the way that we did. We were pretty realistic about it. The vehicle didn’t exist so we built it, MacGyver-style. The fact we ran our own label really helped the early career of JPL as we were able to react quickly to any attention we did receive from the media. It was easy to be a priority act on a roster of one.”
While these days Jetplane Landing have been put on ice, Andrew’s bandmate Cahir O’Doherty has been causing quite the stir with his other band Fighting With Wire, bagging a deal with Atlantic Records and generally charming the under crackers off all and sundry. According to Cahir, Andrew was instrumental in the deal by showing that his business sense is just as good as his taste in music.
Quite recently, Ferris moved his base of operations from London back to Derry. It’s a risky enough venture at the best of times, but when you consider the current economic crisis it seems positively foolhardy. However something tells us if anyone can make it work, Smalltown America can.
“My wife and I had a baby and we thought it would be much nicer to bring him up in Derry rather than London. London was cool, but we found ourselves coming home more and more. I relish a challenge and setting up an independent record label in Derry during the worst market conditions imaginable seemed like a pretty good one to me!”
At this stage, the names Fighting With Wire and And So I Watch You From Afar will be well known to our regular readers, but STA also has a great stable of bands waiting for their break that are just as good, if not better, than those two NI heavy hitters.
“Our Autumn/Winter catalogue for 2009/10 is our strongest ever. New albums from the Young Playthings, Alan MX, Let Our Enemies Beware, Calories, 4 Or 5 Magicians, Jetplane Landing and Ice See Dead People as well as new music from ASIWYFA are on the cards. The book has never been this full and we’re really excited. In marketing terms, I think both FWW and ASIWYFA have benefitted from the things we’ve learnt over the previous 50 records. I’ve made lots of mistakes over the last eight years but we have a great team now at the label and everyone loves the roster wholeheartedly.”

And So I Watch You From Afar play Glasgowbury on July 25