“The exposure and tiny amount of money means that the record company (Smalltown America) might not drop us if our album sales are lower than expected,” reasons one half of the duo, Rocky O’Reilly. “Also it enables us to pay the club who remixed the track, as a thanks for the great remix, which means we have money free to try and pay rent.
“I don’t view Nike as being any different to Converse, which I wear, or Levi or Dickies or any clothing company,” he continues. “Nor any different than HMV or Virgin or Tower or any duplication plant pressing vinyl in Eastern Europe or Gibson, Fender, Marshall, Moog, Korg or Premiership football teams. If I did hold those beliefs, I’d be giving away my self-recorded music made on entirely self-made instruments and not communicating on a website owned by Newscorp.”
Nike has been targeted in recent years by Third World campaigners who claim the wages they pay are insufficient to meet their workers’ needs.
On a less contentious note, Oppenheimer’s excellent self-titled debut is released here by Smalltown America on January 29, with Bar None doing the honours in the States.