Red on arrival

The idea has been gestating for the best part of a decade, but this month sees Michael Taylor finally launch one of the North’s first independent dance labels, Red Records. Taylor is primarily known as a photographer, having worked closely with big-name rocks acts like U2, Placebo and Ash, as well as documenting Belfast’s underground club scene during the 1990s. However, he's always produced and engineered music and feels that the time is right to launch his imprint.

“There's a positive attitude about the North at the moment,” Michael explains. “Bands like Ash and Snow Patrol and producers like David Holmes have all done very well, and they're showing that there's a bit of a vibe going on here and lots of talent in the North.”
This may be true, and the recent Stormont power-sharing agreement has also provided an extra boost to the North’s music community on a global level – but is it really a good time to launch an independent label, especially an electronic one?
“It’s never a good time to launch a label,” Michael admits, “and it’s always going to be tough for dance labels, but this isn’t an exercise in making money. We want to release a few great projects a year and hope that they find an audience.”
Red Records' first release is Belfast producer Zabbai’s ‘Comfort Me’, a skilful reinterpretation of early ‘90s New York tribal house. Featuring soulful vocals and a melodic hook, it could end up on daytime radio – or even follow the success of Fish Go Deep’s sleeper hit ‘Cure & The Cause’. In fact, Michael makes no secret about his desire for commercial success for the label.
“It’s an uplifting house track with some strong melodies and great vocals - [vocalist] Danny Campbell has worked with everyone from Tom Jones to Sasha. We hope it'll work in the mainstream, but we don’t think that we’re compromising our sound so we can get there.” Zabbai, a former progressive house producer, will follow ‘Comfort Me’ with a four-track release in April next year, while Michael is on the look out for new Irish talent and Red wants to sign an act to the label that fuses live sounds with electronic music.
“I listen to everything from Cinematic Orchestra and Bruce Springsteen to obscure Argentinean folk music and the Blue Nile at home, so I’m trying to find an act that combines these elements, that sounds like an Irish version of Moby or Massive Attack. More importantly, we’re looking for an act that's real and has soul. It’s not enough to make clever electronic music. There has to be some kind of deeper human to human interaction. I find that cutting edge, purist electronica dates very quickly, but go back and listen to Moby’s Play – it still sounds great.”
Taylor’s comments are certain to rub up the purists the wrong way, but Red Records is hardly a money-grabbing major label. While its releases will be distributed digitally through the iTunes, eMusic and Rhapsody download services, there are also plans to put out its singles on vinyl – a format that is becoming rarer and rarer for independents due to cost issues. Taylor isn’t looking at the label to make a quick buck either, with his photography work still his main earner.
“We’re here for the long haul, so the label’s progress will be a slow, slow build, rather than a fast blast. Having said that, if we find that Red really does well, I will devote more and more time to it,” he proffers.
Just one question remains: is Michael aware that there was another Irish dance imprint called Red Records, fronted by a certain Mark Kavanagh, which enjoyed success during the ’90s?
“I’m glad you asked me that because the answer is 'yes',” Michael laughs. “We rang up Mark to ask him if it was OK to use the name and he was cool with it. Getting his blessing felt like we’d overcome the last hurdle before we launched.”

‘Comfort Me’ is out on Red Records