an interview with Warren Hill by W.J. Grimmer
(originally appeared Color Magazine, sometime in early 2009)
One of the very first things I did upon moving to Montreal in 2006 was visit fellow ex-Vancouverite Warren Hill’s Backroom Records (so-named as it operates out a tiny shed in the back of Hill’s Mile-End apartment). My main reason for visiting was to purchase a copy of the, at the time, recently released compendium of Washington Phillips’ ghostly gospel work titled “What Are They Doing In Heaven Today?” on the Mississippi label that Warren co-runs (with Eric Isaacson and Alex Yusimov). While there, another record on the same label caught my eye - it was called”Last Kind Words” and I bought it sight unheard.
Since then, the label has released somewhere in the environs of twenty seven other vinyl-only gems (though they also offer a series of cassette-only releases available solely at the Portland, Oregon Mississippi Records store, where Warren spends half his year avoiding the bitter Quebec winters) , all limited to small runs, all affordable, all featuring music that is both out of time and almost forgotten, and all absolutely amazing. African Highlife, Psychedelic Thai music, spectral folk blues and gospel, U.K. post punk, Greek rebetica, and soul jazz all find space in the grooves of Mississippi releases.
I’m grateful that the notoriously tight-lipped Mr. Hill was able to find time out from cooking up new ideas for future Mississippi output, putting together a new issue of his zine $2 Comes With A Mix Tape and captaining the Montreal chapter of the Irma Thomas fan-club to answer my questions.
What record labels that served as specific inspiration for Mississippi?
The Origin Jazz Library was a major influence. Their compilations were of a rare breed in which not a single piece of filler was used on a record - only the best songs in the genre of country blues. They blew our minds when we were young and we could only hope to do a fraction of as good a job as they did presenting that type of music.
Folkways is a big influence too. Their idea of what folk music constituted makes a lot of sense to us - its not just anything with an acoustic guitar….it could be soul music or punk or Gamelan or a bunch of inner city kids beating on trash cans…anything that is made for, and by, the people and not for commercial reasons. Any music that is just an attempt to communicate with other humans and help make us all feel less alone. It is their version of what folk music is that we are interested in disseminating.
Other labels that have informed our aesthetics quite a bit include Arhoolie, Herwin, Sublime Frequencies, & the Yazoo label.
How did Last Kind Words, Mississippi’s first compilation come about?
In the spring of 1997 Eric and I went on a cross country record buying trip where we would shop for records by day and play backgammon by night. Eric would sleep in the van and I would sleep on the roof. We got jobs building a mini golf course in St. Charles from some people we met in a restaurant in Houston. Eric and I put this together by talking about our favorite 78s from that time. Most of the discussions regarding this comp took place between us under the hot Louisiana sun while building a giant Abraham Lincoln shaped miniature golf obstacle back in 1997. We didn’t get around to actually putting the comp out until 2006.
What can you tell me about the Thai Orchestra LP without spoiling the party?
There has been a lot of conjecture about where this record comes from - is it a bunch of current musicians aping Thai Moolang country music or is it a genuine Thai Orchestra with a really unique sound? It’s interesting that some people are reluctant to enjoy it too much for fear that it is just a bunch of Sun City Girls/Thinking Fellers dudes taking a piss.
Getting to reissue The Rats LPs is quite a coup. How did that happen?
Well, he lives in Portland and Eric’s been obsessed with reissuing the Rats records for awhile. I think part of it comes from a frustration with wanting to share some of your favorite music on record with your friends but originals costing hundreds of dollars. Eric believes that the Fred & Toody Cole musical legacy will be viewed as one of the most important in the world one day.
Whose idea was it to release the Animals + Men compilation?
There is another person, Alex Yusimov, who releases things on the Mississippi label. He put out his own band Duck Duck Grey Duck as the first release on the label. But how it actually came about, I couldn’t tell you exactly; Alex is very guarded about his end of the operation & rarely lets us know about anything he is doing. Sometimes we won’t even know about a record we are distributing until the day 500 copies arrive at our door. It’s all part of the general chaos of our operation. He likes to fuck with us.
What can you tell me about your Spiritual Singers release?
I moved to Taipei to look for Chinese pop records since I was really into the music of Yao Su-Rong, Yi Ru and You Ya. There was a shop in an electronics flea market that specialized in Jazz and Classical music, I spent an afternoon going through every record in the place, this is what I bought.
Who curated the Oh, Graveyard You Can’t Hold Me Always compilation?
Well, you might notice that its a split release on Social Music which is Mike McGonical (Yeti Magazine)’s label. Basically, Mike shoveled an insane amount of material our way, of which we chose our 5 favorites….then Kevin Nutt allowed us to pick a few songs from an excellent CD comp he had made, & then we filled in the rest.
Did you notice any spike in interest after the J.Spaceman (Spacemen 3/Spiritualized) article - where he laid out his love for Mississippi -appeared in Vice Magazine?
I don’t think either of us even knew about the Spaceman article until well after it happened. There has definitely been an increase in interest in the label over the last couple years, but I would hope it’s more due to the strength of releases than celebrity endorsement. On a side note - we actually have nothing but contempt for Vice magazine (although we do have much respect for J. Spaceman, so I guess it evens out) and refused to cooperate with them for it. We usually refuse to do press at all unless it is in a language other than English or for a magazine that endorses skateboarding culture.
Who does the album artwork for the compilations ?
It’s always different. Most of the time Eric, sometimes me, and occasionally it’s a collaboration…or we get artist friends to make paintings for the front or back cover.
Which of your releases is a personal favorite, if any?
I always like the ones that were the most collaborative between Eric and myself and others. The first two remain favorites because we kind of put them out there without having any idea or clue about how to distribute them or if there would even be any demand for these kinds of records. It seems like Eric is most excited about whichever one is currently in the works. He’ll rant & rave about how this is the best thing we ever did and everything else is just crap….until the next project comes around. He’s one of those guys who touches every doorknob three times before twisting, will tell you Kinks’ Village Green Preservation Society was his favorite album as a four-year old and that his Mom used to date the lead singer of Journey. I just hope we can finish the next 66 records before he completely breaks down.
Any plans to reissue the incredible, and now out-of-print, Lipa Kodi Ya City Council African collection?
No plans. A lot of what we do is tedium and that’s why we rarely give interviews. It’s embarrassing how dull the life of a record label can be. On the plus side sometimes we get good mail like a Swiss Cajun band who wrote us the other day and we also recently got a demo from a lady in Greenland.
What are the future plans for the label? Upcoming releases?
We just started doing individual mail order that hopefully will allow people to buy our records who can’t find them in their local shops. We’re working on manufacturing our ideal covers, basically its a two way race between the most rundown box factory called Grigbsy Bros and some guy named Lord Vandercook who just moved here from Detroit.
We have an insane list of projects in the works, many of which may not ever see the light of day. In the end we want to do 100 records we can be proud of. ….I think we are at around 34 after only 3 years. Hopefully we’ll get the remaining 66 done sooner than later so we can move on with our lives and do something else.
