Label of the Month: One Records

This month we speak to Adam Shelton about his Birmingham house and tech label, One Records.

After four years of experiences running underground bash Below in Birmingham, Adam Shelton enlisted the help of friend and resident Subb-An, and One Records was born. With releases so far coming from the founding pair themselves, as well as Detroit rude-boy Kris Wadsworth, London's Alex Arnout of Dogmatik and newbie Jordan Peak, plus remixes from the likes of jozif and Burnski, the output has so far tread a line between chunky tech and deeper house with aplomb. Of course, it's stuff designed for the dance floor, but that's not to say it doesn't jump from the speakers with a little extra bite than the competition. So far so good, then, for a label that only started in late 2009, so we decided to catch up with one of the men behind it, Adam Shelton, for more...

So tell us how you guys came together – what was your background, what were your shared passions, what scene did you grow up around?

I met Ash (Subb-An) about 5 years ago at one of my below warehouse parties, we were talking about things and ash mentioned to me how he produces music, we hooked up from there. Although there is an age gap of 8 years so we are from slightly different backgrounds in terms of musical influences we both now share the same passion for house music and parties. I was brought up house music wise on the likes of Todd Terry, Masters at Work, Derrick Carter and DJ Sneak, also shortly after that I was very much in to the French sound, I Cube, Daft Punk etc.

And what made you start the label when you had released on other respectable ones already … why the hard work?

We started the label to have a platform to put our music out, to get people involved with the label that we are into and to push new music that we see fit. I don’t see it as hard work, more as something to be excited about. I try not to take the ‘work’ outlook on a lot of things. You have to sometimes but the ‘fun’ element should rule.

What does/did inspire or influence the label mostly? Does the Birmingham scene have any importance on your sound?

To be honest Birmingham has not had that much influence music wise on what we are doing, ok it is a place where people can have a good party but is not really pushing much on the house scene anyway. The label is inspired from all the good parties we go to all over the place, seeing what people like to dance to and like to listen to.

Was there a plan/mission statement at the beginning of how you wanted it to sound or do you by it by ear from release to release?

We very much do it release to release, we don’t want to be just firing out current house tracks, I like to think we are not doing that.

How do you hope to stand out from myriad other labels? Is that something you have thought about?

We want to be able to offer some more alternative music also, getting people such as bonar bradberry, death on the balcony and jozif to do remixes has done that. But at the end of the day everybody is doing their thing. Worry about your own you know.

And how involved do you get with the final music before it is released - do you just release the music as it comes to you from the producers, without interfering too much? Or might you offer input/edits/criticism - if necessary - before something gets released?

I think it depends on the release. A good voice of opinion Mr Kris Wadsworth opened up my eyes on this matter and was like ‘ man you asked me for a track don’t tell me to change it’ he is right to a certain degree, you may as well make the music yourself otherwise.



And what are you looking for in the music you release? Anything specific? Or is it just a felling you’re looking for?

Totally a feeling, something that people will enjoy remixing as an artist, playing as a dj and listening to as somebody in the crowd. The basics yes but essentials.

And when it comes to remixes, what’s your approach? Does the original artist chose or… what you looking for?

No we totally choose what goes on here, ok if an artist said they really don’t want this person to remix then we would look at that. This has not happened yet so I can’t say more.

Will you release any long players? Is that a goal or..?

Yeah for sure, I see this happening in the next year.

How important is the vinyl, artwork and overall artistic value of the package to you, or are you primarily concerned with getting the music out there?

Vinyl is very important to me, the artwork is very important to me, we have done the various artists as a digital release and will do maybe 2/3 of those per year, but primarily we want to do all the releases on vinyl, the first ten have all been different coloured vinyl and the next ten will have a different creative element to them. Getting the music out there is not the only focus, we want people to have a nice product in their hand not just on their iPod or whatever.

What’s coming up for the label in 2011?

In 2011 we are going to be doing some cool label parties, W hotel in Barcelona, fabric, Watergate to mention a few, then release wise we have releases from Subb-an and myself, Hector, Burnski, Jordan Peak and some really tasty remixes to go with them.

Proudest moment: Just having the label makes us proud, it is so nice to have people playing the music and taking an interest in what you are doing. Sorry for the general answer but it is all good.

Find them: Search out the One crew at one of these cyber places...
                      One Records on RA
                      onerec.net


Kristan J Caryl