In the ever-tightening spider web of six-degree associations in Athens music, many connections are tied together by a mere single bond. One of the more common bonds is the record label. Vic Chesnutt and Nana Grizol are strange bedfellows (I can't help but picture a "get off my lawn" scenario in some sort of cartoon parallel universe), but there they are, snugly adjacent on the Orange Twin Records website. One Percent Press pulls off its fair share of odd juxtapositions, with a wildly diverse roster ranging from the elegiac Venice is Sinking to the funky experiments of One Man Machine. The label's reluctance to box itself in extends beyond the stylistic and into the realms of multiple media--true to its name, OPP (has anyone ever called it that?) also traffics in indie comics. The whole thing is tied together by a reverence to the DIY punk standard, and I think we can all get behind that. To put it all in perspective, I caught up with one half of Team OPP, Stephen Floyd.

Flagpole: When and why did you start your own label?

Stephen Floyd: The label was started as a collaboration between myself and JP Coovert at the end of 2004, built on the idea of self releasing our own comics and music, along with anything else we wanted to do. I personally was really inspired by different record labels and different publishing imprints. When we started I was living in Marietta at the time and Top Shelf Productions was from there and really on a roll with the quality of stuff they were putting out. As far as record labels at that time I was heavy into Dischord, DeSoto and Merge. Hello Sir in Athens was just starting and my group of friends were way into that scene. Stickfigure in Atlanta was a big influence as well.

FP: What are the aesthetic guidelines of the label, in terms of the music you put out?

SF: When we started it was definitely just an "anything goes" kind of punk rock attitude and honestly it pretty much still is. I sometimes wish I had a stricter set of "aesthetic guidelines" for the label. It's probably a little too eclectic for it's own good. JP and I are both pretty deep into the DIY thing, so it's pretty important that we're working with people who value the scene and the idea of it as a community of people exchanging ideas. I personally wouldn't want to work with people who just view it as a stepping stone for getting their career rolling. Mainly I just want to work with people I care about and people that don't really have a choice in making art or not. Which is kind of weird thing to say. I guess I'm interested in people who HAVE to make art versus people who think just it's fun hobby or something like that.

FP: What is the most underrated release in your catalog?

SF: Well, you could make a case for them all being underrated, but I think that One Man Machine Get My Sound album that we did was really slept on. I sent out a ton of copies, trying to get it reviewed, but it just didn't take. No one wrote about it! I just think it's spilling over with creativity, in a "Sandinista!" sort of way. Maybe not as overstuffed, but it definitely has that "everything but the kitchen sink" vibe which makes it great.

FP: What are the difficulties of running a label? What advice would you give to someone starting one up now?

SF: I probably haven't been running a label long enough to be qualified to answer this question all that well. But it seems all the information out there points towards the fact that people just aren't paying for music right now. Which is fine, but I feel like if you're starting a label right now you should do some serious research about what you're getting into. It's obviously very rewarding if you're passionate, but it can be a real money pit!

FP: Anything else you think the readers should know about the label?

SF: We do comics, too! We’re like the sensitive version of Skin Graft or something. I think we’re going to stick with the original idea of just documenting expression in whatever medium it takes shape, but as for right now we pretty much just deal in music and comics. We’ll see what the future holds. I feel like JP and I are in it for the long haul so there will be lots of more projects down the road!

www.onepercentpress.com

Jeff Tobias