NZ MUSIC MONTH: Garbage Records

Words Hannah Powell. Images taken by Riley Coughlin, Rosa Ellis-cook, Gabe Devereux, and Connor Lambert. Posters by Damin.

Yo Vocal talked to Damin McCabe, co-founder of DIY record label Garbage Records. Promoting local artists since 2017, Garbage Records has been a staple in the Dunedin music scene. Three days before NZ Music Month began, we talked about the label, their artists, and what Damin’s role is inside it.

“There’s always new stuff happening,” Damin says.

Garbage Records, an independent record label based in Dunedin, has been supporting local artists and the music scene since 2017. Starting out as a group of mates holding events and pop-up thrift stores in the city, Garbage Records came together to form a team of photographers, videographers, painters, and graphic designers.

Concluding that they were all trying to get into the music industry with their own projects, Damin explains that he and Riley Coughlin were on the same page at the same time. They started putting on shows, releasing their own music and promoting it through Garbage.

“We just decided to turn out what we were doing into a music label…it kind of felt more like a collective [at the time], but we didn’t want to brand it as that. [We] wanted to take on that throwback record label, independent label idea,” Damin says.

Their mates jumped on board, with Hamish Borland, Silas Kemp, Hamish Calder, Anthony Tep, and Tane Brooks joining the team. All of the artists contribute in some way, too.

The label holds monthly events and has started Garbage Presents, GARBAGEEFX, and Garbage Art Society.

Currently promoting seven artists, including Wax Mustang, Three Quarter Marathon, Nic and Reuben, and KEVIN IN LUV, most are Dunedin-based. When an artist needs promotion on a new release, the label is the one to do it. Damin is signed to Garbage, too, with his own project, Jack Berry.

With a recently released single, ‘the middle’, Damin will be celebrating music month, hopefully with another track. “I’m trying to get another song out, get the ball rolling again,” he tells me. The main contact at the label, and sole graphic designer too, Damin describes his role as the overseer of what’s happening.

Undoubtedly having a stronghold in the Dunedin music scene, Garbage Records came off the wave of student “surfy” bands in 2016/2017. Although most have graduated or left, the scene continues to be predominantly an indie-heavy hub. Being a city down South that is driven by students, he tells me the isolation spurs on creativity. “You’re left to your own devices in a way,” he says.

Asking about the New Zealand music industry, Damin thinks it’s a pretty nice one at that. “Because of the size of it, you can meet a lot of people quickly and build connections,” he says. With Nic and Reuben in Wellington now, he says they can be more involved with what’s happening in a different scene because of it.

However, he tells me there needs to be more help towards people who don’t necessarily want to get major radio play or be signed to one of the big three. “That can seem like the thing that you want or need to put your music out there,” he says, “big-budget, big team [kind of thing]”. Garbage Records offers the alternative, but they’d like to see more of it in New Zealand.

They’re not coming from a budget standpoint but from a promotional one. Their aim is to get people’s music streaming, putting it in front of those who work for those platforms.

“The New Zealand music industry is pretty strong, and there’s a lot of good artists doing stuff, but [there are artists] who deserve to have their stuff put in front of more people.”

One thing Damin knows to be true is that keeping regular releases and a presence out there is key. Promoting artists who are not signed to the label, Garbage Records now offers service-distribution promotion. The label promoted Wellington artist Eli Superflyy’s EP just recently on his release. “[We’re] working with other artists and helping them distribute their projects through our audience,” Damin explains.

Not having a headquarters has never stopped them from achieving great things, either. “We’re pretty bedroom with our business,” Damin admits. 

Day-to-day involves making promos, booking gigs, designing merch, and booking gigs. Fellow Garbage team member and videographer Riley creates many of the videos for the artist, too. When asking what’s next for the label, music videos are a must. Damin is keen to make music videos a focus, kicking the YouTube channel into further action. For Riley, he can add his visual services to an artist’s release as a part of their promotion.

The future for Garbage Records is looking good. With merch designed by Damnin on the way, as well as talk of Wednesday nights at Dive, there’s much to get excited about. Other than that, it’s figuring out what direction to take the label in as well. Garbage Presents kicked off with the idea of booking tours for artists, doing all of the promo and ticketing for the event. The next step is that for those on the label – being able to facilitate their music-making and content.

The end goal is to make it the highest quality it can be. “If it’s a Wax Mustang song or a Nic and Reuben song, we can make sure the production, mixing, and roll-out of these projects reflect Garbage well, and the artists as well as possible.”

Driven by DIY, Garbage Records has created a community for both the artists and followers alike. Do what makes you happy and be yourself in doing it. With no legal binding contract, Damin explains how being signed is more of “an understanding between friends”. This, I think, captures the core of what they’re all about. Mates helping mates get their stuff out there.

“[It’s] what makes Garbage, GARBAGE,” he says.