 "Photo: Peter Harris/ Manitou Messenger")
Few college juniors can claim to put CEO or CFO on their resume, or claim to run an incorporated record label. The resumes of Kai Hansen ’11 and Joe Erickson ’11 are likely to dazzle future employers, as they started Checkdown Records, LLC, a record label for St. Olaf campus bands.
The duo first hatched the idea for a record label two years ago, after Hansen heard a friend’s album from high school and researched how to create a record label.
Gabriel Rysdahl ’11, a former member of Foreman, the first band Checkdown Records signed, said, “I remember listening to this album in Hoyme freshman year. I think Kai was thinking if we had some money, we could create a lot of these albums, put a title on it and push it.”
Checkdown Records officially launched after Hansen and Erickson received a grant from the Finstad Program for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Center for Experiential Learning during first semester of last year.
Technically, Hansen is the CEO and Erickson the CFO, but Hansen says these titles remain insignificant except for clarification purposes. Hansen says he and Erickson act as a partnership, each playing their own roles for Checkdown Records. “Joe is very good at math. He does the [financial] stuff and I do more of the production,” Hasen said.
Rysdahl added, “They work really well together. They cover each other’s weaknesses. Kai will get an idea, and he’ll run with it. Joe will say, ‘Okay listen, let’s think this thing out.’”
Through this successful partnership, Checkdown Records has formed connections with three campus musical talents, two of whom they have officially signed. They first signed the rock band Foreman, described by Checkdown Records’ website as strongly influenced by blues, folk, jazz, rock and reggae.
They then signed ska band “Dropping Trou,” about whom Rysdahl said, “They don’t just play [well], they perform well. They make if fun for the audience.”
Though they haven’t yet signed him as an artist, DJ Mike Okner ‘11 works with Checkdown Records as an in-house DJ for events.
While Checkdown Records tips its cap to St. Olaf’s campus radio station KSTO – Hansen said KSTO gave them its old director’s office to record in – Checkdown’s recording process also ventures outside the studio.
As Eric Rahman ’11 put it, their process is “pretty wild.” Rahman, the keyboardist of Foreman, as well as rhythm guitar player and backup vocalist, said the band has just begun recording with Checkdown Records for their album.
Explaining their recording process, Hansen said, “We have a cool way of doing it. We like to organically record here at St. Olaf. We record drum tracks in the Pause; we’ll go to the music hall and put a dozen microphones on the grand piano … We can do it on campus locations you are in every day, and that does something to the music. It makes it more ‘St.-Olafy’ if that’s an adjective.”
Erickson added that the process is “a lot of trial and error, but it comes along nicely after you [have done] it [for] a good amount of time.”
Hansen said the recording process is pretty time-consuming, and the most challenging part is finding that time. “When you’ve got twelve people involved, everyone’s got different class schedules, sports, clubs and homework, and finding time is hard,” Hansen said. “That’s the best thing [Joe and I] can do: arrange times for the band. When you’re in a band you don’t want to be spending your time contacting, you just want to be making music. That’s what we’re all about: people making music.”
Hansen and Erickson put in about 10 hours of work per week and even more when they’re in the process of recording. “It takes a lot of time, but I think it’s definitely worth it,” Erickson said. He added that the best part is, “when we see a lot of people just lovin’ the band playing.”
According to Hansen, Checkdown Records is unique because its goal is to help campus bands in ways that record labels typically cannot. “We try to do everything for a band,” Hansen said. “Normally labels would outsource [parts of the process] to other labels. We work with the bands and get them whatever they need, however they want.”
Checkdown Records helps bands with every step from recording to producing, marketing, promotion and distribution. “We give bands a way to get more shows and publicity, and we give students here an opportunity to see these shows and get music from bands they normally wouldn’t have,” Erickson said.
Rysdahl added, “I know it’s been a good experience for Kai and Joe, dealing with bands, trying to please everyone and being as frugal as possible with funds.”
Besides success for Foreman’s upcoming album, Erickson said he and Hansen hope the label will expand in the future and they will have the opportunity to work with many more bands at St. Olaf.
“Checkdown is such an asset for a campus band. They’ve been a really good asset [to Foreman] and a good motivator,” Rahman said. “Honestly I don’t think Foreman would be where we are if it wasn’t for Kai and Joe and Checkdown. They alone make it possible for us to get our album out.”
For more information on Checkdown Records LLC, visit: www.checkdownrecords.com and as their website advises in punning profusion: “Check out the bands, check out the music, check out the merch … and keep checking back for more.”
casale@stolaf.edu
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