Published by Davide Pappalardo on April 18, 2018
Mai Lei Bel is a new independent record label founded in Kittsee, Nord Burgenland, Austria by Vlado Juščák in summer 2017. It covers different kinds of music, from indie rock/pop to post punk, from power pop to techno in all of its forms, ambient, and much more. We wanted to talk with Vlado in order to know something more about this new reality.
Hi Vlado! Thank you for your time. I would like to talk with you about Mai Lei Bel, the very young label you started recently. Can you please tell us what is it about? What’s the meaning behind the name Mai Lei Bel?
V: Hi Davide! Thank you for your interest. Mai Lei Bel is really a very small label which arose in a totally normal way. At first I had the idea in my head to create a record label, for over 20 years, but, like with a lot of things in life, I needed to meet the right people at the right time for my idea to become reality. Those “right people” are, of course, the artists who, through whatever twist of fate, I came into contact with at that “right time”. And then, you know, it does not take too much to recognize that “this is it”.
The origin of the name Mai Lei Bel is very simple. Basically it’s just a phonetic rendering of the term My Label, nothing more, nothing less. But to me is really means a lot.
What about running an independent label in today panorama? Do you do everything alone? How does your label operate?
I don’t have anything to compare it with because I never worked in the music industry, i.e. with artists, promoters, clubs etc. I learned to accept this fact as a big advantage, because I don’t have a distorted view of the musical community, I am not weighed down with my connections to the past, and as I have already heard many times from people in this “business”, had I known what awaited me, I would never have even launched the label.
So, I jumped into the deep end. But I am still holding my head above the surface and learning to swim. Mai Lei Bel is run out of my home, classic punk style, straight from the living room, and it takes up every free moment I have, meaning I have no free time. This is not a complaint, it’s just how it is.
As a label we’re really only at the start of our journey and we’re now at the moment right before our first release, I am trying to keep costs to a minimum in all areas which have no direct link to music. So then, which area in relation to a record label is not directly linked to music? Tough question…
All communication and business meetings with vinyl pressing plants, potential distributors, clubs, festivals and their organizers falls to me. As I am not particularly gifted at web design, in this area our artists have really helped me with work on the web platform.
Label logo
You are already showing a varied roster, with names like Leia Drex and Disordered Kind (techno), Medicina (noise rock/shoegaze) and so on. Would you like to give us further information about it?
Yes, gladly. Mai Lei Bel came about after my meeting with Petra aka Leia Drex and with Rob aka Webber. One time, they came to buy records in my shop, we spoke for a while, they invite me to their studio in Komplex K, which, at the time, they had just finished building right where we live, in the small Austrian village of Kittsee (this was something I found really surprising), and when I saw and discovered what they were working on, Mai Lei Bel was born. But to get it straight. Firstly there was my old friend Leďo (the famous Czecho-Slovak punk guitarist and composer from Zona A) with his current group Princovia, playing a mix of power pop and punk. I went to their concerts which I really enjoyed (as I still do) but I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t find their recordings in the shops. Then the young guys in The Rising Sign called, then they were really just kids with indie rock/pop guitar melodies, which I listened to and immediately liked. They made a recording but did not know what to do with it.
Then Leia Drex and Rob Webber came to buy those records. And they introduced me to their whole techno gang – Mike Preset, Perial, FNX, TRW…
Perial
This was the time when Leia Drex slowly started to become a respected techno DJ. Her direct and dark approach to playing really impresses me.
Rob Webber and his partner Mike Preset play really calmer techno, but with enough great discomfort to fascinate me.
When I first heard Marek’s recordings as Perial, I could not believe that this person is from Slovakia. Excellent atmosphere and sound. From experimental electronic to techno and ambient.
Daniel as FNX works in a very dedicated way and produces an uncompromising sound, techno with a touch of acid, a very dangerous combination.
When I discovered that Leia Drex and FNX started to play together as Disordered Kind, I was very excited and curious to find out what would come from their collaboration. They didn’t disappoint…
From the first moments of Mai Lei Bel’s existence I started to get offers from other groups and producers to work together, but none of them really impressed me. Not until the boys from the group Medicina from Algeciras, Spain. Their shoegaze / noise rock was exactly what I needed to hear at that moment. The veterans from Viaje A 800 and Buenamuerte Trio from my perspective they are a perfect fit to Mai Lei Bel’s Slovak-Austrian-Netherlands roster.
Medicina
What’s you would like to achieve with your label, what would you like to see happen in the future?
A label without artists is meaningless, just empty words. Only the artists can make a name for a label.
My goal is to do things so that artists want to play and to record their music under Mai Lei Bel. I want them to find everything they need to produce their music. I want them to not feel the need to play anyway else. I want them to be successful. I want them to all feel able to say, that this is really My Label.
How did get in contact with this kind of music? What’s your personal experience?
I was always a music fan. Probably a bit more passionate that most of those around me. From my parent’s radio I was brought up on the Beatles, from the age of 13 I started my record collection and I worshipped my musical heroes. This was in the early 80’s, post punk period, New Wave era – Ultravox, Soft Cell, The Human League, Depeche Mode… later The Pixies, Throwing Muses, My Bloody Valentine too. Loads of music, records and CDs. And of course as an 18-19 year old I played in a group…
Around 2003-2004 I almost totally gave up on music. Somehow I had grown tired of it and was not giving me much pleasure. After another few years I started to carefully order through Kompakt Extra, Sender and Areal, German minimal techno, later on I discovered Nachtstrom, Planet Rhythm, Syndikaat and then, then I was up and running. I was really absorbed by it. I really got into “New” Techno and I saw signs in it that were challenging the borders of musical expression. I still do. But I never gave up on the guitar either, it remains in my musical heart.
What are you enjoying at the moment in music? I would like to know about any modern band you think deserve more attention and to be known.
I don’t want to sound rude, but at the moment I am really enjoying how things are shaping up at Mai Lei Bel. And I really recommend following the following bands / producers (in alphabetical order): Disordered Kind, Medicina, Perial, Preset & Webber, Princovia, The Rising Sign
Disordered Kind
What about live performances and dj sets? Are the projects in your roster already performing live?
I have a feeling that in today’s climate, groups and producers don’t have a chance to survive unless they play live intensively / DJ intensively. And without activities singles label’s will not survive, including labels of the size of Mai Lei Bel. I am convinced of that. All artists on the Mai Lei Bel roster perform live. Some more often, some less often. But not one of that is without live experience. Of course Leďo and Princovia have the most hours under their belt, followed by Alberto with David and their Medicina. Perial has also had a few years of playing a lot of live music. I am pleased at the growing interest in Disordered Kind and The Rising Sign, and at their ever busier calendar.
Any forthcoming news you would like to preview about your bands and the label?
I am proud to announce that Disordered Kind are currently working on their first Mai Lei Bel release. Their EP is now being mastered and I expect that it will come out on vinyl officially some time around the mid of June. What I can confirm is that it is a very intense recording which will not disappoint any techno fans.
Perial has so many tracks that his current dilemma is deciding which ones will not make the album, which is planned for release in September-October.
And Medicina are also heavy involved. The recording of their EP should begin at any moment, and is ear-marked for release in November.
Thank you again for your time, anything you would like to say to our readers?
Mai Lei Bel has many shades and it will never be just a one coloured label. It’s not just a label producing techno music. It’s not just a label producing indie rock. It is a label which, I hope, will surprise and which remains true to one fact: the music will be what I like listening to. So I wish all pleasant listening and pleasant discovering.
https://www.facebook.com/maileibel/