Who: The Heads/Lillydamwhite
What: Split 7″
When: 1998
This is where Rocket Recordings started – it was conceived, if you like, during a Lillydamwhite gig supported by The Heads at The Louisiana in Bristol, 1997. Simon Healey and I drunkenly decided to start the label. Memory’s a funny thing, but to my mind, it was when Lillydamwhite played ‘Master F’ that Simon and I said to each other “this should be out there, people should be able to get this on record”. Then we both seemed to say “well, why don’t we just do it?” – and we went from there… It feels doubly momentous because Lillydamwhite’s bassist Gareth Turner, who went on to be in groups like Kuro and Anthroprophh, was to become someone we’d work with a lot.
Who: Oneida
What: ‘Anthem to the Moon’
When: 2001 on Jagjaguwar, 2003 on Rocket
We heard the Oneida album ‘Each One Teach One’ when it came out in 2002 and it blew us all away. So we went back and listened to their two previous albums and we fell in love with both, particularly ‘Anthem of the Moon’. We saw it was only released on CD so we approached them to do a vinyl release, which then became our first release by a band from outside the UK. They’re such an amazing live band and we’ve had the pleasure to release two more records by them since then. Kid (Millions, Oneida drummer) produced one of 2017’s best albums with his ‘Man Forever’ album.
Who: Mammatus
What: ‘Mammatus’
When: 2006
We were introduced to this band when we started working with Residual Echoes, as recommended by one of our heroes Julian Cope. They sent us this demo by their friends, a group called Mammatus. It’s this really heavy, drawn-out psych rock made by four guys from Santa Cruz, perhaps heavier than a lot of stuff we’d put out up to that point. But trust me, if we could sign a band that sounded like, say, ‘Ride the Lightning’ era Metallica, we’d be there in a second. Anyway, we asked the band about what kind of sleeve idea they had, and they gave us this brief: a wizard stranded in a stormy sea, fighting off a huge sea dragon with his staff. So naturally we called up Arik Roper, who was famed for his artwork for Sleep, Om and High on Fire. It was really nice to work with an illustrator on this – especially one we really admired – as John and I create 90% of the sleeves ourselves.
Who: Teeth of the Sea
What: ‘Orphaned by the Sea’
When: 2009
They used to be called JAWS, but they obviously had to change their name. So they took the French title of Spielberg’s movie – le dents de la mer – and translated it into English. Teeth of the Sea are one of those groups that, when I first heard it, there were times I couldn’t quite make out what all the instruments were doing. It’s psychedelic and flowing, but not in a way I was familiar with at the time. This was just something else entirely – something different. So atmospheric and rich. We’ve been really lucky to have worked with them, as they’ve become close friends of us and the label over the years.
Who: Gnod and White Hills
What: Dropout with White Hills II
When: 2010
Here’s the thing with some of the groups who’ve been with us for a long time: it isn’t that we’re taking them on our journey, they’re taking us on theirs – and Gnod have been one of those groups for us. You just never know what they’ll do next, what they’ll sound like next. They first collaborated with White Hills in 2008 and reunited for this recording in Dropout studios in Camberwell, before White Hills got signed to Thrill Jockey. It’s a stunning jam, and in terms of Gnod’s journey, this where they started to really gel. You can hear a lot of the Gnod R&D (Research and Development) in there, where the two central figures Paddy Shine and Chris Haslam perform spontaneous live show experiments, just to try and work out what they’ll sound like next.
Who: Goat
What: ‘World Music’
When: 2012
This one was really huge for us. Goat sent us a bunch of demos and we asked them to come back with an album. In about six months, we got ‘World Music’. It eventually got to Lauren Laverne, who then played it on 6 Music. Back in the day, the goal was to have your stuff played by John Peel, and Laverne’s backing seemed to have a bit of an osmosis effect. We loved ‘World Music’, but we couldn’t have guessed that it would take off in the way it did. The next thing we knew, Goat were playing Glastonbury, and a mate of mine calls me to say they’re heading the BBC coverage. I turn on the telly, and there they are! It was pretty surreal, especially given that the group weren’t disposed to playing live or appearing on stage at first – hence the masks and costumes.