General Speech Records is one of the most prolific and quality labels going, releasing both modern punk rippers and reissued classics that would otherwise be impossible to come by (and cost you an arm and a leg to acquire). We spoke with General Speech about their origins, running a label in 2024, and what goes into mastering and reissuing some of punk’s most iconic hits.
First off, what got you into punk music and how long have you been involved in the scene?
I got into punk from college radio late night shows. Something I sort of listened to in secret as a kid. I think when you feel at your core like a bit of an outsider, certain things resonate with you even if you can’t fully explain it, and punk was one of those things for me that just felt like a synergy before I really knew how to articulate it, and that’s what got me into it. I’ve been more seriously into punk for over 20 years now I guess, as I’ve started to realize a lot of my oldest friendships are at that age or close.
What were some bands/songs/albums in particular that stuck with you as a kid?
Once I knew I was into punk, I was very lucky to be gifted a box of some of the best starter punk CDs one could ask for when I was in middle school. They belonged to the older “used to be punk” brother of friend I had made. The ones that stuck with me the most were “Leave Home”, “Damned Damned Damned”, and “Never Mind The Bollocks”. Later on along the way, bands that felt revolutionary in that I had never heard anything like it, but were still punk, were BAD BRAINS, CRASS, and DISCHARGE, and the record that probably changed my life more than anything was the PEACE compilation and it’s booklet.
When did you start General Speech and how were things in the early days of the label?
I started General Speech in 2011 as the continuation of a fanzine I had done since 2007, that I wanted to go in a new direction. The first record release came out in 2012 which was CONFRONT’s “The Curtain Of An Intense Attack” 7” from Japan. In the early days I was focused on the zine, making mix tapes, and maintaining the correspondence and record collecting relationships I had developed over the years. The increased cost of international postage, and the decline in zine readership caused things to sort of evolve over the years, but that’s where I was in the early days. Selling records and zines 10+ years ago was much easier than it is now due to a shift to social media sites and apps, and the ways people are consuming media, whether it be music, or writing, like people are reading here, on their phones and computers. Other than that, things are still the same and I have the same ideals and values when it comes to the label now as I did early on.
Do you ever miss the old ways of doing things or has the advent of newer technologies made things easier for you as a label? I’d have to imagine you’re able to reach a larger audience in 2024 than in 2012 with platforms like Instagram and other socials.
That’s hard to say. I think you could probably base an entire interview around this topic with most anyone who’s been involved in punk for a while, but I guess to not really go too deep into all the thoughts I have on it, I like that shipping is easier and more reliable than in the past. It’s easier to start a label or distro than in the past in terms of reaching an audience. Communication is easier than ever before. I dislike that because of that, people have become used to putting less time and effort into it. It’s harder to get bands interested in doing interviews or taking time to correspond with people. Social media has created a more ranked social hierarchy with who is seen with who, and who talks to who, and I think that’s a detriment as well.
I like that there’s so much accessible in the blink of an eye online. You could learn and hear so much if you put in the effort, but at the same time we become more closed off in digital communities and those communities become echo chambers, which have their downsides. Less people are seeing punk in the real world, and just cause it’s easier to access online, you have to know where to find it. When flyers and other things were all over the place and people had boxes of records and zines at gigs, or random events, that put physical artifacts of punk in front of people and opened up more chances for dialogue with younger people. I think that really had the ability to show people that there is a whole DIY thing behind the scenes you can take part in, in this community. That kind of inspiration that could get someone involved is slipping I think, as our community shifts more to gigs, partying, how we communicate with each other, everything being more of just a social thing instead of a protest and counterculture or whatever, and it’s related to the shift to digital consumption of media and digital communities.
Punk as a subculture is shrinking and because of that and the shift to less physical media products being bought by young people, not as many records and zines are being sold these days. It’s probably more profitable to run a bootleg t-shirt webstore online than a legit record label in 2024. I guess none of the sales stuff really matters to me in the end as it’s not why I run the label, but it does mean records are more expensive and sometimes less accessible when I can’t make as many of them.
How does reissuing a record come about? What’s generally involved in that process?
There’s a few ways you can go about it, and it depends on who owns the rights to the music, but the way I prefer coming from a DIY punk background, is to track down members of the band, and come to an agreement with them about what material is reissued, how many copies, what the art etc. looks like, how much they will get paid as a royalty or licensing agreement. From there you have to get the audio mastered for vinyl, as now everyone cuts from high quality digital masters for the most part, even “audiophile” labels in the last couple decades are cutting from digital masters on almost all their releases. Getting to the point where you have a suitable master can be tricky, and expensive, and sometimes involves digital audio restoration, baking of old tapes in low temp ovens, finding people who can transfer different types of formats. For instance, a project that took a really long time, like 8+ years to materialize, was the LP and CD I released by the early 90s Japanese hardcore band BLAZE. The guitarist had played in a number of bands since the early 90’s like THE SLOWMOTIONS, STICKS IN THROAT, TURTLE ISLAND, and the last lineup of GISM, and was able to be contacted easily and come to an agreement with, but the masters showed up in a large box with different multi-track master reels, DAT tapes, half and quarter inch reel tapes, 5 different formats no one really uses anymore to make up the material on just 1 album. All of that had to be transferred by different people, and the multitrack masters separated so they could be properly remastered.
On the other hand, sometimes masters end up being really easy, but it can be challenging getting all the members of a band on board with what you want to do, what you can afford to pay them, etc. and sometimes people’s artistic preferences clash. I end up doing almost all of the graphic design for stuff on General Speech, which usually needs approved by the bands also, so there’s a lot of parts in the process.
From what I’ve seen there’s a lot of buzz around the SWANKYS reissue, including a lot of excitement over how it was remastered. Can you tell us about this album, how it came to be, and more about the remastering process?
In Japan especially, it’s a big deal. The record originally came out on Dogma Records, which is the same label that released GISM, THE COMES, GASTUNK, etc. It’s been out of print since 1985, and remains probably the hardest to find release on the label. The aforementioned bands and many other classic Japanese bands have all had official vinyl or CD reissues, numerous vinyl bootlegs etc., making them more available in the last 40 years. The SWANKYS LP however has never been officially reissued and never bootlegged on vinyl, and would probably make a large number of people’s “favorite Japanese punk records of all time” lists, as The SWANKYS popularized what has come to be known as the “Kyushu Punk” style, along with other bands from the southern island of Kyushu like CONFUSE, LYDIA CATS, LAST CHILD, SLICKS, etc. which enjoys a great degree of popularity in Japan and overseas.
Kings World Records is THE “Kyushu Punk” label, and has been releasing and promoting music from southern Japan for 40 years. If there was ever a home town punk label that supported and grew the music from their local area, it would be KWR. The SWANKYS reissue came about as I had previously worked with them on a reissue of all the material by the band Kyushu punk band SLICKS, which I released as the “Total Filth Collection” LP a couple years ago. On that record I was able to get a finished product that sounded much better than the original releases, and after that was wrapped up, I got to work on the SWANKYS reissue with the same goal in mind, which I had been asking them about for many years, but was never fully green lighted.
As far as the mastering process, the original record from 1985 is one of those records that just sounds and feels very intense and unique on vinyl in a way that’s hard to replicate when converted to mp3 or streaming. I’m not even one of those guys who thinks vinyl is the only real way to listen to music, the best sounding DISCHARGE release is the Japanese CD version of “Punk And Destroy”, but there’s just something about this particular record that feels missing when you stream it online. CONFUSE’s “Stupid Life” 12” and POISON IDEA’s “Feel The Darkness” are some other examples of just stunning music that only feels like that on the original record. Being really concerned about making the reissue capture that feeling, we chose to have it mastered by Miles at Abbey Road, and have it cut at half speed, which for a record like this which is very noisy, and very dynamic is really important, as this gives the needle twice as much time to cut all the audio detail into the lacquer disc, resulting in a much better and much more accurate playback on the finished record. This type of mastering process is generally only reserved for high end audiophile Jazz, Classical, etc. releases, and while I think there was a RAMONES LP done half speed a few years ago, this is the first DIY hardcore punk record to be done that way. To be able to buy an official reissue that lives up to the original instead of a subpar bootleg, and costs $30 instead of $500-1000, is really something to be excited about in my opinion.
One last note I’ll mention is that Mr. Kawahara, the president of Kings World Records, sadly passed away in June before the record was fully completed. He was a huge fan of the Beatles, and was very excited the SWANKYS would be given the opportunity to be cut by the best in the world at the same studio as THE BEATLES and other legendary names. It was so sad for someone so integral to the project to pass away, but I’m glad that test presses were delivered before he passed and he could experience that. R.I.P. Kawahara.
Any other releases folks should be on the lookout for?
If you like Japanese punk, I’ve released 4 LPs earlier this year exploring the pre-hardcore explosion in Japan. 2 LPs by Deef, a band influenced by The Stalin and Discharge, who recorded almost all their material before there were records released by the earliest hardcore bands like GISM, Comes, etc. and 2 LPs by Die Öwan who play in a short sharp shock style fusing Crass and Cabaret Voltair, or Metal Urbain, also recorded before the real punk explosion in Japan. Both these bands are pretty unknown both inside and definitely outside Japan, but made a pretty big splash once released. In the historical context, these bands would be sort of akin to hearing something from America you’ve never heard of on the hardcore side of things that pre-dates Minor Threat or something. They are wildly different musically but similar in their trailblazing characteristics.
Coming up I have a lot of exciting releases planned, but the next in partnership with Kings World Records, who I worked with on this SWANKYS LP, is “The Very Best of Hero 2” 7” by THE SWANKYS. Alongside that I’m working on 7”s by EJACULATORS from Chicago, for fans of THE SPITS, or MUMMIES, but even more PUNK, if you know what I mean, which we are hoping may be done for their eastern US tour in late October. A repress of the TIIKERI “Punk On Rakkaus” 7”, amazing 70’s style punk from Finland who will be headed to Japan for their next tour in November. An official overseas pressing of the unreleased STALIN 7” recorded during their classic “Mushi” LP era, a studio discography LP by Japanese crusties FRIGORA, a 12” version of IGNORANTES from Chile’s “Demo Buena Onda” session, a 12” by unknown Japanese noise punks EXCREMENT, fusing the sounds of GAI and CONFUSE with DEEF and LSD, a compilation titled “Miniatures” of obscure Japanese punk, post punk, avant garde and industrial from 1979-1981 curated by DIE ÖWAN. About ten more releases in various stages planned after these. Sometimes good records take time to come out, but definitely worth keeping an eye on what I’ve got coming in the next few years.
Be sure to checkout General Speech’s website and keep up with their releases on Instagram.
