Joyful Noise: Under Construction
photo by Roberto Campos
Joyful Noise proudly returns to First Fridays with a brand new performance space on February 6, 2015. The new performance space will be christened with a stellar lineup consisting solely of Joyful Noise Recordings artists: Sedcairn Archives (DMA) + KO + Serengeti + Yoni Wolf + Yonatan Gat
Here’s a brief interview with Joyful Noise Recordings president, Karl Hofstetter.
Karl Hofstetter, photo by Roberto Campos
What prompted the move to a new performance space?
Karl Hofstetter: Well, many years ago when we moved into this building we were small enough for the entire label to be contained in one small room. As the label grew we began renting additional rooms our building out of necessity, but this resulted in the label being fragmented and split up into different rooms. Our show room was 30 feel from our office, which was 30 feet away from our warehouse & fulfillment. It wasn’t very conducive to a healthy co-working environment. So we hatched the plan to connect all of our various rooms into one shotgun space consisting of Record Store > Venue > Office > Fulfillment > Warehouse. I think it’ll create a healthy “eco system” for the label.
How does this new space improve on the older one?
KH: In terms of the venue portion of the space, it’ll be improved because we’re getting a bunch of new PA and sound gear. It’s going to sound amazing! And it’ll keep the same vibe of our old room. Organizationally it’ll be improved by having the record store connect to the venue. It’ll be a lot easier for us to maintain our store, and a lot easier for folks to grab records while they are here for shows. Plus we’ll have an “indie rock oddities” museum going in… more on that soon.
You’ve partnered with a local brewery to supply drinks during shows, how did this new arrangement happen?
KH: This happened because we didn’t want to fuck around with getting permits and bartending. We thought it was best left to the professionals. So we partnered with Indiana City Brewing to make sure every show has good beer for sale, and is still all ages. And legal.
How does it feel to essentially have your own Joyful Noise wing?
KH: It’s been a long time coming, but I’m very excited. We’ve had so many makeshift configurations in this building, trying to bridge our needs with what was available and affordable to us. It’s truly amazing to finally have a fully-realized location, and I’m very happy we were able to do this expansion in the building we have known and loved for basically our entire label history (Murphy Arts Center).
Click to view slideshow.