Clockwise from upper left: Kill Rock Stars bands Delta 5, Numbers, Stereo Total, and Deerhoof
TK
Kill Rock Stars
Issue #30
Slim Moon leaves his post as president of the label that helped to launch the careers of Elliott Smith and Sleater-Kinney
By Adam Rathe
Published: December 1st, 2006 | 9:12am
"I think the next wave of important musicians is probably some young people I haven't even heard of yet," said Slim Moon, founder and former president of Kill Rock Stars, the Olympia, Washington–based record label he founded in 1991. But now, after 15 years at the helm of the company that helped to put Olympia on the rocknroll map, Moon has decided to move on.
Leaving both the label and the Pacific Northwest, Moon is taking a position as senior director of A&R at Nonesuch Records, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. "I'm very excited about my new job," he said. "I will miss working with some of the people and bands, but they will still be my friends." Taking the reigns at KRS will be co-owner Dr. Portia Sabin, Moon’s wife. Sabin is a cultural anthropologist who also runs Shotclock Management, a New York music management firm.
"I think things are exciting now for independent rock," Sabin said. "The majors have had to sit back on their heels a little bit and think about new ways of selling music." Just as interested in the welfare of the artists as in that of the label, Sabin adds that she thinks the Internet and digital-download market have created a number of possibilities for artists. “It's a particularly good time to be an independent musician," she said. Having been a part owner of KRS for six years, Sabin has the label’s loyal staff support.
Maggie Vail, who has been promoted from the publicity department to West Coast director of operations, said she doesn’t anticipate a huge change with Sabin coming on board. “She is very much committed to Kill Rock Stars' core values of being an artist-friendly label," said Vail, a former member of the KRS band Bangs.
Running the label from New York also will give Sabin the opportunity to expand the label's roster, which has, over the years, seen many of the same musicians through a number of different bands. "I'll be able to see a lot more of the bands that are out there, as pretty much everyone passes through New York,” she said.
With a roster that includes legendary artists such as Bikini Kill, Elliott Smith, and Sleater-Kinney, KRS has witnessed their bands graduate from basement beginnings to major stardom. While there's a strong association with the Olympia-based scene in the early ’90s that spawned the riot grrrl movement, KRS also has been the stomping grounds for a number of artists active in other scenes, including Xiu Xiu, the Decemberists, and Men's Recovery Project. In 1997, Moon founded 5 Rue Christine, a sister label to KRS that specializes in noise bands and has released records by Deerhoof, Hella, and his own band, Slim Moon and What Army.
With the label's proven record of success, Sabin doesn't plan to tinker too much with the way things are run. When asked about her goals, she said, "I hope to see the label flourish and continue the tradition that Slim started of putting out meaningful music by important artists."
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