Ten years is a long time in the music industry. So how did Vancouver’s beloved punk imprint Hockey Dad Records make it to the big 1-0? Simple. Release music that you love, and don’t worry about the payback.
Survival of the richest has long served as the motto for the modern record label. Perpetually searching for the “next big thing” or making do with any band who’s wide-eyed and willing has long served as a business model for labels who want to continue to be relevant, and, if they’re lucky, relive the glory days of a pre-digital era.
For Ryan Dyck, founder of Hockey Dad Records, this could not be further from his reality.
“I guess I don’t make any money off this, so it’s not my job,” he says. “I don’t need to go out of my way, so I don’t have to schmooze with anybody, I don’t have to suck up to anybody if I don’t want to.”
If the words “Hockey Dad” are still associated with patriarchal memories of a Canadian childhood, let us enlighten you. Hockey Dad Records, founded by Dyck in 2005, is one of Vancouver’s leading record labels/taste makers, who have acted as a diving board for some of the city’s finest punk exports: White Lung, The Courtneys, and Dyck’s own band B-Lines, to name a few. It began when Dyck’s old band FUN 100 were looking for someone to put out their music. So as the story so often goes, he failed to find a label willing to take a risk, so he did what any intelligent punk would do: he started his own.
“Once I figured out how to put out records, I just started putting out records I liked from bands that no one else was putting out, and it wasn’t that hard,” says a humble Dyck. “Now it’s 10 years later!”
Roughly inspired by Olympia, WA’s K Records (Beck, Built to Spill, Modest Mouse) and DC’s Dischord Records (Minor Threat, Fugazi, Nation of Ulysses), Hockey Dad took a more music- and fan-friendly approach.
“They put out their friends’ records and they just seemed to be having fun,” says Dyck. “It was really unpretentious. I found that inspiring, because they wanted their friends to have these records… they’d just put out stuff that they were like ‘this is great stuff, we’d be stupid if we didn’t put out this record’.”
Hockey Dad Records has built up a mighty canon. Local Garbage, the first 7-inch from White Lung, The Courtneys’ S/T, a record that got the three piece slack-poppers on the road with Tegan and Sara, as well as a tour of Australasia, and Freak Heat Waves’ Bonnie’s State of Mind, to name a few. Dyck’s own band, B-Lines, now a Vancouver punk institution, have also exclusively put out music through the label, and will be playing their second-last show ever at Hockey Dad’s 10-year anniversary show this Saturday. It’s a not-so-bitter, rather sweet ending, according to Dyck.
“I love playing shows so much, but I don’t feel like I’m super passionate about writing lyrics for these songs right now,” says Dyck of the band’s penchant for embracing the deeply awkward side of life through clever punk hooks. “There’s no point in dragging this thing around, I might as well retire, go out with a bang and have a big fun last show. We’ll go nuts and all our friends will be there. It will be fun.”
Also included on the bill will be Woolworm, who just put out their excellent “blanket rock” 7-inch Everything Seems Obvious, the aforementioned super-hypnotic Freak Heat Waves from Victoria, the beloved Defektors, Cavegirl (who are on a different label but Dyck wanted to play anyway), all-girl punk band Trashbait, and Genderdog.
In true punk fashion, Dyck is more than willing to share his secrets to longevity, and offers this advice for those aspiring to start their own record label.
“Labels that try to cash in on bands with ‘potential’ just throw a bunch of crap on the wall and see what sticks,” he says. “I’d rather just put out stuff I like and am really passionate about. If I’m not excited about a record, I’m not going to do a very good job of selling it.”
Passion prevails. Happy birthday Hockey Dad Records.
• Hockey Dad Turns Ten is happening Saturday, July 11 at The Railway Club. For more information, or to submit your music to Hockey Dad Records, visit their website: HockeyDadRecords.com
