Spin To Win #23: Why RedHook Signed To A Record Label
A chat with the band's lead singer, Emmy Mack.
Australian rock juggernauts RedHook have built a devoted fanbase since forming in 2017. Whether it’s on stage or on wax, the band’s towering riffs, frenetic drumlines, and lead singer Emmy Mack’s show-stopping vocals have made them a favourite of Australian heavy music fans. This culminated in the release of their 2023 debut album, Postcard From A Living Hell, which hit #10 on the ARIA charts. The whole time, they’ve been fiercely independent, telling me, “We’ve built RedHook up from scratch here, just the four of us and our manager, plus an amazing agent and publicist,” something they’re very proud of.
Not ones to take an extended break, they’re already well on the way to releasing their second album, Mutation, which is out on November 22. In the lead-up to Mutation’s release, the band announced that they’d signed to American label Adventure Cat Records, joining a roster of artists including Against The Current, Foxcult, and The Summer Set. It’s a move that caught my eye, given RedHook were already thriving in Australia as an independent force. RedHook have their eye on overseas markets, though, which led to the decision to sign to an American record label.
I spoke with Emmy to find out how the deal went down, how they knew now was the time to sign with a label, and what they’re hoping to get out of signing with Adventure Cat Records. I really appreciate Emmy’s insights here — for anyone that’s weighing up signing with a record label, or for anyone that’s curious about how a label deal comes to be, this (in my biased opinion) is well worth a read. They’ve also just released the latest single from Mutation, ‘Dr. Frankenstein’, which features Welsh rock band Holding Absence. You can check that track out at the end of the chat.
Ben Madden: Firstly, congratulations on signing with Adventure Cat Records! It’s the first time you’ve signed with a label — what made this the right time to sign a deal?
Emmy Mack: Thank you so much! It was definitely a big decision and there were a couple of key reasons. One of the main ones for me was pretty basic — I needed some extra help! To be dead honest, as RedHook has continued to grow over the years, the DIY workload has just increased exponentially to the point where it’s become unsustainable and lowkey unhealthy. So it was a case of either a) keep pushing through and risk burnout b) slow down and risk losing momentum, or c) expand the team, share the workload, and double down!
Also, because we’ve already put in the hard yards independently for years now and built RedHook up to a point where we’re genuinely worth something, we were in a healthy position to negotiate a fair deal that made sense for us. We didn’t necessarily need a label, but we were open to the idea of working with one to help with the heavy lifting.
And all the stars really just aligned with Adventure Cat. They’re an independent label with a great team and disruptive ambitions which fits perfectly with the RedHook ethos. And we had so much respect and admiration for our label heads Matt Clarke and Mike Kaminsky, both as music industry pros and as people. They’re switched on, they’re good dudes, their past success in the industry speaks for itself, they get what RedHook is all about and we just trust them. Everything about this team-up felt right — the timing, the people, the vibes and of course a very fair and artist-friendly deal!
BM: You’re currently working on your second album — how do you envision signing to Adventure Cat Records will influence the rollout of the album?
EM: I don’t think too much will change in terms of the rollout plan itself, we already had that on lock before we put pen to paper, but I do think having the added might and expertise of the label team working alongside us will give our underdog asses more firepower to punch harder and higher — smarter marketing, a more fine-tuned release strategy and the infrastructure to help the record make more noise overseas!
BM: And on that note, I’m curious — can you talk me through the benefits of signing with an American label for your first label signing, as opposed to an Australian one?
EM: Good question! Let’s just say it would have taken the most insanely ridiculous record deal in history to convince us to give up Australia! This is our market, we’ve built RedHook up from scratch here, just the four of us and our manager, plus an amazing agent and publicist. We’ve scrapped and sacrificed and worked our bloody asses off to grow our profile here 100% independently and I don’t think any local label could offer us much extra at this point.
Our biggest challenge now is growing RedHook overseas. And America is actually where most of our fans are! If you look at the streaming numbers, our US listener base is #1 on the list by a metric shit-tonne, roughly quadruple Australia. We know the music is already resonating over there, so working with a team who understands that market and can help us capitalise on the success we’ve already had there independently makes a lot of sense!
BM: Can you tell me how you as a band went about doing your due diligence when researching Adventure Cat Records?
EM: We had the benefit of being mates with Matt through Stand Atlantic, so we already knew how passionate and switched-on he is and how damn hard he works. It was really just a case of researching AC’s roster and making sure it felt like a good fit (it did), they’ve got a small tastemaker roster of up-and-coming alternative acts, quality over quantity sort of thing, which I really dig. I think if you sign to a label with a big roster of artists you can risk being forgotten, buried, and deprioritized at the bottom of the barrel. That’s not the case with Adventure Cat, they’re building a sustainable, artist-forward model and have made us feel like a priority since day 1.
We also just looked at both Matt and Mike’s respective histories in the industry. They’ve both been instrumental in elevating femme-fronted bands in the punk/alternative space for years — Matt with Stand Atlantic and Mike with Tonight Alive. Against The Current are also on the Adventure Cat roster, and I love the hell outta that band. That was a really big selling point for me too — a proven track record successfully championing femme artists in the genre.
Obviously, RedHook is a very different beast. But that’s where having those initial face-to-face (well, Zoom) discussions became really important. After the first meeting, I felt excited and confident that the label understood exactly what the band was all about, what our goals were, and had a strong vision for how they could help us achieve them.
BM: And on the flip side, what were some of the things that Adventure Cat Records were asking of you during the signing process?
EM: Again, they just wanted to get a clear understanding of our goals, our vision, and where we felt like we needed help to make sure it was a good fit on both sides!
BM: I’d love to get a rough understanding of the timeframe from being presented the deal initially to signing — how long did the process take, and how was the back and forth handled?
EM: I imagine it was probably a bit of an unconventional one actually! We were already two or three singles deep into the album rollout before we started chatting to Adventure Cat! RedHook’s motto has always been that we would never slow ourselves down just to pander to a label deal, because that shit can DRAG and force you to lose momentum. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen and we’ll happily keep cooking alone! But Adventure Cat weren’t put off by our pace at all. We were like “this is our plan, we’re releasing the album in November, so let us know if you want in” and they hustled hard to make it happen. I respect that heaps. I think all up it took around two months between the initial chat, lawyers going back and forth on the deal, and then signing the paperwork — I think that’s pretty Speedy Gonzalez by industry standards?
BM: You’ve previously spoken about being fiercely independent as a band — now that you are signed to a label, how does that influence the way the band approaches operating day-to-day?
EM: Honestly not much has changed in the day-to-day! We still do pretty much everything ourselves, we just have a lot more help with bigger picture stuff, expert oversight on marketing and content strategy, and more creative brains at the ready to bounce ideas off! A lot of extra CC’s on emails now [laughs].
BM: Announcing the deal, Matt Clarke, Adventure Cat Records, told TheMusic that they were looking to help the band “continue [your] trajectory on an international stage”. I’d love to know more about your plans to expand internationally, and how Adventure Cat Records will play a part in that growth?
EM: RedHook has always had a presence in EU/UK through touring, streaming, and press coverage, but as you can imagine, it’s quite challenging for a little independent Australian band to really break through in these big markets on the other side of the world because we’re so cucked by geography, budget and just lack of business infrastructure over there. Matt and Mike being who they are, they just have access to a much wider network of contacts across all echelons of the music industry internationally. They’re helping us with everything from marketing and distribution to tour planning and we’re feeling super pumped about everything!
BM: Finally, for any artists/bands out there that are starting to look into signing a label deal, what advice would you give them, having just been through the process?
EM: I think the main thing is just to ask yourself why you want to sign to a label? What are your goals and will it realistically help you achieve those goals? I’m definitely no expert and I’m still learning how to navigate the industry. But I’ve seen a lot of artist-mates make the mistake of signing shitty deals when they’re first starting out because they think that signing to a label somehow means “making it”. But more often than not it just means they end up getting buried under a mountain of debt and hindering their chances of building a sustainable career as an artist where they can actually earn a living from making music.
If you need funding, there are heaps of competitive distribution deals you can look into that are much more artist-friendly than a lot of label deals. If you need help landing bigger tours and other opportunities, a good booking agent and manager can help on that front. But ultimately, releasing good songs and connecting with fans should always be your #1 focus at the end of the day. If you build it, the rest will come.
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Thx for introducing me to this band! Tell Emmy that Herizon Music will spotlight Mutation on our New Music list after its release.
And what a great band promo photo. Not a brick wall or railroad track in sight! 😄