Sub Pop co-founder looks to future
Co-founder celebrates Seattle label’s silver jubilee
SEATTLE — Having just celebrated 25 years of Sub Pop Records, co-founder Jonathan Poneman isn’t sure what the future holds. And that’s fine with him. Asked about his hopes for the quarter-century ahead, Poneman says: “That it be surprising.”
“I don’t want to plan things out and follow some sort of scheme,” he said in an interview in his office. “I want life to surprise me and life to surprise us all.”
The 52-year-old Poneman is no stranger to life’s surprises. He revealed in May he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
“And of course, while I wish that I didn’t have it, now that I do have it it’s been an interesting adventure in life. And interesting adventures come in weird packages,” he added
“You take weird paths and sometimes it leads you to some pretty amazing, wonderful situations. So that’s what I want — amazing and wonderful.”
Poneman has already achieved that at Sub Pop, the legendary label that helped launch Nirvana and Soundgarden and define the iconic Seattle sound.
Sub Pop’s other godfather is Bruce Pavitt. Poneman calls him the label’s creator, noting Sub Pop had existed “in Bruce’s bedroom and in his magazine columns and his cassette tape series,” before the two formally established the company in 1988.
Canadian bands who have found a home at Sub Pop include the Constantines, Eric’s Trip, Handsome Furs, Hardship Post, Hot Hot Heat, Jale, and Zumpano.
Toronto’s Metz is one of the label’s brightest stars today.
“Bruce and I are in agreement that they’re the best live rock ’n’ roll band in the world right now,” Poneman said. “I think the record that they made for us is extraordinary but I still think that live, (their music) is transcendent. ... And that’s not to diminish the record, it’s more to exalt the live experience.”
Sub Pop sits on the third floor of a nondescript building in downtown Seattle, above a killer bakery.
Posters and memorabilia adorn the walls like badges of honour. But they also serve as a reminder of the label’s limitation. A journalist is asked not to film Nirvana and certain other posters because Sub Pop no longer has their rights.
Still the label has proved to be a survivor. In part due to Nirvana.
When the band moved to Geffen/DGC for its second album Nevermind, Sub Pop received a buyout of Nirvana’s contract royalties on future albums.
Poneman says Sub Pop prefers to look forward rather than back.
“The reason why I think the label survives is because me and other people at the label are not so consumed by what was; (we’re) much more engaged with what’s coming forward. New artists doing vital things.” It could be Sub Pop’s mission statement.
Poneman’s office is small and efficient. Because of his Parkinson’s, he chooses to stand during the interview. There is no chair by his desk, although an exercise bike is parked by the wall.
On the wall of the lunch room, Polaroid-like shots of the label’s musicians fill a wall.
Pavitt sold his shares in the company some years ago, but Poneman says he is taking a more active role and currently sits on the board of directors.
Poneman calls him his “partner emeritus” and a good friend of the label who serves a “crucial advisory role.”
Warner Bros. Records currently owns 49 per cent of the label. There is a time limit on the 1995 deal with both sides able to reconfigure it as desired.
“From my perspective, the relationship’s been going just fine,” Poneman said. “They’ve been wonderful partners in that they help us when we need help.”
Poneman calls Sub Pop’s silver jubilee “the third-best day of my life, behind getting born and getting married.”
Mudhoney played atop the Space Needle. “Sublime,” Poneman said contentedly.
Many other bands played closer to ground, drawing a crowd estimated from 20,000 to 40,000 last month. One of Poneman’s favourites that day was Tad, a peer of Nirvana and Mudhoney, who performed some songs from back in the day with his new band Brothers of the Sonic Cloth.
“That was a new and vital experience, but it was informed by a kind of a nostalgic bent because of the material he chose to play,” Poneman said.
The former music promoter and public radio DJ isn’t sure how many bands he has on the label these days. He is unconcerned by the number, saying, “artists cycle in and cycle out.”