Digital decision for pop's crazies

Mint Chicks. Photo / Supplied

The Mint Chicks have left their record company to embark upon bold new adventures on the internet. But the rowdy pop weirdos are not writing off a return to influential Kiwi label Flying Nun. The band were signed to the label, which until recently was a subsidiary of Warner Music New Zealand, since their debut release in 2003.

However, the band's contract with Warner ran out with third album, Screens, in early 2009. Last week music website MusicHy.pe trumpeted the Mint Chicks had "dumped"the major label to sign up with the small Wellington-based start-up to promote latest release, the Bad Buzz EP, and a nationwide tour.

The website offers a digital platform for bands, musicians, and fans to interact and share music online.

"But we're not signing to them to release a record," says Mint Chick Ruban Nielson. "MusicHy.pe are not a record label, so we're still free to have a record deal if we want to in addition to what we're doing with them.

"The main thing that we're doing this month is touring and they're launching the website. So we're just helping each other out to get as much attention as we can by combining what we're doing."

Nielson says it was a "scary" move to go it alone and try something different with MusicHy.pe because signing to Flying Nun was a dream come true for the band.

"But the thing was, [Flying Nun] got further and further removed from being Flying Nun to the point that it was a name only."

However, in December Flying Nun founder Roger Shepherd bought back the label from Warner, which was music to the ears of Nielson and his bandmates.

They are now in talks with Shepherd about future plans but Nielson also says there is a possibility the band could start up their own label to release their music and sign other bands.

"It's a weird time because everything is completely open and there are so many different ways we could go. We're still talking to labels, and figuring out whether we're going to start our own label, or whether we're going to sign to Flying Nun. We're just talking about that now."

Shepherd is reluctant to say anything about the band's future with Flying Nun - apart from the fact he loves the band.

"They are a fine band," he says. "It was one of the great things about coming back to New Zealand and listening to Crazy?Yes!Dumb?No!, it was like a welcome home present really. I've got to know the guys since then and it would be really nice to do something in the future but we'll just have to wait and see."

Meanwhile, Nielson says MusicHy.pe is unique because it allows the Mint Chicks to do things like promote a tour with limited outlay, run competitions, and release their new EP on a USB stick instead of on CD or as "a bunch of shitty MP3s".

The new alliance with MusicHy.pe will also mean their hardcore fans will be able to get more involved with the band. This sort of approach is in keeping with the Mint Chicks' philosophy of nurturing their existing fanbase rather than trying to attract new fans.

"We're starting to think now that what we need to do is not worry too much about the wider audience and just look after the people who are already into us. Because of the type of musicians we are, we want to be able to do whatever we want, and not worry about who's going to like it. We want to make music for our fans and people who love our band. That's the most important thing for us, not getting bigger and bigger, because I'm not sure that's the future of music anyway.

"Because the music industry is contracting it's not a bad thing for a band like us. We're really excited about all the things that people are dooming and glooming about."

To coincide with the launch of Bad Buzz the band is running three competitions using MusicHy.pe. The first allows musicians and fans to download stems - or sound files - for the song Crazy?Yes!Dumb?No!, and then remix it or cover it. The two best entries will perform with the Mint Chicks on their tour.

They are also running music video and Mint Chicks' T-shirt design competitions, and in the future Nielson forsees the band getting "weirder and weirder if we can".

"We just want the freedom to do whatever we want. We still want to make pop music, but not pop music in the sense that we don't really care if we're part of mainstream New Zealand or not. Just poppy in the sense that the people who enjoy our music will enjoy it."