While passing through Portsmouth recently I caught up with Rhymos; local artist and co-founder of Whistleblower Records with Alan Fitzpatrick and Reset Robot.

Tell us about your label Whistleblower?
Dave, Alan and myself started the label up over two years ago now mainly as a platform to release our own music on. As the label has evolved we have taken new artists such as Customer, B.KR and Mister Woo. Alan is busy with the launch of his new label and with his heavy gig schedule myself and Dave do the more day to day running of the label. It is good fun to be able to do something with friends. We don’t have a specific sound for the label so we can be as creative as we want.

How did you guys start working together on it?
The idea of doing a label together had been in the pipeline for a couple of years but it took us an eternity to think of a name and logo. Once we nailed that it come together quite quickly. We are all sitting on a lot of music so it was just a question of putting together the release schedule and distribution.

What releases do you have coming out on the label?
The next release is from Reset Robot. After that we have Customer and then probably an ep from me.

What challenges have you faced running a digital and vinyl label?
Digital sales are actually really healthy, contrary to popular belief. We will be doing some more vinyl releases this year, the sound and artists have got to be right in order to shift vinyl units, so you need to be careful with that.

What Rhymes releases can we expect in the coming months?
I’ve got a vinyl release coming up soon on Vessel Records which is run by James Barnsley in Leeds and I will also be remixing the Customer ep on Whistleblower. Other than that I’m keeping my cards close to my chest lol.

Published in Hot Press Magazine, February 2017.