An Interview with Rick Snowden of Third Eye Stimuli
Words by Sarah Morrison
Photos by Nick Pont
Third Eye Stimuli, a production & record label from Sydney, Australia, has slowly been popping up with a handful of incredible releases. They’re devoted to giving a voice to their local music scene, and their affection has spread all the way to Europe. The label may be ‘psych’ fused, but that doesn’t mean there’s a shortage when it comes to a variety of genres.
We spoke to Rick Snowden, label manager and the co-founder, to get a better picture of what drove the pair to start Third Eye Stimuli and where it’s heading!
When did you meet your co-founder, Josh White? What’s the core relationship between the two of you?
Josho and I went to the same high school, though we weren’t really friends at that stage. It wasn’t until after school that we started going out to the same gigs and nightclubs and realized we had so much in common. We’d link up for coffee, get real blitzed on caffeine and just ramble on for hours about artists, bands, anything we were digging at the time. We knew that one day we’d work together on something. Together with a few other buddies, we formed The Grease Arrestor, Josh drummed, I played guitar.
Fast forward a few years (2012) and we were in a van traveling the US, that’s when we were introduced to the Austin Psych scene and Burger Records out in LA. We really dug the community and DIY spirit they’d built. It didn’t seem to exist back home, so we decided to create our own.
Over the years we’ve lived, traveled and played in numerous acts together. We’ll speak pretty much every day, whether it’s about the label, the waves, or general nonsense.
Being involved in the music industry for nearly ten years, has it always been quite apparent that there was a massive gap in the type of help available to the DIY/underground scene? What sort of response were you being greeted with by other labels?
So many artists are out there creating amazing material that, without support and encouragement, get stuck in first gear, lose faith and tap out. We experienced it ourselves. You feel like you need a truckload of cash and connections in order to produce, release and tour and that nobody gave a shit about you if you have less than x followers.
It seems like so many labels are just lazy, or they can’t see potential in new talent, because they don’t have cred from some existing group, or have worked with this or that big-time label/management/producer. We support what we dig regardless of who they’re working with. I’m not going to say that we’re the only ones with that attitude, but it’d be nice to see more of it. Everyone benefits.
What is the music industry like in Australia? What is deemed as popular? How underground is the underground scene?
Geographically, we’re at a disadvantage. It’s expensive for us to tour internationally, and for internationals to tour here. This means we’re stuck in a bit of a bubble. Our already-niche scene is ultra-niche down here.
If you fail to tick the boxes of what the key radio stations are into, then it’s a perpetually uphill battle. You’re either commercial or invisible. Thankfully there are groups like Gizz and Flightless Records in Australia who prove that you can break that mold and transcend the usual formula. I think it’s important to look past ticking the local boxes, jumping through the same hoops as the mainstream artists and get your music out to the rest of the world where there’s so, so many more eager supporters.
What about the Burger Records ethos stuck with you after discovering the label?
Mostly the community and approachable culture they’d created. When we were cruising the US we met some crew who were raving about their scene and told us to pay their store a visit. Sean (who co-runs the label) took the time to chat, hooked us up a bunch of free tapes, recommended a stack of cool groups to listen to and gigs to attend. The energy they had at the store was punk, DIY and just super supportive. They backed their community and their community backed them. It wasn’t a one-way street where a label just tells people what’s hip and cashes in.
What was your initial action to bring Third Eye Stimuli to life?
We collected all the cash we’d made from gigs with The Grease Arrestor, I basically learned how to record and mix, and together with some crowd-funding support we tipped the money into mastering and pressing our second album ‘Volume Two’.
That wasn’t the label’s actual first release, however. During the process, we met Mr. Jim Mitchell who had a bunch of demos he wanted to produce and release with us. Josh and I were digging what we heard and what Jim was all about. He wanted to go full DIY, so I threw down, bought more recording gear, spent a stack of time in mixing forums, and we got busy with ‘Planet Absorbed’. We had some support from a friend to pay for pressing and voila! the first Third Eye record was out.
Did either of you have any background that could help with starting essentially a running business such as a label? Was this a project that required knowledge or were you able to learn as you went?
Josh is a graphic designer by trade and I studied business, worked in various marketing jobs and taught myself music production. These skills came in handy to various degrees over the years, but we took our time letting the label grow organically and therefore had plenty of time to learn along the way. There was plenty of trial and error (lots of error!), seeing what other labels were doing and just building our scene in general. A piece of paper doesn’t mean much these days.
How quickly were you able to build your own community within Sydney and within all of Australia? How hard was it to spread out and include other acts from our New Zealand/Europe/UK?
It’s hard to define exactly when we decided to ‘build’ a community, I don’t think there was a specific moment. Perhaps the community was already there and we just helped connect everyone together and build on it from there? Either way came together organically. The more artists we got onboard, the more our little family grew. I guess you could say ‘Planet Absorbed’ was released in 2016 and things expanded from there, though The Grease Arrestor was playing gigs much earlier than that, and there was definitely a community back then around that vibe.
Joe Ghatt was our first NZ act, he heard about our label through mutual friends and we got talking. After over a year of chit-chat and demo teasers that got Josh and I very excited, we finally locked in to make it come to life.
Josh and I spent some time in Europe last year, touring with The Dandelion and The Pinheads. During our wanderings, we met a stack of people who really opened us up to the scene over there and who loved what we were doing with Third Eye. It helped us connect with overseas labels such as Laurent from Six Tonnes de Chair (France) and Costas from Black Spin (Greece), whom we’re now collaborating with on a number of releases.
As much as psych music is key, fans within that sector really enjoy other forms of rock music. How do you keep the label from strictly working with psych bands? Is it important to not be restricted to that one genre/label of music?
We generally don’t like to box things too rigidly into certain genres. Under the ‘psych’ label there’s just so many sub-flavors. In saying that we are conscious of not pigeon-holing our sound. We consider artists on a case-by-case basis and a group’s influences or spin only makeup one part of the package. There’s an instinctive feeling you get when you hear something unique and it stays with you.
What is a goal you’ve had for the label that you’re hoping to one day get completed? Would you ever consider opening up a private shop?
Physical store, venue, rehearsal and recording space. Coffee machine, smoothies, some pastry treats perhaps – sound inviting?
What makes an act stand out to you? What is the key to be noticed by Third Eye Stimuli?
Sound is going to hook us first, of course. After that, we generally value attitude and culture. You can tell by meeting people, seeing them in the flesh, what they’re all about and whether or not they’ll fit with our family. We’re very approachable guys and feel like we’re great friends with our artists.
Who are some of the artists you’ve recently started to pay attention to or have started working with?
We’re super buzzed on Noodle House. We’ll be releasing their debut EP (might be an LP?) in the coming months. We also have a new artist in the midst, the dark horse drummer of The Uplifting Bell Ends who has recorded a bit of a masterpiece solo record. Stay tuned...
You started a compilation series called Strange News which also incorporates a live showcase aspect in multiple cities and venues. What was the main mission behind putting this in place? What can be expected from a Strange News event?
Strange News is an extension of our label in the sense that it’s a showcase where we get to expose bands we dig and think everyone else should hear - plus a good excuse to party with a bunch of our friends and music scene. It was really nice bringing the latest edition to Melbourne and connecting with more bands there. The mixtape is something we wanted to do for ages but always hit the backburner. It’s a tangible celebration of the extended Third Eye fam, bands we know and love and others we’ve only just discovered.
With COVID-19 taking over the way we participate in our daily activities and our future endeavors, what can be said will be coming next with Third Eye Stimuli?
As much as humanly possible to help keep everyone positive in isolation. We’re always trying to expand beyond the normal label format and adapt to our environment. We just launched a new live performance series called ‘Far Out Garden Sounds’. We set up a stage in Josh’s backyard and capture a few live songs on video featuring bands on the label and others that we are digging. I engineer the recordings and Josh edits the videos. Our first edition features Joe Ghatt - check it out on our IG and YouTube.
