A Chat With Suite 309
6.8.15 by Mike Haley

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Tim Horton was a Canadian professional ice hockey player, a defenceman for 24 seasons in the National Hockey League. He played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Buffalo Sabres. Also a successful businessman, Horton was a co-founder of the Tim Hortons restaurant chain. Tim Thornton is the dude behind the label Suite 309. It was tough deciding which gentleman I should talk to for this feature. In the end I went with Thornton because he releases cassettes and is gearing up to drop an exciting batch on the world, and Horton died a few years before I was born.

 

You work at a record pressing plant, right?

Yes. I’ve been at Gotta Groove since they started in 2009. I’m in charge of quality assurance. I’m the one to blame in a million record store rants about noisy vinyl.

Do coworkers ever give you shit or make jokes about you putting out cassette tapes? Even though they work at a vinyl plant, which would make it pretty ironic. Right?

It would be if it weren’t so common. I’m going down the list of co-workers who also regularly put out tapes and I think there’s at least half a dozen other employees who have recently released a cassette or eight. A lot of the collector types I work with don’t really bat an eye at a release on any format.

I was hoping you worked with a bunch of “dad types” who made Obama jokes and eat fast food every day. And they were like “Cassettes!?!? Ha, Okay! Aren’t those extinct!? Hahah! Hey, hand me that lacquer.”

We had a guy like that for a while, but he ultimately did not work out.

I hope he’s doing well. Who do you work with that releases cassettes? Anyone I might know?

Matt Gallagher has been self-releasing some Fire Death material on a yet to be named label. Greg from Mole People/Tolmie Terrapin Press runs record presses, Mitch from Fascist Insect and a ton of other weird noise and metal projects… Plus there are quite a few employee bands who end up doing a cassette release since the overhead is so much lower and we all work in a factory. It helps that we also have a full service pro-dub place around the corner.

What’s it called?

A to Z, but not the one who also does vinyl. This is the one with the website that is straight out of 1997.\

Is that who you use for Suite 309?

That’s where I get all my professional dubbing done, but I’ve dubbed three releases at home also.

Right on. Let’s talk about some of those releases. So, the earliest stuff, I believe tapes by your project Tiger Village, were those “officially” Suite 309 releases? I don’t think I remember seeing the label name anywhere on those.

I actually started putting Suite 309 catalog numbers on releases starting back in 2011, when I released “All Sprinkles” from my Les Cousins Dangereux project (since shortened to CDX). I didn’t create a real identity for the label until the first batch last fall when I started releasing other artists’ music. When that happened I had a logo made, put up all the websites and started to consider it more of a real label than a way for me to catalog things for myself.

Was the Tiger Village series of tapes the first cassettes you released on the label?

Yes. The previous releases were all CDr or vinyl. A friend in Canada put out a cassette of mine on his label in early 2012 (Les Cousins Dangereux “Jacks” on They Live We Sleep), that started to introduce me to a scene of great labels who happened to release mostly cassettes. Tiger Village has always been a highly conceptual project. I set out knowing I wanted to do a trilogy in a year and still wanted it to look/feel official to me, so I put those out on cassette



Who were some of the first tape labels you got into?

Orange Milk was the first I really latched on to. Labels i’ve followed a while include Field Hymns, Constellation Tatsu, Hausu Mountain, Tranquility Tapes & NNA.

Who did the artwork for those Tiger Village tapes?

Raymond C. Scott III, or just Ray. He’s been a friend of mine for years. He’s not the synth guy that J Dilla sampled. He’s done art for everything on the label since 2013 except for two releases. He also contributed art for my release on Hausu Mountain. He makes music as Window Kits. He used to work at the record plant but now he’s a cemeterian.

The trilogy is about 2 hours of material, total. And you recently released a 2xC90. You find a lot of time to record I assume?

There are very few things that I actually “do,” but record music has been up at the top of the list for a few years now. “In Stereo”, the 2xC90 in question, was all material recorded live in the studio, culled down from about five hours of sessions. I wasn’t spending any time mixing any of that down or anything. Similar tracks appear on I-V, though I keep that to a minimum. The more polished tracks take a lot longer because there’s a lot more overdubbing, mixing and tinkering happening. But to elaborate further on the original question, I probably spend ten to fifteen hours a week working on audio at home. A lot of those hours are pretty late at night.

What sort of gear do you use for that project?

I love horrible samplers. I used a Boss dr-202 on a ton of material up until six months ago or so, when I started using this complete pile of shit that is the Akai MPX8. It’s a piece of garbage but too convenient in some key ways. I have a few analog synths I use a ton including a Dave Smith Tetra, Arturia Microbrute & the Korg Volca Bass/Drums. I have a bunch of FM synths and cheap stuff made by Alesis. I definitely have a soft spot for cheapo digital gear from the 80’s and 90’s. I sequence most of it with my computer to keep things organized and because it allows me to control a whole lot with just a couple small MIDI controllers.

I love teal, double wide Norelco cases you used for the “In Stereo” double tape. Where did you find those?

I looked far and wide for double, white back cases with no luck. Instead I went to your pals (and mine) at duplication.ca and got a couple hundred teal backed Norelcos. I sanded the backs of each one and glued them together with model glue. I swear I didn’t huff, that’s too scary.

Whoa, that’s all way too scary. That rules. What is the edition size on that one?

75 copies.

Before we talk about later releases, you gotta clue me on your catalog numbers. Did you start with 309?

Yes, the first LP in 2011 was s309-309.

Is there an actual Suite 309 in the real world you are referencing? If so, I want to guess what it is.

It is/was a real place. I’m not exactly sure if it still exists

I’m gonna guess it’s the office of your foot doctor. And you have really weird foot issues.

Surprisingly that is not at all it! I was in my first serious band in the late 90’s. I was in high school and we played metal. We went to Pennsylvania once to open for an Ozzy cover band at some weird festival. We stayed at a Comfort Suites hotel and stole the nameplate off our hotel room like any good teen vandals would do. I’ve hung the stupid sign in whatever place I’ve called my studio since then. The words ‘Suite 309’ are actually in the liner notes of various things going back to 2002. The sign currently hangs inside the closet in my attic studio/record room.

suite 309 plate

You should have made that your logo instead of using the Comedy Central one.

I like to think I stole more of my logo design from Trunk Records than Comedy Central

Let’s just agree that you definitely stole the logo. I don’t want to argue.

Stealing in art is a-ok in this day and age. If you’re not ok with it, go back to your ska show, grampa.

So about a year ago you released the first non-you batch. Radio Shock, Splice Girls, and Giant Claw. How did those tapes come together?

Plain and simple I heard Radio Shock on your show. I liked what was played, ordered the tape, reached out to M.P. and he was on board.

Shit, where is our finder’s fee?

Just wait until we talk about the new batch!

Who are/is Splice Girls?

Splice Girls are Mel D. and Mel Z. They’re working on a new mix right now, the clips I’ve heard sound amazing. I won’t be doing it on cassette though. The project is very method, I can’t really go farther into it. It’s like The Residents but with more glitter makeup.

That must take so much eye shadow.

I found out about Giant Claw and Orange Milk because they’ve always done a fair amount of vinyl that has passed through my hands. I loved the records from Ashley Paul & Sean McCann they did. Giant Claw’s “Mutant Glamour” really blew me away. I got to meet Keith and see him play a few times since 2012. I was shocked when he agreed to do a release.

Those were all pro-dubbed in various amounts, right? 70, 50, and 100?

Yes. You’ve done your research, Mr. Haley.

I have a team of researchers. All highly trained in Google. What search engine do you like, Tim? Be honest.

I use Let Me Google That For You. It’s a life hack, it does the Googling for me. I think Jeeves invented it.

Thanks for answering. I’m sorry to put you on the spot with tough questions, but I’m gong for a Noisey “Best Of The Web” Award. So those three tapes all have similar artwork. You Is that something you plan on doing with each batch? Have a theme of sorts?

There are a lot of elements I want on each release, but they aren’t always present. The Matthew Akers tape in the upcoming batch will look like a Suite 309 release on the spine and on the tape itself, but the rest looks like a Matthew Akers release. The other two new ones have unique design elements, but adhere more to what the design of the previous batch looked like.

So what is the new batch?

Matthew Akers, Jeremiah Fisher & CDX. Matthew Akers is another example of someone I heard of through my job. The first release of his I heard was the “Tough To Kill” LP. It was the right record at the right time for me. I started following his releases and then decided to reach out. What he ended up delivering is his most diverse and best collection of songs. I might be biased.

His tape “A History Of Arson” on Out Of Body is insane.

I think he has a knack for going a little darker than some of his peers. It originally drew me to his work. Jeremiah Fisher was another Tabs Out alley oop. What can I say, you guys can make or break an act!. “Martyrboys” was a big favorite last year. I had a hard time tracking down a lot of other material by him, so asking him to do a tape was just me requesting a new Jeremiah Fisher album. It’s been finished for a while and I can’t wait for people to hear it. It’s got a lot of the same melodic modular work as Martyrboys with some great vocal cut up pieces.

And CDX is you?

CDX is me, I recently cut down the Les Cousins Dangereux moniker to something I can say more easily at a loud show. It’s similar to the tape titled “CDX” that I did early in 2014. The lineage of project names and such is confusing, but all you have to know is that it’s acid house informed electronic music played on hardware and recorded live to cassette.

Is that name an Arrested Development reference?

Yes. It was a hastily named project very early on and I’ve been trying to knock it for a while. It made a lot more sense when I was doing a lot of remixes and such.

So what’s the edition sizes on all the new ones gonna be?

Akers is 150, but it’s a split release between Suite 309 and Akers’ Musique Originale imprint. We’re splitting the copies. Jeremiah Fisher is 75 copies and CDX is 60.

Man, how do you handle the Suite 309 spine aesthetic with a split release?

I got the spine and Akers got the rest. His catalog number is on the J-Card, visible on the back. I also home dubbed two special releases to send with orders.

Special, you say? Go on…

There was supposed to be a Tiger Village split about a year ago that never panned out, but I loved the material. I got a bunch of random color tapes, took a bunch of them apart and made some of them two-color tapes. It’s just a little c20 in a soft poly case. It doesn’t have a catalog number or any online version. It’s an edition of 50 but I really don’t plan on holding on to them very long. The other tape is a super limited thing that I made ten copies of. It’s a comedy tape based around a fictional small town radio talk show.

Those sound incredible! So you’re going to send them out along with early orders?

Yeah, the first several orders and any batch orders will get at the least the Tiger Village tape. The other one will obviously have to go out to a select few people. I also got buttons made. I often send out extra download codes for other releases, but only to people who specifically say they hate download codes.

When will they be available?

The release date is June 23. I’ll have preorders up a few days before that.

Right on, man. I’ll wrap this up the way I like to wrap up chats with label-folk. Right off the top of your head, name a project you’ve never done a release for that everyone should check out.

Ventla! In addition to a couple of great tapes you can download 25 great horny, free albums on his last.fm profile. Replace one of those greats with a better adjective.

suite 309 releases