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GILGONGO RECORDS<br />
JAMES FELLA<br />
Gilgongo Records is supremely interesting. Their<br />
diversity of music is one of their greatest strengths,<br />
and founder James Fella has an amazing ear for great<br />
tunes. The label is supports itself financially, and<br />
Fella operates it in the spirit of every great non-profit,<br />
by sinking any proceeds back into the business so he<br />
can continue to put out more and more music.<br />
When did Gilgongo start?<br />
About 11 years ago!<br />
BY TOM REARDON<br />
Phoenix has had an active and often ambitious music scene for at least the last half century.<br />
Fortunately for music fans, there is plenty going on in the Valley of the Sun these days with both live<br />
and recorded music. We are privileged to have a lot of great bands, exciting venues and, seemingly<br />
for the first time in a while, a number of cool record labels that are documenting the scene.<br />
From James Fella’s Tempe-based Gilgongo Records and Rob Locker’s AZPX Records in South<br />
Scottsdale, who have both been at it for over a decade, to Jeremiah Gratza’s President Gator and<br />
the newest kid on the block, Thomas Lopez and his Slope Records—the underground, independent,<br />
punk and noise world is very well covered by these interesting dudes with a penchant for putting<br />
out some of the most listenable music their genres have to offer.<br />
We decided to spend a little time with the folks in charge and see what brought them into the world<br />
of releasing records, which is one of the most expensive and often least lucrative forms of nontraditional<br />
gambling a person can get into.<br />
12 JAVA<br />
MAGAZINE<br />
How many releases have you had, and what<br />
format do you prefer to work with?<br />
We are currently at about 85 proper catalog releases,<br />
but do occasional releases that are not part of that<br />
“main” discography, if that makes sense—so more<br />
like 115 or so in total. Mostly records, some CDs at<br />
times and occasionally lathe-cut records, as well.<br />
How do you go about selecting the bands you<br />
work with?<br />
I have been fortunate to have artists whom I respect<br />
very much reach out to me with ideas for releases.<br />
Though that’s not to say that I don’t go out on a limb<br />
here and there and try to convince someone to work<br />
with me.
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