Meet Terminus Hate City, the independent Atlanta label that’s helping hone your new favorite bands with a different approach to the band-label relationship.
We’ve all heard the horror stories about The Big Bad Label. No matter the genre, artists throughout the industry including Taylor Swift and Chevelle haven’t been quiet about feeling as though they were robbed of their intellectual rights by their label. Swift is even re-recording her music because of this. But with social media marketing changing the way bands can reach their audience, it’s not surprising that we’re seeing some bands turn to a complete DIY approach. So where do small, independent labels fit into this mix? Jay Crash, owner of the Atlanta based label Terminus Hate City, sat down with me to talk about exactly that.
“A lot of times it’s kind of surreal,” he begins as he describes what it’s like as the owner of an emerging label. The night before our interview, Florida’s No Coffin, who’s also signed to THC, crashed with Jay after their live performance at a house show at the Catacombs.
“I hadn’t really heard of No Coffin before they reached out to me with the label and stuff. But I was instantly a fan.” When speaking about No Coffin’s on stage presence, Jay talks about how powerful the band is with their audience and fans. “It’s why I love playing music and definitely why I wanted to start a label that was grassroots. It’s something that I can communicate with my artists as a musician and I know what they want because it’s something that I would want for my career myself. And I don’t really want to make any decision that I wouldn’t be okay with in my own music career or future opportunities, etc.”
How Terminus Hate City Came To Be
Being a musician himself, Jay describes the Atlanta music scene as one that’s very involved. “Every musician, every band that I know, they’re always like promoters, they work with venues, or marketing or manage or something like that. So it was motivating to see other friends kind of put on shows and help other bands.” That’s also true for local bands, he says. “If it weren’t for the scene they wouldn’t have had something that was such a strong backbone.”
Not wanting that spirit of the Atlanta music scene to go away was one of his biggest motivators in starting Terminus Hate City.
“I started looking at venues or properties to get a venue and I really wanted to turn it into practice spaces.” But after deciding the start up costs weren’t feasible, Jay didn’t back down. Instead, he simply reevaluated. “I kind of took a step back and was like ‘okay how can I help immediately and help my scene or bands that I love and stuff like that.’”
Having gone to business school, he was certainly poised to own a business. And after realizing his experience with management and seeing a need for the scene’s music to be released, things started to fall into place. “It was kind of a mutual realization of like ‘okay yeah, this is what I want and I think other people want this too.’”
“It’s really surreal to see this start to take off when I literally formed this idea talking to one of my good friends that had studio equipment in his bedroom and I was like ‘you know what if I started a label? And you just recorded these bands and we just put out music?’” Thankfully his friend agreed, because Terminus Hate City has been pretty consistent on working with great bands. And they’re bound to explode at any moment.
Reinventing the Band-Label Relationship
Jay’s philosophy for the label is one that allows the artists to not lose their creative freedom by signing it away with contracts that take virtually everything from the artist. “I mean for me, I want all of my artists to retain [or] at least have the comfort of mind of retaining all of their intellectual rights.”
While acknowledging that yes, labels are still a business and have to meet certain overheads, Jay’s focus on the creative process is what’s making Terminus Hate City a force to be reckoned with. Not only is it showing up in the music, but the bands involved with Terminus Hate City have a massive amount of momentum surrounding them. And you know you’re witnessing something special.
Jay refers back to his conversation with No Coffin from the night prior. “We were just kind of talking about them going back into the studio, and how they were excited to put more stuff out through Terminus Hate City.” He adds, “we were just really talking about the creative process and more so than just sending me the music and me being like ‘oh yeah that’s good let’s do it’. Sometimes it is that simple but I don’t think it should be I guess. I feel like there’s more of a coaching element involved.”
A Mutual Respect
“And bands like No Coffin, we’ve had this exact discussion between the two of us, band and label, that a band like No Coffin doesn’t necessarily need a label. It’s a very mutual growth type of thing so it’s like we grow with them and they grow with us, etc. and I think that’s sort of creating a new level of loyalty where bands aren’t just automatically looking at a label as a stepping stone or climbing up the ladder. And the label isn’t looking at the band as the same thing. The label isn’t looking at the band as the golden goose.”
He even jokes about how Florida’s Swamp has started calling him Papa Hate. “I guess I am kind of the band dad of like 10 fucking bands,” he laughs. “I was like yeah it’s kind of fitting. I gotta nurture all of them but they take care of me too. It’s definitely a very mutual relationship. And I think that’s way more healthy and way more beneficial to everyone involved: listeners, fans, [and] other businesses that are involved with working with the bands on the label because we’re all kosher. We all have a good working relationship and no one’s like ‘WTF why did you say this’ or ‘why did you agree to that’. It’s like we all have good communication and nobody’s afraid to or feels uncomfortable should I say to reach out to me or my partner Ryan Buck.” Buck, a new partner on the label, was also the first artist to join Terminus Hate City.
“The artist is always first for us. Their career is more important than us keeping them or tricking them into signing a 5 year deal or owing us money for the rest of their lives,” he adds. Of course, he recognizes that as with any business, there will be some bands that don’t work out, but that’s not a culture he wants to create, Jay says.
So when working with a smaller, independent label like Terminus Hate City, what happens as the band grows?
“I don’t think Terminus Hate City is going to be forgotten about let me say that. I’m not afraid of a band getting big and then being like ‘oh where do we fit in’ because we already fit into that puzzle piece, that linear forward motion, that momentum, and everything that has brought that artist to whatever point it is in their career. That moment where you realize ‘holy shit I made it’, that’s what I want to see on every artist on the label regardless of whether they’re with us in that moment in time or not. And I can see [that for] every artist on the label. I can see that moment in their future in a sense.” He then laughs and says, “I’m not crazy!”
When should a band think they’re ready for a label or management?
According to Jay, “I would say when you look at your band as a business and actually realize that it is not just- and obviously we’re all in this for the love of music and the passion of that. But understanding that looking at your band as a business and knowing that that is what’s going to be sustainable and that is what’s going to actually progress your career when you dedicate your life to that.”
He also stresses that being mentally ready and physically prepared for that next step are two different things. “Having a really good fan base, social media presence, or being really active like having a photographer at all of your shows or doing things that are going to sort of show to me as a manager or as a label that you are taking yourselves seriously.”
But The Road To Success Doesn’t Always Look the Same
And when it comes to bands investing their own money into themselves, Jay says, “That’s something that I love to see and I’m like ‘okay yes, you are ready, more or less, for the next stages. And again it’s like, I would say there’s different strokes for different folks. Some bands are going to have all of the physical media in the world, and have awesome photographers, and have really great resources but still not be mentally prepared for how relentless you have to be when it comes to getting on the road and putting your music out there, and pushing your music. And the thing is you have to be relentless, but you also have to be genuine. You have to be natural about it.”
He also adds, “I have to feel that band really feel themselves. Not in a cocky way but just literally look at yourselves and be like ‘goddamn that’s really good and guess what? Other people really like it. And other people really want to be a part of this and let’s look into treating this as fucking a business and treating this as ‘yes we do need someone from the outside to help out’.
Creating An Experience
He notes that even while Terminus Hate City is mostly run by himself, Jay still has other people and sources to help him understand even little things as that’s something he feels is vital.
“Details are important when it comes to knowing that you are ready and you do need more than just yourself to make it a bigger thing- to make it an experience. To make it a true experience such as Slayer or Metallica or something.”
He goes on to use Metallica and their fan base as a great example of the experience he’s talking about. As he puts it, hardcore metallica fans may say they don’t like any albums after *insert album name here*, but that’s also not stopping them from going to shows when Metallica comes to town.
“They’re not going to give up on Metallica just because they’re upset about their past 5 or whatever the fuck albums. They’re still going to go to Metallica and have that experience because Metallica is an experience. And they’re still going to play all of their old shit. They’re still going to play songs that are bangers and it’s gonna be insane. And It’s gonna be one of the best shows.”
Giving Fans The Ultimate Concert Memory
And speaking of awesome shows, you know we had to talk about Judas Priest.
“That was one of the best shows that I’ve ever seen. The experience was just like ‘Holy Shit!’ like I can’t really actually touch Rob Halford but him rising up through fucking fire on a motorcycle- that’s unforgettable. I feel like I was on stage with him, whether or not I was. But they’ve created- no matter how big of an audience they have- they have created that feeling that is a connection and it doesn’t feel like I’m a hundred yards away. It feels like I’m right there and they are right there with me. Fucking corny,” he laughs at himself, but it’s a feeling we heavy music fans all have felt at some point.
And that understanding of creating a memorable experience that is fan focused, is what truly makes Terminus Hate City and the bands on its roster so exciting to watch.
Watching Bands Grow In Real Time
That fan-to-band experience reminds Jay of the beginning of the heavy music and hardcore punk movement in DC and on the West Coast. “There’s just something that created this feeling of involvement and everything that it was like even if you were a fan you still felt and feel like you are a part of something that’s way bigger than you. And even now, I don’t really know what that thing is necessarily. But it definitely feels like a community and it feels like people are in your corner and have your back. And they want to support you to do what you love. And they know that and you know that,” he says. That circles back to the mutual respect between band and label at Terminus Hate City.
“I love seeing that growth within bands and just working with them pretty much from the ground up. And I realize that as a label there’s gambles and you might take a gamble on a band and it might not work out. But watching a lot of these bands grow even just in the short year that I’ve been working with them is pretty incredible. And watching their fan base, too, just sort of surround them,”
The thought takes him back to the previous night’s house show as Jay says, “No Coffin has only played Atlanta twice, I think, and already people were showing back [up] and they were stoked to see them.”
But there was also the moment of watching the band gain a new audience that made the show extra special for Terminus Hate City. “I mean, there was arguably a lot more people that had not heard of any of the bands that played last night than there were. So it was like watching them also be transformed in that moment to not really knowing but then also being like ‘yeah what the fuck this shit is awesome’. And just going as hard as [if] they’ve been fans for years. Just like an instant conversion. They were instantly all about it. It was great to see that first hand experience [of] just like ‘holy shit, these people are feeling it.’”
What’s Next For Terminus Hate City and the Bands On Its Roster?
Both Swamp and No Coffin are set to go back into the studio soon. And for my fellow No Coffin fans up further up North, be on the lookout for a 2 week tour announcement from the band for this summer. StonedHenge and Krypt are also set to release new music as well.
On the business end, Terminus Hate City is also expanding their resources for new artists. “We’re working on an actual sort of membership package for all of the new artists, so this is something that’s going to be very free autonomous for the bands. It will essentially be a monthly membership fee and then they have access to all of the Terminus Hate City resources that we provide like management, and distribution, and things like that, so we’re kind of working on a growth aspect. It’s going to be a lot of big changes. But this is something that we’re kind of gearing up towards and building the team [for] currently, putting people in place, and delegating these things so I don’t have to do them all at once and pull my hair out and go crazy,” he laughs. “A lot of exciting things and I’m really excited about all of these bands really.”
He goes on to add, “It feels awesome to be able to provide a healthy creative environment and it feels like I really am building a family. I say the Terminus Hate City/THC family all the time and it’s very true. And I definitely feel a part of these band’s lives in more than just the manager-like sense. I love all of them. They’re fucking awesome.”
For more info on Terminus Hate City including the services they provide and the artists on their roster, check out their website. You can also find THC bands on things like my Underground Metal playlist and the current edition of New Music Monthly.
