"People here are having fun, and it shows," Vogeler says.
"You can set up all your stuff, practice, and leave it set up," Umbarger explains. "Then, when you want to make a demo, all you have to do is drag it down the hall to the studio, where [LB house producer/engineer] Ben [Yaeger] will help you record."
"Ben is amazing," Vogeler says. "He doesn't get enough credit."
Down the hall, Slowpoke's Dave Gibson and Corbet Guest are in the office for Last Beat Media. "All this," Gibson says, indicating the machinery and computer screens around him, "is so readily available to local musicians that it makes the industry more communal. The staff here is really on the ball in terms of getting things done, but with that vibe. You really feel like they're there to help nurture your artistic vision."
"It's so easy to get locked into local management and local booking," says Guest, "and you never get your feet wet in other markets. Here, you'll have a chance to do that, if you want. It's really convenient to have all the elements--a studio, a label, the booking, the distribution--right there in one place."
Riot Squad's Joe Russell is calling in from Chicago, where the band has arrived after a gig in Iowa the night before. They're checking in with Steve Agnew, who handles LB's booking, and the home office. "It's just got this family atmosphere," Russell says. "Everybody knows everybody else. It's definitely a real company, but it doesn't feel like it. All we want to do is tour, record, and write songs. All that other stuff--booking and everything--is a pain in the butt, and it's great to have a label that can do that for you."
"The whole environment is just really conducive to letting bands be bands," agrees Chris Mess, leader of the now-defunct band Mess. "They put effort into getting people to shows, and into pushing you to other markets. There are all these tools at your disposal--you can come in and make fliers, sit at a computer, go into the studio. They help you with ASCAP, with publishing and all that, and everybody is so supportive. They don't just work in the office; they come to the shows too. It's just like a clubhouse. Everything runs efficiently, but we all still have fun. I think they're the best indie label in the nation."
Winston Giles knows how far Last Beat will go for an act. Giles is the creative force behind Floor 13, an Australian punk band, and he'd always wanted some quality American hang time. Although he'd been stateside several times--he cut an EP with Slowpoke's Duncan Black on a previous visit to Dallas, where he met Edwardes and piqued his interest--he always had to return after a few months: It takes real effort to get a long-playing visa. Other record companies had promised him help before, but nothing ever came of it. "Shaun and Last Beat are the only reason I got a two-year work visa," he says softly, as if such largesse were still too much to believe. "Nobody else could--or wanted to--do it, but the one I've got now is an O-1 level, which means 'exceptionally unique talent' or something like that."
In an industry where bullshit often rules, Last Beat manages to keep both style and substance intact. The label has just signed their first non-Texas act, New York City-based Clowns for Progress, to a two-record deal. To support the new European distribution, LB will stage their first foreign tour, sending Mess, Fireworks, and Riot Squad throughout the Common Market. Ric Ocasek's name is being bandied about as the next producer for the Tomorrowpeople, and the label is making its first forays into video. Despite all this big-time development, however, LB keeps its local connections alive: Stephen Holt's next project--tentatively called Sensation--will come from them, and extremely idiosyncratic local act the Necro Tonz have found a home there as well. In many ways, Last Beat represents the modern mutation (or perhaps maturation) of the old '60s dream: people living, working, and making art together against a backdrop of rock and roll, incorporating the freedom and change of that medium into their very lives. Although seeing each new sunrise is very much a product of a successful bottom line, Last Beat's continued success seems unlikely to contradict Shaun Edwardes when he proposes, "I think we can safely say that we're about music, not business."
Street Beat values all your e-mail tips, comments, news, blather, and spew at Matt_Weitz@dallasobserver.com.
