Andrew Chapman, drummer of Dallas-based trio The Simple Pages, thinks Dallas music is struggling. The general attitude towards local music , he feels, is apathetic. And he thinks there's only so far a band can get on its own. So, in an effort to help out his fellow starving artists, Chapman has recently started his own label: Razzmatazz! Recording Company. By creating his record label, he hopes to share what he's learned and the contacts he's made throughout his experience in the Dallas music circuit.
"More than anything," he says, "I want to put out good records, for good people."
Not only is he the president and founder of Razmatazz!, but he's also in charge of PR and their chief audio engineer. With ambition to spare, Chapman even plans on recording all of his projects to analog tape. So far, Chapman has two bands signed to his label--his own nerdy pop-rock band, and two promising young lads from Arlington known as Two Knights.
Chapman's TSP bandmate and now Razzmatazz! business partner, Daniel Creamer, saw the Two Knights at a small show in Arlington and demanded Chapman and the third Simple Page, Matt McDonald, see them stat. Both were blown away by a performance at 1919 Hemphill and immediately started a dialogue with the duo about joining their label. Within a week, the Two Knights had a signed contract.
Arlington natives Miles DeBruin and Parker Lawson, Knights No. 1 and No. 2, are only 17 years old, and they've they played with each other in different band arrangements since junior high, only to recently develop their current math-rock style last November.
After the jump, check out "Just A Ghost," a cut sure to be included on the band's upcoming Razzmatazz! debut. It's an impressive release--regardless of the band members' ages.
Bonus mp3:
Two Knights -- "Just A Ghost"
Two Knights -- "Just A Ghost"
