Editor's note: Alex McCollum, who is featured in this story, works for Free Times, but does not influence editorial coverage.
In early May, a mysterious new Columbia-based record label appeared on social media and the web. Dubbed “Garbage Partner” and festooned with a humorous trashcan-and-cowboy-hat logo, the only information any of their communication outlets offered was a cryptic notice that its "first release would be announced on May 17.”
It turns out that Garbage Partner is a new record label run by sibling duo Alex and Emily McCollum, who front Stagbriar, one of the most acclaimed indie rock bands of the last decade in the local scene. You might recognize the logo as an illustration by Charleston’s Dylan Dawkins, who also makes music under the Persona La Ave moniker.
But while the label is launching as a means to get the group’s new record out, due in September 2023, this is far from simply a vanity print.
“We learned a lot from releasing (2020’s) 'Suppose You Grow' and collaborating with (the label) Comfort Monk,” said Alex McCollum, who was also a long-time record store clerk at Papa Jazz. "It just felt like we could climb on the shoulders of the success of that record, and we wanted to be able to put out other things that we are passionate about. We want to do what we can do to invest in what's around us, (both) in a fiscal way and in giving our time and dedication.”
The decision to launch the label came after Stagbriar spent considerable time shopping both "Suppose You Grow" and the band's upcoming album to various indie labels and doing much of the promotion and business side of things on their previous releases themselves, including first-run sellouts of vinyl and CD editions of their records.
"I've always been passionate about physical media, and I definitely feel like there's still a general excitement about physical media in the music industry right now, so we're excited to help people put those things out,” McCollum said. “But we want to help with the overall process, too, which can be kind of daunting sometimes when you are inside your own project.”
This means everything from setting up proper physical distribution and establishing royalties with performing rights organizations to doing the other quotidian business aspects of releasing music that is now familiar terrain for the group.
“Doing what we can behind the scenes for others is really appealing to me,” McCollum said. “It's really a lot of work putting out a record. It's stressful as hell. But every time I do it, I'm reminded how much I love doing, like even the technical stuff even ... all that stuff is so tedious and boring, but I really, really enjoy it. So being able to do that in a way that's beneficial for them and the community around us is something that Emily and I are really excited about.”
The label plans to collaborate with Caveman Tapes to do a digital run of the new Stagbriar record in addition to a vinyl release from Garbage Partner, but also hopes to have a second, non-Stagbriar release out by the end of 2023 as well. McCollum said the plan is to stay South Carolina-centric but to span genres and try to bring even more connectivity across the state while also supporting their related acts.
He is also, of course, at great pains to point out that South Carolina has other labels, both past and present, do this before, specifically citing Fork & Spoon — whose deceased co-founder Aaron Graves’ band Those Lavender Whales will have a memorial concert June 2 at New Brookland Tavern. They are just adding to the tradition and legacy.
“All you really have to do is just believe in an idea and it becomes something,” he said. “That's the trick of most any branding or marketing. But we want to give it some backbone by actually investing in these artists.”
