“Stencil Mag has a chat with “A Wolf At Your Door Records” Label Manager Ian Dickinson”
Introduce yourself My name is Ian Thomas Dickinson, I am the Label Manager of A Wolf At Your Door Records and I like to party! I also write for clinkmusicmagazine.com when I can. I currently reside in sunny Stafford, with my amazing girlfriend Judith, one anti-social cat and two misanthropic fish.
Can you give us a bit of history about 'A Wolf At Your Door Records' ? The label was started by the Managing Director, Kevin Horak in 2006. Kevin has loved hard rock music his entire life and he started the label to help out the bands in his local area. It was never started with the intention of being a mass money making venture but rather a platform for promoting great music and giving unknown bands a chance.
What is it like working with bands like 'Lower Than Atlantis' and 'Deaf Havana' ? It’s never boring! I am a massive fan of both the bands. I still get excited whenever I get to hear demos or see their videos for the first time. Those two bands are constantly on the road and are always coming up with new ideas for the future. Both bands are incredibly hardworking and dedicated beyond belief. It is quite inspiring actually.
How do you go about picking a band to sign to 'A Wolf At Your Door Records' ? Listening out for new bands is one of the best parts of the job and something that I have always done, I can’t think of any thing better than discovering ‘your new favourite band.’ There are so many ways to discover new music (which sometimes means you have to dig a little deeper and longer), but for me I normally go on personal recommendations, going to random gigs or a massive trawl through the internet just listening to bands I have never heard of before. The final part is requesting a demo or what ever is available, burning it and then whacking it on in my car. It really comes down to nothing more than what we at the label enjoy listening to. There are no ulterior motives or decisions based on ‘what’s cool at the moment.’ If it gets our heads nodding and we keep playing it, then that’s a band we want to work with. When I first got the POLAR. EP I played it about 11/12 times in a row. I just couldn’t get enough of it. When that happens you just want to be apart of it and you want everyone else to hear it!