Digging the Quarry of Music

Originally Posted to "Roar of the Beaver" by Quarry Records

Mining through the abyss of music to find that "diamond in the rough" is something I have always loved to do. I have been doing it for as long as I can remember. I would be listening to bands that I liked and then they would explode onto the radio and Much Music and it didn't even occur to me at the time that I had been listening to something that most people didn't recognise.
I went to film school and lost touch with my first love of music and it took a truly ludicrous 3 years struggling in the film and tv world in Toronto before a move back to my native Maritimes brought me back to the world I loved (in more ways than one). My musical re-education began with the help of a DJ friend in Moncton who opened my ears back up with local bands like In-Flight Safety, and Mardeen; international indie gems like Belle & Sebastian, and the Perishers; and the then almost unheard of Canadian bands like Stars and Arcade Fire. Moving back to Toronto was more about being in a place where I could see any current touring band. Large and small, most bands hit the city eventually. And my appetite for live shows was voracious. I also came back with a serious disillusionment with the current "popular" music scene. I have always hated most radio music and I found a whole new world of "indie" bands that were paving their own way through the Canadian and World music scenes and it is in the many clubs and venues in the city that my musical re-education continued. I met a PR student called Heather who's real love was photography and music. It isn't easy to find like minded indie music freaks who you can talk music about and be speaking to them and not at them. She had her ear to the ground and and her finger on the pulse of the Canadian music scene.
But I wanted more. I wanted to be part of it, I wanted to contribute. I wanted to help bring all the great Canadian talent out there to the world. I wanted to give all the bands I liked a chance to be heard, not necessarily make them fortunes, but let them make a living doing what they love and eventually make a living doing what I love. So she and I decided to start a netlabel without really knowing what that entailed. Even the name Quarry Records stemmed from a pipe dream I had had when I was in High School. With Heather's background and mine combined we took the many musician friends and the few contacts we had in the music industry and decided to give it a shot. We are still in our infancy, making contacts and learning as we go, but hey, that is what the indie music scene is all about right? Making friends and making music and learning as you go along.
I hope this blog can be a place where we can share any success we may have and find out how to turn our failures into opportunities by getting advice from fellow Miners in the Music Pit.

Dee