There are many record labels that claim comradery between its staff and artists is like “one big loving family.” But few of those labels can claim that they established their business just as quickly as the ink dried on their owners’ wedding certificate. For Katie Garcia and Dustin Payseur, starting their label Bayonet Records, after tying the knot in 2015, was just a way to kick off the family business.
After years of working as label manager at local Brooklyn label Captured Tracks and doing A&R for Secretly Group, Garcia felt the need to strike out on her own with Payseur’s band Beach Fossils, Bayonet’s first official signee. Since then, the two have co-run the label, signing a diverse roster with releases from Beach Fossils, Frankie Cosmos, Jerry Paper, Lionlimb, Warehouse, Kevin Krauter, Red Sea, Kinlaw and Taphari.
Ears to Feed caught up with Garcia and Bayonet label manager Stefanie Santana Bannister about the local scene as a living, breathing thing rather than something of the past.
When did both of you first want to get involved with putting out records or even just the behind the scenes aspects of music?
Katie: I’ve always been a huge music lover. When I first moved to New York, I was not working in music. I was working for a production designer and then I worked for a fashion designer. While I was doing that, I did some soul searching and I asked myself “what is that I am really passionate about?” I’ve always been very passionate about music and I just applied for a bunch of internships at labels I really liked.
I interned at Captured [Tracks] and started working there. That was me planting the seeds of the idea to start my own label. I really enjoyed helping artists and getting them the platform and recognition I feel they deserve.
Stefanie: I studied historic preservation in college and loved it very much, but you really need grad school in order to make that happen for a career and I also wasn’t interested in more school. So, I tried to take as many traditional office jobs. I was like, “I need a job where I could have a steady income.” I ended up picking up a lot of skills with managerial and organizational stuff.
While this was happening all through college, and after I college, I lived in houses that often threw shows. I played music and I played in bands, so I was living this double life where I would put on a fancy work outfit and go deal with lawyers all day and then come home and shotgun a beer on the porch for the house show.
It’s so funny because the job opportunity at Bayonet came to me in another really roundabout way involving a softball team. I also started and organized some Girls Rock Camps in South Carolina, where I coordinated borrowing gear from people and I would teach bass to 6-year olds. I had my work life and I had my music life and this job popped up and I went to the interview very open and curious. I wasn’t really coming at it like “this is my dream job,” but by the end of the interview I was like, “I need this job. You guys need me!”
It’s actually the most perfect thing. I couldn’t have conceived a better gig for myself. I’m from South Carolina and there isn’t music industry talk at any moment. I feel like it found me.
Did both of you have record labels that you looked up to growing up?
Katie: I did. I feel like it didn’t come about for me until I was in high school. When I was younger and really little, I was always a music collector. I had a massive tape collection I no longer have because by the time I was in high school CDs were all the rage. I still have those CDs!
When I really loved an album, I would take the CD liner notes and read them cover to cover. Read all of the lyrics, read about who produced them, who the label was, etc. As I got older, and when I got into high school, I got more into learning about the labels themselves because that was something that I never really thought about before. I was really into Saddle Creek. I was, and still am, a massive Bright Eyes fan. So that was my entry point into Saddle Creek.
I was also really into 4AD because I was really into the Pixies. Then I was like, “Oh there are all of these other bands that I love that are on 4AD,” like Cocteau Twins and This Mortal Coil. I started piecing it together that labels had bands that would sound similar. I started connecting the dots slowly but surely. By the time I was in college, I expanded more and more and became more aware of that. When I started working in music, I became very aware of labels and how they work.
Stefanie: I think I was totally not aware of labels at all. I listened to a lot of music but I come from a very conservative place full of normal people. I didn’t really have folks to go in on music talking with. I had a few friends, and that was when we were downloading everything illegally off of the internet. I had an iPod Shuffle that didn’t have a screen on it. It was like a USB stick. They were the best. I wish I still had it.
I would download a ton of music illegally off of the internet and my dad would tell me I would go to jail for it. My mom would yell, “Get off of the internet, you’re ruining my job!” Then I would go to school with an iPod full of music. I would have no idea what I was going to listen to because you would think you were downloading one thing and it would be mislabeled. I remember downloading the entire 140 song Billie Holiday collection at age 15 and getting really into Billie Holiday because that was what was on my iPod. I was like, “This is awesome! Who is this?”
My understanding with music was very disconnected and piecemeal. I’m really not that way anymore. On my way to the interview [with Bayonet] for this job, it came together really fast… I was on my way to Greenpoint to interview for this job and I was literally googling Bayonet Records. I pulled up the roster and was like, “I love all of these bands! How did this happen?”
Katie, did working as label manager for Captured Tracks and working as A&R at Secretly Group prior to starting Bayonet make you feel like you were able to understand the pitfalls of running a label in a lot of ways?
Katie: Yes and no. Before starting Bayonet I had been the label manager at Captured Tracks for four years, so I had that under my belt and I knew how to operate a label. That was a great experience because when I started at Captured, it was still a pretty new label. So at that point, I was involved in the early days and learning a lot about distribution. Also, digital sales and iTunes sales were a thing. That was definitely a great learning experience and provided a solid foundation to starting a label. There were definitely a lot of other things I learned as I started putting the pieces together for the label.
It was definitely scary, especially at first. I remember my husband Dustin, who’s the co-founder of the label with me, he’s not as involved in the day-to-day but we wanted to start this label together. We took all of the money people gave us when we got married and saved it. We told people, “don’t give us gifts, give us money.” With that money, we started the label. That was the seed money for the label. But once we got started, that money went so fast. Dustin had to put in a bunch of his own money. Money he would get from royalty reports from sales of his own record, he would put that into the label. That’s what we would use at first and then we were finally able to get some footing and get some income. We were finally able to pay back Dustin his loan (laughs).
It was a little scary at first. We put in a lot of ourselves financially, emotionally and professionally. I kind of had to teach Dustin how to work on the label side because he only had experience on the artist side with his band, Beach Fossils. So, that was a different and eye-opening experience for him. I don’t think he realized how much work it was going to be.
Did you get any sage advice from Captured Tracks label owner Mike Sniper before starting the label?
Katie: You know … I think I learned a lot just from working at Captured Tracks in general. I don’t think there was one thing he said. I think I had a different approach with Bayonet, which is why I wanted to start my own label. Mike and I have similar tastes, but also differ in some ways. So, Bayonet was a really good outlet for me, at least, to show that and use it as a reflection of my own tastes and to cast a wider net as far as supporting artists with different sounds.
From Lionlimb to Taphari, your roster is very diverse. Has there been talk around building an identity to the label? Is there a throughline to the Bayonet sound or have you always tended to work with artists based on gut feelings?
Katie: It was a little of both I think. I knew from the beginning I wanted to sign Frankie Cosmos. That was the one artist where I was like, “We need to sign Frankie Cosmos.” It was just so good. Aside from her, we were really conscious of making sure all the artists fit together, but varied in sound.
Myself, Dustin and Stephanie all have really eclectic music tastes and listen to so many different things. So, I feel like that was something that we kept in mind as far as our signings. We also reached out to Warehouse, Lionlimb, Jerry Paper and Red Sea early on. That was the beginning of the label in showcasing the different sounds that we had.
In the pre-coronavirus times, what would conversations around signing artists be like in the Bayonet offices?
Stefanie: I think we all listen to very different music. Not necessarily different from each other, but I think me and Katie and Dustin will cycle through a dozen different genres before the end of the day. For me, already coming to an established dynamic it was really cool to be able to get a grip on the idea that nothing was off the table genre-wise. As long as the person who is making the music is exceptional and kind.
I really appreciate Bayonet’s ability to stay open to all kinds of genres. It’s funny because I still think everybody could play on the same bill. There’s actually a poster in our office from a Northside show that featured Frankie Cosmos, Beach Fossils, Warehouse and Jerry Paper. That sounds like a great show!
I feel that way about all the people on our roster now. I feel like, for the most part, everybody could play on a bill with anybody else. Even Taphari was playing shows all over the city multiple nights a week at a lot of indie venues opening for indie acts before the pandemic. He really entrenched himself in these weird ways that keeps it coherent with the roster.
I think in my mind it’s like, “could we put this act on a bill with these other ones? Would it be a good show?”
I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t want to go to a four band bill if all of the bands sound the same. Not now… I would kill to go to a show with four bands that sound the same. But before, when I was going to shows two to three nights a week, if there would be a four band bill and there are a couple shows to choose from, I’ll listen to a quick bit of each band on the bill. If they all sound the same, I’m more likely to go to a show with a more varied sound.
Katie — being married to Dustin of Beach Fossils — what was the push to start the family business? It must feel extra motivating to make the label work with Dustin’s own music being released on it.
Katie: Yeah, we always joke that Dustin is the hardest artist I have to A&R (laughs). It’s funny, he’ll ask me for advice on things, but it’s tricky. It’s an interesting balance. When we first started working at the label together it caused a lot of tension between us. We were both figuring it out. He would get frustrated, and I would get frustrated that I would have to keep explaining things to him. It was tough, but I feel like now we’re in a good spot and have figured out how to work together.
It’s funny because we’re actually going to be working with Stefanie’s partner Carlos [Hernandez of Ava Luna’s new solo project Carlos Truly] and putting out his music, too. It’s a hard question to answer, but it’s good. We’re in a good spot, but the earlier days were tricky.
It must feel so overwhelming to be reissuing the first Beach Fossils album on your own label. Looking back on the 10 year anniversary of it, how does it feel listening to that record now?
Katie: Yeah, totally. That’s been really cool. It’s been great and we’re really proud of how that all turned out. It’s a shame, last year Beach Fossils and Wild Nothing were going to go on tour together, celebrating both of their first two albums where they would each play the records front to back. But obviously, with the pandemic, that didn’t happen. We’ll see, maybe tentatively it’s going to happen in the Fall of this year. We’ll see what the world is like.
What were some of the biggest challenges of last year and first few months of this year?
Stefanie: You [Katie] went on maternity leave. That was intense.
Katie: Yeah, I think Stefanie would be better equipped to answer.
Stefanie: I think everyone was stressed out. I think that was the main thing to navigate. Every person we were emailing was having a bad day everyday for a year and that was the main complication. It really sucked to lose that Beach Fossils tour. It was going to be so awesome and epic.
I think everyone was mourning, stressed out, and I think we were all having our own mental health crisis. The biggest challenge was trying to be patient with ourselves and with each other. In the smallest interactions, it’s not like Katie and I had fights at all. There was no conflict, but there was a lot of “I’ve been sending emails and following up and they’re not getting back to me and it’s making me mad” and then remembering that the world is on fire; just go for a walk.
Katie went on maternity leave and that was a really exciting trial-by-fire and I feel a lot better for having done that. I feel strong and powerful in a way I didn’t before but we missed Katie so much.
Katie: You don’t need me anymore.
Stefanie: That’s not even true, don’t say that!
This interview was edited for clarity.