Postcard Records: The forgotten label that changed indie forever
When you think of all of the independent record labels that have helped shape indie music and all of its offshoots over the years, a handful of iconic names immediately spring to mind. The formation of Rough Trade in London in 1976 by record store owner Geoff Travis had a massive impact on the UK’s indie scene, releasing seminal albums from the likes of Cabaret Voltaire, Stiff Little Fingers and The Smiths in their early years. Similarly, 4AD were signing post-punk and goth acts both in the UK and abroad, while across the Atlantic in Seattle were Sub Pop, who helped define grunge with releases from the likes of Mudhoney, L7 and Nirvana.
However, one label that doesn’t get as much recognition for its gigantic impact on independent music is Postcard Records, a small label set up in Glasgow by local entrepreneur Alan Horne as a means of distributing the releases of Scotland’s burgeoning indie acts. The thing is, Postcard only ever released music by four different acts, and these arrived over the course of just 19 months – so how did they become such a notable name in indie rock’s history?
When the label began in 1979, Horne’s ambition was to create a home for Scotland’s most up-and-coming acts, all of whom shared a similar ethos and identity. While adhering to the contemporary post-punk sounds to a certain degree, the four groups that were signed to the label also took a significant amount of inspiration from the music of the 1960s, throwing in a knack for writing indelible pop hooks as well as taut, jagged riffs.
The bands that Postcard signed to their label were Josef K, Aztec Camera, The Go-Betweens, and the most famous of all, Orange Juice. All of their roster, with the exception of The Go-Betweens, who hailed from Australia, were groups that had risen through Scotland’s DIY scene, and there was a strong sense of Caledonian spirit coursing through their identities. Horne wanted to create an institution that mirrored the success of Motown in Detroit, exclusively showcasing the wealth of talent that Scotland had to offer, and their official motto, ‘The Sound of Young Scotland’, was created as an homage to the soul label.
Orange Juice was the first act to release via the label, with their song ‘Falling and Laughing’ reaching a peak of number 48 in the UK independent charts. While the success was only modest at the start, releases would begin to pick up a steady amount of traction, and their post-punk-influenced sound, which also fused elements of new wave and disco, caught the attention of people who preferred their punk to bear a softer edge. The romantic and melodic vocals of Edwyn Collins were considered to be markedly different from their peers, with less of a snottiness compared to the likes of Buzzcocks’ Pete Shelley or the morose delivery of Ian Curtis in Joy Division, signifying a change in the genre’s sound.
Aztec Camera, who made their debut with ‘Just Like Gold’ in 1981, offered a similar sound to that of their labelmates, especially with the wistful vocals of frontman Roddy Frame taking centre stage over the top of their jangly and acoustic take on new wave. Josef K, on the other hand, presented a more angular take on the genre, with jerky guitar lines and funk-influenced rhythm sections earning them more comparisons to the likes of Wire and Gang of Four. In July 1981, they’d become the first and only band on the label to release a full-length album, with The Only Fun in Town reaching the disappointing heights of number 15 on the independent charts.
While Josef K didn’t survive the critical and commercial failure of their debut album, disbanding before the end of the year, Orange Juice, Aztec Camera and The Go-Betweens had all begun to attract the attention of bigger labels, and with Horne unable and unwilling to cough up the financial backing to further their careers on Postcard, they all began to jump ship in a bid to further their careers. Aztec Camera would find a new home on Rough Trade, while Orange Juice signed a deal with Polydor, going on to achieve a top ten hit with ‘Rip It Up’ in 1985.
This mass exodus left Postcard with little choice but to cease existence at the end of 1981, but despite there having not been much mileage in the label, the impact that they had had in such a short space of time began to become apparent in the subsequent years. This quartet of groups had, between them, established the ‘Postcard Sound’, something that other indie bands later in the 1980s and early ‘90s began to cite as a major influence. At home in Scotland, emerging acts such as BMX Bandits and Teenage Fanclub looked to the bands that had spawned from Postcard Records as being quintessential reference points, but even on the other side of Hadrian’s Wall, there were traces of their influence beginning to appear.
It’s hard to deny that bands like The Smiths took inspiration from the Postcard roster, while acts such as The Wedding Present actively acknowledged the importance of what the label produced. The C81 and C86 cassette compilations procured by NME showcased bands from all over the world that were adopting the same sound. Other independent labels that had specific identities and areas of specialism started to crop up more frequently, having been inspired by Alan Horne’s ambitious project.
Few people talk about the importance of Postcard in the modern indie world, but you can guarantee that there’s plenty of music you’re engaging with that owes an awful lot to what the label attempted to achieve in its brief lifespan. Very few labels before them had truly captured an independent and DIY spirit in quite the same fashion, and ultimately, had they not been brave enough to try their hand at running a label under these parameters, then today’s indie landscape might look awfully different.
