Mill City Sound launches its own label to reissue music never released on vinyl
by Luke Taylor
November 19, 2021
As part of his work as the owner/operator of Mill City Sound in Hopkins, Rob Sheeley has had the unenviable duty of telling customers certain albums were never released on vinyl. "When you work at a record store long enough, you see and hear the frustration of customers," he says.
It was a frustration Sheeley felt as well — so he and a colleague, Ric Menck, decided to do something about it. "We started a label," Sheeley explains, "reissuing a number of records to vinyl that have never before been on vinyl."
The new label is called Backgroove Records. “Rob kept mentioning to me he wanted to start a label,” Menck says, adding with a laugh, “and I kept warning him against that because it's not easy to do.”
Menck knows what he’s talking about. As a longtime drummer for Matthew Sweet and others, Menck has put out a lot of records as an artist, and he’s also had experience running a label, Parasol Records, in Champaign, Illinois. “Rob takes the lead,” Menck clarifies. “I'm more of a sounding board and tell him what I know based on my experience, but it's all up to him. With this label, we’re sort of finding our way at this point. It’s all new.”
The need certainly exists. There was a sizable period in recorded music when turntables were almost entirely out of vogue — spanning roughly the late 1980s into the 2010s — during which time albums were released only on CD or MP3. Now, with the vinyl renaissance in full effect, Backgroove Records will help some of that music get its vinyl release.
Backgroove Records' first release will be a vinyl reissue of Material Issue's 1991 album, International Pop Overthrow, which includes such hits as “Valerie Loves Me” and “Diane.”
A Chicago band, Material Issue had a large following in the Twin Cities, and Sheeley says the surviving band members, Ted Ansani and Mike Zelenko, have told Sheeley they often thought of Minneapolis as their second city. That was helpful information for Mill City Sound, because Sheeley knew there would be a market.
Menck points out that the album release comes at a good time for Material Issue, a band whose arc was cut short in 1996 when original frontman Jim Ellison died from suicide that year. This year, however, has seen the world premiere (at Sound Unseen) of director Balin Schneider’s documentary, Out of Time: The Material Issue Story. In addition, Ansani and Zelenko have reconstituted the band as Material Reissue, with Chicago musician Phil Angotti stepping into the role of lead singer and guitarist. “He’s a friend of theirs they've known forever,” Menck says, “so he’s very faithful to the original sound.
“It's exciting — things are happening for them,” Menck continues. “We are glad to be a part of it.”
After paying Universal Music Group what Menck describes as “a fairly large chunk of money to get the rights,” the vinyl version of International Pop Overthrow releases officially on December 3 and will be distributed nationwide. As a special offer for his Mill City Sound customers, Sheeley will have advance copies available for purchase on Record Store Day Black Friday on November 26.
Critically for Ansani and Zelenko, Backgroove Records also provided payment to them for International Pop Overthrow, "so the band will actually get paid," Sheeley says.
“When you have a back catalogue and it's just sitting dormant, it's really frustrating,” Menck adds, “especially now that vinyl is happening. I know [Material Issue] were really excited to have a vinyl of their first record, and they just want it to be out there. From my perspective as a musician, I feel the same way. Just to know your stuff is out there is a good thing.”
Producing the physical record involved a wider team, with mastering done by Jeff Powell of Ardent Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, album-cover design by Cleveland graphic artist Stacy Mallardi-Stajcar, and manufacturing done by Furnace Record Pressing in Alexandria, Virginia. Menck says he and Sheeley plan to do the distribution to record stores themselves.
“I’m so psyched [Sheeley] and Ric Menck are doing the label thing,” says The Current’s program director Jim McGuinn. “And the Material Issue album is a perfect place to start … that record currently sells for about $150 on Discogs, so having a $25 reissue will satisfy a lot of fans, and allow the surviving band members to earn their rightful place with that music back in the hands of fans old and new.”
As for what’s next for Backgroove Records, Sheeley is looking at work released in the 2000s and 2010s by The Hold Steady and by Lizzo, music that never saw a vinyl release. He’s considering a compilation of music by mid-America artists, because, as Sheeley says, they “never got the love and care they should have got.”
External Links
Backgroove Records - official site
Mill City Sound - official site
