The Radical

Interview with Rob Janis, Rotten to the Core Records

Ventura, Calif.

It's a one-man show over in Ventura.

Rob Janis started Rotten to the Core Records as a distro in 2003, mainly working friends' shows. The shows dried up, but Janis is still going strong with the mail-order, a label and a separate arm called Hobby Horse Buttons—the latter, as the name suggests, produces buttons.  

"Positive feedback, new music and my love for the music," Janis said. "It's why I do what I do."

Twelve years later Rotten to the Core has a discography that includes more than 30 titles, with the Canadian crust band Global Holocaust's "Unequal Justice" 7" being the one that started it all in October 2008. More recent releases have included the "Opposition" 7" by Sidetracked and this month's release of SPIT's "Poison in Your Head" LP.

"I'm a total vinyl nerd so it has to be getting the records," Janis said of what he likes most about running the label. "I love picking the records up from the press. It's exciting. Really, it's supporting the bands. Helping transform their hard work into the physical form. It's something we're both proud of and what we've done will remain for many years to come."

When Janis initially began with the distro, the landscape for vinyl, distribution and labels was all knew.

He, at the time, had just started collecting records and it immediately became apparent just how scant the options were for buying punk—particularly vinyl—in the Antelope Valley.

"There's now a mom-and-pop record store that has been around for the last few years," he said. "But in 2003, you were looking at Hot Topic or Wherehouse Music. So I started Rotten to the Core to bring access to the music my friends and I were into. I originally just did the distro thing at shows and out of my home."

He did cut-and-paste flyers and would sometimes enlist the help of friends—as he does today, although his preference is to simply do it himself.  

"I've noticed more and more small labels popping up, not all of them seem to have a grasp on what they're getting themselves into," Janis said. "It's a lot of work to maintain a small label that puts out very obscure and unknown bands."

Running the distro for several years before releasing bands' music helped Janis learn the ropes, he said. He made important connections and learned the ins and outs of the process.

"Operating a label is very fulfilling if you're doing it for the right reasons: supporting the bands, the music and the scene you're a part of," he said. "The gratitude I get from the positive feedback I receive from fans and the bands I help out means the world to me."

Vinyl's popularity—while great in many ways—has also created challenges for small labels such as Rotten to the Core with record pressings now taking much longer than in the past—sometimes up to six months from the time of submission. It's forced many labels to have to readjust internal planning processes to make sure bands' records are available when they need them.

"If I'm doing a record for a band that has tour plans, it's pretty crucial that they have something to promote, sell and help pay for gas, food et cetera. I have to make sure I have almost half a year to plan," Janis said. "It's kind of ridiculous."

Other changes are largely inevitable and unavoidable with the passing of time. His longevity in the scene gives Janis an interesting vantage point as the scene goes through new waves of music.

"I think the main thing that has changed, at least for me, is the audience," Janis said. "A lot of my fans and 'customers' are younger kids. Fresh new faces that are really just discovering what the music means to them. It's hard to maintain that young, fierce 'I can change the world' attitude as you get older. Jobs, bills, relationships, kids, health issues, the list goes on and on. The world is a tough place and maintaining one's morals and vigilance is a daily struggle. Don't let the bastards grind you down!"

Janis still operates out of his home with the goal of opening his own record store or venue one day if the money materializes.

He counts his successes—not based on measures of monetary value, but in the contribution that's being made to the scene. Any of the profits made from Rotten to the Core get funneled back into the label.

"It's totally self sustaining at this point, which is really awesome. I've put so much of my own money in this over the years, it's nice to see it thrive on it's own," he said.

Janis is now hard at work on a 7" series which will feature only Ventura-based bands that he said will be a mix of what fans expect from the label as well as a unique departure from what Rotten to the Core has released in the past.

The DIY community is littered with the bodies of many great bands, labels, distros and zines that fizzle out largely because people—despite all the passion in the world—get tired at the end of the day. Janis continues to defy the odds, reinforcing a philosophy that has come to define the DIY culture.

To say Janis is busy would be an understatement of epic proportions. From the time he agreed to this interview up until the end, he was in-between his regular job, trips to the airport to drop someone off or traveling out of town himself. That's all in addition to running the mail-order, label and Hobby Horse.

He signs off with some good words of wisdom and a lesson learned when he just launched Rotten to the Core that's stuck with him to this day: "Don't rip people off. This really goes for life in general though. Our scene is a tight-knit community. Chances are if you rip someone off everyone is gonna hear about it and you'll likely never gain back people's trust. Trust goes a long way and I think is one of the cornerstones to being a good person."

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