{"id":7690,"date":"2026-06-16T15:50:45","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T14:50:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/?p=7690"},"modified":"2026-06-16T15:51:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T14:51:13","slug":"7690","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/?p=7690","title":{"rendered":"Skep Wax"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s the full-version of JEFF PENCZAK\u2019s excellent interview with AMELIA FLETCHER and ROB PURSEY (Heavenly, Swansea Sound, The Catenary Wires, Skep Wax Records) that appeared in <\/strong>issue #173<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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Shindig!<\/strong><\/em>: Whatever convinced you to start your own label? Was it akin to John Peel\u2019s Dandelion launch in that you were hearing all these great bands but no one was releasing their records or was it simply an opportunity to release your own records when no one else would?<\/p>\n

Rob<\/strong>: The madness started because we had recorded a new album by The Catenary Wires [Birling Gap<\/em><\/a>] and a debut album by our new band Swansea Sound [Live At The Rum Puncheon<\/em><\/a>]. There were labels offering to put them out. But it seemed like the time was right to do something ourselves. We had talked about starting a label before (30 years before, to be precise, when Heavenly first got going) \u2013 and for me, the idea had never really gone away.<\/p>\n

Amelia<\/strong>: But it was always the intention to put out other bands, too. We wouldn\u2019t have been interested in only doing our own records. We\u2019ve released albums by loads of new bands that we love: The Cords, Tulpa, Crumbs, and Sassyhiya for example.\u00a0\u00a0The scene that we are a part of is yielding some incredible bands at the moment.<\/p>\n

S!<\/strong><\/em>: Why \u2018Skep Wax\u2019? Are you both apiarists? Or perhaps a self-deprecating play on \u201cSkip Wax\u201d – rubbish records?<\/p>\n

Rob<\/strong>: I don\u2019t know much about bees, but I do know that a \u201cskep\u201d is an old-fashioned wicker beehive, which was used by Kentish smugglers to disguise themselves: they were worn over the head like wicker balaclavas.\u00a0\u00a0When we first moved to rural Kent we used \u201cThe Skep\u201d to name an old barn that was used for gigs and rudimentary film screenings. And the word just stuck. When those local events got bigger we started an organisation called Skep Arts. \u00a0And then the label came along and that got called Skep Wax.\u00a0\u00a0If we started a haulage company it would probably be called Skep Logistics.<\/p>\n