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Happy Birthday Mr Domino (October 22, 2001)

This is Laurence Bell on his 36th birthday. He is the boss of Domino Records and a very gentle, kind man with it. Here he compiles his 10 favourite Domino moments:

Top Ten Domino Moments
A Quick Wine-Fuelled Random reflection from an independent Record Label

1  Sebadoh On Top of the Pops (January 1999) No matter how independent you might be or feel, nothing is quite as exciting as a quick flirtation withda mainstream, when maybe 'your' culture can impact a little on 'The' culture. Sebadoh was the first record we released on Domino, back in '93, so it was particularly satisfying when they became our first and only (to date) band to tear it up on TOTP. Sent me right back to watching the Buzzcocks and other new wave faves as a little 'un, and I got off on the access you get to a generation of kids through this kind of mass exposure, hoping that they all might pick up guitars as a result and emote through music in some better way. This didn't happen but of a few minutes it looked, felt, and was great.

2  Pavement on Suset Strip (October 96) So, your favourite band is looking for a new label, you make the call, wanna make the deal. They say 'we're going down to LA, staying at a hotel on Sunset, come and make your ptich'. So off we fly. Call the hotel, they say they'll leave a cassette of the new album on reception at the Chateau, we should come and pick it up, take it away, listen well and if we dig it, come and lunch with them the following day and tell them why Domino should be their new home. So we do. And we make the deal, fly home victorious, excited and very, very happy.

3  The Pastels with Jad fair at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut (October 96) Jetlagged, just in from the aforementioned West Coast mission and we (that's me and Jacqui rice, my love and longtime Queen of Domino) changed at Hathrow and flew straight to Glasgow, tired and emotional. Our flagship Scottish act The Pastels were playing their annual night at their local, King Tut's. The show was pure and real and for an encore, outsider artist and underground godhead Jad fair joined them to sing 'This Could Be The night', a painfully romantic tune they had cut together 'Back in '91'. Overwhelmed and over tired, tears in my eyes, I have a hard time stopping myself proposing to my true love at that very moment. It was tough by I managed to refrain. I figure she would much rather be proposed to somewhere other than King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, somewhere like a beach in Mexico. Five years on, I still haven't popped the question...

4  Royal Trux at The Garage (April 98) Our favourite band, five years on from starting to work with us were suddenly and finally getting their dues, getting popular. Jennifer Herrema stood tall in her Stetson (soon to be copped by a thousand wannabes), Neil Hagerty made his guitar bleed and the Royal trux laid down the best rock and roll of the times. Packed and hot, the joint came alive, people were awestruck, just incredible. Now they tell me that the White Stripes are hot.

5  Clinic in Caesaria (July 2000) The joys of an invitation to open for radiohead stretch a long way, this time to the shores of the Mediterranean on the coast of Israel. The Roman amphitheatre was stunning and in fact, my Dad had visited it just a s a tourist, to check it out aws part of his historical quest. We got seats in the third row and watched our strange modern art rockers from Liverpool rock the Israeli kids. The stars shot over the stage, which backed onto the Med sea, and I was happy to be there, and I'm now even happier it was last year; not this one. Radiohead were towering too, of course, they work so well in grand settings. This reminded me that there was a big old world out there and music could reach the furthest corners, and with a little luck, we can go to some of these places too. Next year it looks like Domino will be representing itself faraway with events in Istanbul and Moscow. We like that.

6  The wit and wisdom and continuing genius of Will Oldham, Bill Callahan and David Berman. That's Bonnie 'Price' Billy (Smog) and Silver Jews. And all those Drag City princes and paupers that we represent, doing it all the right way, their way, never a dull moment, never.

7  A Beach in Fife (July 2001) Sat around a fire in the early hours on a beach on the coast of Fife this year, a night of strange new folk (people and music) in St. Andrews, of all places. An acoustic guitar was ceremoniously burnt on the fire, which sure stopped the music, but by then I'd met the astounding art and soul of the Lone Pigeon, James Yorkston, King Creosote and all the beautiful new songs they played us this year, and I'm hooked. It's great to find new music in unlikely places.

8  Remortgaging my house. Next week? Next month? Next year? Hope it doesn't come to that by it's gotta be worth it. Right? Right.

9  Domino Translantic (September 2001) This year we started sending the sounds back out to the USA, got a Manhattan address (office is too grand a term for daniel's apartment). It all seems to be going swell. Seemed like a mad idea, but it seems to be working out just fine and it feels good to be roaring our gospel on that supposedly impenetrable continent. Just a shame that the Towers went down two days before our NYC launch in a club at Ground Zero.

10  Kieran Hebden/Four Tet/Fridge (2001-) Just when you start to feel a bit old, someone comes along and makes it all YOUNG and FRESH again. Respect.

I would like to recommend the new Jim O'Rourke LP 'Insignificance' and keep a look out for James Yorkston & the Athletes, coming soon.