I’ve been actively involved in the Atlanta DIY scene for about a year now. I got my start playing house shows as the lead singer of my friend’s band Great Great Great Beautiful Lives Yes Yes, and have been slowly exploring more and more of the scene since then. (Picture this: the DIY scene is a pool and I am a toddler wading in with my little floral print floaties). Despite being pretty new to this whole thing, I found out about the local tape label Rope Bridge fairly early on (they represent Truth Club, one of my favorite bands). Rope Bridge has become ubiquitous in the scene, so I sat down with Ryan Myers, the man behind the curtain, to get the scoop on what it takes to run a DIY label.

Karina: For those who don’t know, can you explain a bit about what Rope Bridge actually is?

Ryan: Rope Bridge is a not-for-profit, community DIY tape label. Essentially, our whole goal is to help local bands get merch on their tables and reach a wider audience without having to pay for it. It just so happens that cassette tapes are the most readily-made physical recording medium that you can put an album on, so that’s why we chose tapes.

K: How did Rope Bridge come about?

R: I had a friend, Jalen, who asked me one day if I had a [tape] duplicating machine and my roommate had one. He came over to dub some Night Terror tapes - they’re a punk band - and we did it an hour. I was like “Wait, is it really this easy to duplicate a tape?” From there, I was like “Ok, well let’s do this. Let’s make a tape label!” A bunch of people had their albums ready to go and it just took off really quick. I’m definitely not super knowledgeable about tape or recording or anything in particular other than music and the DIY scene. I like to emphasize that there aren’t a lot of barriers to entry and that more people should make tape labels. It’s a lot easier than you might think and it’s a really awesome service to everyone involved.

Blank tapes and Ryan’s adorable cat, Mickey!

K: How did you start letting people know about your label? Was it just word of mouth or did you go to shows and “advertise”?

R: I’m not playing in any bands, I just love music and cataloging music. I collect records and tapes and stuff already. Just from being in the scene and going to shows, I was always in the background. Over the years I just started meeting people, so now I happen to know a lot of the people making music in the city. It’s never been about “business”, I just happen to be friends with a lot of these people because a lot of the people in the Atlanta music scene are just awesome and really nice. As soon as I told my friends that I was doing this, a few of them [Mission Hill and Radium Jaw, specifically] reached out and wanted to release with me. The first few releases were kind of based around shows that were happening; we wanted to have tapes ready for those shows.

K: You mentioned that it’s not really about business. If that’s the case, what is the monetary philosophy behind the label?

R: Since I like collecting records, there are times where I think “Oh, I’ll pay $50 for the test press of this album I love a lot.” I was looking at the tape production side and I thought to myself “If I’m gonna lose $50 making this tape, then I’m just paying $50 to be able to say that I’m responsible for putting this music out there.” That’s all I would ever really want. The model is that I front the cost of production and only maintain enough copies of the tape in order to try and break even, which doesn’t happen with shipping costs and everything else involved. In real life I work habitat restoration for a local nonprofit, so I’m not exactly sitting on an inheritance, but we make it happen. It’s pure profit for the bands and they get to sell tapes and spread their music.

K: Am I right in saying that you’re a one-man show? Does that mean that you make all of the tapes yourself?

R: It kind of functions like a one-man show, but it’s not possible without the help of a bunch of people. As far as cassette production, it varies. For a few albums, I was responsible for putting together J-card artwork as well as making all the tapes. When I do J-card design, though, I typically work with a long time friend named Emil who has a better grasp of digital design software than myself. He is also the person responsible for putting together the Scare Quotes music video we made this year.

In terms of manufacturing the tapes, 9 out of the 10 albums I’ve done have been me purchasing a set of blank tapes, then dubbing the albums at home. For a few I was able to record onto a master tape and duplicate using a tape duplicating machine, but for the others I’ve actually hand-dubbed every single tape one by one, both the A and B side. Some examples of albums that I did that with were for Radium Jaw, Greenscreen, Hubble, and some of Scare Quotes’ stuff1. That took me a long time, but it’s all for the sake of a quality product. The most recent tape I’ve put out is by Truth Club [woohoo!] and that was the first time I had some tapes professionally duplicated through National Audio Company.

K: Is there anything you would change about the Atlanta DIY scene since you’ve been here?

R: This is a tough question to answer because, in my experience, it’s been nothing but fantastic. It’s hard to say that there’s anything I would want to be different. It’s always cool to see more cross-pollination of various scenes within Atlanta and honestly that’s what’s been happening a lot. It’s been really awesome, and that’s what I intend to do. When I started the label, I didn’t want it to be like “This is a hardcore label” or “This is a left field or electronic label”. I love all of these types of music, so why not house everyone together and have one place to find and discover music? Other than that, of course there are bands that no longer play or have moved and left the scene that I wish I could still see. A few that come to mind are Warehouse, Red Sea, Suffer Dragon, Hellier Ulysses, etc. There was all this really cool music defined as “angular” and “art rock” with the back-and-forth guitar, etc., and that’s what I got hooked on at first. The scene just changes, so it’s not really like that anymore, but it’s still there. Everybody likes each other’s music, you just have to be exposed to it.

K: Going off of what you were saying, every scene’s sound has its own waves and fluctuations. You mentioned that it used to be a lot of angular guitar. How would you describe the sound of the scene now?
R: Hubble, Vessel, Frank/ie Consent, Hill View #73, Divi.jpg, and Sword II come to mind…The lo-fi sound is back in full force, even though it never really left. The sound now is still super varied, but there’s a lot of wonderful loud, shoegazey, punky, and more experimental stuff…It’s hard to say what the scene is now because there’s so many aspects of it.

K: Absolutely, I realize that that was a really hard question because the scene is really fractured, but not in an oppositional, antagonistic way, but in the sense that everyone is doing their own thing. That’s the magic of it; it’s indefinable and nebulous.

K: How do you determine which bands you choose to bring on board?

R: That’s something I’ve been struggling with. I’m not at a stage where I’m choosing; I’m happy for people to send me submissions but it’s not like that’s happening a lot. One thing I’m not trying to do is make free tapes for bands of some level of privilege or if it’s unneeded. If it’s a matter of “Oh I heard Rope Bridge makes free tapes, I’m a frat rock band, let me hit them up!” I'm not interested in that. I’m only interested in working with artists that I really believe in. Even if someone doesn’t want to release on my label, I show them exactly how I make the tapes. I didn’t necessarily mean to make a tape label, it just, y’know, happened [laughs]. Anyone can reach out to me if they ever want to talk about tapes or make tapes.

K: Does Rope Bridge have anything exciting in store for the future?

R: The first anniversary of the label is coming up on November 11th. On the 12th and 13th, I’m hosting a big anniversary weekend fest, and my goal at that festival is to have 4 to 6 new tapes out! These will remain a surprise for now but just know this weekend will be very special and I hope to see all my pals as well as a ton of new faces.2

K: You work with Truth Club and I’m a big fan of theirs so it’s really cool to get to talk to you! I know that they’re based in North Carolina (which is obviously not Atlanta), so how did you meet them? Do you have plans to expand Rope Bridge outside of Georgia?

R: I actually met Truth Club through my former roommate Nathan from Floral Print. They (Truth Club) stayed at our house when they opened for Indigo de Souza at the Masquerade and our friendship went from there and we ended up putting out that tape. They’re an incredible band! They have new music in the works, so I said to them - and this is something that I say to all bands - “If everything goes well, I will not be putting it out on Rope Bridge.” I’m still a small little thing and they are destined for some real touring success. In terms of expanding, it’s pretty hard for bands to break into success in the southeast, so it really stinks to see all of these bands hit a certain level and then move to Philadelphia or New York. Apparently it’s not really feasible to do it out here, so I definitely do want to help foster and maintain local acts. But I do have friends in other cities, so it really is on a case-by-case basis. I’ll be putting out an album that’s a little bit overdue by Pueblo Now, who were originally in Greenville but have since moved to Asheville. I’ve also spoken to a Richmond act. There’s other people [outside of Georgia], but for the most part if there’s a need in Atlanta for it then that’s always going to get priority. That’s what I want to keep around and who I’m most excited to be successful. But I don’t have any plans to seek out bands in, like, Los Angeles just so Rope Bridge can get bigger. I have no aspirations to take over the world; I’d rather just make sure that everyone is getting their due hype.

K: My last question is a little bit more personal, but what music have you been listening to lately? Are there any bands you’re really enjoying?

R: Well, my close friends all know this about me but I’m a big Alex G guy. I’m going to the show on Saturday and it’ll be my eleventh time seeing Alex G. Other than that, there’s been a lot of stuff I’ve been listening to recently. I’ve been listening to the new The Cradle album, some Sam Gendel, some 454, I loved John Glacier this year. I’ve been catching up on a lot of Philly stuff because I’ve become good friends with a lot of people from there, like the They Are Gutting A Body of Water people. Shoutout to Julia’s War, everything they’re doing is incredible. Everything Candlepin Records is doing, everything 9733 Inc. is putting out. Also everything on Rope Bridge came out on tape within the last year; I really stan every single one of the artists that have done tapes with me. I just listen to this stuff constantly. There are actually countless people, artists, and labels I would love to shout out here but it would never end. I’m a big fan of it all and I’m just trying to add to the massive pool of beauty and wonder as best as I can.

Special thanks to Ryan Myers of Rope Bridge for answering all of my questions and for gushing about DIY with me!

P.S. for eagle-eyed readers, didya catch the band reference in the first paragraph? Hint: They’re a local ATL three-piece.

Footnotes

The Radium Jaw album Ryan is referencing is called Faded Out. The Greenscreen EP is titled Your Text Here, the Hubble tape is their Live at Disorder Fest release, and the Scare Quotes EP is Tactics. Check 'em out, and maybe buy a tape or two!
The lineup for the Rope Bridge festival has since been released! Check out @rope.bridge on Instagram for the full lineup!

Rope Bridge logo by @hotcarr0ts on Instagram

Anniversary Fest flier by Ray Farrell

Photos by Ryan Myers

Rope Bridge: Contributing to the DIY Scene, One Cassette Tape at a Time

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