Get To Know An Indie Label: A Q&A With Damon Duster Of Nomad Eel Records

In recent months, we've had a number of indie bands featured on our Tower Instagram Live show and here on Tower's PULSE! who hail from indie record label Nomad Eel. Livingmore, Vessel of Light, and Timothy Eerie have all shared their music with Tower, and there will be a couple more coming soon from their ranks, too.

The person who runs Nomad Eel, Damon Duster, also appeared on our Live show a while back, but now we've got him back for a Q&A about his life and what it takes to pursue your love for music to a whole new level by setting up and running an indie label. 

Hannah Means-Shannon: What types of music tend to attract your attention as a label? Do you have an enthusiasm for newer or more up and coming music that people haven’t really heard widely yet?

Damon Duster: My base is pretty eclectic. It is always exciting to have a new artist on board, hearing their music for their first time. I just signed a new artist recently, Riorden, a solo artist out of Santa Barbara. I learned about her from Brandon Graham from Dream Phases. It’s all kind of word of mouth, and if I like it, I’ll pursue it further.

HMS: Do you have to be fairly selective right now? Because if you tried to take on every artist who was pretty cool that you came across, I imagine things might grow too quickly for you.

DD: Right, absolutely, being a one-man band, and funding it all. With Riordan, she already has a full album ready to go. She’s already got it mastered for vinyl and everything.

HMS: Wow! How do you think musicians feel about putting out music during this time?

DD: All artists right now have more time on their hands. Us lucky few still have a day job, but artists usually don’t. So much has shut down. They have more time to write those songs and get stuff ready. I think if the timing’s right and you find the right folks, things just fall into place.

HMS: I think a lot of artists have held off releasing albums, but enough time has passed now that people want some semblance of moving ahead, so more are starting to release again. But I generally think people need new music right now, though I understand that can be difficult financially.

DD: I was reading recently that even with the pandemic, music sales for physical formats have reached a high point, particularly vinyl. I started the label primary as a vinyl release, with LPs and 7 inches. That kind of morphed over time, mostly because it takes so long for an LP to be completed. In the in-between times, a couple of bands asked if I could do CDs for them or cassettes for then. With CDs, you can make them quickly and they are still pretty cheap to make.

HMS: CDs and tapes are also not that difficult to mail out. Vinyl is a little trickier.

[Young Creatures from Nomad Eel]

DD: The Might Mailers have helped with that. I’ve collected vinyl most of my life and I’m always upset when I get a record wrapped in bubble wrap. You might as well throw it on the ground and step on it!

HMS: [Laughs] Does the packaging and the posting of vinyl make it an expensive business to be in for you?

DD: No, it’s just part of the expenses. You do the overall costs and it’s all factored in. LPs themselves, for an independent label, that’s the way to go for an independent label, since it’s a larger album and you get more back on your return. CDs can work, too, since they are cheaper to make.

HMS: I saw on your website, the phrase “Where the music takes you.” What’s the inspiration behind that phrase as it applies to your label?

DD: Well, life’s a journey. Along that journey, music is always with you. You make different friends on life’s journey, and every new person that you meet brings their experiences and their taste in music. So you’re introduce to new music. It’s where the music takes you.

HMS: That kind of suggests that music could change little aspects of your direction in life and take you places that you might not have otherwise gone. Do you think that’s true?

DD: Definitely, depending on the music. We’ve just had a huge social uprising, hopefully for the better. Hopefully we get the equality that America is really built on for everybody. There's the whole Black Lives Matter movement and there’s got to be some awesome music coming out of that.

HMS: That’s starting already, for sure. There’s music coming out already, and a lot of it is to raise money for charities and things.

Can you tell be about working with lathe cuts? Is the idea there that they can be put out more quickly and strike while the iron’s hot?

DD: Exactly. With the pandemic, and the plants in and out of production, especially in the beginning, I went toward lathe cuts. Their quick, but the quality is not always there. They are hand cut into plexiglass.

HMS: There’s something really special about that, though. It reminds you about how fragile the medium is that we get music from. It’s almost like you could inscribe music in a dinner plate or something. You could, kind of.

DD: It’s like a novelty item. The guys I use for lathe cuts, they’ve done that. They’ve inscribed music onto plastic plates and drum tops.

HMS: That’s amazing!

DD: They’ve done some crazy stuff. That all goes back to World War I or II. In Russia, they were restricted on listening to music, so they had discs made on X-Rays.

HMS: I saw about that on TV! Yes, in Russia, they had records made out of X-Rays. It was crazy.

DD: It was a huge underground market there.

HMS: Do you work with record stores much, or do you mainly work with distributors?

DD: In the beginning, mostly, I did. There’s a record store not too far from Long Beach where I used to live, where I’ll still go, based on commission. I prefer that they go through the distributor I work with.

The number one question I used to get was “Do you have a distributor?” When I didn’t, and was bringing things straight from the label, they could only do a commission. For Amoeba Records, in LA, I used to do the same kind of thing. That’s all commission. I think they finally started ordering some things, but it was a process to find the right folks and plug them into my distributor.

[Timothy Eerie from Nomad Eel]

HMS: So now that you have a distributor, it’s more a process of trying to get the word out and encourage shops to pre-order stuff?

DD: Exactly. With distributors, almost everything is barcode oriented. Going in, I didn’t know much about that. I actually don’t put barcodes on any of my products, so I’ll put it on as a sticker. I think barcodes distract from the cover artwork.

HMS: That’s really cool that you keep that in mind. I’ve worked in publishing, and that’s always a consideration for wrap-around covers.

DD: Almost every release I do has a different label logo, too.

HMS: That explains why I found so many Nomad Eel logos online! Awesome. [Laughs]

DD: If there are reoccurring releases from bands, they can use the same logo. For Livingmore, the artist who designed their album cover also designed their version of the logo. It keeps it all with the bands a little bit.

HMS: That’s neat! I’ve seen that happen a little bit when I’ve been working on comic books in other jobs.

DD: For my second release, John Lee, the artist who did the cover for that, is now doing comic book art.

HMS: Oh, there’s a lot of crossover! I love it.

DD: Before I got into the whole record thing, I used to own and manage a comic book store. It was called Comic Quest.

HMS: That’s amazing! Small world. It’s possible that the experiences you had there would help you with what you’re doing now.

DD: Oh, absolutely. Even just working there, the different employees would bring in their music and I’d learn about things and it would open my mind up to other things.

HMS: You’ve also worked with a distributor before, then, Diamond, right?

DD: Oh totally. I’d physically drive to Diamond at 4AM in the morning to pick up our comics for the week.

HMS: Now that you know how to do what you’re doing running a label, do you wish that you’d done it at an earlier phase of your life?

DD: I would say, “no”, because I think everything kind of happens for a reason and when it happens it’s meant to happen at that time. It just so happened that I was going through a divorce and separating from the military at the time, and it all fit in to making a label. I knew it was my transition in life.

HMS: It put you on a new path with a new venture?

DD: Yes, and with something I love. I love records. I love music. I love art. It all ties in.

HMS: Does it take up a substantial amount of your time?

DD: No, I have a day job also. It runs from 7AM to 5PM, sometimes a little longer. After hours is whatever I can do or need to do for the label. Plus, being a single dad, too, I need that time. That’s why I get the kids involved, too! Helping Dad out!

I feel fortunate because I’m doing two things I love. In the Army, I was a logistics officer and I’ve moved into a logistics position, so I’m able to keep that going. The record label is fun for me, whereas the other job is challenging in a good way.

HMS: I know enough about logistics to know that it is also something that will make you good at running a record label.

DD: [Laughs] Actually I attribute my customer service to a job I had right out of high school at a drug store. I was a clerk. I’d stock shelves and run the register. I was with them for two or three years part-time. That’s where I learned my customer service.

HMS: There’s a lot to be said for learning from various types of jobs in your life.

DD: I was also an Eagle Scout when I was a kid. I think I have a drive for that kind of thing.

HMS: What do you think you took away from that experience?

DD: There are the Scout ideas of doing your best, doing good daily. Going into the military as an officer, those principles were pretty much spot-on.

HMS: All of the bands that I’ve spoken to who work with you have very nice things to say about you. They definitely feel that you try to help people.

DD: We’re all adapting right now, but that doesn’t mean don’t help your neighbor.

HMS: Generally speaking, when you look at the next year or two for Nomad Eel, what do you want to accomplish?

DD: I just want to keep things going working with great bands and releasing great music, building those relationships. I’m pretty eclectic with my taste in music, and though I’ve been doing a lot of Psych Rock, I’m trying to break out of that a little. I’ve released Boulevards, who’s more Soul and Funk. Now Vessel of Light, who are Doom Metal. There’s Zig-Zags, who are Heavy Metal or Metal-Punk. I just want to put out great music that people can relate to.