Plan-it-X

Q: WHAT DOES D.I.Y. MEAN?

Q: WHAT IS THE POINT OF PLAN-IT-X?

Q: HOW DID PLAN-IT-X START?

Q: Can i intern at the plan-it-x records office?

Q: How does my band get "signed" to plan-it-x records?

Q: Does plan-it-x take demos?

Q: How does plan-it-x work?

Q: Where do you make your CDs, how can i do it?

Q: How come our cd's are so cheap?

Q: How many times can Eric Ayotte slam dunk?

Q: WHAT DOES D.I.Y. MEAN?

A: well, everyone has their own opinion about this and no one is right or wrong. all i can tell you is what i think. i would say DIY means (to me), being socially and politically aware. DIY means not dealing with larger businesses. DIY means not having a booking agent. DIY means not playing shows that cost more than 5$ at the door unless there are 6+ touring bands or something and not playing 21+ shows or clear channel venues or even venues that have bad politics, like shitty clubs that let racist bands play etc. i would say DIY still retains a little of the core meaning. such as, making your own records, shirts and patches. DIY means not being afraid to take chances and go on tour to lands unknown with no money and no idea of what is out there. DIY means not having $30 hooded sweatshirts. DIY means inviting kids to stay at your house and cooking them food and having the same thing done for you when you get to their town. i would like to think that most people who call themselves DIY believe the things i do. i doubt it. the term is used too widely and by anyone with a fucking myspace account. i would like to think all DIY punks have an interest in making the world a better place. community building is the key. it's not the punks vs. the people. it's the poor people and the oppressed peoples, the animals and women and minorities and "weirdos", "crazies", and "criminals" vs. the powerful and rich 5% of people the rule the world with greedy intent.

Q: WHAT IS THE POINT OF PLAN-IT-X?

A: we release music we love. music that we want other people to hear. plan-it-x records is not about making money. we are about getting punk music heard. punk rock is more than a business, or at least it should be. we sell all our cds for $5 postage paid. we still make enough money to feed ourselves and release more music. CDs only cost about $2 to make. think about that the next time you buy a $10 cd that's supposed to be d.i.y. think about where your money is going. our scene is in danger. it is becoming a copy of the mainstream capitalist system, with full color posters, ads, offices, contracts, secretaries, booking agents, 30$ hooded sweat shirts, million dollar a year record labels that fail to use any of their profits for anything other than buying themselves new cars, and a bunch of dumb jocks that go to shows and start fights and don't have a clue about what this is all about. what is it about? everyone seems to have their own opinions, but here's what we think: it's about sharing ideas, separating ourselves from the fucked up people in this world, taking a stand against the injustice and greed, striving to make even the smallest positive change, making friends and sometimes even having fun. we must not let our scene fall into the dark pit of consumerism, we can be so much more. that's why plan-it-x asks you to boycott all of the "big" labels and bands and support the small ones (and i don't mean just us). or better yet, start your own fucking record label. let's take punk rock back from the business men!

Q: HOW DID PLAN-IT-X START?

A: THE EARLY DAYS:>>
in the beginning (1994) we made tapes. these tapes cost $1. they also cost $1 to make. we were a non-profit record (or should i say tape) label. the bands were (in order) the ted dancin' machine, instinct, the latch key kids, the dirtys, and operation: cliff clavin. all of these bands were from indiana and they are all broken up. these tapes are out of print, but may someday be released on a cd called "plan-it-x, the early days." (i doubt it) my best friend in the world, SAM (Samantha Jane Dorsett), started the label as a joke really. you see, Sam was paying to release the first tape by my band and we were at kinko's (scamming) making the tape insert/artwork and there was some blank space on the back. i said "we should make up a fake record label". Sam loved the idea and said "planet X". i said "sounds cool". you see Sam swore back then that she was kidnapped by aliens for 2 years and held on a planet called planet X. i didn't really believe her but it was a fun story. somehow, one of us thought that we should spell it weird. so there is was, plan-it-x. we were such dorks. we are such dorks. so we made tapes and had a "big" show at rhinos (our local all ages club) called: RETURN OF THE MARTIAN! it was all of the plan-it-x bands. we all sucked. about 20 people came to the show. after a while we got sick of dubbing tapes, like most tape labels. Sam got an extra scholarship check one day and the idea of releasing a 7" record came up. she paid for the pressing of my new bands first release. this was operation: cliff clavin. we found out the hard way that 7"s are hard to sell. but after a while we sold all 500 copies. then i found out how cheap it is to make cds and me and the opcc bassplayer, lukie, decided we would self-release a full length CD. we decided that 10$ for a CD was way too much and wasn't punk at all. you see we were really "punk" back then (and now oi oi oi). we were gonna make a CD and it was gonna come with 2 stickers, not just one, and a patch and have a lot of songs and only cost 5$ ppd. we did it. so that was the birth of the 5$ CD days. we went on tour and brought all 1,000 copies with us. that tour was crazy. we had never met anyone that had ever toured before. this was 1996, there wasn't really an internet back then. we didn't have a web-page. there were no cell phones. we used book your own fucking life. we tried to booke 60 shows. we booked about 45 and about 24 of them fell through. some would call that a bad tour. we loved it. we had so much fun and meet people (we only sold 180 CDs). but most importantly to this section (history), we met the bananas who were on tour. i had a 7" by them already and i loved them. we talked it over in our van and decided that we would ask them if they wanted us to release their CD on plan-it-x. they said YES! so i guess this is when we became a real record label. it took the bananas almost two years to record and send us the album. but it was worth the wait. "forbidden fruit" is a great album. after that i pretty much took over the running of plan-it-x and i was excited to release more music that i loved. i was also excited about the idea of trying to change the way that punk rock "business" worked.

Q: Can i intern at the plan-it-x records office?

A: no. sorry. there is not enough work and when things get busy, i hire my friends and pay them $10/hour. no one should work for less.

Q: How does my band get "signed" to plan-it-x records?

A: well, first off, nobody signs anything. we are all friends here and friends trust each other. usually what happens is i see a band play somewhere when i am on tour and i love them. then we hang out at their house after the show and we talk and become friends. i get home. i listen to their demos or 7"s or whatever they have out and i start thinking, i should release something by that band. then i write or call them and say "do you want to release a cd on plan-it-x?" sometimes a friend that i have known for years and have maybe been in bands with leaves his new bands demo on my kitchen table with a note asking me to release it (matte from the door-keys) and i listen to it and love it and release it. sometimes a band helps my band out when we are on tour and we become friends then i release their cd and book them a US tour (the dauntless elite). sometimes a band is my house mate and my best of friends (matty pop chart and spoonboy).

Q: Does plan-it-x take demos?

A: we take them i guess. i mean i get about 1 a week in the p.o. box. however, no band on plan-it-x was released because of a demo. i do get a lot of good demos and i listen to everyone i get. but even if i love the demo it is impossible to form an opinion of the band. i really have to see a band play live and i really need to meet the band and get to know them before i would ever want to release something. if you do send a demo. please don't send a "one sheet" or bio. just send a personal letter that tells me something about yourself. we are not really ever looking for new bands. i don't really want to release music. it just happens.

Q: How does plan-it-x work?

A: i never really meant to run anything. i just thought i would explain how things work and what bands get paid etc. first of all, we release music by our friends because we love them and their music. this is the first and most important part. then we pay them up to $300 to record but we encourage them to record for free or cheap. most bands get a hook-up. some bands pay the extra out of their pockets because the want more than we can afford. we then pay for everything. we release the CD. this usually cost about $1,000-$1,500. we then give the band 20% of the pressing. (200 cds) they get to sell them and keep all the money. when they run out of cds they can buy more from us for $2.50 each. so when they sell them for 5.00 they are making 50% +the 20% of the pressing they got for free. the money we make goes into putting out more records and buying me something to eat sometimes. we sell the CDs for $3.50-$4.00 wholesale to distros (like NO IDEA.) we is really mostly me, but recently i have been paying my friends to assemble cds and my dear friend bella (see plan-it-x free #1 in the catalog) does the mail when i am gone and helps out with keeping me on track. because we sell cds for $5 we can't afford things like advertisements in 'zines and full color posters, we rely on word of mouth and on the bands touring and playing live to get their music heard/known. i think that's about all there is to it. we are not a business, we are friends. I release music i love made by people i love and i hope you will love it, too. this music is the truest and sweetest music made by some of the best people in the world. thanks for reading.

Q: Where do you make your CDs, how can i do it?

A: do you want to make your own CDs?, start your own record label?. its easy. we use www.bellwethermfg.com to make CDs. they are a local place and they have pretty good prices. they may not be the cheapest but they will match any quote you can send them from any other CD manufacturer and they are very fast and dependable and do a good job. they can do either the raw discs (just the CD) and you can get the printing done yourself and stuff them into little bags (www.bagsunlimited.com ) or you can get them to do a whole packaged deal, like the bananas CDs (slippery subject and NrnR, or the tbiapb CDs) tell them we sent you. their web-page:
www.bellwethermfg.com

Q: How come our cd's are so cheap?

A: Because they are punk rock cds. When we send our cd's to the pressing plant, we check the "Punk Rock" box on the order form, automatically giving us the proper discount.

Q: How many times can Eric Ayotte slam dunk?

A: Well, that's kind of a silly questions, because the simple fact remains that he is an unstoppable force on the old B-ball court. Slam Dunks a plenty.

Late-breaking news from the game in question! Joe McCann, a participator in one of Eric's games, has this to say:

My name is Joe and I currently live in Bloomington, Indiana. On some of my more adventurous days, I get to travel to other towns and meet local people and embrace the culture/neighborhoods. One time in particular, I was playing basketball with some young kids in Gainesville, Florida who totally crushed me and a friend in a two on two game. The friend was Eric Ayotte. While he did pull off at least one impressive slam dunk, he certainly was not an "unstoppable" force on the court. It was a bit embarrassing to loose after all the trash I had talked prior to the game. I think the faq of the website should be altered to something like "pretty tall compared to a twelve year old."