#depftord northern soul club

[discofreaks]

Miles Away Records: Turning Two and Being Nice

If everyone in the music industry was like Dom Williams, then the world of record collecting and buying would be a much more soulful, pleasant place.

He founded Miles Away Records in February 2019, with the aim of amplifying the sounds of soul from all over the world. Tonight at 6pm, Miles Away celebrates turning 2 years old with an event that sums up what the label is all about - generosity, friendship, kindness, and (of course) amazing music from all around the world.

Over the last couple of years, the independent re-issue label has received high praise from musical legends who really know their world-sounds onions, like; Gilles Peterson; Tim Burgess; and the Disco Freaks Coleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy.  Miles Away’s fourth reissue is a beautifully tender tune called Dancing Close by Rita Joyce. The latest 7” is a slower sound to their previous releases, but perfectly suited to listen at home with a glass of red, as opposed to on a dance floor with, perhaps, two glasses of red. The kind words the label has received hasn’t affected Dom’s ego, outlook, or approach to releasing music.

It has been enjoyable. Its really been quite odd actually. You’ve got this sole responsibility behind something that’s a reflection on your music taste and your practises. You feel sometimes that you do need to take a step back and think ‘oh wow this is pretty cool, maybe I would listen to this if I wasn’t involved’ which is a nice feeling. But at the same time, you inevitably look at what other people are doing and think ‘you can do this better or that better’. But that is just the way things are, you can only be what you’re about and if people like that, thats good enough for me.

Last year Miles Away celebrated turning one years old on a special night in Low Profile Studios, with other people in actual, physical attendance. Imagine that? Dom Ore, the DJ alias of the label founder, played alongside one of his finest contemporaries, Mr Bongo.

One of the key inspirations I say is always Mr Bongo. Not only are their releases really top quality but they are also the nicest people. When I’ve met them a couple of times they hand you over a couple of records and are really personable and really nice. For me its not just putting out the records and being good at that, its about a whole thing, being a nice person too and those guys are what I aspire to be. That’s literally it.

[Dom Williams. Here he is.] 

Theres a couple of other labels who are quality and produce quality records all the time, like Athens of the North and Expansion. Smaller record labels are also doing things in a really cool way like Fantasy Love Records who are releasing some really good crossover stuff. Deptford Northern Soul Club are doing really cool stuff too.

The success of an independent label is never guaranteed. Especially now in these times and there’ll always be an element of a lottery about whether a re-issue will be loved or not. But, you rarely meet people who are happy to admit that level of jeopardy. The novelty of a fan picking a record from the Miles Away collection has not gone away.

Thats another thing, when you see the pre orders coming in. This person has chosen to buy this record over a number of other records which is crazy, why would they choose this over anything else. But you get nervous, its a leap of faith, thinking is this going to be good? Are people going to like it?

Sometimes they might not. I guess that’s just the way it is and each time you learn a bit more about what people like and how they like it. The Rita Joyce track was the one I was most nervous about coming out because it was a slower track and it wasn’t necessarily one that the typical crossover fan might go for. But as time has gone on other people have played it, so maybe the rare soul fan or whoever hasn’t played it as much. But people like Charlie Bones are playing it and Lefto on Worldwide FM and other DJ’s which is cool, so you extrapolate the tracks, you know.”

Disco Freaks has had the honour of knowing Dom for a little while now. But, nobody wants this interview to become a bit of a puff piece, just because he is so down to earth and easy going. So, I felt comfortable pressing him on some topics more so than our usual guests. I went big and asked some tough Q’s. Had he been tempted to flout any lockdown restrictions or DJ at a lockdown party? Had he ever killed a man? Or even worse, has he got a history of disrespecting Spandau Ballet? But I got nothing. He’s got no criminal record and he appreciates Beggar and Co.’s influence on ‘Chant No. 1’. Therefore he’s clearly a man of honour and Miles Away’s plans are as level-headed and hopeful as its owner. 

The ambition is definitely over the next few years is to make Miles Away more of what its supposed to be and that’s not just soul music from America. Its more about being from different places in the world.

Thats something I’m really trying to do, so thats really the ambition. I like releasing records so I want to keep learning about it, approaching it in different ways and learn about different approaches to releasing records. I enjoy it, so I just want to carry on doing it and hopefully get to a 3rd birthday without going bankrupt.

For the sake of amazing new reissues and good vibrations in the music industry, we hope the bailiffs will forever be (sorry) Miles Away.

MB

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You can Celebrate Miles Away Records 2nd Birthday Live Stream party tonight from 6pm on mixcloud.com/live/milesawayrecords.

Featuring sets by:

Waxist Rebecca Vasmant Sam Don Emma Noble Admin Dom Ore

Support amazing independent labels and Miles Away Records on - https://milesawayrecords.bandcamp.com/

Listen to Miles Away’s playlists too - https://open.spotify.com/user/7v55uthz6fqtr07kqciuqjy8x?si=KmtAlR1iQD-gaDwKSllLYQ