“Literally the whole premise was to push the underground sound . . . I did not see ourselves here
. . . I did not expect us to be where we are now”
Since early 2022 Brainiac Records has formed and gone from nothing to one of the most exciting record labels for underground music in Manchester. Formed by Joe Simpson and good friends Liam White and Oscar Wheatley in their first year of university, they have taken hold of the underground Manchester scene and made it their own.
We spoke to Joe in February, shortly after Brainiac Records’ immense sell out event at Kable with Samurai Breaks and Toby Ross, about his time with the label and his own personal life in the music industry.
An Introduction into Music
Joe sits opposite me fidgeting with a wooden fork, fresh from another interview he had just arrived from, understandably ready to be on his feet again but still chirpy and friendly, still riding the high from his incredible event only a few days prior.
Joe’s first substantial look into music was in year 10, from a source most of us find our music from back in school – a friend. “In year 10 I became really good friends with my mate Harry Ridley, he was a guitarist and I really wanted to make a band with him. So, I was like yeh I’m going to pick up a bass, got on Gear4music found the cheapest 90 quid bass and amp I could find, and asked for it for Christmas”.
If you’re anything like me this is so reminiscent of those specific few years in high school, starting to discover the sheer amount of joy that can be found in music, and desperately trying to get involved in any way you can. For me this is even down to the same songs, as Joe says “[I] just used to cover Artic Monkeys songs in my room, I used to stand in front of my mirror like yehhhh I look so cool”. Success seems to have been involved in Joe’s music life since the start, as these Artic Monkeys songs earned him and Harry first place in his school talent show the year later.
Joe goes on to tell me how he originally “really wanted to go into photo and video production” before getting into music. “I was like f*ck this I’m just going to go to Hillsborough college and do music tech” he says, telling me about his decision to completely change his plan.
The Start of a Partnership
“I didn’t know anything, literally nothing…” Joe says, thinking back to his time in college “that’s where I met Liam . . . He taught me everything I know about music and production”. While helping Joe in college Liam also massively influenced his music taste as Joe tells me “Liam, one of my closest mates, who runs the label with me, really influenced what I listened to, because he was big into his drum and bass and house at the time”.
“If you’re going to do music you have to be in a city, you can’t be in the middle of nowhere it’s just pointless, so we moved to Manchester together” Joe tells me as I ask him about coming to Manchester. This is where it all started kicking off for Joe as he explains “we went to Rum and Bass at Deaf Institute. Rum and Bass was the thing that clicked in my head where I was like yeh I f*cking love Jungle, this is what I want to do. I was like what is this noise, I want it, I want to do it”.
Not long after, in February of 2022 they formed Brainiac Records together aiming “to push the underground sound. Not just Manchester but jungle music and drum and bass as a whole, the [whole] electronic rave scene”.
The Beginning of Brainiac Records
“Brainiac started as a Manchester brand and I wanted to push Manchester artists” says Joe, as we talk about the early days of the label. Early on, Joe wasn’t aware of anyone else doing what they were doing, he tells me “When we started, we didn’t really know any other labels in Manchester. We knew there was one promotion company which we really took influence from called Chicken Shop Events, a guy called Cornelius [Self] was the guy who ran it. He was the guy that played at Rum and Bass every week”.
This gap in the industry may have helped in some ways but being a lone record label in the scene comes with its own difficulties, Joe tells me “No one helped us when we started . . . The only company that helped us were OffIt Records, another guy from BIMM. They helped us but their music is completely different to ours”.
“Two years ago, I didn’t even know how to book a venue . . . In my head the trajectory of Brainiac was going to go a lot quicker, but the first year was just learning, we were learning and learning and learning” says Joe as he speaks about the difficulties of starting Brainiac, however some of these hurdles were what taught them the most in the beginning “We did run a night in Leeds that went terribly, we sold seven tickets, and those seven people didn’t even show up. It was literally an empty room all night, I cried. I went through a bit of a manic episode, I was laughing by the end of the night, it was a rollercoaster of emotions, but it really taught me that once the doors open for a gig there’s nothing you can do, just try to enjoy yourself”.
Brainiac Two Years Later
Recently, Brainiac Records has been taking the Manchester underground scene by storm, releasing numerous tracks, with another which just dropped on the 1st of March – Reaper by Fez the Kid. Talking about the track, Joe says “Fez the kid is a Bristol guy . . . He’s doing very very well at the minute. His recent tune which he released with us got played at one of the biggest boiler rooms in the UK the other week. It’s about to hit 100,000 streams which is sick”.
As well as this, Brainiac just sold out Kable for a massive night on the 16th of February with Samurai Breaks and Toby Ross. “It was a dream, it was an absolute dream booking them” says Joe, speaking about the event “Two years ago I first discovered Samurai Breaks, I first listened to his tunes and was like woah this guy’s sick. Two years later I’m sat eating noodles with [him] in some fancy restaurant and going and chilling with him all night, he’s just a lovely guy”.
He continues “but now I think we’re at the point where it’s becoming a real operating business it’s become a real brand in the last 6 months . . . Anthony Taburet the owner of WORLDLIVE is a good friend of ours. The Samurai Breaks gig, it wouldn’t have been possible without this guy”.
“Pretty much any rave I go to now, and I know it’s like our scene, but I will get recognised at every rave now” says Joe “that’s pretty cool, im glad it happens”. Now an established brand and organisation in the scene they work in, Brainiac Records and Joe himself have come a long way since the start.
Despite all this, Joe is very adamant he hasn’t done it alone, he tells me “I love it when people talk to me at raves, but I can happily say I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the three other lads who I run the label with. Literally none of it would have been possible without them” (Alex Roussel joined later down the line but is now a vital part of the Brainiac crew).
The Future
“We’re doing multiple collab events this year with smaller brands to push them” says Joe, he mentions it’s his aim to aid smaller companies with getting a foot in the door. “It can be a super friendly but competitive scene in the events industry. Everyone is trying to push a similar sound and similar scene which is great, but that can sometimes lead to tension, it’s a shame really, but I get it”.
Joe is looking forward to the future, to when he can look back nostalgically at all these times and all the events he’s putting on. As a final note he tells me “I can’t wait to have my own house, my own setup. I genuinely think about it when I go to a vinyl shop, I’ll hear a song which is absolutely batsh*t, you’d never be able to mix it, but I don’t even care because it sounds sick, and I’ll remember it when I’m 30”.
