When pop-punk legends Sicko sold out at the Sunset Tavern recently, many fans were left stranded. Among them was Ken Cheppaikode, 31, who'd arrived late because he'd been at a benefit/house show. He wasn't guest listed and didn't talk his way in, instead returning to the beer-soaked basement show he'd left. One would hardly assume, from such low-key behavior, that Cheppaikode--a.k.a. "Ken Dirtnap"--was the founder of one of the Northwest's most rapidly ascending record labels.
In less than three years, Dirtnap Records has released 13 seven-inches and six full-length albums, secured an international distribution deal with Mordam Records, and aligned itself with some of the region's best punk bands. The Epoxies, the Cripples, the Gloryholes, the Spits, the Lost Sounds, the Popular Shapes, the New Town Animals, and the Briefs all have released or are scheduled to release music with the label, and Interscope Records' 2001 signing of the Briefs further raised Dirtnap's profile.
Cheppaikode--who grew up in the midst of the Madison, Wisconsin, hardcore scene--has achieved the label's success without a master plan. "I was in a couple bands back in Wisconsin," he says of his past. "But I kind of realized around eight years ago that being in a band wasn't really the thing for me, and I was more interested in behind-the-scenes kind of stuff."
After moving to Seattle, Cheppaikode originated the Dirtnap moniker in 1997 for a program on Antenna Internet Radio, a local online station. The popularity of Dirtnap Radio led him to start Dirtnap Mailorder, which provided listeners with the hard-to-locate music played on the show. Eventually, he began receiving demos from bands wanting airplay, among them the Dontcares, a Swedish band who also asked if he would release a seven-inch for them. He took them up on the offer, having never met them or seen them play live.
"I'd been thinking about doing a label for a while at that point, but I was always too broke," Cheppaikode says. "But I thought about it over the weekend, and Monday I wrote them back and I was like, 'Fuck it, I'll do it.' For the first several seven-inches, though, I was reserving the right to quit at any time in the back of my mind."
In 2000, volunteer Dave Eck joined Dirtnap, helping with A&R and pushing for Dirtnap to invest in the Briefs, the first band that would gain the label widespread notice. The Briefs' sound (hook-heavy and influenced by early new wave), bizarro look, and energetic live shows would become recognizable qualities among Dirtnap bands.
"[The Briefs' LP Hit After Hit] came out and I really didn't have high expectations for it, because at the time we had zero money, no distribution, and I was just selling records out of the trunk of my car," says Cheppaikode. "And the record did great, I mean beyond our wildest dreams. So far we've gone through seven or eight thousand copies. And it also says something about what a hardworking band the Briefs are."
Cheppaikode shows a strong commitment to local acts, which is part of what drew Jesse "Fritz M. Static" Sutherland, keyboard player and backup singer for Portland new wave/punk band the Epoxies, to Dirtnap. "As a label head, Ken is a rare combination of someone who works effectively on the business end of things and has his shit together, but isn't out to screw you," he says.
"I think that the existence of Dirtnap has encouraged a lot of bands that are doing [the unpopular thing]," Sutherland adds. "We conspired to put this band together with the idea of flying in the face of [what was popular]."
Having the ability to promote the offbeat is part of Dirtnap's appeal. The bands in its stable are incredibly good, but they're still the geeky, weirdo cousins of the Northwest's hipper punk and indie-rock groups, spazzing out and hauling the listener into their day-glo world rather than distancing themselves through fashionable shoe-gazing or faux tough-guy posturing.
What's more, the marginalized oddballs of Northwest punk might not stay underground for much longer, with Cheppaikode's plans as they are. Vancouver, BC wild men the New Town Animals recently split amicably with their Canadian label, Mint, to start releasing material on Dirtnap; the label also plans an ambitious January release of a gargantuan 33-band Northwest compilation (which, it should be noted, this writer's band is part of).
"It seems like there was a need for Dirtnap," says Steve Ross (a.k.a. Steve E. Nix), guitarist for the Briefs. "With us and the Spits and the Epoxies and the New Town Animals, what we're doing is somewhat retro, but I think all the bands are innovative and passionate, and that counts, and it shows in the music's quality. It fills a niche that needed to be filled."
