THE RAINBOW COALITION

ASK RAINBOW QUARTZ President Jim McGarry what he thinks of the recording industry today, and he won’t hold back. “The mainstream music industry today is like the war in Iraq – it’s a quagmire,” he fumes. “It’s horrendous, absolutely terrible. What’s selling tons and tons of records is this cookie cutter sludge quasi-new metal garbage.” Unlike the rest of us, however, who might be content to air our grievances to our buddies at the corner pub as we toss back another pint in protest, McGarry decided to take matters into his own hands. “I was a lawyer shopping bands to major and indie labels in the late 80’s and early 90’s,” he recalls. “At a certain point, the major record labels just stopped signing and developing indie artists, so I decided to do it myself.”

McGarry’s pluck has paid off in spades, as his Rainbow Quartz label has quietly become the premier imprint for, in his words, “jangly, guitar-psyche/pop-60’s tinged Rickenbacker-driven music, with guitar textures and song structures that are uniquely 21st Century.”

Case in point: Rainbow Quartz artists the High Dials. The band’s latest, A New Devotion, is a brilliant amalgamation of Merseybeat guitars, shimmering vocal harmonies and psychedelic mind-expanding lyrics with his occasional dash of R&B. “The High Dials are so good live, they’re almost a stadium band,” notes McGarry with pride. “I call them a psychedelecized Squeeze, backed by the Who.”

Likewise, the Singles are creating a powerful buzz within the pop music community. “The Singles are a wonderful band of 20-year-olds who have this Detroit energy – somebody called them ‘the Beatles on crystal meth’,” McGarry chuckles. “I was in Chicago when they played their debut show for Rainbow Quartz, and they freakin’ rocked all over the stage, with these chirpy, beautiful harmonies and melodies countered by this guitar attack that was really great.” McGarry considers “I’m in Love With You,” the lead track on the bands’ Better Than Before CD, “a 21st century garage classic.

Though hailing from Sweden, The Rhinos are perhaps the finest latter day purveyors of the trademark Roger McGuinn Rickenbacker sound. “[The Rhinos] are like nectar – they’re jangle-heaven,” McGarry sighs. Their newly released Year of the Rhinos CD is chimingly melodic to a fault. Rainbow Quartz’s Scandinavian connection also includes talented Norwegian bands The Lovethugs and the Jessica Fletchers.

It’s not difficult to discover the roots of the “RQ sound” in McGarry’s personal musical influences: the British Invasion (“of course, the Beatles, the Searchers and all those other great bands”); David Bowie (“Diamond Dogs and Aladdin Sane through Station to Station and Heroes”); Peter Frampton (“all of his studio albums before Frampton Comes Alive”); Ultravox (“Systems of Romance is one of my favorite albums”); the Dentists (“jangle guitar pop psychedelia”); the Chemistry Set (“they were from London, but didn’t do anything outside of England”); and Cotton Mather (“Kon Tiki was a very important album.”)

Today, Cotton Mather is a member of the Rainbow Quartz stable of artists. They are joined by such relative industry veterans the Lackloves, whose starcitybaby was voted No.8 in Amplifier’s best of 2002 writer’s poll, the eternally psychedelic Outrageous Cherry, the Grip Weeds and Myracle Brah. Talented up-and-comers include RockFour, The Contrast, Sidonie, The Gurus, The Telepathic Butterflies and the Three-4-Tens, who, together with the High Dials, turned heads with a blistering set at last summer’s IPO festival. Despite the subtle nuances that make each of these bands unique, all fit nicely into RQ’s basic psychedelic/jangle template.

“The whole aim of Rainbow Quartz,” McGarry explains, “is to sign a band for one album, and try and do as much as we can with our resources to expose them, to get them to another level.” So, what would happen if a major label were to successfully lure away an RQ artist? “If the Singles get signed by a major, and have a hit single on the radio, then I’ll die happy ‘cause I’ve done my job.”

Label assistant Tracey Maloney is key to Rainbow Quartz’s New York operations, often traveling with Rainbow Quartz bands and handling logistics. RQ’s overseas operations, run out of Toronto by international label manager Matt Smallwood, have been tremendously successful. McGarry finds that, overall, “overseas is much better than America. England embraced Cotton Mather in a big way. The Shazam also had some great success in England and in Europe. It’s really refreshing.” Not coincidentally, RQ artists devote considerable effort to rewarding their overseas fans. “We’re going over to England with the Singles this fall, then on to Spain, and Japan. This is a really, really good time for Rainbow Quartz.”

Although the lion’s share of RQ’s success can be attributed to both the band’s talent and McGarry and staff’s hard work, it never hurts to have friends in high places. Little Steven van Zandt, through his syndicated Underground Garage radio program, has been a tremendous supporter of RQ artists. “Little Steven has played Cotton Mather, the Shazam, the High Dials, Outrageous Cherry, the Grip Weeds, the Contrast – who he loves – and the Singles,” McGarry notes. In fact, van Zandt is responsible for cementing the moniker of a high-profile RQ artist. “The High Dials hadn’t decided on a name, and Little Steven gave his blessing to the High Dials. He thought it was kinda cool, kinda sci-fi, kinda 60’s.” Apparently, when Silvio Dante talks, people listen.

Rainbow Quartz’s success has made McGarry’s job of scouting new talent considerably easier. “Once RQ got on the map internationally, I’d get solicitations from bands from all over the world, and I’d listen to everything. Some things surprised me in a really, really good way. For example, The Lovethugs came to me sight unseen. I just got a CD in the mail because they’re Rainbow Quartz fans. I thought it was fantastic, so I signed them.” Other times, current RQ artists will make recommendations. “Outrageous Cherry’s Matt Smith said, ‘This band the Singles asked me about Rainbow Quartz, should I have them send stuff to you?’ And I said, ‘YES!”

McGarry has ambitious plans for the near future. “I’m gonna be signing some bands in 2003 and 2004 that everyone already knows – I can’t name their names right now – but they’re very high profile jangle pop psychedelic bands.” The coming months will also see highly anticipated new releases from the Lackloves, RockFour, the Grip Weeds and the High Dials.

For now, though, McGarry is content to revel in the power pop community’s warm embrace of Rainbow Quartz. “It’s really like ‘shiny, happy people’ – people are just really happy to listen to the music. It’s not about fierce trends, or scene makers. It’s really good music. I’ve found that the cream does rise to the top. Whether we make a whole lot of money doing this,” he adds with a laugh, “is another story.”