KRL Records

KRL are based just outside Glasgow in a business park sited at Hillington about half a mile from Glasgow Airport and within easy access of all the major transport routes. It is a company whose name has become synonymous with top quality recordings of some of the finest quality traditional folk acts over the past 23 years. The dynamism that is KRL consists of two joint managing directors, Gus MacDonald and Isobel Waugh, who first met back in 1972. It is solely due to the drive and enthusiasm of these two individuals that KRL commands respect for its fine recordings not only from the record buying public but also from the other recording companies in the market shared with KRL. At the time of their meeting Gus was working with record giant CBS and had been for ten years whilst Isobel was a buyer with the Clydesdale Electrical Group. Around this time the advent of the cassette tape had just taken place and as a result demand for recordings on this format was proving to be high. With an eye on the potential of this new market a small retail outlet "Tempo Tapes" was set up jointly by Gus and Isobel. This venture turned out to be exceptionally successful and subsequently grew to a small chain of retail shops that sold Hi-Fis and various other electrical equipment. As a natural progression from this, the inception of KRL took place in 1978, the first recording being Hector Nicol, one of the legendary Scottish comedians/performers of all time. The year of 1978 was also a milestone for other reasons in Scotland. The national team had qualified for the World Cup Finals in Argentina and Ally McLeod and Co, duly fired up by the media and all and sundry, were all set to go to South America to show the world how football really should be played (at least that was the plan ... it turned out to be an ill fated mission from which all concerned have never really recovered). The team decided to record a song for the campaign and Gus was approached by Andy Cameron (now a well established Scottish entertainment artist) who at that time was supplementing his day job of driving a bread van with an evening stand up comedy act. Gus by this time had left the employ of CBS and decided to take a risk and issue the resultant record paying a royalty advance on 10,000 singles. It turned out to be not such a bad idea as "We're on the march with Ally's Army" did considerably better than the football squad and in the end sold in excess of 360,000 singles and reached No 4 in the British record charts of the same year. The next high profile venture that KRL became involved in was the Eurovision Song Contest - now much maligned, the contest at that time was reaching the peak of its popularity. The United Kingdom was not having too much success in the competition and so the rules of entry were changes to allow record companies as well as publishers to enter. KRL entered a song called "Only the Light" to be performed by Rikki Peebles. The song did well against stiff opposition from the likes of recording giants such as RCA and EMI and duly won the British heats. The song though didn't win Eurovision, or indeed chart in the UK, but did succeed in lifting the profile of KRL. It also whetted the appetite of KRL for more success and the following year in the same contest the song entered for the UK heats came second which is fine testimony to the perception of Gus and Isobel for high quality recording material. The core market for KRL at that time was in the "traditional" Scottish middle of the road market with the type of songs and artists that appealed to exiled Scots, tourists and, of course, followers of the tartan and heather mix type songs and singers in the mould of Valerie Dunbar, The Tartan Lads and Gaberlunzie. A natural progression from this type of music was into the world of pipers and pipe bands. This was of course being recorded in abundance by other recording companies but none were solely dedicated to this type of music. Homing in on a possible niche market, Gus started a label of KRL - Monarch - under the banner "The only company in Scotland purely for the recording of pipers and pipe bands". It was a bold gamble but one that has paid off - the label attracted and still attracts a high percentage of the county's finest piping performers both solo and bands and indeed for the past 11 years has recorded the World Pipe Band Championships. This plus studio recordings with bands such as the Scottish Power Pipe Band has resulted in Monarch now being possibly one of the most successful labels purely for the recording of Pipe music. At the end of 1992, KRL recorded an album by a band called "Highlander" that was essentially the history of Robert the Bruce set to music. The decision was made to set up a new label to record the resultant album - Lochshore Deluxe - by Gus's own admission in some quarters the album has been regarded as somewhat contrived but still remains a good seller with almost 200 CDs a month being sold. The Lochshore label is now one widely regarded as having some of the best folk acts signed to it. The company had previously recorded what many would now consider to be traditional folk with no real success. It was a band by the name of "Old Blind Dogs" which first alerted Gus to a change in direction of the folk scene. The resultant demo from the band, coupled with a visit by Gus to Troon to attend one of the band's concerts and see the reaction of the audience, persuaded Gus to sign up Old Blind Dogs and to look for more acts of the same calibre. This subsequently led to the signing of Iron Horse, Lorraine Jordan and Tannas. The success of these and other subsequent signings have established the Lochshore label as one of the premier labels in its field. A decision was made to look at the marketing of the folk music side of the business as a separate entity from the traditional image of Scottish folk music as it was (and to a certain extent still is) as hills, heather and tartan. Folk music is of course experiencing a tremendous revival at the present time with styles and influences far removed from the traditional. Gus defined it as more of an "international music sound". For Lochshore the biggest market is mainly France, Spain, Italy and of course the United States. One problem that most labels have is not just promoting the bands signed to them but to make the bands and general public aware of the label itself. For KRL/Lochshore, like other similar companies, the necessity of producing a CD sampler has been muted and will be available at some point in the future. More immediately, Lochshore Video has been formed, indirectly aimed at the tourist market, to produce videos of the bands and acts signed to them with the firm emphasis on quality and not necessarily quantity. One projects having been the production of 8 TV shows for Grampian TV all of which featured Lochshore artists and received high critical acclaim. The key to success for KRL/Lochshore has been the ability and foresight to identify bands that as a label they can work with and who have the right mental attitude to succeed as Gus explains: "From a bands point of view, a successful band such as Runrig for example, are together mentally and with a management company 100% committed and who knows what everyone should be doing and when. To be a manager requires as much skill as owning a record company but unfortunately a lot of managers do not possess this skill. For a band the key to success therefor is a good management company, 100% commitment from the band, a good record company and everyone working together as a team. Our pride is that we have been able to contribute as a record company and as individuals to the success of the bands on our labels through our interest in them - to a certain extent we have to live with our bands, talk to them and sometimes yes become personally involved in the management side of things. People therefore see the commitment that we can give a band if the resultant chemical mix is right and as a result seem to be drawn to our labels. Our luxury now is that we have a lot of talented artists signed to us and we can afford to be selective and because we are selective the quality of our product speaks for itself. We have signed to us a good number of the new up and coming bands as well as a few veterans of the folk scene." Gus, Isobel and their team are 100% committed to their acts, that is immediately obvious and the Lochshore label are amongst those spearheading the current Celtic/folk revival. They have identified their market which at this time knows no limits for them and this surely will see Lochshore around for many years yet with their reputation for quality and commitment fully intact.