Woodstock MusicWorks:
Keeping it Local,
Taking it Global
by Peter Aaron
Schiavo, who cites famed ’80s indie
SubPop as an inspiration, launched Woodstock MusicWorks last
summer with Hamptons real estate mogul-turned label CEO Ralph
Schiano. “The housing boom of the ’90s was very
lucrative for me, and I wanted to invest the money I made
from that in other things,” says Schiano, who also served
as a literary agent and was on the founding board of I-CON,
the East Coast’s most popular annual science fiction
convention. “The Woodstock area has always struck me
as having such a great music scene, and I thought it would
great to tap into that. I saw a lot of potential and it really
ignited a fire in me to try to do something creative.”
The label’s first signing is local
country rock outfit Mechanical Bull, which is the brainchild
of singer-guitarist Chase Pierson and features such Woodstock
stalwarts as vocalist Avalon Peacock and guitarists Chris
Zaloom and David Malachowski. This past November, WMW issued
the band’s second album, A Million Yesterdays,
which has since been picked up by over 85 radio stations around
the U.S. and climbed into CMJ’s (the industry magazine
College Music Journal) chart of the top 20 CDs most
added to college radio playlists. “Working with [Schiano
and Schiavo] has been great, everything I could have hoped
for,” says Pierson, whose band released one self-titled,
self-financed album prior to hooking up with the new label.
“For me the business side of music just sucks to deal
with, and having someone else handling that end has been a
tremendous help. It’s really made a big difference.”
A guest appearance by organist John Medeski of Medeski, Martin
and Wood on one of the tracks on A Million Yesterdays
has certainly helped to get the record some attention as well.
CONTINUE....
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