Sometime in early 1982 we first heard of Bill Asp. He had a bit of a reputation in the punk/new music scene nationally. He lived in the Washington D.C. area. He owned a record store/public gathering spot and an independent record label called WASP Records. He had the audacity to embrace street music done by totally unknown artists, record it, call up every damn college town across the country, place the product in that town's record stores, and find a local club or two for the band to play in. You usually slept on someone's couch or floor after the gig, but...oh well. He kept a meticulous list of contact people from college radio stations, newspapers, and record stores. With Bill, spreading the word about your band was a Military Operation! Later, when Bill was done with it, he sold his entire list of all the contacts he acquired to the management of The Minutemen at SST. Bill had created the touring template from which the entire new music scene would eventually follow. He also combined with other indie labels to distribute product. (Distribution was a notoriously weak link in the indie music chain)... The indie labels would all get together and put everyone's records on one truck and send it across the country. It was financially impossible to put 5 records in hundreds of college towns, but if you combined it with 200 other bands, it was feasible. Bill was notoriously underpaid for his efforts, at his own choosing. He truly wanted to empower the underdog.
That's where "The Source" comes in.
One night after a gig in Kent, (which probably lasted at least until 2:00), followed by us breaking down and loading all of our equipment back into the van, Jeff and I drove directly to Washington, D.C., arriving at Bill's doorstep about 10:00 A.M. Low on sleep, but high on manic energy, we tapped on his door. When he opened it and we introduced ourselves, his reply was something like," What the fuck are YOU doing here!?" Thus began what was to become a great friendship, as well as a business / philosophical / political association.
After a day and a half of talking, and sometimes screaming, Bill agreed to take us on his label, which meant that he would handle the distribution while we handled the music. As naive as it might sound, I believe we bonded foremost on a shared desire to change people's consciousness through art. He always gave us his input on our music, but he never took control of it. We essentially handed him a finished product. Even though we prided ourselves on taking care of the business, he encouraged us to always stay on top of it. Music, and art in general, were political things to Bill. He wanted people to take charge and become aware that they had the power to change things.
As a band, we got criticism from both sides of the musical spectrum: from the people who loved classic rock and thought we were abandoning them by playing new, weird music; to some of the hardcore new music people who hated the fact that we embraced doing business and actually tried to make it. Bill always encouraged us to take our own path and be real. He would jokingly refer to us as the "Little Source Guys", because we were from small town Ohio.. We had some crazy good times with Bill and his lovely wife, Debbie. He definitely was an "Honorary Source Guy."
One last story: Bill once stayed at my house for a few days. During his stay he showed me how to hook up this "contraption" to my phone, which he said could attach to a used computer and printer he had given me. It was really amazing. He said that he had one of these "contraptions" also, and we could relay messages thru our phone lines and essentially exchange large bulks of information instantly. He said he could see a day when everyone would be linked through their computers and phone lines, and it would greatly empower people. He was showing me a modem. That was 1984, and Bill was predicting the massiveness of the internet.
That's where "The Source" comes in.
One night after a gig in Kent, (which probably lasted at least until 2:00), followed by us breaking down and loading all of our equipment back into the van, Jeff and I drove directly to Washington, D.C., arriving at Bill's doorstep about 10:00 A.M. Low on sleep, but high on manic energy, we tapped on his door. When he opened it and we introduced ourselves, his reply was something like," What the fuck are YOU doing here!?" Thus began what was to become a great friendship, as well as a business / philosophical / political association.
After a day and a half of talking, and sometimes screaming, Bill agreed to take us on his label, which meant that he would handle the distribution while we handled the music. As naive as it might sound, I believe we bonded foremost on a shared desire to change people's consciousness through art. He always gave us his input on our music, but he never took control of it. We essentially handed him a finished product. Even though we prided ourselves on taking care of the business, he encouraged us to always stay on top of it. Music, and art in general, were political things to Bill. He wanted people to take charge and become aware that they had the power to change things.
As a band, we got criticism from both sides of the musical spectrum: from the people who loved classic rock and thought we were abandoning them by playing new, weird music; to some of the hardcore new music people who hated the fact that we embraced doing business and actually tried to make it. Bill always encouraged us to take our own path and be real. He would jokingly refer to us as the "Little Source Guys", because we were from small town Ohio.. We had some crazy good times with Bill and his lovely wife, Debbie. He definitely was an "Honorary Source Guy."
One last story: Bill once stayed at my house for a few days. During his stay he showed me how to hook up this "contraption" to my phone, which he said could attach to a used computer and printer he had given me. It was really amazing. He said that he had one of these "contraptions" also, and we could relay messages thru our phone lines and essentially exchange large bulks of information instantly. He said he could see a day when everyone would be linked through their computers and phone lines, and it would greatly empower people. He was showing me a modem. That was 1984, and Bill was predicting the massiveness of the internet.
Promo for "Building Bridges" - 1985
Artwork/Graphic Design - Gary Rittenour
