Where can we find you right now and what are you up to?
Hello, this is Angel Simitchiev and Martin Lukanov, we run the DIY label and booking crew Amek Collective and we're both currently in Sofia, Bulgaria preparing for a show we're setting up this Saturday. We are bringing over friends from Greece (Conjecture) and Germany (XI-N) who've previously released music with us.
Tell us a bit about your influences.
Our influences vary from legendary punk labels like Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson's Dischord Records to the impeccable catalog of experimental legends Kranky but also local legends Mahorka, who were the first Bulgarian netlabel and are still active some 21 years later. We truly love contemporary labels like Audio. Visuals. Atmosphere. (Belgium), the recently restarted French tape label BLWBCK, as well as American Dreams Records, Hollow Ground, Room40, and Sige Records.
How did you start?
We started Amek out of necessity because nobody would book the music we'd like to see live in Bulgaria, that being noise, ambient, and experimental electronic. This was back in 2008, some few years we decided we could also function as a DIY label and put out our music in the world because nobody would do that for us being located in Bulgaria, which is pretty much Eastern Europe's worst place for music and culture.
What obstacles does an emerging artist have to face in our time?
With everyone being so exposed to everyone thanks to social media and the internet we believe the biggest obstacle current artists experience is to remain honest, sincere, and genuine and not what the world expects them to be.
What worked for you marketing-wise? What advice or tips would you give to new artists?
We never compromised with the music we wanted to bring to Bulgaria or to release to the world. So the only tip we'd give to anyone is be yourselves and not follow trends because these tend to age poorly.
What are your goals? Where do you see yourself in five years?
With the world as it is, our goals are pretty short-term ones. We want to keep discovering music that moves us and maybe share that with the people who follow our activities. Five years is way too far in the future to think about it.
Tell us about your latest or upcoming release.
We've just released Hate Devours Its Host, a new full-length by Valance Drakes, one of the few non-Eastern European artists in our collective but also one of our best friends and an artist we truly love and admire. We're writing this before running to the post to ship the pre-orders for Bruised, a full-length by local producer Evitceles who's a regular on the label and maybe one of our favorite people to work with. Find them all on Bandcamp and maybe grab a tape or a vinyl, and add a piece of Amek to your collection. We might not be around forever.