Interesting Interview from Modern Vinyl with Waxwork Records (about Taxi Driver, upcoming Waxwork Comic including 7", future projects (Babadook ..) http://modern-vinyl.com/2016/04/13/interview-waxwork-records/
About Taxi Driver release:
WWR: We worked really hard on it. We worked with the studio, and when we initially proposed to release it, the studio shut it down. Apparently, another label was already working on releasing it. Possibly they only inquired about releasing it? I don’t know. But, about a year passed, and the studio came back to us and offered it. We immediately took it. I mean, it’s my favorite movie. I don’t know what happened with the other guys, but I’m glad we were able to work on it and release it. I really feel like I can honestly say that no one else could have done it better. Did I mention we worked very hard on this Taxi Driver release?
WWR: The option to release a straight reissue of the 1976
Taxi Driver was there on the table. Of course, I wanted to put that out, but there’s an entire film score by Bernard Herrmann, the music that you hear when you’re watching the movie, that has never been released on vinyl. I inquired about that, the studio transferred those tapes for us, and we licensed that material as well. It’s sort of the “Waxwork Way.” “Can we have ALL of the music from the film?” “Are there any masters collecting dust in a corner in your vaults that we can use?” We just want to put out the very best definitive editions of vinyl soundtracks. The mastering was done by J. Yuenger, and he’s sort of a mastering wizard.
Artwork:
WWR: Rich brought the concept jacket artwork, which we see finalized and fleshed out now as the album artwork, to us. Originally, the art was very, very dark. Rich was trying to capture that darkness that really runs throughout the entire film. But, it would have printed out on album jackets almost black. We had countless physical proofs delivered to us from Stoughton Printing Co., the best in the business, and Travis’ face was completely black, masked in the shadows. It was very dark. Lots of work went into getting the artwork, the color palette, the mood just perfect. Rich really did a fantastic job of capturing the mood of the film and of the character Travis Bickle.
How Scorsese was involved:
WWR: Martin wasn’t involved at first, no. I wanted him to be. That led me to making a lot of phone calls and reaching out to agents and managers. He had to be involved. I mean, this is
Taxi Driver. This is Martin Scorsese. This stuff is historical. Lets do this the right way. One day, out of the blue, I got a phone call from his office and he was very interested in providing liner notes. And these notes he did for our new
Taxi Driver LP are amazing. Very insightful and a fantastic read. He was a pleasure to work with. Very enthusiastic about the whole project. It didn’t take any convincing. He loves the album art, and I was worried that he wouldn’t. We worked with his team the entire time and everything was handled very professionally. When they received the art, they ALL loved it. It was unanimous. Like, Martin’s manager in LA, on the other side of the country, was like, “This is really, really great.” I called Rich right after we got the green light and we sort of high-fived each other over the phone for a good bit.
About pricing, how it can be released for 40 USD and not for 60+ USD :
WWR: This is a constant battle that doesn’t really get too much attention. There are so many costs that go into producing a release — manufacturing costs for the vinyl and jackets, artwork, mastering, licenses, royalties, etc, and it can be tough at times to stay within budget because there are certain things we will never sacrifice to save money. I guess it comes down to the fact that we want to offer records that we ourselves would want to own so we’re not going to put out an inferior product. These film scores and movies mean something to the people that buy them. I remember getting an email from a customer who bought
Creepshow and thanked us because it was the first movie that his father took him to. We get emails like that all the time about how these movies have affected people and that’s why we put so much passion and hard work into each release.
@Noodles @Travis Bickle @spass @C2V3N