Almost four years after Amore, the Hooters remain Philadelphia's pre- eminent rockin' role models, although other local acts, including Tommy Conwell and the Young Rumblers and DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, have successfully used independent records as steppingstones to national recognition. It's a risky business, though; the flip side of a successful independent record is a basement full of unplayed platters and a pocketful of debts.
While committing music to vinyl is undeniably exciting - "I can't believe we're in those little black grooves," said Moran about the release this fall of the quartet's independent extended-play disc Nauseous and Cranky - it is no cheap thrill. Self-financed bands and tiny local labels such as Rave and
Bloodmoney (which is helping to fund the Wishniaks' five-song release) can spend $3,000 or more to record, press and package a minimum first run of 1,000 LPs or EPs (extended-play discs).
The Wishniaks, like most of the 20 or so local acts that will release inde-
pendent records in the coming year, have a rough, raw sound that doesn't fit easily into popular-radio formats. For these bands, the simple stuff of rock dreams runs up against a more complicated reality.
While industry giants such as CBS and Warner Bros. have full-time promotional staffs to help get their records played on radio, members and managers of independent bands must push their records on their own. And while retailers and distributors routinely purchase any product released by major labels, independent acts often need to beg and plead to have their records stocked on consignment.
"If we end up selling 8,000 copies," says Moran, who will make less than 15 cents for each record sold at $6, "I'll be doing cartwheels."
