Co-founder of Oakland label Adeline Records and member of the band Pinhead Gunpowder, Jason White tells CitySearch how to run a business - when it comes to the business of punk rock - and why that's not an oxymoron if it's done the right way: the DIY way.

Meet Jason White. He's a 26-year-old Scorpio who always wears a pocket watch, orders Budweiser at bars, hates Japanese food, thinks patience is his best quality and notes Paul Westerberg of the Replacements as his biggest inspiration. He believes the Sex Pistols most influenced punk today, that punk has "most definitely" become profitable and that the phrase "sell-out" is thrown around just a little too much. The most people he's ever performed in front of was 20,000 last year, when he was asked to sit in as second guitarist with Green Day for an entire exhilarating set at the Bridge School Benefit show at Shoreline Ampitheater.

Nowadays, however, one probably won't find White playing onstage much, but rather working intently behind the scenes at Oakland's indie-punk label Adeline Records, of which he is a founding member. In the spirit of early punk rock, White is a DIY ("Do It Yourself") kind of guy who wears three hats at once: label employee, artist on that label and band promoter. Ironically and rather un-punk rockingly, this DIY imperative has led him to become not only a better guitarist, but also a better businessman.

The genesis of Adeline Records, named simply after a street in Oakland, began one day in 1998 when Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong, Real Skateboards owner Jim Theibaud and Screw 32's Doug Sangalang were sitting around a small backyard fire with their wives and a group of friends, talking about how cool it would be if they could put out albums by their friends in the local punk rock community. "It was just kind of a quick start," White explains, "kind of a 'Hey, why not?' We started the label as a small project at first and now, two years later, it's taking off." White makes it clear that even with Billie Joe's involvement, very few people knew about it in the beginning, proclaiming, "We didn't ask for handouts or build it on [Billie Joe's] name ... We built it on Adeline's name."

The label's roster reads like a who's who of the East Bay's best musicians in the punk scene. Bands include Pinhead Gunpowder, the Frustrators (with Mike Dirnt from Green Day), One Man Army, AFI and the now-defunct Criminals with Jesse Luscious. "So far, with the first five releases, it's mostly been friends," explains White, "which I think is a good way to get started. That's what's gotten the ball rolling." When the label first began, there was no office and White worked on a volunteer basis for only a couple of hours a day. "It went from just being a folder that Jim [Theibaud] carried around to having a small office," explains White. Today, as the popularity of Adeline's bands grows, White easily clocks in full-time hours.

White also finds time to play in two bands, the Influents and Pinhead Gunpowder, the latter including Billie Joe, Aaron Cometbus and Bill Schneider. He moved from Arkansas to Berkeley in 1992 to play music because there were so many "damn good bands" coming from the small Bay Area city. He eventually moved back home in 1996 only to move back to the East Bay two years later to play with Pinhead. Although Berkeley's famously indie LookOut! Records released the band's first three albums, it's Adeline's turn to put out the latest project, "Shoot the Moon," which the label is promoting rather immodestly as "Seven brand-new songs that will shoot directly to your heart. ... It's a must for anyone who breathes."

When he's not acting as an Adeline artist, White primarily covers the promotional side of the operation. More and more, however, White sees himself taking on other responsibilities as they develop. Lately, it's been as psychologist to the bands. "One Man Army is getting really popular and touring a lot. They require lots of attention from us. So I do a lot of talking to the band [on the road], like once a week. Sometimes I'm just a shoulder to cry on." To complete the ever-growing staff, Adrienne Armstrong covers the accounting and bookkeeping end, Theibaud takes care of the design elements, and with the help of Diana the intern, David the Webmaster and a guy they just call Rudy, the office is a full-functioning business.

White points out that one of the fastest growing aspects of the business is Adeline Records' website, from which fans can order CDs and merchandise. The site's message board alone has become quite a phenomenon. It's a place for kids all over the world to gab about their favorite bands - mainly those on the label - or just anything that they feel like talking about. "I'm not sure what other message boards are like, but ours is totally insane. I get on there and reply sometimes," White says laughing, "but some of the stuff I just leave alone because it's just too creepy to get into." He mainly uses the medium to promote any new label happenings or upcoming shows, or simply "just to agitate" some of the kids into heated debates or expressing their opinions - something punk rock has always been known for.

Punk rock agitation is nothing new to White, but the world of business plans and public relations is. He relates how, in helping to get a company off the ground in the past two years, he's learned a new lesson nearly every day. "The first time I promoted a release, I hardly sent it out anywhere for review, and we did a radio push and paid too much money for it - that kind of thing." After a couple of trial-and-error experiences, he learned how to finesse it. "With the Frustrators, I tried to send out the right amount to the right people that have responded to other stuff I've done in the past." With good PR, catalog mailings, college radio play, distribution to various mom-and-pop record stores and now ecommerce, Adeline may soon start to see some profit.

"I think," White predicts, "in this next year Adeline will probably double in size again because we have [a deal with] Mordam Records Distribution and word is getting around." As the company grows, so will its roster. The label is currently looking for new artists to sign. He adds, "People send in demos and actually - this is the first time it's happened - a band sent in a demo and Billie Joe really liked it so he called them that day." With the mass number of demos now arriving at the office, more time must be devoted to listening to each one; so much so that, similar to more mainstream labels, the possibility of listening to every demo all the way through is unfeasible. White smirks and confesses, "We listen to at least 10 seconds of every demo we get, I'll say that much."

After listening to White, it becomes clear that the marriage of business and punk rock can harmoniously exist as one. It comes down to this: punk rock is profitable today, there's no denying it. But in order for punk rockers to remain respected in the eyes of their peers, the newfound business ethic of "selling" punk rock today needs to be firmly rooted in old-school values of yesterday and the DIY tradition. Adeline maintains its integrity by doing just that.

Source - http://bayarea.citysearch.com/E/F/SFOCA/0000/16/03/