The Goblins Lair – Tavis Payne [Label Owner Interview] – Monsoon Season

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Welcome to our downpour, The Goblins Lair! We are incredibly stoked to be talking with y’all.

Q1: Where did this all begin? Briefly walk us through your origin story!

A1: Well I have played instruments my whole life and have been in a few bands. Have been producing electronic music for just over 10 years now. It all started from me creating a SoundCloud page to repost underground tunes I really liked and thought deserved more attention. Then I was introduced to how to create a repost chain and started by adding all the Edmonton local producers I was friends with and then expanded to fellow Canadian producers. As the reach grew the more I reached out to other producers. Once that got big enough I decided I would take this growth and put it towards starting up my dream label to truly showcase and help spread all the amazing underground artists music I had found through building the chain. I had already built an amazing collective so it only made sense to make the move to releasing with artists.

Q2: What genres does the label primarily deal with? Where does this liking derive from?

A2: We release heavy bass music but predominantly Dubstep. We have released glitch hop, Future Bass, Trap, and Experimental this year. I’m pretty much open to anything as long as its heavy bass oriented. I’m a sucker for melodic and heavy together. As for where that all comes from its my personal preference. I run everything to do with the label and that includes the song selection for releases. I am very picky with the songs that I release as I have an extremely high quality standard. So if you are someone who is really liking all the releases chances are we have very similar taste in heavy bass music.

Q3: What sort of tips and tricks can you direct us to the aspiring artist to get a release on a label such as your own?

A3: The road to getting released on a label is a tricky one these days with a lot of labels not adding a lot of new artists to their release roster. As for me I do not care how many followers you have. If I really like the song I will sign it and I’m gonna do everything I can to get it into as many new ears as possible.
The best advice I can give to an artist looking to get onto a label like mine is to make sure to submit through the proper protocol. Look for a submissions link or a submission email. We have a form that can be filled out when submissions are open for example. Always make sure that it is the absolute final mixed down and mastered version of your song. I myself will not even listen to a submission if the artist tells me its a wip or a non polished version. If you cant take the time to finalize the song than chances are label heads wont take the time to listen to it.

Q4: What is in store for the rest of the year? What do you anticipate for the unwritten 2021?

A4: We have one single left this year Okreglucky – Cover That on December 17th. This will be Okreglucky‘s first release on the lair. 2021 is already shaping up fantastic. We have our 3rd compilation album GOBLINS VOL.3 coming out January 1st which is way different than the other two and has a few new artists joining the release roster as well as 3 singles signed from all new artists as well. We are also going to be releasing DJ mixes from lair artists on our new page TGL Radio Underground.

Q5: Where do you see The Goblins Lair in 2025? Give a glimpse into that utopian year!

A5: In 2025 I hope to have established the label into being a staple for artists to release on. A place where artists know they will be taken care of and get proper organic exposure. in the years leading up to that I know I will be able to grow this much larger than it is currently.

Q6: Who do you see putting in the work daily? Shout-out who you think is killing it these days!

A6: First off a huge thank you to Wesley Collins of Recall Network for being such an amazing human and friend helping me grow this label. I can not thank him enough for taking me under his wing and believing in me and my dream. Artists who have been putting in some really solid work and are always progressing and grinding are VYYL and Jvmpskare. I recently took on VYYL as our first managed artist. They are a duo from Calgary who are always pushing the envelopes of bass music and constantly bending genres to create insane music. Jvmpskare is the artist I have released with the most to date. He has this crazy style of melodic mixed with heavy that is borderline addictive.