Twah! was an indielabel that started out as a D.I.Y. Punk Rock/Hardcore Mailorder/Label, but quickly found ourselves focussing on; Folkrock, Rootsmusic and Singer/Songwriters. Our artists more often than not hailed from a similar background, i.e. late 70s/early 80s Punk scene.
Apart from the critically acclaimed benefit compilations Seka ["Sister"] Vol. 1, 2 & 3, containing some of the most beautiful songs from songwriting icons like; Tom Waits, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Kelly Willis a.o. Our roster included the likes of: Show Of Hands, Forrester, Pressgang, Odgers & Simmonds (feat. Swill and Paul of The Men They Couldn´t Hang), One Bar Town, Michael Weston King, Mick Thomas & The Sure Thing and The John Doe Thing, just to name a few.
Despite being one of the few labels actually getting paid by the original Napster, before said company went bust, Twah! didn't benefit from the internet boom during the late 90s. The support from freelance writers, radio hosts and a small but dedicated fanbase worlwide, many of whom bought every CD released on the label, simply just wasn't enough. The recording industry lost a whole generation of potential music buyers to the internet. Although the majority of those people would never dream of stealing a book from a shelve, or a bag of potatoes from the local grocery store, music all of sudden was something that were just up there for grabs. It belonged to the person who took it, as if no effort whatsoever had gone into making the product in the first place. That general attitude, loads of mistakes made, along with the fact that we had great product, but not nessecarily what the market was looking for - killed the label in the end.
But, not wanting to sound bitter, the story of Twah! is also the story of friendships that went far beyond the point, where most people stopped being friends long ago.
We would of course have been nothing without the wonderful artists we got to work with. So thank you all, good to see that you continue to live the dream, and sorry we didn't make the gold record, y'all deserved it in my book.
I would also like to thank:
My partners over the years: Uli, Torsten, Sonja, Werner, Andreas and last but not least Steffie, couldn't have done any of it without you.
All of the brilliant producers we got to work with, especially: Tom Spötter, Tue Madsen and Joszi Sorokowski, whose energy and investment went far beyond what anyone could expect.
The Graphic artists: Most notably Mampe Rawald during the early days, and gollon-media.de during the later years for giving us a Corporate Identity, as they say these days! :)
Every ending spawns a new beginning, and so the original spirit of Twah! lives on in our tiny sublabel Viking Wreckchords, which can be found at:
vikingwreckchords.de.
There you will also find the last Twah! releases still available, in the onlinestore. Apart from that I've got no masterplan on what will happen, ideas might be put into work if funds can be found.
One thing is for sure though, we've got nothing left to proove! We took the label further than anyone expected. Been there, done that! :)
Wishing you good karma & safe journeys,
Kent Nielsen
