Skip to main contentIn the fall of 2004, Hank Failing was upset about the coming presidential election. Feeling jaded and defeated after four years of frustration, he decided to do what any person connected to the music scene would: He started his own record label.
"Initially it was going to be an album that was a benefit to raise money for Rock the Vote," Failing says. "It started out as that, but I was really liking doing it so I wrote up this contract that said for the first 1,000 [CDs sold], all the profits from that go to Rock the Vote, and after that [the profits] will pay for the next round. I had so much fun I just wanted to do it again."
This week, Failing is gearing up for the release of his fifth collection of Portland music under his own name. Failing Records: A Compilation of Portland Music, Volume 5 spreads 44 tracks from 44 bands across two discs, jumping from synthesizer-driven rock (Southern Belle) to hard-charging metal versions of Shakespeare classics (the Metal Shakespeare Company) to one-woman folk-pop symphonies (Grey Anne). The collection is an impressive achievement, especially when you consider the scope of the project: This year Failing received over 350 submissions and listened to everything—individual tracks and entire albums—at least once all the way through.
"The trick I do is I play video games and listen to music and if I hear a song I like, then I almost lose it," Failing says. "If it's not a great song, it's going to become part of the background and you'll be like, 'ah, whatever,' but if it's a good song, you go, 'Who is this? What is this?' and put the game on pause and write some notes down."
The 32-year-old Failing is a lifelong Portlander, music fan and self-described geek who began working at downtown instrument shop Old Town Music just a few years after graduating high school. Whether talking about his favorite T-shirt (a design for the last Failing Records compilation has Darth Vader fronting a band of Storm Troopers) or the Portland music community, Failing is visibly enthusiastic, dropping the word "awesome" in almost every sentence and recounting some of his favorite moments from past compilations. Since 2007, Failing has worked with just one partner—local musician and friend Beren Huett—and the duo have stuck to only one rule: None of the bands they play with are allowed to make the compilation. (Failing is the founding member of avant-rock group Toyboat Toyboat Toyboat, and Huett has drummed for Eat Skull, among other projects).
A year and a half after Volume 4 was released, Failing still hadn't selected tracks for Volume 5. Overwhelmed with submissions and working at Old Town Music full time, he was contemplating selling the label or moving on from the project. But when Failing Records, Volume 5 was nominated for "Best Compilation" at the 2009 Portland Music Awards—despite the fact it hadn't been released yet—Failing sprung to action. "That pissed me off so much that instead of not doing it I wanted to get it done and out there really quick," he says.
Failing buckled down, and with Huett's help finalized the new compilation as fast as possible. The resulting compilation is diverse. It helps, Failing says, that he and Huett have different musical tastes: He leans more toward "weird and crazy experimental stuff" while Huett likes heavier sounds—and both meet in the middle with Portland's celebrated indie-rock scene. This year's compilation only features a few repeat artists from previous years, and Failing hopes it manages to bring recognition to some of his favorite Portland bands—just like when, in 2007, the CD spotlighted a band most locals hadn't heard of: the now-ubiquitous Starfucker.
"I don't want the comp to become homogenous," he says. "I don't want bands that aren't doing the mainstream to feel like the comp can't be a venue for them. I want dudes with little four-tracks or computers to be like, 'Oh, we made a song and we like it,' and to send it to us and feel like they have a shot to make it. That's really the best feeling."
Palo Verde, the Metal Shakespeare Company, Southern Belle, and Bark Hide and Horn play the Failing Records release party Saturday, May 9, at Backspace. 8 pm. Free. All ages.
WWeek 2015