Left As In Sinister

LEFT AS IN SINISTER was an ambitious attempt by Valerios and Neven Zderic to help promote Lemon Avenue. The label steadily grew from a tape label and fanzine into one of Australia's iconic underground labels with a networking and co-operative spirit which saw many Australian bands find audiences and success internationally as well as introducing many new bands from abroad to Australia's shores. The labels first releases on vinyl were for Australian Psychedelic Gothic band LEMON AVENUE who were popular in the international underground Dark wave scene and found themeselves on a number of compilations in Europe. For LEFT AS IN SINISTER, one of the defining moments was when Valerios took a suitacase of Lemon Avenue records to Greece, which is arguably one of the best places in the world for vinyl collectors, and headed into the market place of Plaka just beneath the Acropolis. In one of the record bars, as well as finding an Album he had been searching for for many years (Mecano - Retitled, which was impossible to get in Australia) he met Greg from Wipout Records, one of Greece's most popular alternative labels. Greg's hospitality was monumental, much Jack Daniels was drunk, ferries missed, relatives shocked, but most importantly it opened up a two way network. In the early days, before the instant simplicity of the internet, packages were sent by mail. This was a costly exercise but Interestingly, and most definately illegaly, those in the know devised a system to keep packages moving around the globe very very cheaply (some might even say "free"). Any one package would include masses of fanzines, tapes, fliers and contacts from all corners, a trip to the mail box was always an exciting affair. Here is a fantastic interview with Mike Pougounas (The Flowers of Romance, Nexus, New Zero God) which explains how the underground music network operated. Mike, from Greece, is another instrumental figure in the world underground who continues to create music and network with others globally. Check the links page of this site for others. The first compilation from the Label was- Candles and Intrigue Vol 1 - The Next Wave Of Australian Music - (which featured Ikon, Meridian, Lemon Avenue, Dog Machine, Darkness Visible, Shinjuku Filth, Ostia, Bologne, Picture House, Stick Insex, Substatic, I Believe in January, Pure Bunk, Fools Circus) As well as presenting new music of high quality the compilation was packaged beautifully and is a very collectable CD of the genre. This compilation plus Lemon Avenues first album ‘Love and Necromancy”, produced by the Moffs - ‘Tom Kazaz’ are still regarded as a piece of Australia’s eclectic history. Having a reputation for diversity, the label has released varying genres all with an underlying element to the music and feel. To comment on this the label released “No Art” by This Gentle Flow . In it's 25th year, the label continues to operate quietly, it's steady and loyal fanbase gratefully keeping it alive. Recently the label has released "Snuff Music" the second album from The Deep Fix, "As Mad As He Is" which is a collection of rare studio recordings from Lemon Avenue and "Relax, this won't hurt … for long" from alien punk band SND. Currently Valerios is working on a collaboration with Mike Pougounas which will be the next relase plus there are plans for orchestral versions of some of the labels catalogue to be recorded.