From a one-off single release at the end of 1992, the Dishy imprint has blossomed into a prolific hotbed of indie experimentalism. And with the launch of Secret Agent, Dishy’s leftfield electronic offshoot, they’re one of the very few indie labels who’ve managed to reconcile the latest technology with their fiercely independent ideals. Crunch spoke to label founder Guy Sirman to catch up on the label’s history and hear Dishy’s plans for future global domination.. Q: How did the label start? A: Dishy started without any big masterplan or anything, at the end of 1992. I set up it up just to release one 7” single by the wonderful Liverpudlian group Hellfire Sermons. I only sent one copy out to review – and it was Single Of The Week in Melody Maker and sold out instantly. Looking back, I can’t believe how lucky we were. But I just thought ‘wow, this is easy!’and that's what got me started releasing other records. Of course it’s not that easy any more! Q: Who else have you released? A: Well, it was a whole year before anything else appeared on the label, which was a second single from Hellfire Sermons and 7” singles by Peanut and Last Party, who would resurface as The Bitter Springs. Still running as little more than a hobby, Dishy spent the next couple of years concentrating on the Birmingham band Delta. The band, basically two songwriting brothers who are inspired by the Byrds and Neil Young, ended up signing with a bigger label but got messed around and their album never came out. We managed to pick it – the ‘Laughing Mostly’ LP - up and released it last year, and we’ll be following it with a second album this year. Other records on Dishy include releases by Telstarr (bold synth pop inspired by New Order and Pulp), Jack O’Fire, Lord High Fixers from Austin, Texas, High Coin and Soulbossa. Q: What’s the label philosophy? A: Always being diverse in our output. Generic record labels are so boring. Q: How did the Secret Agent offshoot come about? A: Come 1996, most of the records bought and spun at Dishy towers were breakbeat orientated and this bore a strong influence on what was released. So we decided the Sugarboat single should be released on an affiliated offshoot, so again, without any big methodic plans, Secret Agent records was born. The first release was a split 12” between Sugarboat and Sufi, who were a project put together by a long term hero of mine, Rudy Tambala from AR Kane and M/A/R/R/S. They went on to record another three singles for us, while Sugarboat went on to become Alpha and signed to Massive Attack's Melankolic label. Q: And what’s next for Dishy? A: The ’Shitwrecked’ compilation on Secret Agent, which will feature Urchin, Alpha, Sufi, Third Eye Foundation, Lightspeed, Yang Style, Suncoil Sect and Dust Devil. There’s also an LP by Urchin, who are a hip-hop outfit, on the way, plus a Suncoil Sect single with a Third Eye Foundation remix, a new Soulbossa singkle and of course the next Delta album, all on Dishy. --

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