Though Lance Barresi and Liz Tooley jetted for Los Angeles a little over a year ago to open up a second Permanent Records location in Eagle Rock, they’ve nowhere near abandoned the Chicago scene that embraced them back in 2006 when the pair opened up their original brick-and-mortar store at 1914 W. Chicago. I still run into Lance out and about more than I’d expect, seeing that he’s quick to fly in for events like this past March’s Sausage Fest at the Bottle, which Permanent, Captcha, Trouble in Mind, and others help put together as a SXSW sendoff. The success of Permanent is a testament to the founders’ dedication and impeccable tastes—visible in each store’s eclectic stock of vinyl and the output of their namesake record label.
Lance explains the record label as more a passion than anything, telling me that it all began when he and Liz wanted to release an LP of Warhammer 48K’s much-beloved last album. They barely broke even on the release, but it gave them impetus to focus on working with Cave—an offshoot of Warhammer 48K—on their debut LP, Hunt Like Devil/Jamz. The rest is a history of wax, some if it clean and chugging Krautrock, some of it skronky and blaring noise rock.
“[The label is] profitable sometimes and at least breaks even most times,” Lance tells me. “That said, the labor put into releasing, promoting, and distributing each release isn’t calculated very specifically. After it’s all said and done, our label is mostly a labor of love. We absolutely care about the label’s success as it’s tied into our tastes and livelihood pretty directly.”
Check out Permanent’s contribution to Soundtrack Week after the jump.