Under the Radar
Snack Time Records “We’ll Record Anybody”
There were immediate signs. Through the sun room and up the stairs of their quaint apartment on Park Avenue, a lonely keyboard waited just beyond the door as a steady beat filled the room - it’s drummer nowhere to be seen. A red classic guitar lay nestled in the couch, proudly displaying years of love and somewhere in the dimly lit corner sat a bass amp, just slightly hard to see under the broken living room lights that, big surprise, the landlord just never took care of. It’s not hard to realize when you find yourself in the home of musicians. Longtime friends Charlie Debuc, Pat Hamill and Mike Horvath added Rob Scordia to their musically inclined and humor-filled dynamic, and in August 2014, decided to turn their passions into a business. Snack Time Records is an independent recording and promotions label that will operate out of the comfort of Debuc’s bedroom. The small space is no overly-intimidating challenge for the friends and roommates, who have unanimously agreed to split managerial duties. “Our plan is to get a foothold within the music community [in Philadelphia] and then basically take over tor Temple’s campus as a go-to place for recording and promotion,” Debuc said. In its infancy, Snack Time Records has worked with a variety of artists who hail from a spectrum of genres. They have recorded Green Jeans’ newest EP, for whom Debuc is the guitar player, that brings a mashed up sound of post-hardcore and indie rock to the label, and is making plans Behind the Grandstand’s first album, for whom Hamill plays the drums, that incorporates what Hamill calls , “funky alternative blues rock.”
Aside from their founding fathers’ projects, Snack Time Records has worked with Sip & Spillin, a folk punk band, a hip-hop element in ^Wolf^ and Kootle Foosh an experimental-electric solo project. “One thing that we specified was variety; instead of one genre we’re trying to get as many styles as we can so it doesn’t get bland,” Hamill said. “We’ll record anybody!” Debuc added. “ The artist collective aims to gather an appreciation for local music, and create a crisp sound in the recording process for the artists to showcase their work. The current staff has a long background in music, and an age-old stake on their name. “Mike and Patty and I all went to the same grade school, and for snack time they would give us these frozen pretzels for a quarter. We were trying to come up with a name and got excited about the idea of Snack Time,” Debuc said. - Brianna Spause
Charlie Debuc
Charlie Debuc (L) Pat Hamill (R)