'But I was fascinated by their non-cliche-ness. 'I still don't understand the Damned,' Robinson admitted. The other is the punk rock band, the Damned. One is Elvis Costello, an Irish computer programer.

Though most Stiff artists are signed when they walk in off the street and audition, the label does have three long-term artists it hopes to develop. 'Our artists much prefer to go sideways for awhile. 'We try to avoid people who are taking steps up the ladder,' Robinson said. Robinson takes pride in his suspicion that Stiff Records has the highest quota of artists who have been turned down by major labels.

'We like the instantaneous aspect,' Robinson said. The singles are released almost immediately. Instead, Robinson and Riviera record artists the week they decide to make a record. 'You know, signing an artist, building a career so that in three years it all comes together. 'We got bored with the standard record company format,' Robinson said as he was about to board a plane back home to London. Robinson and Jake Riviera are two former managers and producers who are the presidents and janitors, A&R men, and ashtray emptiers at the English record company which is engaged in a kind of guerrilla warfare against the way things are usually done in the music business. You know, a bad one, a stiff, a turkey,' said Dave Robinson. What kind of record company would use as its motto the phrase 'reversing into tomorrow'? Which record company would define its purpose, on its first compilation album, as 'undertakers to the industry'? Which record company makes records that might be great, or might be awful, by artists like Wreckless Eric, Motorhead, Magic Michael and Elvis Costello, and then quits issuing them almost immediately after their release?

Wreckless journal