Today we’d like to introduce you to Jay Crash.
Hi Jay, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, in the neighborhood of Grant Park. I was zoned for Southside Highschool (now Maynard Jackson), but I got myself into the magnet program at Grady High School (which is now Midtown High) and attended there until junior high when I was kicked out. In sixth grade I took up learning two different instruments in middle school: alto saxophone and I was gifted my first electric guitar around the beginning of sixth grade from my Uncle Scott – who was one of the greatest acoustic finger-style guitarists I have heard to this day. This gift easily changed my life. I decided well before my 8th-grade year that I wanted to write and play music professionally for the rest of my life. And if I couldn’t make money playing music, I would work in the music industry to support my passion.
I remember my very first metal show being at The Masquerade – the old Masquerade off of North Ave. I want to say I was 16, maybe 17. It was insane. The show was in Heaven, so me and my friend were walking up the stairs to get into the room, and I see four or five security guys carrying this grown man out. He was screaming in pain, and his leg was… bent in ways that should not have been bent. Somehow this frontline-war-like introduction fueled within me an indescribable feeling of maximum energy. It didn’t make sense, it was chaos, and I knew that I wanted to be involved in whatever “this” was as much as humanly possible.
My brief music career up to that point had included: middle school band and a couple of punk bands that my brother, Sam and I put together. Those consisted of him on drums and I on guitar and vocals. It was difficult to find anyone our age willing and able to play, especially since we lived so far away from my friends that I went to school with. My brother and I kind of just stuck it out as a two-piece for a while. Eventually, he wised up and figured there wasn’t a future in playing drums, so I went solo and continued to pursue my lifelong dream of taking the stage and traveling the world playing music.
Right around the time I was 18 or 19, I began playing music with other serious musicians around the city, most of whom I knew from going to Grady. Fast forwarding through my various musical projects in my late teens and early 20’s (one of which, Anal Christ turned into somewhat of an underground cult legend), in 2017 a couple of friends (Westwood – see Defend Atlanta and Jake Nasty of Atlanta punk band, Rotten Stitches) and I put together a three-day punk, metal and rap/ hiphop festival. The main headliner was Pastor Troy himself, which at that point he had not played a show in Atlanta in quite some time. It got enough hype but was a hell of an undertaking. Once it was all said and done, I realized that I wanted to be a more permanent positive force to help grow the music community and the culture of Atlanta. I began to develop a mission and business plan towards the end of 2017 and beginning of 2018. I knew that I wanted to promote music and artists in Atlanta, but I wanted to do more than that. I wanted to help the artists in Atlanta and elsewhere grow and develop. I wanted them to learn how to navigate the chaos of the music industry and not to have to rely on giant major labels that bleed artists dry or shelf them so they never see the light of day. So I settled on forming an LLC for a record label and management company.
In March of 2018, Terminus Hate City became an official business, and I have been building it ever since. Of course, there have been many ups and downs, but we have stayed consistent and have a mission unlike any other record label and management company out there: artists come first. In fact, this past year in 2021, I brought on Ryan Buck as a business partner, who was the very first artist signed to Terminus Hate City. Being a musician owned and operated through and through is the most important thing to us. We want our artists as independent as possible. To do that, it requires a little bit more sacrifice on our end, but what we are seeing is a loyal family-like foundation that helps to elevate underground and local music all over not just in Atlanta or for artists on our record label.
One thing I stress is that (despite what it says on paper) Terminus Hate City is not just a record label and management company; we are a movement. There is less and less need for a record label in this day and age, and we welcome that. The future for musicians and artists alike is that of independence. Terminus Hate City doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel, we just want to give it back to its rightful owners – the ones who invented it in the first place. I feel we will all get farther along by working together and cutting out the middlemen who only see the gold rush, not the immense struggle and hardships it takes to put oneself out there as an artist. In the long run, I want to educate musicians on how to make intelligent moves with their intellectual property. There was over 70 billion dollars of revenue in the global music industry in 2021 – nearly a 20% increase from the previous year. Major record labels made almost 70% of the entire global share. This money is not seen by independent musicians, nor is it seen by independent producers, managers, or promoters. Our goal is to turn that number on its head – which probably sounds weird coming from a record label, but then again Terminus Hate City is so much more than “just” a record label.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There have definitely been challenges along the way. Starting up any kind of business from the ground up is not easy, especially one that relies on income from the music industry. The harsh truth is you either have it or you don’t. Talent is critical, but dedication to the mission – whatever mission that may be – and a determined entrepreneurial mindset are what set apart most success stories from failed ones. I’ve had to discipline myself too. A lifetime of partying and drinking at shows makes it hard to break that habit. When so many people rely on me making sure I have a handle on everything, there’s a new set of responsibility that means I can’t be the one who gets the most fucked up. Now, don’t get me wrong, I have my fun, and probably more so than most, but at the end of the day there isn’t anyone who is going to hold me accountable to the business but myself… and maybe Ryan Buck haha.
This year was truthfully the first year that we broke waves- and by that I mean we may have broke even. Our overhead isn’t steep or anything, but I’m honestly not sure how I kept the LLC afloat over the years. I worked two or three jobs in the beginning, and then financial and other personal issues lead to a pretty severe depression and lacked motivation when it came to working on and growing the label. It kind of fell to the wayside, but I kept the business licenses and website, etc paid up because I knew it was my purpose. When COVID hit then it really seemed like everything was hopeless. The thought of giving up weighed heavily on my mind, but instead of quitting, I doubled down, and took the time “off” during quarantine to reassess the label, rewrite the business plan, rebuild the team, and get my shit together. It was definitely a “now or never” moment. I spent most of 2020 meditating and educating myself even more on music management and the ever-changing industry itself. By 2021 I opened the doors to artist submissions, and we signed our first new wave of artists on the label, establishing a solid roster lineup by the end of 2021. We now have 12 artists, as well as a couple that we manage on the outside, plus another handful we have yet to announce but will be doing so starting the first week of 2023.
This past year we also started booking our own shows at multiple different venues (Drunken Unicorn, and Sabbath Brewing, respectively) in order to help our out-of-town bands get shows here in Atlanta. This opened up a whole new can of worms and presented a whole new set of struggles, most of which we have worked out by now. The opportunities that throwing our own shows has given us and our artists is worth all of the new challenges.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
The thing that really sets Terminus Hate City apart from other record labels is we are all active musicians within the Atlanta music scene and have been for over a decade now. At the end of the day, my team and I consider ourselves musicians first, and I know that this helps in connecting with the artists we work with. We have our artists’ best interests at heart because Ryan Buck and I have been in the game and would never treat anyone’s career differently from our own. Not only that, it helps in so many different faucets of releasing music, such as studio time or QC’ing tracks. I know what to listen for. I know what a good mix is (more or less)… sometimes it takes a second or third or fourth ear, but that’s what makes the best records. Hell, I’ve even recorded guest backing vocals for bands on the label. Anything it takes to get that sound. Even if we are an underground, independent label, what we put out we want to be the truest and best of quality… “Competitive” if you will, because there really is so much out there you have to put out the best possible work.
Jersey is another member of the team, and he has stepped on to help out with show promotion and some of the overwhelming but necessary organizational tasks. Jersey, Ryan and myself all started a band called Imperii, with Mike Michalski as our bassist. We have begun the first stages of recording and are currently planning our first show, which will happen sometime late February or March 2023. It is definitely the one thing we are all most excited about since we have all played in various bands and know each other through the diverse metal community in Atlanta… It’s been wild talking to bands on the label not only about booking tours for them but everyone getting stoked about actually playing shows together.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
When my Uncle Scott gave me my first guitar when I was about ten years old. The brand was an Electra Phoenix series from the ’70s. (Which at the time of deciding on a logo and icon for Terminus Hate City, I did not realize the significance of the symbology.) It’s not a common guitar, nor was it top of the line in any way shape or form, but I still have that hanging up on the wall of my practice spot. He changed my life that day, and I will never forget that. Uncle Scott lost his battle with cancer a couple of days before thanksgiving in 2020, and I miss him dearly. I was fortunate to share with him some music I wrote and recorded with that same guitar a little bit before he passed. I wrote dozens, if not hundreds of songs on my Electra. Songs and riffs I still use to this day, and would like to think I keep him alive through those songs.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.terminushatecity.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terminushatecity/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/terminushatecity/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@terminushatecity
Image Credits
Feature pic: Steve West Polaroid: Tvpes Group shot: Jeri Mize
