Small Labeled

"31G's financial situation is not [the] best at the moment," says record-label co-owner Allysia Edwards. "We left our old distributor, the Lumberjack Mordam music group, to go with Redeye. Lumberjack wasn't too happy about us leaving, so...they have decided not to pay us everything owed in a timely manner. In fact, they haven't really paid us at all, which has affected us and our release schedule in a huge way."

Edwards invested in 31G in 1998, after receiving insurance money from a car accident. Her label's most recent release (in April) was a Birthday Party tribute record they had in the works for years. Titled Release the Bats, it features such local bands as Kill Me Tomorrow, Some Girls, Cattle Decapitation, and the Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower.

"[Label co-owner] Justin Pearson and I never set out to do this thinking we would make millions, let alone enough to just get by.... To have mainstream success, you need a lot of airplay and music videos. I don't know if the mainstream is ready for the ideas behind a band like the Locust or the Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower."

Edwards doesn't make enough from 31G to live on. To supplement her income, she bartends at the Zombie Lounge and Rosie and Joe's.

"I own a house and a dog and have 'adult' problems," she says. "So I have to do whatever I have to do to pay the bills."

31G has a number of projects in the works, including a Holy Molar EP and full lengths by out-of-town friends Das Oath and Jenny Piccolo.