Will Record for Massage

"Since it's O.B., bartering with people seems pretty natural," says O.B. Cooperative Records owner Jose Maldonado, whose recording studio and record label are based in his soundproofed Brighton Avenue garage. "A lot of the equipment and instruments came our way from donations and trades. A professor at San Diego State donated a piano, some of the recording equipment was left by various bands that came through, and we have a bass guitar donated by P.O.D."

"I've swapped services for guitars, amplifiers, for a massage, for yoga classes...once I got a GT freestyle bike," says Maldonado, who currently drums for Aquatribe. "I recorded and played drums for a whole album [in exchange] for one microphone...it was a very good microphone, and now the guy pays cash for work all the time. Someone offered to clean my house once but I declined; that was a little too close to home."

The O.B.C.R. label is or will be on albums by locals such as Vegitation, Plump, Superunloader, Wise Monkey Orchestra, and Psydecar.