Steve "Pav" Pavlovic
Founder of Modular Records
If Sydney was a band...
It would be like The Presets: ‘cos on the
one side it's dark, slutty and has a penchant for anal sex while on the
other it's bright, virtuous and fond of yoga...
Modular Records is Sydney's most stylish record label, currently enjoying huge success with The Presets and Cut Copy - but it's not just about skinny-jeaned young men playing electro. When Time Out arrives at the label's Surry Hills office, owner and founder Steve "Pav" Pavlovic gleefully tells us that, despite the rumours of splits and solo albums, Wolfmother are currently recording their second album after "realising they all do really love each other" and even insists that this year will see the release of long, long, long awaited new material from The Avalanches. "And it's really, really good." Well, he would say that. "I know I'm biased, but if you'd asked me two years ago I would have said ‘Who fucking knows what they're doing? I don't want to talk about it!'"
Is Modular's style something that developed through the artists you signed, or is it something you're very conscious about?
It's pretty conscious. It wasn't like with something like [iconic jazz label] Blue Note, where it's always jazz records. Maybe something more like [US indie] Sub Pop, where it's not just the one style of band. What we thought was that in Australia it's too hard to be one sort of label, so it's more like ‘let's just make it about good music and try and make it a brand but not so much a particular style: it could be anything, but there's a certain level of quality.' If we can do that, then we've done a good job.
Wolfmother aside, there does seem to be a dance element to the label, though.
Some people have said to me ‘oh, Modular's kind of a dance label right?' and I've said ‘well, not really'. The first thing I put out was The Living End, we did Jack Johnson, Ben Lee, Eskimo Joe, Rocket Science: it's pretty diverse. But yes, some of those things I would not sign now, without a doubt. We've got pretty eclectic tastes, but over the last three years we've been able to really refine the artists that are on Modular and the way that we do it, and because we had signed The Living End and Eskimo Joe and Wolfmother we were able to spend five years developing The Presets or however many years it's been with The Avalanches.
Are there acts that you've thought about signing but thought "I love what they're doing, but they're not Modular acts?"
"Yeah. Missy Higgins: I remember when I first started the label at EMI I heard her on the radio and thought ‘fuck! She's got a great voice, we should sign her', but there wasn't a place for her at the label. So I went to the head of EMI and said ‘we should sign this girl', and he said ‘oh, I think [Silverchair manager] John Watson's looking at her [and then signed her to his label Eleven]. And Sneaky Sound System: musically I don't really like it, but the people I like and I could really see the potential, but it wasn't really right for us."
Who's the best unsigned band in Sydney right now?
Cassette Kids are really good: there's something there, they've got potential. I've thought about signing them.
How does Sydney affect your style?
It's the place I live, so there's something about this place that I love. I keep getting drawn back - I lived for a couple years in New York and we have offices in New York, London and LA, and sometimes I'm excited by the opportunities there to do bigger and better things, but then I go ‘you know? I really like where I live'. I like being by the ocean, so I live at Bondi where I can have a swim most mornings, go for a walk every day, and there's always something different: the sea changes, the weather changes, there's that constant sort of change that I take in on some kind of level - and I'd be hard-pressed to find another city that would have that element of the life that I like. There's a combination of culture and nature which is unusual, I think."
What inspires you?
Pirates.
Food
I always go to EQ Markets: they've got an organic market there on Wednesdays and a farmer's market on Saturdays, which is pretty damn good. Restaurants for me would the holy trinity of Sean's Panaroma, Billy Kwong and Icebergs on one level. And on another level: Spice I Am, Sky Phoenix - for the dumplings and the yum cha - and the Golden Century.
Bookshops
I don't read. Picture books.
Magazines
Oh, Time Out.
Wesbsites
AFL. I'm always on afl.com.au and realfooty.com. That's my passion, the sport of AFL.
Outdoor spaces
I always like to walk around Bondi. I spend a lot time walking around the beach and the cliffs. I'll tell you a story. There's this place at Bondi above Marks Park: as you go up the steps to the lookout there's this little wall you can jump over and I used to go mediate there every morning at 6.30, 7 o'clock. And one day I jump over the wall and there's some guy there like this [sprawls out], just leaning back looking out to sea, and I'm thinking ‘fuck, there's this guy in my spot, I just wanna meditate, I've gotta go to work' - which are not very meditative thoughts - but I just sit down, mediate my half an hour, he's still there, I go home. Next morning I jump over the wall and think ‘fuck, he's beaten me here again! Fuck!' And then the next day I go to jump over the wall and this other guy's gone ‘hey! Stop! You can't go in there! What are you doing?' And I go ‘I'm meditating!' And he says ‘Have you seen this guy?' ‘Yeah, he's been here the last couple of days.' ‘Yeah, that sounds about right, he's been dead for three days.' This dude had come up here, looked out to sea, shot up, and I'd been sitting there next to him for two days, chilling and thinking ‘fucking arsehole, still in my spot.' So yeah, I used to go to that cliff, but now I don't.
Creative space
Not really. I was talking about this with my partner: she was asking ‘where do you go to just float ideas?' and I was like ‘I don't'. They don't come on time or schedule: I'll wake up in the morning and have some great idea, or I'll go ‘fucking stop the car, I need to write something down!' but that's just things that come to you. It's all the shit that goes on around you all the time.
Gallery or museum
The Maritime Museum, because of pirates. And swashbuckling.
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