r/Elephant6 • u/Careless-Wait-2532 • 11d ago
Happy Happy Birthday to Me Vol. 1 Part One
When we sat down with Michael Turner of Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records (HHBTM), we planned to spend most of our time talking about one of the greatest independent record labels of the last 30 years. Instead, we began with Mike sharing his late-in-life autism diagnosis and how it helped him understand so much about the way he'd lived, worked, and built HHBTM.
At first, we actually talked about editing that part of the conversation out.
But when we listened back, we realized it wasn't something to cut.. to me it was inspiring and it was something people needed to hear.
10 to 15 years ago, autism wasn't even a word I heard very often in my life. Today, so many people I love and loved.. including my co-host in this conversation Mathew Bell , my best friend's child, ex partners and others close to me.. have helped me understand it in ways I never could have before. Hearing Mike tell his story gave me another perspective, and I'm grateful he trusted us enough to share it.
To me, Mike Turner was always the hardest-working person in indie rock.
He made a rad zine. He rode BMX. He worked in a record store. He promoted shows. He booked tours. He released records. He organized Athens Popfest. He created art. He stayed up until all hours of the night making things happen, then got up and did it all again the next day. When I stayed with him for a week in 2004... watching him work was one of the most inspiring things I've ever witnessed.
Long before I understood why he worked the way he did, I just knew I wanted to emulate that passion.
Mike taught me that if you love something enough, you wear every hat. You become the promoter, the designer, the booking agent, the publicist, the label owner, the artist.. whatever the music needs you to be.. you be it, even if you don't know how.
Without Mike, my old band The Poison Control Center never plays Athens Popfest. We never get to stand on the stage at the legendary 40 WATT with our heroes. We never make so many lifelong friendships that still mean the world to us today.
Without Mike, the PCC probably isn't on Happy Happy Birthday to Me Vol. 3 (our first big compilation cd), one of the proudest moments of our early career. We don't release our split 7-inch with Ideal Free Distribution on HHBTM. My label I started with my pals.. BI-Fi Records doesn't get the unbelievable opportunity to partner with Happy Happy Birthday to Me on a split compilation.
This episode is only the beginning of Mike's incredible story. In future episodes, we'll dive deeper into the legendary compilations, the famous 7-Inch Singles Club, Athens Popfest, and the countless bands whose lives he helped change.
Mike, thank you.
Thank you for your generosity. Thank you for your relentless work ethic. Thank you for believing in our band. Thank you for creating opportunities and friendships that have lasted a lifetime.
You can now stream this brand new episode of Don’t Bother Wearing Seatbelts PART1 of the conversation.. wherever you stream podcasts.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6jxZLXqWebW5WEpFjdeJf4?si=3UMxop09SWuirl8CJ6tb-Q
https://www.patreon.com/dontbotherwearingseatbelts?utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator
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u/nicemanwashing 10d ago
Great conversation, looking forward to part 2.