A decade ago, Emma Coyle met Joel Byrne by chance backstage at Splendour In The Grass.
“He was there with his band, Wolf & Cub,” Coyle explains. “I was there working with another artist. We met briefly then, but we wouldn't see one another for five years.
“One day he rocked up for a job interview at MusicSA, which is where I happened to be working at the time. That's where we really got to know one another, and then we ended up living in Sydney at the same time as well.”
Now relocated back in Adelaide, Coyle and Byrne have turned their focus to launching their very own independent record label, Part Time Records. The idea for the new label was spawned in late 2018, after Coyle was sent demos for new music from a close friend of hers. “These songs were just amazing,” she recalls.
“I immediately started talking to Joel about these tracks, and we agreed that there was so much local music around that we loved and wanted to help in getting [it] out there. That led to us coming up with the idea for the label – it was our chance to put our love of all this music to use.”
The artist behind those demos is the first act signed to Part Time, although their identity remains a mystery until the full reveal in June. In the meantime, Coyle continues to sing their praises and testify as to what made Part Time want to sign them in the first place. “The songwriting is fantastic,” she says.
“It doesn't matter what style of music they're going for, it always comes down to the fact that the songwriting is phenomenal. They've delivered us a hell of a lot of beautiful tracks, but the one we've gone with as the first single is a little low-key. We want it to serve as a little taste of what's to come.”
The label plans to kick off in earnest as part of Umbrella: Winter City Sounds, with a launch taking place at Crown & Anchor with Wolf & Cub and Siberian Tiger performing.
As Coyle and Byrne put the finishing touches on everything Part Time, they hope the label is seen as a positive reflection on the growth that has happened within the Adelaide scene the last few years. “We want to see more local music have a platform for the eastern states and wider,” Coyle says.
“We've seen too much slip under the radar that deserved more attention. Joel and I are coming at this with a new perspective, having both industry and artist experience. We want to work alongside our artists, and really trust them with their work.”
