A few months back, Ryan Albritton and Donald Williams were enjoying a drink at a popular neighborhood tavern and the conversation was focused squarely on music. Turns out that Williams, a musician with a long background in St. Louis rock-funk acts, has been putting together a new group, Superhero Killer—one that’s tied with Albritton’s Loud Label.
Although paraphrasing, Williams mentioned something to the effect of Albritton being “the guy trying to bring back St. Louis’s music scene,” which is heady praise, when offered by Williams. After all, he’s been playing in town for just about as long as the 25-year-old Albritton’s been on the planet. But Albritton’s busy, working with said label, the affiliated STL Loud compilation series and the studio that’s home to these projects, the Dogtown-based R&R Music Labs. For good measure, he’s putting his own music together, in form of the Honeybadger. (Which, curiously enough, has just become embroiled in a competition for naming rights with another local group of the same name.)
There’s a commercial aspect to Albritton’s work, sure. After all, he co-founded a studio to record bands, and he’s working to maintain a living in the music field. But there’s a definite sense that he’s using his youth and vigor to try to drag some compatriots along with him for the trip. The most public example of his work, to date, is probably the STL Loud compilation series, which features a half-dozen tracks each from a variety of genres. Tied to release shows for each, the STL Loud third volume came out just a couple weeks ago, with an 11/11 show at Off Broadway.
“We wanted to do something where we could bring in musicians and artists and highlight them in the form of a recorded track," he says. "Bringing different crowds together is the goal and I’d say it’s gone very well. We released three of them this year and we’re not losing money on any them, which means that enough people are hearing about them to keep coming to shows and have an interest in the project. We’re in the process of making it even a little bit bigger and we’re definitely going to continue doing them.”
To date, the three shows have averaged about 200 people, even with the middle event’s attendance set back by a major June thunderstorm. Getting cuts exclusive to each release is part of the appeal, as “everyone who comes to the show gets a CD out of the deal, they get some new music. And putting out a previously released track wouldn’t be as special.”
The whole series, he says, is dedicated to “mainly having an opportunity to work with more and more people in the scene, more and more artists. We want people realizing what a great wealth of talent we have in the city, arts-wise. It’s a lot of fun when people, or bands, get a lot of [the discs]. When they express that to us, it makes it all worth doing.
“It might make more sense for a show to have a consistent lineup, for getting a specific crowd out,” he admits, “but it would hurt the project. It’s more of a hurdle in getting it going, but we’re overcoming that pretty well. The one thing I’ve started picking up on in town is the cross-pollination between different artists, acts that I didn’t know existed before. I’m seeing a lot more people doing stuff together, rock bands playing with hip-hop guys, stuff like that. And I think we’ll see more of that this next year.”
One remaining step, he feels, in bringing more people out to shows is bridging the gap between all the City-based clubs and all the potential fans who reside in all the other counties of the region, specifically St. Louis County, “and I know that a very St. Louis thing to say. But we have to deal with that in unique ways. It depends on the show, of course, but a lot of things that draw in the St. Louis music scene involve a lot of the same people. We need to start bringing more people into the fold to keep it growing.”
A tough chore, for sure. But Ryan Albritton’s got energy, enthusiasm, and a refreshing lack of cynicism. He’s giving thanks to what’s around him and deserves some back. Here’s our nod to a young entrepreneur with not just ideas, but a healthy supply of elbow grease.
STL Loud 3 is available at Euclid Records, Vintage Vinyl, Apop Records, the St. Louis Curio Shoppe, and STL Stylehouse, as well as digitally via Bandcamp.
