Suicide Squeeze maven Bekah Zietz balances her knowledge of sports stats with a good dose of celebrity gossip, touts her dad as her label’s top street teamer, and is so busy pushing bands that she’s forgotten what a lunch break is.
So what is it, exactly, you’d say you do over there at Suicide Squeeze Records?
My official title is “label manager,” but that is really just a fancy name for “professional multitasker.” Basically, I handle all of the in-house radio, press, and tour and video marketing for the label. This means at any given point during the day, you will find me e-mailing a music editor, talking to a radio station on the phone, and IM-ing with 10 to 20 other people at essentially the same time.
How did you get sucked into this whirlpool of aural delights?
College radio! Although I have always been a lover of music, it wasn’t until my freshman year of college, when I started working for my college radio station, that my love affair with music truly began. Up until that point, I honestly thought I was going to move to N.Y.C. and become an actress.
What was your first job working in music?
My first real “paying job” was freelance writing for various music publications while I was still in college. I may have only made a few hundred dollars here and there, but it was still a paying gig.
What was the first show you went to, at what age?
The first show I went to without my parents was when I was in seventh grade—Red Hot Chili Peppers, Silverchair, and the Rentals at (what was then called) the Spectrum in Philadelphia. It was supposed to be the New Kids on the Block, but that’s another story for another time.
What posters did you have on your bedroom wall in seventh grade?
Weezer, Absolut vodka ads (I had a serious collection of ads that took up one whole wall of my room), and tons of pictures of Chris O’Donnell and Leonardo DiCaprio. I was seriously obsessed with Leo; I can’t begin to tell you how many times I have seen Titanic and The Basketball Diaries.
Are your folks proud of what you do?
My parents are extremely proud of me. I would even go as far as to say that my dad is the No. 1 SSR Street Teamer! He is constantly sending out e-mails to his friends telling them about Suicide Squeeze bands and doing his part in helping spread the good word of “indie rock.”
Favorite non-music-related sites to peruse when you take respite from your duties:
ESPN.com, Baseball.com, and any celebrity-dedicated site. I love me some famous people gossip!
Do you bring your lunch to work or eat out?
Lunch? What’s that?
When you eat out, where do you go and what do you get?
It is very rare that I leave my desk. However, on the rare occasion that I need some caffeine refueling, I make the trek across the street to Javasti coffee.
Where do you get your news?
I would definitely say that I am an avid nytimes.com and BBC.com glancer-over; although I very much enjoy The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, it is very rare that I actually remember to tune in. Is it lame to say that I mostly get my news from my mom?
What’s the most annoying aspect of the day-to-day, and what do you do to make it more fun?
I know this may sound a bit lame, but I seriously love my job, and there are very few things that I find annoying. I guess if I had to choose one thing, I would say data entry. I really hate plugging numbers into any database. Dirty hip-hop helps me get through this monotonous task.
What releases are you looking forward to most in 2007 and why?
On the SSR front, we are only releasing four records in 2007, and I am seriously stoked about each one for very different reasons. Six Parts Seven, a Minus the Bear remix record, Page France, and a new record from Minus the Bear. As far as non-SSR releases, I am extremely excited to check out the new Ted Leo, Explosions in the Sky, Low, and Modest Mouse. I just found out that there is going to be a new EL-P record in 2007, and I am interested to check that out, for sure.
Top five records to listen to when . . .
Battling killer unicorns!: (1) Captain & Tennille, Love Will Keep Us Together. (2) Miles Davis, Blue. (3) Atom and His Package, Redefining Music. (4) Wu-Tang Clan, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). (5) Chris Gaines (aka Garth Brooks’ bastard “brother”), Greatest Hits.
A weekly peek behind the curtain of the Emerald City music world, Behind the Scene sheds light on folks you won’t see onstage, but who make it all happen.
