Soggy Anvil Hits Hard
Oxymoronic brand perfect for label that swings big and takes risks
When children meet on the playground, have fun and want that fun to continue, they often run up to their parents and ask to have a playdate with the kid from the park. A parent will often say, “Well, do you know your friend’s name or their parent’s phone number?” In 99 out of 100 cases, they do not. But that doesn’t stop them from wanting to go to a friend’s house, so they invite them to play regardless.
Unfortunately, most adults have lost this drive to connect with friends they only sort of know. We all have these people — a cool friend from work, a guy we see at the gym, a bar mate. But we leave them in those spaces and don’t take the risk of rejection.
But not Luke Pelletier.
A few years ago, I received an unsolicited DM from Pelletier inviting me to hang out at his house. As with so many of my early alternative country discoveries, I learned of his bazaar, twisted music from DJ Salty Cracker of his Gimme Country show, Country Bunker. But he’s much more than an alt-country musician. Pelletier is a multi-medium artist who brings an incredibly personal touch to the tradition of American absurdism.
He paints vivid, fantastical and huge commentaries of modern American life. He crafts metal with his father, using traditional tools and methods. Pelletier has published a book of his art, developed a line of cast lighters and created clever concept pieces for nearly all of his album releases. He also launched Soggy Anvil Records, a label with a similar focus on incredible Americana.
With six signed artists, including Pelletier, the independent label hosts monthly showcases with several of its acts and other local or touring acts in East LA. They are also responsible for the popular Back in the Garage YouTube series, which features a wide range of the best-underrepresented country and Americana artists in the country.
I didn’t know any of this when I went to his house to play. I knew of his fine and musical art. But because he took what most adults would describe as a risk — and most kids would see as normal — I got to know one of the most interesting characters in the Los Angeles art scene.
Soggy Anvil Records has been fighting well above its weight for the past couple of years. In addition to their local work on stage and in the garage, the label hosted a successful set of shows during the head-spinning AMERICANAFEST in Nashville and have set their sights on two of the most famous and jam-packed American music festivals, New Orleans’ Jazzfest and SXSW in Austin.
“We’re still in our infancy and trying our best to figure it out as we go, but the wheels of the Trojan horse are very much in motion,” said Pelletier.
Their monthly events are hosted just down the street from Pelletier’s house at Club Tee Gee in Atwater Village. With room for 80 people, this performance space forces intimacy that most adults do not often seek — which is perfect for Pelletier.
“I started Back In The Garage with my brother, Tristan, and we felt like there was a disconnect between the intimacy we felt filming artists in my garage and the distance that can be felt through the internet,” he explained. “We wanted to bring what was happening in the garage to the public. I feel like we found that in our shows at Club Tee Gee.”
On December 13, the label is hosting its final show of 2024, and unsurprisingly, they have stacked the bill with performers who sell out rooms three or four times larger in cities around the country.
Matt Heckler, Casper Allen and Shawn Hess are on a national tour and will join Pelletier at Club Tee Gee, filling the mid-century modern bar room with twisted country music in one week.
Allen told me he’s known of Pelletier’s music for some time and regularly listens to it with his 21-month-old, who he says “is fond of anything strange and funky.”
“I think [the Back in the Garge event will] be the smallest show on this tour, which I’m quite excited about. I hear Club Tee Gee is real vibey and dark, which I like,” said the musician, who describes himself as Elliot Smith in a cowboy hat and a Tom Waits in a Salvation Army store suit.
And Pelletier feels the same way about the event — and his label.
“I just want to do this forever,” he said. “Make art with my friends, and I’d like the label to be a real resource for the songwriters who find themselves signed to it. I’d hope they feel they can make the art they need to make, and we were there with a helping hand.”