A Bite with Burger

or Burger Records, 2014 has been a huge year. The label delivered an incredible array of releases including a righteous soul album from Curtis Harding, a knock out psychedelic, garage pop debut from Cherry Glazerr, a stellar sixth album from The Muffs and an immense volume of cassette tape re-issues of legendary albums from artists ranging from Townes Van Zandt to The Circle Jerks. 

In addition to their releases, the label organized a string of successful summer music festivals, planned and executed a huge national tour for their affiliated bands, The Burger Caravan of the Stars, were profiled by Vans Off The Wall, The New York Times and GQ, and still found time to record a weekly podcast and film and edit a weekly YouTube series. Yet, in the face of so much success and attention, the label’s founders, Lee Rickard and Sean Bohrman remain kind, humble music fans, focused on putting out as many good records as they can, taking care of their artists, and putting together incredible events like the recently announced Burgerama 4. 

CULTURE was able to catch up with Lee and Sean recently, and hear all about their monstrous year, their love of cannabis and how the label has grown and developed.

You two have released hundreds of cassettes and LPs over the last few years, and seen a huge rise in interest and popularity in the label recently. Have your goals for the label changed much since you first started?

Sean Bohrman: I don’t know if we even started out with any goals.

Lee Rickard: Yeah, the label wasn’t premeditated at all.

Bohrman: We didn’t know what it was going to grow into, we just did it because we wanted to release our band, Thee Makeout Party, on vinyl. Then once we realized that we could make vinyl, we wanted to do Audacity’s record, and we did it. It was like, “Oh cool! We can do this!”

Rickard: Then the tape thing was really affordable and all of our friends agreed to let us make tapes for them. From there it snowballed into a crazy thing where we got a reaction from people whose music we were fans of, but that we had yet to approach.

You guys have been around for a few years and have been able to ride the wave of re-interest in physical formats. Why do you think they’ve become so popular again all of the sudden? 

Rickard: Well, everyone knows that records are fun because they’re big.

Bohrman: And you get to hold them in your hands and smell them.

Rickard: And you get to read all of the fine print and details that help you to discover and understand the world of music. You know, if you’re taking the time to really listen to a record, flip it over, and play the other side, you’re going to really absorb that music. At that point, it’s not just background noise or the radio, you’re having an experience that can be more intimate and personal.

In addition to championing women, physical formats, and independent music, Burger has never been too shy about its (and many of its bands) love of cannabis. How do you feel about current legalization movements going on in this country?

Rickard: We think it’s a really good thing. It’s much safer for us, and a lot of our bands, to tour through states where it’s been legalized. I feel bad that I didn’t get to make it to any of the new stores in Colorado when I was out on the road recently. I’m liking that the West Coast has been pretty chill about it, and mellowing out more on it.

Do you guys feel like you’re helping to break down some of the taboos around cannabis by using it so much in your label’s imagery and publicity photos?

Rickard: We don’t really go out of our way to put out pictures of us smoking pot, they just happen to be the photos that people tend to use when we get featured or covered in something. But, I guess you’re right, because we are shameless in our self-promotion and we don’t care if people know that we smoke weed everyday if we have it. You know, a lot of people smoke weed, some people smoke weed with their parents, it’s definitely not something that’s a criminal activity.