Meet The Label: Extra Spicy

Welcome back to our Meet the Label Q&A series, where we introduce you to some of our incredible labels and the great work they’re doing.

In this instalment, we chat with Ash (Mincy) from Sydney-based underground bass label Extra Spicy about what they look for in prospective signings, what’s next for the label, and more.

What sparked the creation of the label?

Extra Spicy started originally as an events collective, the label came after. The original inception of the label happened as a combination of COVID hitting, so we were no longer able to run events, and I started to produce. I was too nervous to send my tunes to any other labels, my mates were making cool music that no labels were taking, and I couldn’t run events so I had heaps of free time – Extra Spicy the label was born.

What are the label’s core values?

The main focus for me is giving smaller artists a leg up, and helping the Australia music community. I spend a lot of time working with smaller artists to help them get their first releases ready, mentoring, and running community based workshops. I also think it’s very important to honour the history of genres, while still pushing them forward, which plays a lot into what we release.

How has the label’s sound or identity evolved since day one?

The original Extra Spicy slogan was BASSLINE, GARAGE, GRIME. That’s all we played and all we released. Over the years that has evolved and expanded much as my own music taste has. Now we’re open to and releasing really anything within the dance music sphere, as long as it makes me sit up and think “that’s a banger”. We have also recently expanded into releasing tracks from overseas artists – we have a really strong relationship with a lot of UK artists and love building their presence here in Aus, just like we do with releasing Aus music and pushing it to our UK network.

What are some of the biggest obstacles the label has faced and how did you overcome them?

Really just the test of time. The biggest challenge is being consistent and keeping things moving. I think it’s also really important to be authentic and remain authentic, especially when you start to work with bigger artists, it can be tempting to head down a path that maybe isn’t feeling 100% right for you.

What’s been your proudest moment as a label so far?

We ran the first ever Australian Keep Hush which has always been a very proud moment. The lineup consisted entirely of artists who had released on the label, and their sets were streamed back on Keep Hush’s massive YouTube account. It felt like a very big step forward for us in getting recognised globally.

What do you look for in prospective signings?

The simple answer always is if I would play it in my sets then it’s likely I’ll sign it.

Is there a release in your catalogue that you’d love to shout out?

It’s one from the vault but the Askew Bedu album we did a couple years back deserves a second round of flowers I think. We had 8 different producers on there all Aussie based, and spent a huge amount of time pulling the project together. Some absolute weapon tunes on there and Askew is just an insane vocalist.