Meet Silas Rounds

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Silas Rounds. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Silas, sincerely appreciate your selflessness in agreeing to discuss your mental health journey and how you overcame and persisted despite the challenges. Please share with our readers how you overcame. For readers, please note this is not medical advice, we are not doctors, you should always consult professionals for advice and that this is merely one person sharing their story and experience.

A couple of years ago I was diagnosed with ADHD, which helped to explain a lot of anxiety and depression I’ve struggled with throughout my adolescent and adult life. It’s been difficult carving out a niche for myself that allows me to work at my own pace and do things on my own time, but starting a record label for music that I’m passionate about has played a huge role in befriending parts of myself that I’ve historically treated as an enemy.
Because it’s a project I was motivated to begin, it feels much more sustainable to retain my interest in it than it does with other kinds of work that feel more like I “have” do to do it, and the music I release resonates with me on an emotional level and makes the challenges of depression and anxiety more bearable. The feeling that I’m helping the music to get out and find an audience with whom it will also resonate makes me feel like I’m achieving something worthwhile, and that does a lot for grappling with mental illness. It’s a vessel for finding communities of like-minded people, and remembering that although many of us often feel alone, we aren’t – and a thing as small as a song can be a reminder of that connection. It’s very powerful.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I run a DIY and independent record label called Violet Hour Transmissions devoted to all things dark, spooky, and melancholic. While independent record labels feel like they’re a dime a dozen these days, I am motivated to make VHT into something really special by highlighting releases from underground artists who go overlooked, or who might not have the resources to produce physical media. Violet Hour Transmissions does several really important things:

1) In an increasingly digital world where streaming is king, people are losing ownership of the things that they purchase, whether it’s music or movies or video games. Violet Hour Transmissions primarily produces cassette tapes, but I’ve recently begun to produce vinyl records as well. Physical media that people can hold in their hands and that cannot be revoked via a subscription plan is, to me, more important than ever and I am dedicated to making sure it does not go extinct.

2) I do my best to uplift underground artists, as I mentioned before, with a commitment to curating safe and inclusive spaces for those sidelined and/or marginalized. I am committed to diversity, antifascism, and creating an equitable future. As a non-binary person, I feel it is really important that we take a bold stance against hate, especially as the political climate escalates toward truly terrifying heights for queer people, people of color, animals, and the environment.

3) I am committed to charitable causes, and where possible, any profits from sales are donated to causes that align with my artists’ interests. The greater good always comes before profit to me, and that DIY punk ethos is a hugely important part of that. My musical background stems primarily from the goth and post-punk community, which has strong roots in the punk scene, and it’s time we put the punk back into goth.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

To be very honest, I am still early on in my journey and I think I am still figuring out how to use my skills and knowledge to best effect. That being said, I would say firstly, really important skill for me has been cultivating media literacy. It is important to be able to critically examine a piece of media, understand where it’s coming from, and what it’s trying to say. Analyzing literature and film has been a passive interest for me for most of my life, so it is nice to be doing something where it is useful and appreciated. Whether it’s understanding the tone of a bass line or the allusions embedded in song lyrics, being able to grasp where an artist is coming from and communicate their vision is really useful for working with other artists.

Secondly, I think writing is something I’ve always more or less excelled at, and given that running a label requires a huge amount of written communication, being able to do it well has been a major contributing factor on my journey so far. Several artists have appreciated the promotional content I’ve written for them so much that they’ve asked to incorporate it into their own promotional materials, or asked me to write promotional content for other projects that they do, and I feel that this has opened, and will continue to open, other doors for collaboration. Writing is really important for networking.

Thirdly, I think having a niche interest in goth and post-punk music has been really important for running a label successfully. This is obvious on the one hand, because if I didn’t have that niche interest I probably wouldn’t be doing this, but the way that I am really shapes the way I do my work. I’m really good at finding music that other people don’t listen to, and over the past five or six years I’ve developed a voracious appetite for finding all things new and notable in the goth and post-punk scene. This allows me to zero in on the stuff that fits the vibe for Violet Hour Transmissions, and I think this is the reason I have such a strong catalog and aesthetic identity despite having only existed for about a year as a label.

Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?

Bariann Tuite-Smith has, without a doubt, been the most helpful person in helping me to build skills and overcome challenges. Without her I would never have begun. She runs the DIY black metal label Fiadh Productions, and I remember the day I found her label I knew I had also found a kindred spirit. I was so afraid to actually reach out and talk to her, but another mutual friend introduced us, and we’ve been amazing friends ever since. She’s so incredibly kind and devoted to uplifting *everybody* (often even at the expense of herself). She fiercely and fearlessly fights the sort of gatekeeping that is sadly endemic to music scenes, and she is a passionate advocate for giving people platforms who wouldn’t otherwise have them. She is a tour de force of knowledge, wisdom, and compassion. She has shared everything with me from printing and pressing resources to graphic design tips to artist recommendations, and I absolutely would not be doing this if it wasn’t for her. I am constantly learning from Bariann how to persist not only in running a record label but in being a better person, too. (And she referred me for this interview, which just goes to show how much I owe her.)

Contact Info:

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems,
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Resilience
Portraits of Resilience

Sometimes just seeing resilience can change out mindset and unlock our own resilience. That’s our

Productivity
Perspectives on Staying Creative

We’re beyond fortunate to have built a community of some of the most creative artists,

Confidence
Kicking Imposter Syndrome to the Curb

This is the year to kick the pesky imposter syndrome to the curb and move