Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Clayton & Taylor Connell & Johnston. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Clayton & Taylor thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?
We have been great friends for over a decade. During this time our shared passion for DJ’ing and producing grew and took on a mind of it’s own. From throwing connective dance parties, to enrolling in months long production classes; we were unknowingly paving the way to building a record label of our own, simply by chasing our passion and leaning into having FUN.
After so many years of being participants in the dance music scene, we decided to take our passion to the next level and be creators in the space that we loved so much. Qwerk was born out of a love for music, dancing, and being weird. We wanted to make a record label to add validity to our vision, building a brand that perfectly represented both of us.
We began meeting every week to plan out what this label would be. From reaching out to some of our artist friends, to contacting a distributor, iterating on designs, and building out the vision of our brand. We “signed” enough music for 10 releases, and paired custom artwork for each one. We built out a pitch deck, and successfully pitched the label to our distributor. We spent about a year gearing up for our first release, dotting our i’s and crossing our t’s. We set up Qwerk as a California LLC, and made our dream of owning a record business official.
We released our first track in March of 2023, and since then we have shared 28 unique releases, over 94 songs, and partnered with countless talented and quirky artists from all around the globe. We’ve grown from being a record label to a genuine community, fully embodying the qwerky lifestyle and attitude that we preach. This is just the beginning!
Clayton & Taylor, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Qwerk is comprised of two wacky individuals, Taylor Johnston aka Wooja, and Clay Connell aka Rodney Dinkles.
Taylor is a gladiator of rhythm & vision. An experienced production manager in the animation industry, he’s fostered an aptitude for organization & a keen eye for design. Wooja is the lovechild of being a lifelong drummer & house music fiend. Catch him downing a bowl of chips & salsa and groovin’ his booty until sunrise.
Clay is a creative tornado—from starting his own video production company to a timeless love affair with DJing that has led to Rodney Dinkles’ songs being released by Dirtybird Records, Quack Squawk Honk, Colapso Records, and many more. Clay has a knack for finding incredible talent. Catch him getting weird on the dance floor and snuggling with his chunky French bulldog Monkey.
The pair first met back in college in 2014, and since then their friendship has grown into a creative powerhouse. They keep each-other motivated, bouncing endless ideas off each-other, and pouring their creativity into this brand as a team.
Qwerk is not your average record label. Besides releasing music, throwing events, and selling merchandise, Qwerk is a safe space where people can dance like nobody is watching. Built upon the values of: Qwerkiness, Community, Authenticity, Integrity.
Our dream is to foster an unconditionally inclusive environment for connection to thrive centered around GREAT dance music. We welcome music of all genres, shapes and sizes; from thumping house and tech house, to tight breaks and drum & bass, to leftfield weirdness and the wubbiest of wubz. If it makes us dance, it’s perfect for Qwerk.
We are most proud of the family that is gently growing around us. From our amazing artists, to our friends and fans. It takes a village and we wouldn’t be here without the endless support of so many incredible people.
We’ve been blessed to pair up with a one-of-a-kind woman, Anna Brinckmann aka Artsychoke, to form our shared Qwerk and Quack collective. This community has been the highlight of our year, from throwing parties to organizing multiple fundraisers for charity, to rally together around dance music and give back to those in need. We are so grateful to Artsychoke for her endless enthusiasm, and her Quack Squawk Honk label.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
Our journey started with an underground music festival. Back in 2015 we took a spontaneous trip to our first dance music festival: Dirtybird Campout. Little did we know, this magical event would kickstart our shared love of everything electronic music – from producing dance tracks, to DJ’ing them on stage, to hosting meaningful events, and creating our own merchandise. Dirtybird Campout showed us the importance of COMMUNITY centered around music.
Qwerk started with a single speaker and a generator at Elysian Park (Los Angeles) along with 4 of our qwerkiest friends. We instantly realized the joy of sharing music in public, and reveled in the strangers who stopped by to dance with us.
Over the next 8 years, our passion for DJ’ing, producing, and throwing events grew. We continued to attend dance music events, taking notes and gaining valuable inspiration. We fined tuned our own “renegade” style sound system enabling us to throw parties ANYWHERE. From the park, to the beach, to nightclubs and bars, to the chilly desert and green forests. We cut our teeth throwing parties, wrapping up late at night, using our phones for light. Our cherished DJ gear earning memorable scratches, and gathering dust in it’s nooks and crannies. If only speakers could talk…
Our friendship and trust has grown exponentially over the years, making us the perfect business partners and co-founders. We can speak honestly, and hold space for our individual ideas. That’s what makes qwerk so unique. It’s the perfect blend of our shared weirdness and passion. When we officially started Qwerk, it was like nothing had changed. We kept on doing our thing, but this time our vision was united around our silly brainchild. Qwerk is Rodney Dinkles. Qwerk is Wooja. Qwerk is all of our friends both new and old.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
We started our social media from scratch. In our brainstorming phase we wanted to define how we would represent our brand. The foundation of Qwerk’s appeal is our artwork. We partnered with the incredibly talented artist, Pamela Moidel (@pam.draws), who created our funky cast of characters. We started with our flagship piece, featuring 6 unique folks dancing together. We decided to split each character up, using one per release. We further spiced up the artwork by creating unique hand made animations for every release. This adds vibrant energy for our social media posts, and also serves as Spotify canvases for added pizzaz.
Each release serves as a puzzle piece that led to the grand finale – the Qwerk Qwompilation album. This compilation album reveals all 6 characters, intricately entwined in joyous dancing. The “qwompilation” album was a huge success! The artwork reveal was incredibly rewarding, and releasing a compilation allowed for us to involve so many talented artists from around the world. This led to awesome engagement on social media, and sparked more interest in our brand. We are proud to announce that Pamela has created yet another amazing composition. All of our releases in 2024 are hints towards our next qwompilation album. This is going to be our biggest release yet!
In addition to our artwork, we wanted to connect with our audience and showcase WHO they are, besides just being musicians. With this goal in mind we developed our concept called Qwerk Bytes.
Qwerk Bytes is a brief video series aimed are sharing the qwerky side of our family. These videos have ranged from cooking lessons, to day-in-the-life videos, track breakdowns, and even a narrative short film. We have had so much fun seeing our artists get vulnerable, and it’s a delight to see how each person chooses to express themselves.
Another avenue for our social media gameplan is having our artists record custom mixes after each release. This is a great way to share their individual music tastes with our audience, and a perfect opportunity to sneak in upcoming unreleased tracks. We will tag artists that are in their track lists, which further drives engagement through reposts and stories. The Qwerk mix series offers a truly diverse listening experience.
Our social media gameplan is simple. We want to showcase our creative vision. Highlight our artists and their music. And keep it simple, genuine, and fun!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://qwerk.bandcamp.com/music
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/qwerkrecords/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@qwerkrecords
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/qwerkrecords
Image Credits
N/A