The Stranger, Seattle's Only Newspaper: Line Out: News

Cumulus Signs to Trans- Records

Megan Seling — Thu, 23 May 2013 10:00:00 -0700

Marybeth Coghill
Leah Julius, Alexandra Niedzialkowski, Lance Umble

First, the bad news: Tonight's Cumulus show at the Tractor, which was slated to be an album release celebration for the band's debut full-length I Never Meant It To Be Like This, won't be an album release celebration after all. But the good news: It'll still be a party—the band has signed to Chris Walla's Trans- Records! The label will release I Never Meant It To Be Like This this fall.

It's a pretty great story, really—the band recorded the album themselves and then used Kickstarter to afford getting professional mixes. A friend who was working with Walla was listening to the record and Walla took interest. Cumulus was just one day away from pressing 1,000 CDs themselves when they got word that Trans- wanted to work with them. The band, Alexandra Niedzialkowski, Lance Umble, and Leah Julius, explained how it all happened:

Congratulations on the good news! How did you end up connecting with Chris Walla and Trans-? I assume your friends in the Lonely Forest (who are also on the label) had something to do with it.

ALEX: It was in fact our friendship with Sam Winston, who recorded and engineered the Lonely Forest's Nuclear Winter and We Sing the Body Electric, that got us connected with Chris Walla. We knew we wanted Sam's talents to be a part of our final record, and the fact that he loved our band and wanted to work with us made him our first choice. We knew that Sam was working with Chris at Hall of Justice, but we had no expectations of Chris being interested in our band or record (although, of course, we daydreamed about it!).

It was the biggest and most amazing surprise ever to get an email from Chris in our inbox saying that he had heard the record and wanted to work with us. Proof that teenage dreams do come true! Being a high school fan of Death Cab for Cutie, I still remember seeing them play at Bumbershoot in, like, 2005? Before I even played music, or knew that it was something I wanted to do. I was just a fan. They were bigger than life, and a million miles away (I was in the nose-bleed section) so the day we walked into Hall of Justice and shook his hand and started talking records, I definitely had to keep my jaw from falling off.

I know that you used Kickstarter to help fund the finishing of the record. Did you know at the time that Trans- was interested? If not, did having a finished album help in the process of getting signed? It's not everyday a band uses Kickstarter with the intent to self-release and then gets signed instead.

ALEX: Because of Kickstarter, we were able to get this record professionally mixed and mastered, which definitely had an impact when it eventually hit Chris's ears. TW Walsh, who has mastered records from the likes of Pedro the Lion, Sufjan Stevens, Deep Sea Diver, and Damien Jurado, did an amazing job and we could not have afforded his help without our Kickstarter funding. We were literally one day away from pressing 1000 CDs when we got the email from Chris. It's kind of hard for me to not look at this as all being meant to be, but I'm kind of a romantic like that.

LANCE: We fully expected and prepared to self-release this album, but the Kickstarter had everything to do with our signing, as without the money received from our backers, we couldn't have afforded to have Sam mix the record, or for master, without which, we may not have reached the right ears. We've worked for over a year on this album, recorded it all over the city and the state, with many of our friends. It feels good to just hand over something you've put so much work into, and to have it embraced in this way.

I'm sure there are benefits in signing to a label over self-release—what will being on Trans- afford you, over putting out the record yourselves?

ALEX: The biggest benefit is going to be that we now have a team on our side that is going to support us and believe in our dream. I can take a step back from all of the business and allow other people to help, so I can focus on what matters most to me, writing songs and playing with the band. We all get to prioritize our passion and put music first, which is amazing. It's also really amazing to know that the distribution of Trans stretches way farther than our own resources ever could. My extended family in Syracuse will be able to pick up our record from their local record store, that seriously blows my mind.

LEAH: We now have the support of the awesome team of people who make-up Trans- Records. Seriously, they’re rad. We are so stoked to be working with them. And, in addition to many other things, hopefully we will get to tour with our new label-mates.

LANCE: The thing I look forward to having with a label's relationship, is having the support necessary to afford us time to focus on our music. We didn't make a band together to start a business. We made a band because we wanted to make good songs and perform. We've got good guides leading us down the 'creepier' roads.

Are you going to tour with the Lonely Forest? It'd be so great because it'd be like the air (Cumulus! A cloud!) and earth (Forests! They grow in dirt!) tour and it'd make for some really great tour posters, I'd think. You're welcome for the idea.

ALEX: It is definitely on our to-do list. Those guys are all like family to us. I met Lance and John Van Deusen when we were all in high school because they played in a band together that I often booked in Oak Harbor—not too far from Anacortes. It has been really great watching The Lonely Forest grow throughout the years, and I am looking forward to our adventures in the future!

LANCE: We'd love to tour with TLF. They're close friends of mine and of Alex. I've traveled with them a lot in the past, but it'd be amazing to do it in a caravan, two Washingtonian rock bands on a mission.

Cumulus play the Tractor tonight with Sean Nelson and Invisible Shivers. Come give them a high five!

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