Sync

LITTLE ROCK — It’s the Little Rock independent record label named after a $20 or so dare and a near-deadly alcoholic concoction containing syrup of ipecac as its main ingredient: Thick Syrup Records, the brainchild of 36-year-old Travis McElroy.

Almost two decades since Thick Syrup partner Brian Lovell kept down the potent brew, winning the $20, and since releasing Browningham’s Gotta Get It Outta Here in 2006 as its first album, the label has released a series of albums by such nationals acts as David and Jad Fair of Half Japanese fame, and local outfits Smoke Up Johnny, Bryan Frazier and, most recently, Frown Pow’r and Androids of Ex Lovers, along with the Arkansas Compilation, a 24-track collection of artists such as American Princes, Ho-Hum and The Good Fear that serves as a rock-flavored time capsule of the Arkansas music scene in the mid-2000s.

"I was going to White Water and seeing all these bands, and so many good bands that had never been recorded," said McElroy of the genesis of the compilation that received its first tune "Angelina" by Pants as courtesy of Max Recordings, a Little Rock record label run by Burt Taggart, a friend of McElroy’s. "I started asking people if they’d like to be on a compilation. ... Some of the bands — like the Crisco Kids — I don’t think had ever been in a studio. But I thought it came out really good."

Growing up in Little Rock in the late ’80s and early ’90s, McElroy was immersed in the city’s underground music scene, working at North Little Rock’s famous Arkansas Record & CD Exchange and being introduced to many of the city’s musicians. But his musical plunge began earlier.

"I guess I was in seventh grade, listening to groups such as Misfits and Butthole Surfers, taking chances purchasing cassettes at Hastings," said McElroy of his introduction to music. "A lot of the time I bought really bad music. I was skipping school and using my lunch money to go buy cassettes, and my mom found the receipts for some of the cassettes and told me I could eat the cassettes when I got hungry.

"All I ever cared about was music, collecting these cassettes and CDs. I’d go to shows in Little Rock a lot and see all these amazing bands. I struggled in school, but I knew everything about music."

Following high school, McElroy attempted to play music in a couple of local bands, but soon realized even the three-chord roar of punk rock was beyond his musical aptitude.

"I tried to play," he said. "I was a really big fan of the Melvins, and I still am a big Melvins fan, but I just wasn’t good enough to play. A lot of punk is really not that good, but I wasn’t even that good."

McElroy performed promotional duties for record labels in the late ’80s and ’90s, including working with Mother Love Bone’s Andrew Wood shortly before the lead singer’s death and with Pearl Jam before the release of Ten, but it wasn’t until 2006 he decided to launch Thick Syrup.

"I though to myself: ‘I can do a small indie label’," McElroy said. "I wanted to do something that I enjoyed doing. I do computer tech work on the side and that pays the bills, but it’s kind of boring. It’s gotten a lot bigger than what I thought it would be."

So big that beyond releasing albums by local acts, Thick Syrup has branched out into organizing local shows, and Lovell, the man who drank the syrup, produces podcasts available on the Thick Syrups Web site, including podcasts with notables such as Chad Price of Drag the River, Kevin Kerby and Nichols. The label also has an Apple iPhone app where live video is available, including videos of performances at December’s Luke Hunsicker benefit at Revolution Music Room organized by Thick Syrup.

But the focus is still on releasing new music, and 2010 will include more work by David and Jad Fair, including a collection of Christmas songs coming out around Halloween and a rerecorded rerelease of David Fair & Coo Coo Rockin Time, along with a compilation of indie bands that have influenced McElroy and Lovell, including artists such as Lou Barlow, a member of Dinosaur Jr. and Sebadoh, and others such as Ben Lee, Penn Jillette (a fan of Half Japanese), and Pearl Jam and Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron’s side project Hater.

The label is also preparing two new Arkansas Compilation discs, featuring artists such as The Salty Dogs, Midwest Caravan, The Big Cats and Magic Hassle, to be released separately about four months apart with the first due in March or April.

"We got about 35 to 40 songs, and I think I can get about 50 on the two discs," McElroy said. "Dan [Johnson] is doing the sequencing again, and he’s going through it all. He’s got a really good ear.

"A lot of the people we missed the first time around we are trying to get on the second. We’re trying to get a lot of these bands into the studio to record, but there’ll be old stuff as well."