Bringing It Back to the Roots
By Jillian Locke

Since last winter, Worcester native Erika Mitchener has been working hard at starting a label that reflects her love of hardcore music and her desire to create a stepping stone for up-and-coming artists. With the help of I Rise members Alex and Nicky Kantarelis, Mitchener has used this passion to create a thriving local label and a powerful inspirational injection for the local hardcore scene.

What is most apparent about Mitchener is her desire to help bands. It’s always nice to find someone who is into the “business” for the pure, unadulterated love of the music and who had a true commitment to help grow and showcase it.

Each member has his or her own specialties to bring to the table.

“Alex helps me run the label,” says Mitchener. “He gets approached by musicians, which I don’t. I’m more behind the scenes. Nicky is much younger than us, so he gets the younger kids and younger bands that I wouldn’t usually find.”

The connections have worked. With their powers combined, the Kantarelis brothers and Mitchener negotiated Eightfold Path Records’ first release – a 7” split which featured both Providence, RI’s Soul Control and Worcester’s I Rise back in February 2007.

“Soul Control and I Rise blew up after the release of their 7” split, and they blew up really fast,” Mitchener says. “They’ve both moved on to bigger labels, Soul Control going over to Rivalry Records, and I Rise to 1917 Records. I want Eightfold Path Records to be a label where bands get their start, can press an album, and then move onto bigger labels that can provide them with all the services that bigger labels provide.”

Eightfold Path is a reference to Mitchener’s Buddhist beliefs ~ something she tries to apply to the mantra of the label.

“I couldn’t picture naming the label anything else,” she says. “There are basic human principles that I believe apply to all humanity, and certainly the way I want to run the label. It also allows me to bring my personality through to people. I’ve also been approached by a lot of people who want to do the same things I do in the scene. It’s almost as if I’m sending out a vibe, and it’s being returned.”

Just in case you were still wondering how serious Mitchener really is about growing the label, she has made some pretty amazing and intense plans for her summer.

“I’m moving to California for three months this summer to help out with the Sound and the Fury Festival,” she says. “I want to go over there and see how these guys pull this festival off, and hopefully take back more experience to further the label and continue to make it better. I want people to know I’m serious, and I want to be able to make the label run smoother.”

Just by speaking with Mitchener about the label and about her personal life philosophy, the smoke-screen of chronological age was ripped away that much more. It’s always enlightening and invigorating to meet someone with attitude and with beliefs in something as evolving as music ~ even when you feel ”It’s nothing like it was back in the day…” Because there STILL are young, fresh bands out there with that same spark and energy fans fall in love with, and no matter how much mainstream, flat-out carbon-copy bands are out there today, it’s so inspiring to be shown that passion for music DOES still exist and people are STILL willing to work for what they love.

www.myspace.com/eighfoldpathrecords
www.eightfoldpathrecords.com