Jason Savio

A burgeoning record label is picking up traction in its hometown of Worcester and it’s being spearheaded by one of the local music community’s very own. 

A.J. Pottle, drummer in the hardcore band Death Defier, is making an impact with his newly created Glue Man Records, a label specializing in bands from Worcester’s punk and hardcore scene.

“What it comes down to is that I want to provide a support for my friends,” Pottle says. “I’ve learned a lot about different record labels, especially (in) the punk realm, and what a lot of them have been able to do is create a mechanism for a bunch of different bands that you know and that you’re friends with and you think are really good and put (them) all in one place.”

Pottle describes Glue Man Records as a “DIY” venture and a landing pad for Woo Town’s punk and hardcore bands. So far, he has worked with 14 different groups, the majority being featured on Glue Man’s first official release, a compilation entitled Vol. 1 Rage: Sounds of a Riot. The compilation was a team up with his bandmate and Death Defier vocalist Jake Lutter and features Worcester bands like Mountain Man, High Command, Foxfires and more. 

Pottle curated the bands and released the compilation as a package with a tape cassette and a zine produced by Lutter and his Cellar Door imprint that highlights skateboarding culture in Worcester and the local hardcore music scene. The paper used for the zines was outsourced from Glasgow, Scotland, but once they were printed and shipped to Pottle, he and his team assembled them, cutting the paper and packaging the final product to their specifications with personalized messages and numbering. Cassette tape packaging for Glue Man’s music releases have also been done entirely in-house, living up to Pottle’s DIY creed.

“I feel like in punk and hardcore right now there are a lot of really cool people making a lot of really cool zines, literature, poetry, all that sort of stuff, and I don’t feel like there’s a one-stop shop for it,” Pottle says. In addition to music, Pottle envisions Glue Man Records becoming a source for both digital and physical zines that help spread the word on Worcester’s up and coming acts and even some outside of the area. 

Keeping community at the forefront of Glue Man Records, all proceeds from digital sales and streaming revenue of Vol. 1 Rage: Sounds of a Riot over the course of 2020 will be donated to Stone Soup and Abby’s House in January of 2022 and continuously each following year. Stone Soup is a volunteer-based community center that functions as meeting space for organizations and work space for artists. Abby’s House is a nonprofit organization that helps provide shelter, affordable housing, and support services for homeless, battered and low-income women.

“We wanted to hook them up a little bit because we knew they were hurting,” Pottle says about Stone Soup, citing a recent break-in there in September.  He says funds will be split 50/50 between Stone Soup and Abby’s House.

Pottle started Glue Man Records in 2019. The first band he says he was able to “quote-unquote ‘sign,’” was Central Mass’ Sevan, whose album Guide Me Holy Ararat, made available on January 6, was the second release for Glue Man, following Vol. 1 Rage: Sounds of a Riot in December 2020. Guide Me Holy Ararat is available digitally as well as on tape and CD. Pottle says that he is working with a distributor in Seattle to release future titles on vinyl. 

Pottle has a tight-knit support group helping him with Glue Man. Bandmate and Death Defier guitarist Jon Bicchieri has helped with streaming and Lutter does “a lot of the in-house design stuff,” such as the zine. Pottle says it’s mostly the three of them with “plenty of help along the way.”

Pottle and his crew also organized a pre-recorded stream on February 6, featuring Dragweed, Mountain Man, and Blood Tythe, which is still available to watch on Glue Man’s YouTube page. More streams are possibly on the way, he says.

2021 is looking like a busy year for Pottle and Glue Man Records. He’s currently working on releasing an album from Foxfires and one for Death Defier. A record from Marrow is in the works, too.

“I would love to grow and put things out from people all over the country, but initially I hope to do whatever I can to help my friends put out good music and make sure other people know about it,” he says. “That’s the goal.”

For more, visit: Gluemanrecords.bandcamp.com.