Born Over a Pint: Skruffy Records Launches in Haverfordwest
There are probably more sensible places to start a record label than over a few pints in a pub.
But sensible doesn't necessarily make for a good story.
For Skruffy Records, the idea began with founders Colin, Jerry, Tennant and Jim having a drink in The Winchester. A few pints in, conversation turned into an idea: why not start a record company?
On Saturday 26 September, that idea became considerably more real as Skruffy Records officially launched at HaverHub in Haverfordwest, with a night of live music bringing together experience from across the industry with some of Pembrokeshire's emerging talent. The launch featured Massie, The Great Recycle, Ides of Sedition and local band The Monarchs.
Experience meets something new
Skruffy's founding team isn't exactly starting from scratch.
Between them, Colin Massie, Jerry Evans, Tennant and Jim Iddiols bring decades of experience across performing, recording, live events, marketing, technology and the wider music industry. Colin and Jerry's own musical history stretches back to their college days, when they formed their first band together, Bad Habits, later becoming Old Habits.
That experience is part of what Colin believes Skruffy can offer artists now: contacts, knowledge and an understanding of an industry they've spent years navigating.
But there was also a refreshing acknowledgement in our conversation that experience doesn't mean knowing everything.
The music industry they started out in isn't the same one emerging artists are trying to navigate today. Social media, metadata and the constant demand to understand how music moves through digital platforms have changed the job considerably.
And perhaps that's where Skruffy's approach gets interesting. Rather than pretending the old rules still apply, there's an opportunity for experience and a new generation of musicians to meet somewhere in the middle.
Skruffy's own stated philosophy is similarly straightforward: fair deals, creative freedom, genuine support and long-term development, with the label describing itself simply as being created "by musicians, for musicians."
Massie starts the night
Colin opened the launch under his recording name, Massie, setting the tone for a night that would move between different generations and styles of local music.
His set gave an early indication that this wasn't going to be an evening taking itself too seriously.
There was 'Tragedy Is Entertainment', alongside 'Joyful Song' and 'Head's Full of Something' — the latter born from the particularly universal experience of waking up in the middle of the night because your brain has decided that sleep is apparently no longer required.
"My head's full of something, it's woken me up."
It's simple, funny and delivered with a punky edge that works.
Those tracks form part of Wise, Massie's eight-track debut album, which moves between social commentary, observation and humour.
There's something fitting about Massie opening the night. Skruffy may be a new label, but the people behind it aren't new to making music. The launch wasn't about arriving fully polished with everything figured out. It felt much more like putting years of accumulated experience back into motion.
The Monarchs
If the beginning of the evening belonged to experience, The Monarchs showed what Skruffy could potentially do with it.
The young Haverfordwest band brought a noticeable shift in energy to the room, met by an enthusiastic crowd response that suggested they've already started building something of their own locally.
And once they started playing, it wasn't difficult to understand why.
Their sound pulls from classic rock without feeling like an exercise in imitation: flashes of Rolling Stones swagger, big guitar work and some serious shredding, topped by vocals with a cheeky Joan Jett-like bite.
More importantly, they looked completely at home doing it.
The crowd response was loud and immediate. This isn't a band waiting for somebody to invent an audience for them; there's clearly something happening around The Monarchs already.
That makes their relationship with a label like Skruffy particularly interesting.
For Colin, part of the intention is to bring the knowledge and contacts accumulated over decades in music to developing talent like The Monarchs — and, in doing so, help establish that talent from Haverfordwest rather than assuming artists need to leave West Wales before anyone starts paying attention.
Skruffy's current roster stretches beyond one particular generation or even one tightly defined genre. Its stated interests range across alternative rock, punk, new wave and indie, with authenticity rather than genre being the common thread.
That mix was visible at HaverHub.
Building from Haverfordwest
There is something quietly significant about all of this happening here.
Skruffy Records could have launched itself as an online entity, built a roster through email submissions and existed largely through streaming platforms and social feeds.
Instead, its official arrival happened inside HaverHub, with people standing in front of actual bands playing actual instruments in Haverfordwest.
And amongst all the industry experience attached to the label, one of the most interesting things Skruffy might do is comparatively simple: use some of it to help artists coming through now.
Because West Wales doesn't have a shortage of musicians.
What matters is whether the infrastructure exists around them — venues willing to put them on, studios where they can develop, promoters willing to take a chance, audiences turning up and people who understand the less glamorous work required to get music beyond the room where it was made.
Skruffy Records is another piece being added to that infrastructure.
It started, appropriately enough, with the founders sitting in The Winchester over a few pints and deciding to start a record company.
Now there's a label, a roster and a room full of people in Haverfordwest cheering for what comes next.
Not bad for a pub idea.
Massie
The Monarchs
The Monarchs
Massie
Audience
The Monarchs
