Flowersforpersephone playing at a show hosted by Whitetail Records. Credit: Courtesy of River Owens
Embracing the do-it-yourself principles, Ohio State graduate River Owens is taking it upon themselves to support the local music scene they hold so dear.
After Columbus-based emo band Starling disbanded, former bassist and vocalist Owens — who graduated in 2024 with a degree in natural resource management — said the creation of Whitetail Records is their way of continuing their role in the Columbus music scene.
They said the “queer rustbelt” record label is responsible for booking and filming shows, as well as creating handmade CDs, cassette tapes and other band merchandise.
“It was just my way of being able to make a difference — however small or big that is — with my own actions, but also still engage [with the music scene],” Owens said. “I just love it, I really do. It fulfilled me so much being in a band, and so I just didn’t want to leave it.”
Starling received a flood of requests from bands to play with them before their final act, and Owens said it felt like a waste of connection to not follow through with booking shows.
“[Even when] Starling — my little personal love project — stops, the cogs of DIY don’t stop turning,” Owens said.
Scouring eBay and Facebook Marketplace for second-hand supplies, Owens said their workshop resides in their basement. Working at no cost to the artists, they said they aim to make enough money to recoup the cost of supplies and to give back to the bands.
“You’re making physicals for bands who sometimes have never had a physical release before, and then you get to put on their music — you get to show so many people,” Owens said. “I have the labor of love and willingness to make the stuff with my own hands, and then they just get to profit from it, and then I get to feel good because I get to help people out.”
Owens said that making a profit is not their goal, and they’re gratified with involvement alone.
“I’m not really profiting that much, if at all,” Owens said. “I just love it; it’s for the love of the game, and I know it’s kind of corny, but it’s real. I’ve shed tears multiple times to the idea — I’m not even kidding.”
Owens said the creative process behind Whitetail Records was inspired by Ron Jean, creator of the small Pennsylvania label Jean Scene.
“He was the first person I met that explained it to me and was so kind,” Owens said. “[He] put me on to the idea of you can just do this s*** for free.”
Helping to manage the work is Jacob Bryan and Jack Winkel, members of emo band Flowersforpersephone, Owens said. Bryan said they first met Owens after attending a show where Starling was performing.
“Over the course of seeing them live and playing shows with them, we got to talk a lot more and grew a friendship,” Bryan said. “[We were] finding out that we both had passions for the same thing, which naturally led to me asking to join Whitetail.”
Owens said they’d compare Bryan and Winkel to interns, helping them organize under the label and answer the mass amounts of Instagram DMs it receives.
“They both have kind of always been a head that I can bounce ideas off of,” Owens said.
Bryan said they help with booking events, working at the door for shows and making fliers and CDs. They said being a part of the label feels integral for the local scene.
“Having a label to represent the ethos and spirit of the Ohio screamo and adjacent community is especially [important] since most of Columbus is dominated by hardcore,” Bryan said.
Aside from a few bills with mixed genres, Owens said they mainly book emo bands.
“Hardcore is not for everybody,” Owens said. “I want there to be a safe space for these emotional little goobers like myself, because they deserve one — and the music just so happens to go along with that.”
Bryan said that Owens is one of the most supportive people that Flowersforpersephone has come across, sometimes even letting the band practice in their basement.
“They have always been there for us when we needed them,” Bryan said. “Booking us on shows [and] getting us exposure means literally everything and more to us. Without people like them, there wouldn’t be new bands.”
Outside of the label, Owens said they apply the DIY mentality in their everyday lifestyle.
“I love physical media — I love VHS tapes, I love DVDs [and] I hate streaming services,” Owens said. “I bought an iPod, I literally YouTube to MP3 all of my music and sorry, that’s pretentious. When you have to go through that many more steps to listen or watch something, I feel like it means so much more … it just helps me bond more with the media that I consume.”
Archiving media is important to Owens, and they said that it’s the backbone of Whitetail Records.
“I guess that’s kind of like an unspoken part of the label,” Owens said. “I want to digitize and archive and document as much of my experience in this kind of DIY as possible, because it means a lot. If it means a lot to me, I’m sure it probably means a lot to a couple other people, and I would like to do it for them.”
Information regarding shows and releases can be found on the Whitetail Records Instagram page.
