Not Saints: the UK’s only sobriety based recovery record label

Not Saints is a not-for-profit record label, the UK’s only sobriety based recovery record label.

Established in 2018 after realising how entrenched drinking and drugs were in the music industry, Chris de Banks set out a way to change things.

“I started in bands when I was about 16/17 and drugs and alcohol always part of that,” Chris tells Bristol24/7.

“Through my career in music, drugs, and alcohol would be a big thing. I’d worked in the industry as well; manager, booking agent, promoter. and it was always a really good place to hide a drink and drug problem because everybody’s at it.”

After getting sober at the age of 35, Chris found that musicians weren’t getting opportunities to play anywhere, for example open mic nights in pubs, because it was too triggering.

“I really witnessed for the first time kind how entrenched and how woven into the fabric alcohol and drugs were in music culture and nightlife culture.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9ZTeXV58aY

After raising £10,000 via a crowdfunder, Not Saints was born. Since then the album have supported a range of musicians, releasing four albums, five EPs about 12 singles.

The label set out to find spaces that could be used for sober nights for artists’ record launches and live performances.

“What we’re trying to do is show that people in recovery, can have fun, that it isn’t boring,” Chris tells us. “It’s not boring being sober and you can go and enjoy music without a head full of booze and drugs.”

The record label has an open door policy, in which anyone in recovery is able to submit their music. Not bias on genre, the label have released music from a range of musicians, including queer punk bands, indie rock singer-songwriters and hip hop artists.

Although physically Brighton based, Bristol is close to Chris’ heart: “I just fell in love with the place when I was here. And I’ve always said if I wasn’t in Brighton I’d be in Bristol.

“I think we’re basically twin or sister cities, I think we’ve got a very similar vibe, similar passion, similar drive, similar identities. Bristol was always really close to my heart.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH7Kdzxav5U

In the five years since, the label has grown, not only its roster of clients, but also the label itself; expanding from a record label to an events company as well which was made possible due to funding from the Arts Council National Lottery.

“I hatched this mad idea of going to the lottery and asking for 50 grand to run around the country setting up events with local recovery communities,” Chris laughs.

“I had worked with BDP [Bristol Drugs Project] previously on a on an overdose Awareness Day for a couple of years and so Bristol was a definite, we also went to Manchester, Exeter and across the East Anglia.

“We’ve even been up north to Scarborough and setting up these these open mic nights and kind of setting up these these sober space events so we’ve been doing that for the past two years.”

Bristol Sober Spaces are in paternship with BDP and Not Saints. photo: Bristol Sober Spaces

With an already impressive five years under their belts, what does the future look like for Not Saints?

“I’d like Not Saints to be self sustaining as a label and I’d like to see the artists we work with getting more recognition than they do,” Chris answers.

“It’s an incredibly challenging time to do what we do in the industry. There’s 100,000 songs uploaded to Spotify every day, there’s nobody the vetting, or there’s no A&R process anymore. There’s this real influx into the industry of just,for want of a better phrase, shit music.”

But for right now, the message of the label is clear: “Addiction isn’t a dirty word, alcoholism isn’t a dirty word. We aim to give people the confidence to explore their creativity, enhance their recovery, and become functioning members of society.”

Main photo: Chris de Banks

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