Childhood friends from Orange start vinyl record label

July 21, 2015 - Orange County Register

Updated July 20, 2015 1:09 p.m.

Music has always been a part of life for Ian Capilouto.

His father was in a band in the 1960s. Capilouto toured with his own band in the early 2000s.

So when he decided to launch his own business, a record label made sense.

“I’ve always been involved in music, so why not create and produce records, too,” he said.

Orange-native Capilouto and three childhood friends started up Maplewood Records, a label that specializes in vinyl and sold out of its first release.

Capilouto started the company about a year ago and brought in his friends a few months ago. He’s living in Chicago now, but looking to move back to his hometown. The company doesn’t have an office or studio yet. The four meet at each other’s homes, including one across the street from Orange High School, where they all went.

Capilouto saved up money from his job as a librarian to start the business. When he was ready to start working on the label in earnest, he asked a friend who already owned a record label for advice. The friend’s tip: Re-release his father’s record.

Capilouto’s father, David, was in a psychedelic band called The Glass Family. The group released one album, “Electric Band,” in 1968, but garnered a following.

Maplewood pressed more than 550 copies of the record, which was sold as a double LP and included unreleased tracks from The Glass Family. It sold out, and the company is planning on doing a second pressing.

“To see it brought to the light of day with physical copies is great,” said Jimmy Parker, Maplewood’s sales director, who drove around town with another Maplewood colleague to get record stores to sell the album.

Maplewood is also in the process of re-releasing two more albums, including one from New Riders of the Purple Sage, a band originally started by late Grateful Dead front man Jerry Garcia.

In the meantime, the company has an agreement with another label to sell its records on the Maplewood website to help drive people to company.

“If an individual is searching for Huey Lewis and the News, they may stumble on the Maplewood,” said Todd Calvert, the company’s chief operations officer.

Maplewood only releases its albums on vinyl. While some audiophiles prefer vinyl’s sound, the Maplewood men said they prefer it because it’s a tactile product. Also, vinyl sales have been increasing, with Nielsen Soundscan recently reporting a 38percent year-to-date jump.

Capilouto and his friends have ambitions to one day sign new artists to the label. But if the company just stays afloat, they will be happy, too.

“We all have our own jobs,” Capilouto said. “If we can make this sustainable and maybe make a little extra money and keep putting out record, that’ll be a success.”

Maplewood Records in the Press

Vocolo.org Interview

Hear the Story of Maplewood Records 1st Release, The Glass Family - Electric Band, From Our Founder Ian Capilouto. 
Gracias Vocalo.org for the Great Interview

Airtime: Friday 6/26 at 8:30 am

Station: Vocalo / Show: The Morning AMp

Broadcasting: 91.1 FM (Chicago) and 89.5 FM (NWI)

Streaming at: http://www.vocalo.org

Facebook: Vocalo.org

Twitter: @TheMorningAMp / @Vocalo

Hosts: @JesseMenendez @JillHopkins

Ugly Things - Issue #39 June 2015

OTL #453: A son in Logan Square reissues his dad’s 60s rock album, Mick Dumke on the latest in Chicago politics

Mike Stephen visits with Maplewood Recordsfounder Ian Capilouto about reissuing The Glass Family’s 1968 album Electric Band (featuring his dad David Capilouto!) along with other musical rarities, and gets the latest on local (State’s Attorney Alvarez vs. Cook County Board President Preckwinkle) and state (Governor Rauner’s redacted calendar) politics with Chicago Reader senior writer Mick Dumke. Plus the OTL crew discusses Knight Rider, David Hasselhoff, and our efforts to track down the Chicago Knights. This week’s local music is provided by Ian’s new band Holiday Party.