Antler Records :: The early years

Antler Records, the iconic label born in 1981 from the vision of Roland Beelen, rose anew in 2024—reborn, recharged, and resonating once more. Delving into its vaults, the label unveils a treasure trove of rare sonic artifacts, painstakingly compiled by Lieven De Ridder of Walhalla Records. But this revival isn’t just about the past—retrospective (and new) releases are on the horizon. The legacy lives on as history spins forward—until 2026.

The Early Years of EBM, Dark Wave, and Synth Wave

Antler Records, hailing from Aarschot, Belgium, was established in 1981 through the visionary collaboration of New Beat pioneer Roland Beelen and the innovative Maurice Engelen, renowned for his work with Lords of Acid and Praga Khan. Antler Records was part of the New Wave era and released records by 2 Belgen, Nacht und Nebel, Siglo XX and Poésie Noire. The label stopped in 2005 but re-started in 2023 again and released, amongst others, three very recommendable compilations: Antler Early Years, Volume 1, 2, and 3.

Igloo :: Do you remember why you initially started Antler records in 1981? What was your reason? What was your motivation, your original idea?

Roland Beelen :: Early 80s, music was a passion, sound-making was a passion, I was all music myself. I started as a studio-engineer, and soon after as a producer. Many new bands wanted to record, studio’s were expensive these days, and as an apprentice engineer and sound-maker I worked at night and I got very low rates per hour nighttime. This was very favorable for many young and new bands. Many did not know how to make a record, how to distribute a record, how to market a record. Most of them had never seen a studio inside. I then started the label and released records for a lot of bands I recorded and mixed, sometimes produced. I was in touch with some English Independent labels, and artists from the UK.

Which labels did you mirror yourself on?

Roland Beelen :: Cherry Red, Factory, and 4AD were great inspiration, as well as Parsleys, Les disques du crépuscule, and Casablanca Moon in Belgium. Boudisque in Holland and Das Bureau in Germany. When things got more serious Maurice Engelen joined me and we started a successfull adventure soon after, an adventure that lasted almost 25 years.

Why did you stop in 2005? And why did you start again in 2023?

Roland Beelen :: The business side of things got bigger and bigger, and by the end of the 80s and the success of New Beat, the company grew bigger (with 18 staff members in Belgium, affiliates in Holland, UK, and USA, with extra staff, and a lot of good business relations and cooperations with as well independent as major companies all over Europe. I had to abandon my passion as a soundmaker, a producer, an engineer, to take care of the companies and the bizz. By the end of the nineties we kept growing and we had a lot of international hits for our then pop-dance artists (Kate Ryan, Milk Inc, 2 Fabiola, Lasgo, Ian Van Dahl, Belle Perez, etc). Not to forget our million selling albums by Lords of Acid and the Mortal Kombat project.

It meant a lot of baby-sitting, marketing and promotion, and we needed a multinational partner. A partnership was made between Antler (by then called Antler-Subway) and EMI Records. The partnership initially was very productive on the local market, but internationally I got really frustrated quite fast with the corporate structure, where almost everybody was only interested in the development of their own careers within the EMI group.

By mid 2005 I had a severe accident, and it took me a few years to recover physically and mentally. In the meantime, I got estranged from the music bizz, my passion, and with the fast changing music world, my skills were by far not up to date.

It took me a while to feel at home again in the new digital music world, a while to re-educate myself and understand what was relevant and what was not.

As the years passed by, I started to realize that my legacy, my work, and the most important years of my creative life, risked being forgotten. I always knew there were a lot of die-hard Antler fans all over the world supporting us unconditionally.

New Beat, pop-dance, and the most commercial hit records we released over the years, are not forgotten and featured on far too many compilations, in far too many top 100, Top 1000 lists, but the “Early Years” had become rare and that was the reason why we started (Felix Huybrechts-Starman Records and myself) to bring the Antler history back to the light, with the kind permission of Warner Music Belgium.

What do you think is the best release from the Antler catalog?

Roland Beelen :: Very hard to answer that question with one name. From a creative point of view, as a producer and sound-maker the Siglo XX studiosides en Live Sides and the Poésie Noire the album Tetra is my best work, and I still cherish these albums. During the EBM years, albums by A Split-Second (Ballistic Statues and From the Inside), and The Klinik were worldwide very influential and successful. The New Beat Era was a time for mass production of dark beat Dance records, and very few of them I still fancy. But we all had a lot of fun. And during the pop-dance era we released some real world-top singles by Milk Inc, 2 Fabiola, Lasgo, Ian Van Dahl, Mackenzie featuring Jessie but in my opinion the Belle Perez single “Hello World” was by far our most perfect pop-song single-release.

Can you compare running a record label in 1981 with running a record label in 2025?

Roland Beelen :: By no means. A totally new business model wiped out the old one during the first years of the 21 st Century. Vinyl records had long before disappeared and CD sales were slowly fading out, while streaming was winning the battle. Music consumption changed completely and music became an entertainment-only model, while during the 40 years before it was a lifestyle, a cultural movement that had a huge importance in growing youngsters into adults with a wide musical heritage. Now is the time where big investment funds and huge corporate structures own our musical legacy from the last 60 years. Companies owned by people who have no other interest than money, and have absolutely no affinity with music and artists. Small labels like Starman Records and others operate in the margins of nostalgia and have no real importance nor influence. They are passionate music lovers with great respect for artists.

Apart from initiating the Antler “Early Years,” a project that will come to an end in 2026, I have no further ambitions at all to run a record label.

Who are the people who buy and listen to Antler releases? Do you have an idea of who your audience is?

Roland Beelen :: In the meantime I found out that the world-wide Antler Records fans from the “Early Years,” were already there in the early eighties. They are the real passionates and collectors from the beginning, and though they are in their fifties and sixties, they never lost their love for our music and for the label. It is for them that we are doing this. And I thank them for that.

Antler’s catalog is mainly focused on bands from the region of Vlaams-Brabant and Limburg. Why?

Roland Beelen :: There were some yes, but I do not completely agree, we signed artists from all over the country, from Britain, from Holland, from France, Germany and the USA. As a label, we were in the early 80s involved in the Limburg cold wave scene and the Leuven club scene with a lot of interesting bands. But region was never a priority.

Have you been able to make a living from Antler Records?

Roland Beelen :: The first years were the years of non-income privately, but after 1984 there was moderate income, and by 1988 we (Maurice and myself) were doing very well until 2005. The label​ and the company was our life, 24/7 for 25 years. There was nothing else.

Why are the compilations that are now being released put together by Lieven De Ridder and not by you?

Roland Beelen :: Lieven is a good friend, and specialized in music from the 80s. He has a far better sense and know-how than me to compile this series of 4 “Antler Early Years” compilations, to find the rarest and most sought after recordings. His label Walhalla Records is pure state of the art in the dark electronic scene.

Antler Records — Early Years Vol 3 is available on Antler. [Bandcamp]