Most people spend their nights scrolling through streaming apps half-asleep, letting the algorithm shove the same dead-eyed sludge into their headphones. Dustin Pike spends his digging through Bandcamp like a man possessed, hunting for records that still have blood in them. That hobby became Ghost Mutt Records, a DIY vinyl label Pike launched in 2022 from a refusal to let undiscovered music disappear into the digital void.
Pike is an electrical engineer by trade, but Ghost Mutt Records is his personal crusade. Since launching the label, he’s pressed and distributed 18 releases, including albums from San Francisco alt-rockers Black Lab, Swedish melodic death metalists Marionette and prog-metal outfit Disperse. Now, Pike has turned his attention to Las Vegas’ multifaceted music scene, working with local shoegaze emo band Same Sun Here on its debut EP, Good Grief.
“You’ve gotta have the music sound good on vinyl,” Pike says. “That’s paramount. You’ve got to pay the artists because I’m using their music, and just do justice to everything and not cut corners, but also try not to overspend on everything.”
The process is intense. Pike gathers master files from bands, gets the music mastered specifically for vinyl, works with artists on packaging, and coordinates production through plants like Pirates Press, Dunk!, Mobineko and Precision Record Pressing. The startup costs alone land somewhere between $7,000 and $8,000, all out of Pike’s own pocket. His daughter also designed the label’s logo, giving the operation another layer of handmade spirit.
For Pike, every record starts with a personal connection: “I have to like the music,” he says. “I feel like these are all for me.”
That devotion keeps him searching for artists outside the algorithm, and he has high hopes of supporting even more local artists down the line.
Same Sun Here’s EP will be available on vinyl at the band’s release show at local game shop Shall We Play on May 23. Pick one up and tune into one of the scene’s most dynamic up-and-coming projects, or order another album from the label directly at ghostmuttrecords.com.
