C/Z4756 U. Village Pl NE #469
ph: (800) MERC-VAN (orders) fax: (206) 528-0536
http://www.czrecords.com/ czrecord@nwlink.com
Bands: Coffin Break, Gits, Seven Year Bitch, Pop Sickle, Hammerbox, Melvins, Treepeople, Built to Spill, Caustic Resin, Love Battery, Skyward, Silkworm, Tone Dogs, Alcohol Funnycar
Chris Hanzsek, the producer at Reciprocal Recordings, started C/Z Records in January 1986 with his girlfriend, Tina Casale. The first release was the infamous Deep Six compilation, which featured tracks from the U-Men, Skin Yard, Soundgarden, Malfunkshun, Green River and the Melvins, all recorded by Hanzsek at Ironwood Studios. The next release was the self-titled Melvins EP in May. Soon after the Melvins release, Casale left for Pittsburgh and Hanzsek got tired of running a label. Hanzsek turned the label over to Skin Yard bassist Daniel House. Through C/Z, House released records by local bands My Eye, Coffin Break, and Crypt Kicker Five, among others. C/Z is most known for releasing albums by the Gits, Seven Year Bitch, and Hammerbox. The label went on hiatus around 1995, before briefly returning in 1999 to release a few albums such as Love Battery's comeback album.
EmptyPO Box 12034 Seattle WA 98102
ph: (206) 706-9088 fax: (206) 706-9084
http://www.empty-records.com/ (see site for e-mail contact)
Bands: Zipgun, Crackerbash, Derelicts, Kill Sybil, Supersuckers, Steel Wool, Satan's Pilgrims, Gruntruck, Dead Moon, Gas Huffer, Girl Trouble, Jr. High, Sinister Six
Empty Records founder Blake Wright moved to Seattle in 1987 with hopes of starting a new label. Wright had previously been involved in labels with names such as Musical Tragedies, Masking Tapes, and Empty. Wright's new label began by releasing some of his European imports, and his first domestic release was the popular Accused 7". After the Accused, Wright began releasing albums by local bands such as the Fartz, the Derelicts, and Gruntruck with the eMpTy name (the weird capatilization was a a tribute to Wright's previous ventures). In 2000, Empty got into an ugly dispute with his former partner's Musical Tragedies label in Europe over the Empty Records name and logo. The two labels settled out of court, with both labels agreeing (to be continued)
KPO Box 7154 Olympia WA 98507 (mail)
524 Jefferson St. SE, Olympia, WA 98507 (shipping)
ph: (360) 786-1549 fax: (360) 786-5024
http://www.kpunk.com/ (see site for e-mail contact)
Bands: Beat Happening, Dub Narcotic Sound System, godheadSilo, Halo Benders, Heavenly, Love As Laughter, Lync, Satisfact, Some Velvet Sidewalk, Steve Fisk, Enemymine, Mecca Normal, Modest Mouse, Treepeople
K history under construction.
PMB 418 120 NE State Ave. Olympia WA 98501
ph:
http://www.killrockstars.com/
Bands: Bikini Kill, godheadSilo, Unwound, Sleater-Kinney, Bangs, Bratmobile, C-Average, Thrones
PopllamaPO Box 95364 Seattle WA 98145-2364
http://www.popllama.com/ popllama@rockboss.com
Bands: Young Fresh Fellows, Fastbacks, Posies, Presidents of the United States of America, Scott McCaughey, Minus 5, Picketts, Squirrels, Pop Sickle, Walkabouts, Nevada Bachelors
The history of Popllama Products goes way back, when Conrad Uno started the Plumber Supply Emporium in 1964. He soon dropped the plumbing equipment to open Egg studios, his own recording studio. In 1983 Uno decided to start a label to release some of the music he was recording and thus, Popllama, as we know it, was born. The first release on Popllama was the debut album of the Young Fresh Fellows, the Fabulous Sounds of the Pacific Northwest. Popllama is also responsible for releasing the debut albums of the Posies and Presidents of the United States of America, two bands who were immediately snatched up by major labels soon after their albums were released.
Sub
Pop2514 Fourth Avenue Seattle WA 98121
ph: (206) 441-8441 fax: (206) 441-8245 sales: (800) SUB-POP1
http://www.subpop.com/ loser@subpop.com (general contact) dumpy@subpop.com (sales)
Bands: Green River, The Fluid, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Nirvana, Blood Circus, Swallow, Walkabouts, Seaweed, Fastbacks, TAD, Love Battery, Pond, Sprinkler, Hazel, earth, Pigeonhed, Sunny Day Real Estate, Supersuckers, Mark Lanegan, Spinanes, godheadSilo, 10 Minute Warning, Gardener, Murder City Devils, Love As Laughter
Sub Pop Records, perhaps the most influential label in the northwest, originally started as a casette fanzine network by Bruce Pavitt in Olympia. By 198?, Pavitt became interested in starting a vinyl label. Pavitt began talking to Jonathan Poneman via Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil about starting a label. The first Sub Pop releases included the Sub Pop 100 compilation, and two EPs, Green River's Dry As A Bone and Soundgarden's Screaming Life. Over the next few years, the label released albums by Nirvana, Mudhoney, Blood Circus, TAD, Love Battery, Denver's Fluid, and Cincinatti's Afghan Whigs. Those bands became what the media called "the Sub Pop Sound". By 1993, most of Sub Pop's "grunge" roster had either signed with majors or broken up. Sub Pop then started expanding their roster nationwide, to Portland (Pond, Sprinkler, Hazel and the Spinanes), to complement their local roster of Seaweed, earth, Fastbacks, and Supersuckers. Today, Sub Pop focuses more on their national and internatonal roster, but is the home of local artists such as Steve Fisk, Mark Lanegan, Heather Duby, Murder City Devils, and Gardener.
UpPO Box 21328 Seattle WA 98111-3328
http://www.uprecords.com/
http://www.updirect.com/ (up online store)
ph: (206) 320-9004 fax: (206) 320-9075 (orders)
Bands: Built to Spill, Caustic Resin, Modest Mouse, 764-HERO, Butterfly Train, Mike Johnson, Violent Green, Satisfact, Lync, Jana McCall, Hush Harbor, Dark Fantastic
Chris Takino, a former Sub Pop employee and writer for the Rocket, started Up Records in 1995. The first release on Up was a Violent Green 7" single. (to be continued)
Airforce (Karl Anderson) 813 SE 10th Ave Portland OR 97214
Aces And Eights (Ed Daly) 6201 15th Avenue NW #B570 Seattle WA 98107-2382
Blood Red Vinyl and Discs (Jeff Martin) 2134 NE 25th Portland OR 97212
Candy-Ass (Jody Bleyle) PO Box 42382 Portland OR 97242
Chainsaw (Donna Dresch) PO Box 1151 Olympia WA 98507-1151
Carving Knife (?) PO Box 829 Seattle WA 98111
Casa Recording Co. (?) 4509 Interlake Ave #305 Seattle WA 98103
Collective Fruit (Lance Paine/Nabil Ayers/Jason Sutherland) PO Box 4415 Seattle WA 98104-0415
Coming In Second (Jeremy Jensen) 1807 Division Ave Boise ID 83706
Estrus (Dave Crider) PO Box 2125 Bellingham WA 98227
Good Ink (Carrie Akre/Garth Reeves) PO Box 19615 Seattle WA 98109
Laundry Room West (Barrett Jones) 10002 Aurora Ave N #3371 Seattle WA 98133
Loosegroove (Stone Gossard/Regan Hagar) 501 N. 36th St. Seattle WA 98103
Outcast (?) 2508 5th 158 Seattle WA 98121
Pattern 25 (?) 610 20th Ave E. Seattle WA 98112
Ransom Note (?) PO Box 40164 Bellevue WA 98102
Rx Remedy (Brian Bauer) PO Box 12339 Seattle WA 98111-4339
Schizophonic (Mike Jones) 232 SE Oak #100 Portland OR 97214
Slabco. (Steven Nereo/Jovita Carpenter) PO Box 85510 Seattle WA 98145-1510
Suicide Squeeze (?) 4505 University Way PO Box 434 Seattle WA 98105
Summershine (Jason Reynolds) PO Box 23392 Seattle WA 98102
Superelectro (Steve Turner/Caryn Palmier) P.O. Box 20401 Seattle WA 98102
Sweet Mother (Nasir Rasheed) 925 East Pike, Seattle WA 98122
Tombstone (Fred/Toody Cole) PO Box 1463 Clakamas OR 97015
Vagrant (Erik 4-A) 5512 University Way NE Seattle WA 98105
Y (?) PO Box 20241 Seattle WA 98102