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Angry Penguin Productions is a Rochester, New York based multimedia company, founded in 2002 by Antonio Esteves and Jonathan Bernier.
Angry Penguin was first started in 2002 when Bernier and Esteves started promoting local music shows (particularly of the Punk Rock, Emo and Metal variety) around the Westchester County, New York area. The two felt their area lacked in variety of music shows and took matters into their own hands. The name they choose as their promotion guise was Angry Penguin and the pair started putting on and promoting one to two shows a week. Their shows took place mainly in bars and occasionally VFW halls. Many of the bands who played early Angry Penguin shows have gone on to great success, including Plain White T's, Comeback Kid and Kevin Devine.
In 2004, Bernier and Esteves started Angry Penguin Records, an independent record label. As the label had no distribution deal, all albums are sold through festival appearances, music concerts and their website.
Angry Penguin's first signing was Dr. Hourai, a progressive metal band from the greater Westchester County, New York area. Their first album, Post Apocalyptic Nightmare Volume One: Vibrations in Hyperspace EP was recorded at The Loft studios in Bronxville, New York in early 2004. The label began what would become a long-running tradition of promoting both themselves and their signed acts on the Warped Tour in Summer 2004.
In 2007, Angry Penguin Records signed Manchester, England's Pendleton, a 4-piece punk rock band. Their first recording (done in England), You, by Us , was re-issued in the states by Angry Penguin. The band toured the US on the Vans Warped Tour 2007, followed by a self-booked tour, also in the US. In the spring of 2008, Pendleton came back to the states to record their sophomore release The Difference . The album was done by producer John Naclerio at Nada Recording Studios in New Windsor, New York.
In 2009, Angry Penguin Productions sponsored the first ever Rage Fest, a hardcore and metal daylong music festival at Rochester's Water Street Music Hall on August 28. It featured over 15 local bands, including Sirens and Sailors, June Rising, Storm The Bay and Makyo Star.
It has been announced on Angry Penguin's official blog, that the second annual Rage Fest will take place on August 27, 2010, at Water Street Music Hall
The Angry Penguin is a fictional character, found in The Angry Penguin comic book series. He is portrayed as having a prominent rage problem, cemented with the tagline "More Violent Than He Needs To Be." Because he is still a developing character, the whereabouts of his origin are unknown, as well as the motive behind his quest for world domination.
Angry Penguin Productions has released four issues of the Angry Penguin webcomic on their website. These have been short, sequential series. All four have been illustrated by Peter Lazarski and written by Esteves and Bernier. In a recent review, the website Geek Girl on the Street hinted at purposeful political undertones being present in the comic, though Angry Penguin Productions has yet to respond to the allegation.
Angry Penguin annually makes appearances on the entire Vans Warped Tour and at New York Comic Con. In 2010, the company also appeared at C2E2 and San Francisco's Wondercon.
The Angry Penguin appears on a line of adult clothing, including T-shirts, hooded sweatshirts, tank tops as well as women's "booty shorts", T-shirts, long sleeved shirts and more. The items depict the Angry Penguin in a variety of circumstances, as well as his enemies and weapons.
Nothing Records was an American record label specializing in industrial rock and electronic music, founded by John Malm Jr. and Trent Reznor in 1992. It is considered an example of a vanity label, where an artist is able to run a label with some small degree of independence within a larger parent company, in this case the larger company being Interscope Records.
The Warped Tour was a traveling rock tour that toured the United States plus three or four stops in Canada annually each summer from 1995 until 2019. It was the largest traveling music festival in the United States and the longest-running touring music festival to date in North America. The festival visited Australia in 1998–2002 and again in 2013.
Ozma is an American rock band from Pasadena, California. The band's sound is a mix of nostalgic new wave–influenced power pop and contrapuntal Casiotone-driven melodies sustained by heavy guitar riffs. Since their formation in 1995, Ozma has released five studio albums and toured the U.S., Japan and Canada more than thirty times, including extensive touring with stylistically similar groups including Weezer, Nada Surf, Rilo Kiley, Superdrag, The Rentals, The Get Up Kids, Piebald, Saves The Day, Asian Kung-Fu Generation, and Rooney.
Less Than Jake is an American ska punk band from Gainesville, Florida, formed in 1992. The band consists of Chris DeMakes, Roger Lima, Matt Yonker (drums), Buddy Schaub (trombone), and Peter "JR" Wasilewski (saxophone).
Coheed and Cambria are an American progressive rock band from Nyack, New York, formed in 1995. The band consists of Claudio Sanchez, Travis Stever, Josh Eppard, and Zach Cooper. The group's music incorporates aspects of progressive rock, pop, heavy metal, and post-hardcore.
Bayside is an American punk rock band from the Bayside, Queens neighborhood of New York City, formed in 2000 by lead vocalist Anthony Raneri. The group also consists of lead guitarist Jack O'Shea, bassist Nick Ghanbarian, and drummer Chris Guglielmo.
Brand New was an American rock band from Long Island, New York. Formed in 2000, the band consisted of Jesse Lacey, Vincent Accardi, Garrett Tierney and Brian Lane ; they were joined by Benjamin Homola (percussion) for their live performances. From 2005 to 2013, the band also included Derrick Sherman. The band is recognized as one of the most influential within the 2000s emo scene, celebrated for making artistic statements with their music.
Hatebreed is an American metalcore band from Bridgeport, Connecticut, formed in 1994. The band released its debut album Satisfaction is the Death of Desire in 1997, which gave the band a cult following. The band signed to Universal Records and released Perseverance in 2002, which hit the Billboard 200. Combining elements of hardcore and heavy metal, the band is often described as a metalcore, hardcore punk, and beatdown hardcore band. They have played a major role in the Connecticut hardcore scene.
Damian Hess, better known by his stage name MC Frontalot, is an American rapper and web designer. Hess began releasing music as MC Frontalot in 1999. His first successes came through Song Fight!, an online songwriting and recording competition, where he became known for consistently beating opponents. Throughout his history at Song Fight!, he has never lost a competition as MC Frontalot, although he has entered only seven entries in that name. In one such song fight, entitled "Romantic Cheapskate", he likens Song Fight! to a neglected lover who favors him regardless of how he treats her. The song went on to garner a total of 614 votes, while the next closest song ended the round with 28.
Matchbook Romance was an American emo band from Poughkeepsie, New York and was formed in 1997. They were signed to Epitaph Records. They released two full-length albums and one EP. Their EP, West for Wishing, released in 2003 was their first recorded album during their time on Epitaph; their full-length debut album, Stories and Alibis, was recorded in the same year.
H2O is an American hardcore punk band formed in New York City in 1994.
Stick Men is an American progressive rock supergroup founded in 2007 by Pat Mastelotto, Tony Levin, and Michael Bernier. Since 2010, the lineup stabilized around Mastelotto, Levin, and Markus Reuter. The band was formed as a vehicle for progressive rock music performed almost exclusively with Chapman Sticks and drums.
Madina Lake is an American alternative rock band formed in Chicago, Illinois, United States, in 2005. The band released their debut album, From Them, Through Us, to You, through Roadrunner Records on March 27, 2007. Madina Lake won Best International Newcomer at the Kerrang! Awards 2007. The group disbanded in September 2013 before reuniting in February 2017.
Pendleton was an English four-piece skate punk band from Manchester, England. They were formed in 2000 and went through several incarnations before becoming Pendleton in 2002 when several of the band members met at the University of Salford. They were signed to Angry Penguin Records in the US, and Bells On Records in Europe and Japan.
Robert Ozn -- A Top 5 Billboard USA & Top 10 Music Week UK singer/rapper/writer/producer, he has also recorded under the monikers "DaDa NaDa" and "OZN", often times integrating social and political themes into commercially successful works. He first attained world wide recognition on MTV as the vocal half of 1980s New York City synthpop duo EBN-OZN, widely credited as the creators of the first-ever commercially charted record produced on a computer and the first "white rap" record to chart mainstream. After a long absence from the music industry working behind the camera, in 2016 Robert "Dada Nada" Ozn released his first single in 25 years achieving major chart comebacks and press coverage in both the US & UK resuming a recording career which continues at this time. Also a screenwriter/film producer and Broadway actor, he is best known for his work as writer/producer of the award-winning, human rights-themed feature film I Witness starring Jeff Daniels, James Spader and Portia de Rossi.
We Came as Romans is an American metalcore band from Troy, Michigan. Formed in 2005, the band has gone through one name change and multiple line-up changes, and signed to SharpTone Records in 2016 after having been on roster of Equal Vision Records since 2009. They have released six studio albums – To Plant a Seed (2009), Understanding What We've Grown to Be (2011), Tracing Back Roots (2013), We Came as Romans (2015), Cold Like War (2017) and Darkbloom (2022) – and two EPs in 2008 titled Demonstrations and Dreams.
The Difference is the first full-length release from UK skate punk band Pendleton. It was released on 1 July 2008 by Angry Penguin Records. It followed the band's previously released EP, You, by Us.
Attila is an American metalcore band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 2005. They have released eight full-length albums.
Apocryphon is the fourth studio album by American heavy metal band The Sword. Recorded at Magpie Cage Studios in Baltimore, Maryland with producer J. Robbins, it was released by New York label Razor & Tie in October 2012. Apocryphon is the band's first album without original member Trivett Wingo, and the first to feature his replacement Santiago "Jimmy" Vela III, who took over from interim touring drummer Kevin Fender in October 2011; it is also the first of the band's albums to be released by Razor & Tie, with whom the group signed in early 2012 after seven years with Kemado Records.
The Barb Wire Dolls are a grunge/punk rock band from Greece, based in the United States. They were championed by Lemmy on whose personal record label their third and fourth albums were released.
