Bong Load Records | |
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Founded | 1991 |
Founder |
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Status | Active |
Genre | |
Country of origin | United States |
Location | Los Angeles, California |
Bong Load Records is an independent record label originally based in Los Angeles which was founded by producers Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf and partner Bradshaw Lambert.
Much of the Bong Load Records catalog is released in small quantities. Several bands have very rare releases that are much sought after and command high prices at auctions.
Bong Load Records relaunched on its 25th anniversary in 2016 with limited edition vinyl releases. Tom Rothrock sums up the label "Our core philosophy of the indie label was always about making high quality music with artists who have dedicated their lives to their craft – artists who otherwise might not have been heard." [1]
One of Bong Load Records' biggest signings was Beck in 1991. Beck's "Loser" single became the first number one, non-major label single since FM radio became mainstream. [2] In 1998, Beck recorded the album Mutations intended for release on Bong Load Records but it was eventually released on the Geffen label. There were a series of lawsuits between Beck, Bong Load and Geffen, settled in 1999, which led to Beck's renegotiation with Geffen. [3] Beck released multiple titles on Bong Load including Loser, Mellow Gold , Odelay , Mutations and Midnite Vultures . [4]
Other notable bands from the original Bong Load Custom Records include Wool, Kyuss, The Obsessed, Fatso Jetson, Elliott Smith, The Eels, L7, R.L. Burnside and Lutefisk. Stoner rock band Fu Manchu released their first two albums via Bong Load Records. [5]
In 2007, Rothrock briefly relaunched the label with a series of releases, including his own instrumental album Resonator. [6]
In July 2016, Bong Load Records announced a relaunch of the label, now based in Las Vegas, with 7 limited edition vinyl releases: The Killers ( Sam’s Town - 10th Anniversary reissue), [7] Mark Stoermer (Dark Arts), [8] Masters of Reality ( Deep In The Hole - 15th Anniversary reissue - features Chris Goss and guests Mark Lanegan, Josh Homme and members of Queens of the Stone Age and Kyuss) Elliott Smith ( Figure 8 , XO ) and Beck (Odelay (20th Anniversary reissue), Mellow Gold). [9]
Beck David Hansen, known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his experimental and lo-fi style, and became known for creating musical collages of wide-ranging genres. He has musically encompassed folk, funk, soul, hip hop, electronica, alternative rock, country, and psychedelia. He has released 14 studio albums, as well as several non-album singles and a book of sheet music.
Odelay is the fifth studio album by American musician Beck, released on June 18, 1996, by DGC Records. The album featured several successful singles, including "Where It's At", "Devils Haircut", and "The New Pollution", and peaked at number sixteen on the Billboard 200. As of July 2008, the album had sold 2.3 million copies in the United States, making Odelay Beck's most successful album to date. Since its release, the album has appeared in numerous publications' lists of the greatest of the 1990s and of all time.
Mutations is the sixth studio album by the American songwriter Beck, released on November 3, 1998, by DGC Records. Though less commercially successful than the preceding Odelay, it won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album.
XO is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. It was recorded from 1997 to 1998 and released on August 25, 1998, by record label DreamWorks; Smith's first solo album on a major record label. Two singles, "Waltz #2 (XO)" and "Baby Britain", were released.
Brant Bjork is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the drummer and founder of the influential Californian stoner rock band Kyuss. Bjork has also been a member of Fu Manchu, Mondo Generator and Vista Chino, the latter with former Kyuss members John Garcia and Nick Oliveri. He is currently the frontman and co-founder of the stoner rock power trio, Stöner. Bjork is one of the more notable figures in the stoner rock and Palm Desert scene and maintains a prolific solo career with over a dozen released albums.
Fu Manchu is an American stoner rock band formed in Orange County, California in 1985. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout the 80s and 90s, but has remained consistent since 2001. The band currently consists of founding guitarist turned lead vocalist Scott Hill, bassist Brad Davis, lead guitarist Bob Balch and drummer Scott Reeder.
Dieselhed was a San Francisco–based band, originally from Arcata, California.
"Loser" is a single by American musician Beck. It was written by Beck and record producer Carl Stephenson, who both produced the song with Tom Rothrock. "Loser" was initially released as Beck's second single by independent record label Bong Load Custom Records on 12-inch vinyl format with catalog number BL5 on March 8, 1993.
Rob Schnapf is an American record producer and musician. He was the co-producer of Elliott Smith's albums Either/Or, XO, Figure 8 and From a Basement on the Hill, for which he was recruited by Smith's family to complete after Smith's death.
Tom Rothrock is an American musician, composer, record producer and owner of Bong Load Records. Tom Rothrock has worked with James Blunt, Foo Fighters, Moby, Beck, Badly Drawn Boy, R. L. Burnside, Athlete, Sloan, Gwen Stefani, Motörhead, Elbow, Stevie Nicks, Poison, Elliott Smith, Richard Thompson, Yonder Mountain String Band. Rothrock has also composed or contributed to soundtracks for notable motion pictures such as About A Boy, Good Will Hunting, Collateral and The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.
Ten East is an experimental/jam rock project based in the Palm Desert and Los Angeles area of the United States. The musicians involved share a common respect for improvised jamming mixed with years of playing and listening to all types of rock, psychedelic, Latin, jazz, blues, surf and punk music. The end result is an intense, cohesive wall of sound of heavy, dark, instrumental blues with psychedelic and surf overtones.
Jalamanta is the stoner rock and Palm Desert scene musician Brant Bjork's debut solo album after leaving Kyuss and joining Fu Manchu. Originally released on October 11, 1999, through Man's Ruin Records, Jalamanta was later re-released on Bjork's own label, Duna Records, in 2003, 2006 and 2009. In 2019, Bjork's current label, Heavy Psych Sounds, released a remixed and remastered version of the album with new artwork.
Daredevil is the second studio release from Fu Manchu, a Southern Californian stoner rock band, released on the Bong Load Custom Records label in 1995. A remastered version of the album was released in 2015.
MeteorCity Records is an American record label founded in 1997 by Jadd Shickler and Aaron Emmel in Albuquerque, New Mexico. With the release of its compilation album Welcome to MeteorCity showcasing young unsigned Kyuss-like bands, MeteorCity helped launch the stoner rock genre and many of the genre's first bands, plus side projects from members of well-known bands including The Atomic Bitchwax and Hermano. MeteorCity Records was one of the first record labels dedicated exclusively to Stoner rock, doom metal, sludge metal, drone metal and psychedelic rock.
Fatso Jetson is an American desert rock band from Palm Desert, California, formed in 1994 by Yawning Man members Mario Lalli and Larry Lalli, along with Tony Tornay. They are often credited as the fathers of the desert strain of stoner rock later made most famous by their slightly younger neighbors Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age. While musically similar to some of their stoner brethren, Fatso Jetson incorporate a broader variety of musical influences that includes punk and surf.
"The New Pollution" is a song by American musician Beck, released in February 1997 by DGC Records as the third single from his fifth album, Odelay (1996). It was written by Beck with John King and Michael Simpson, and produced by Beck with Dust Brothers. The song samples "Venus" by Joe Thomas. In the US, "The New Pollution" peaked at number 78 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number nine on the Billboard Alternative Airplay chart. In Europe, it was a top-10 hit in Iceland, peaking at number nine. The music video for the song was directed by Beck himself.
Mike "Slo-Mo" Brenner is an American musician based in Philadelphia. He is the veteran of many bands and has recorded tracks on over 100 CDs of both independent and major label artists.
Stoner rock, also known as stoner metal or stoner doom, is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of doom metal with psychedelic rock and acid rock. The genre emerged during the early 1990s and was pioneered foremost by Kyuss and Sleep.
Lutefisk was an American alternative rock band based in Los Angeles. It was active in the 1990s as part of LA's Silver Lake alternative music scene. During this time, it released two studio albums on Bong Load Records and recorded a third unreleased record for A&M Records.
Hymns to the Stone is the first full-length studio album from Welsh stoner rock/doom band Acrimony. It was released in 1994 on Godhead Recordings. In November 2019, Hymns to the Stone was reissued as part of a 3-CD digipack and remastered edition by the Dutch music label Burning World Records.