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Bruce Pavitt | |
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 Pavitt in 2015 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | March 7, 1959 |
| Origin | Olympia, Washington, U.S. |
| Years active | 1980–1996 |
| Labels | Sub Pop |
Bruce S. Pavitt (born March 7, 1959) is the Chicago-born co-founder of independent record label Sub Pop. [1] He attended Evergreen State College where he hosted a show on Evergreen's KAOS radio station before founding Sub Pop. [2]
After briefly attending Blackburn College in Carlinville, Illinois and subsequently transferring to The Evergreen State College in Washington State, Pavitt started a fanzine entitled Subterranean Pop in Olympia, Washington in 1980, about American independent rock bands. Pavitt wrote: [2]
“We need diverse, regionalized, localized approaches to all forms of art, music, and politics…the most intense music, the most original ideas are coming out of scenes you don’t even know exist. Tomorrow’s pop is being realized today on small decentralized record labels that are interested in taking risks, not making money.”—Subterranean Pop #1, 1980
Three cassette compilations were released through the fanzine. In 1983, Pavitt moved to Seattle and started a record store, Fallout, as well as writing a Sub Pop column for The Rocket , and hosting an independent-label specialty show on KCMU. 1986 saw the release of Sub Pop's (the "-terranean" was dropped earlier from the name) first LP: the Sub Pop 100 . Green River's Dry As a Bone EP followed in 1987.
Bruce Pavitt has since written two books: Sub Pop USA and Experiencing Nirvana.
Grunge is an alternative rock genre and subculture which emerged during the mid-1980s in the U.S. state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of punk rock and heavy metal. The genre featured the distorted electric guitar sound used in both genres, although some bands performed with more emphasis on one or the other. Like these genres, grunge typically uses electric guitar, bass guitar, drums and vocals. Grunge also incorporates influences from indie rock bands such as Sonic Youth. Lyrics are typically angst-filled and introspective, often addressing themes such as social alienation, self-doubt, abuse, neglect, betrayal, social and emotional isolation, addiction, psychological trauma and a desire for freedom.
Sub Pop is an independent record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the grunge movement. They are often credited with helping popularize grunge music. The label's roster includes Fleet Foxes, Tad, Beach House, The Postal Service, Sleater-Kinney, Flight of the Conchords, Foals, Blitzen Trapper, Father John Misty, clipping., Shabazz Palaces, Weyes Blood, Guerilla Toss, Bully, Low, METZ, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Kiwi Jr., TV Priest and The Shins. In 1995, the owners of Sub Pop sold a 49% stake of the label to the Warner Music Group.
Calvin Johnson is an American guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, music producer, and disc jockey. Known for his uniquely deep and droning singing voice, Johnson was a founding member of the bands Cool Rays, Beat Happening, Dub Narcotic Sound System, The Go Team and The Halo Benders.
K Records is an independent record label in Olympia, Washington, founded in 1982. Artists on the label included early releases by Beck, Modest Mouse and Built to Spill. The record label has been called "key to the development of independent music" since the 1980s.
Green River was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984. Considered one of the first grunge bands, Green River is best known for being the precursor to multiple key early 1990s rock bands, most notably Pearl Jam, Mudhoney, Mother Love Bone, Temple of the Dog, and Love Battery. Green River reunited for several live shows in 2008 and 2009.
KAOS is a hybrid college/community radio station licensed to the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. It broadcasts with an effective radiated power of 1.25 kilowatts, and streams via the internet. The station offers radio broadcasting training to students of the college as well as members of the local community.
Dry as a Bone is the second and final EP by the American rock band Green River. It was released in June 1987 through Sub Pop Records.
"Touch Me I'm Sick" is a song by the American alternative rock band Mudhoney. It was recorded in April 1988 at Seattle's Reciprocal Recording studio with producer Jack Endino. "Touch Me I'm Sick" was released as Mudhoney's debut single by independent record label Sub Pop on August 1, 1988. The song's lyrics, which feature dark humor, are a sarcastic take on issues such as disease and violent sex.
Feedtime is an Australian noise rock band from Sydney, New South Wales, that was initially formed as a duo in 1979 by Rick Johnson on guitar and vocals and Allen Larkin on bass guitar and vocals. They soon became a trio with various drummers until 1982, when they were joined by Tom Sturm. This line-up issued four albums, Feedtime, Shovel, Cooper-S and Suction, before disbanding in February 1989. They reunited in 1995 with Johnson and Larkin joined by the latter's younger brother, John Larkin, on drums for another album, Billy, before disbanding again in 1997. The Rick-Al-Tom line up reunited again, in 2011.
Seattle is the largest city in the U.S. state of Washington and has long played a major role in the state's musical culture, popularizing genres of alternative rock such as grunge and being the origin of major bands like Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Screaming Trees, Mudhoney, Foo Fighters, and, most notably, Nirvana. The city and surrounding metropolitan area remains home to several influential artists, bands, labels, and venues, and is home to several symphony orchestras; and world-class choral, ballet and opera companies, as well as amateur orchestras and big-band era ensembles.
Room Nine was a Seattle based rock band active from the early-to-late 1980s. Contrary to many of the bands in Seattle at the time, Room Nine had a much airier and psychedelic approach to their music. Although they never found the success of their peers, Room Nine was one of the early pre-grunge era Seattle bands that helped lay the groundwork for much of the later scene.
Alex Shumway, known professionally as Alex Vincent, is an American musician, songwriter, and actor who is best known as the drummer for the rock band Green River. Along with Mark Arm, Steve Turner, and Jeff Ament, he is one of its founding members. He is also the founder, drummer, and songwriter for the band Ex's With Benefits; as well as a founder and guitar player for the band Thee Deception.
Les Thugs were a punk band from France. Their records are distributed in North-America by Sub Pop Records.
Aphonia Recordings is an independent record label founded by Ben L. Robertson and Andrew Senna in Seattle, Washington in 2006. Mostly regarded as an outlet for digital releases of experimental and ambient music, Aphonia also has released more pop oriented artists such as Desolation Wilderness and Slim Twig. Both signed with major labels.
Fast Forward was a cassette magazine documenting post-punk music in the early 1980s. It was edited in Melbourne, Australia, by Bruce Milne and Andrew Maine, with graphic design by Michael Trudgeon. The cassettes interspersed interviews with music and were packaged with printed artwork and distributed in record shops around Australia and abroad. Thirteen issues were produced between November 1980 and October 1982.
6 Songs for Bruce, also commonly known as the 4-Track Demo, is an early single-sided demo cassette tape by American rock band Soundgarden.
Jonathan Poneman is an American record executive and co-founder of two record labels: Sub Pop and Hardly Art. He was credited by Kurt Cobain as the one who coined the term "grunge.”
Nirvana: Grunge in Europe, 1989 is a 2013 book about Kurt Cobain who was the front-man of American grunge band Nirvana. It was written by Bruce Pavitt who was the co-founder of Sub Pop, Nirvana's original record label. The book features over 200 intimate and unreleased photos that Pavitt took, and documents the eight days in 1989, that he spent on their first European tour with Nirvana and TAD. The book features a foreword by MOJO writer Keith Cameron.
Bruce Milne is a prominent figure in the Australian music industry, a long-standing member of the grass-roots Melbourne music community who, after getting his start publishing a punk fanzine in the late 1970s, has done practically everything since – been a writer, radio presenter, DJ, run record shops, book shops and record labels, run bars and venues, and worked in A&R and as a tour promoter.
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