Distort Entertainment

Last updated
Distort Entertainment
DistortLogo.jpg
Founded2002 (2002)
Founder Greg Below
Distributor(s) Fontana North
Genre Hardcore punk, metalcore, alternative rock, progressive rock
Country of originCanada
Location Toronto, Ontario
Official website www.teamdistort.com

Distort Entertainment is a Canadian independent record label based in Toronto, Ontario. [1] The label specializes in bands performing hardcore punk-derived music, including Alexisonfire, Cancer Bats and Johnny Truant, but its sister division Distort Light has also released less aggressive rock bands such as Bend Sinister.

Contents

History

Formed by Greg Below, (concert promoter and owner of Distort Productions) and Mitch Joel, (music journalist and publicist) in early 2002, Distort began by producing New Jersey's Step Kings' third release, 3 The Hard Way. The label's slogan "Listen Harder" was soon formed and showed Distort's specialization in heavy music.

In 2002, Below's full-time employment as a studio manager with EMI publishing Canada later helped to jump start Distort by opening the door to a distribution partnership with EMI Music Canada. Although Distort is admired for its independence in the industry, it wanted to be associated with the well respected quality for which EMI had become known. [2]

Now quite established, Distort Entertainment is a well-known Canadian label, and back some of the most respected bands in the heavy music industry.

Artists/bands represented

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Century Media Records</span> German record label

Century Media Records is a heavy metal record label with offices in the United States, Germany and London. In August 2015, Century Media was acquired by Sony Music for US$17 million.

Roadrunner Records is an American record label focused on heavy metal and hard rock bands. Founded in the Netherlands in 1980, it is now a division of Warner Music Group and is based in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexisonfire</span> Canadian post-hardcore band

Alexisonfire is a Canadian post-hardcore band formed in St. Catharines, Ontario in 2001. The band's members are George Pettit (vocals), Dallas Green, Wade MacNeil, Chris Steele (bass) and Jordan Hastings. The band has won numerous awards, and in Canada their albums have all been certified either gold or platinum.

<i>Watch Out!</i> (Alexisonfire album) 2004 studio album by Alexisonfire

Watch Out! is the second studio album from Canadian post-hardcore band Alexisonfire, released on June 8, 2004. The album debuted at number 6 on the Canadian Albums Chart, selling 6,580 copies in its first week of release, and was certified Platinum by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wade MacNeil</span> Canadian musician (born 1984)

Wade MacNeil is a Canadian musician best known as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the post-hardcore band Alexisonfire. He is also the vocalist of the hardcore punk band Gallows, and the vocalist, guitarist and founder of the punk band Black Lungs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Pettit</span> Canadian musician (born 1982)

George Frederick Douglas Pettit(born October 2, 1982) is a Canadian musician best known as the lead vocalist of the post-hardcore band Alexisonfire. He is also currently active as the vocalist of Dead Tired.

Johnny Truant was a British metalcore band, formed in 2000 under the name Severance. The band recorded three demos under this moniker before renaming themselves after one of the main characters of Mark Z. Danielewski's novel House of Leaves. The band recorded their debut release The Repercussions of a Badly Planned Suicide in 2002 which was released on Undergroove Records. Their second album, In the Library of Horrific Events was produced by Killswitch Engage guitarist, Adam Dutkiewicz. The band have toured the UK, Europe and Canada with the likes of Killswitch Engage, As I Lay Dying, Cancer Bats and Alexisonfire as well as playing Download Festival in 2005, 2006 and 2008. Although the band started out as a four-piece, at the start of 2006, Al Kilcullen was added as a second guitarist. As of June 2006, however, Kilcullen was replaced by Reuben Gotto. The band signed to United By Fate Records in the UK and Distort Entertainment in Canada. Their third album titled No Tears for the Creatures was recorded in Brighton Electric throughout November 2007. It was produced and mixed by Dan Weller and Justin Hill of WellerHill productions and at the time both members of Sikth. It was released on 2 June, however the album leaked onto the internet weeks beforehand.

<i>Crisis</i> (Alexisonfire album) 2006 studio album by Alexisonfire

Crisis is the third studio album from Canadian post-hardcore band Alexisonfire, released on August 22, 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dine Alone Records</span> Canadian and American independent record label

Dine Alone Records is a Canadian and American independent record label, founded in St. Catharines and Toronto by Joel Carriere. The label is now based in Toronto, Nashville and Los Angeles.

Black Market Activities (BMA) is an American independent record label that was founded in 2003 by Guy Kozowyk, the frontman of the Boston, Massachusetts-based extreme metal band the Red Chord.

<i>Birthing the Giant</i> 2006 studio album by Cancer Bats

Birthing the Giant is Cancer Bats' first full-length album. It was released on June 6, 2006, by Distort Entertainment in Canada and on September 5, 2006, by Abacus Recordings in the US.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cancer Bats</span> Canadian hardcore punk band

Cancer Bats are a Canadian hardcore punk band from Toronto, Ontario. To date, they have released seven studio albums and six extended plays; with their most recent LP, Psychic Jailbreak, having been released on 15 April 2022. The band is currently composed of lead vocalist Liam Cormier, drummer Mike Peters and bassist/guitarist Jaye R. Schwarzer. The band are also currently joined by touring guitarist Jackson Landry, following the departure of founding guitarist Scott Middleton in 2021. Cancer Bats take a wide variety of influences from heavy metal sub-genres and fuse them into hardcore and punk rock, and also include elements of Southern metal. Their sound has been likened to sludge metal, as well as to that of metalcore bands such as Converge and Hatebreed. The members of Cancer Bats have also toured and recorded as a Black Sabbath tribute band under the name Bat Sabbath.

The Gorgeous were a Canadian metalcore band formed in the summer of 2003 in Vancouver/Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. The band formed with Dali Shaw on guitar, Julien Brousseau on bass and Miguel Shaw on drums. The three played a few shows without a vocalist and quickly recruited Jordan Daniel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Ghost of a Thousand</span>

The Ghost of a Thousand were an English five-piece punk rock band from Brighton, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bend Sinister (band)</span> Canadian progressive-indie band

Bend Sinister is a progressive-indie band formed in 2001 now based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The band takes its name from a novel by Vladimir Nabokov.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mitch Joel</span>

Mitch Joel is an entrepreneur and writer. He was president of Twist Image, a digital marketing agency that was purchased by WPP in 2014 and president and a founding partner of Distort Entertainment. Currently, he is a professional keynote speaker and the co-founder of ThinkersOne.

Greg Below is the president and founding partner of Distort Entertainment, Canadian show promoter and music producer. Greg is known for his height and enthusiastic love of music.

<i>Dogs Blood</i> 2010 EP by Alexisonfire

Dog's Blood is an extended play by the Canadian post-hardcore band Alexisonfire. The EP was released on October 31, 2010. Dog's Blood is a collection of four experimental songs that are different-sounding from the band's previously released material. It was the band's penultimate release before their break up in 2011.

<i>Dead Set on Living</i> 2012 studio album by Cancer Bats

Dead Set on Living is the fourth studio album by the Canadian hardcore punk band Cancer Bats. It was released on April 16, 2012 through Hassle Records in Europe, April 17 through Distort Entertainment in Canada, April 20 through Shock Records in Australia and New Zealand, and April 23 through Metal Blade Records in the United States. The album was recorded in December 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cancer Bats discography</span>

Cancer Bats are a Canadian hardcore punk band from Toronto, Ontario. They have released six studio albums and six extended plays. The band is composed of vocalist Liam Cormier, guitarist Scott Middleton, drummer Mike Peters and bassist Jaye R. Schwarzer.

References

  1. "Distort Entertainment Location". Archived from the original on 2009-07-13. Retrieved 2009-01-09.
  2. http://metal-rules.com/interviews/distortent.htm Archived 2008-09-08 at the Wayback Machine Metal Rules Interview With Mitch Joel