Fat Wreck Chords

Last updated
Fat Wreck Chords
FatWrechChordsLogo.jpg
Founded1990
Founder Fat Mike & Erin Burkett
Distributor(s) The Orchard (US)
PIAS (Europe)
eOne Music (Worldwide)
Genre Punk rock
Country of origin U.S.
Location San Francisco, California
Official website https://fatwreck.com/

Fat Wreck Chords (pronounced "Fat Records") is a San Francisco, California-based independent record label, focused on punk rock. It was started by NOFX lead singer Michael Burkett (better known as Fat Mike), and his wife at the time, Erin Burkett in 1990. [1]

Contents

Fat Wreck Chords has released over 300 studio albums to date. [1]

History

Fat Mike started his record label Wassail records in 1987. He put out two NOFX records, The PMRC 7” and Liberal Animation in 1988. In 1990, he and his wife Erin Burkett co-founded Fat Wreck Chords, and rereleased NOFX's 1987 EP, The P.M.R.C Can Suck on This. In 1992, Fat Mike went on to produce Lagwagon, Propagandhi, and No Use for a Name. In 1993, the label released records by Rancid, Face to Face, and Strung Out. Fat Mike & Erin continue to run the label together and remain 100% independent.

The label grew during the 1990s selling over a million records per year. It had eighteen employees and four offices. [1]

A documentary about Fat Wreck Chords called 'A Fat Wreck' was released on October 25, 2016. [2]

Imprints

The label has had two subsidiaries over the years, Honest Don's and Pink and Black. Honest Don's released records from Chixdiggit and Teen Idols amongst others, while Pink & Black released albums from female-fronted bands like Fabulous Disaster and Dance Hall Crashers.

Fat Mike also advanced $50,000 to Chris Hannah and Jord Samolesky of Propagandhi which he recouped within months from sales of Propagandhi records to help them start up their own label, G7 Welcoming Committee, [3] though G7WC is independent from Fat Wreck.

Discography

Compilation albums

Fat Wreck Chords regularly releases compilation albums, often to promote bands signed to the label, but also, since 2003, to raise funds for various charities. The earliest Fat Wreck Chords compilations all have titles with some reference to fatness.

Shortly after Fat Music Volume IV was released, Fat Wreck Chords released a similarly titled album, Short Music for Short People , which features 101 songs, all averaging approximately 30 seconds. The shortest song ("Short Attention Span" by the Fizzy Bangers) is only eight seconds, and the longest ("Out of Hand" by Bad Religion) is 40 seconds. Some of the songs were commissioned and recorded specifically for the album, while others were from the bands' pre-existing repertoires.

Since the last Fat Music album has been released, the Fat Wreck Chords compilations have been explicitly for charitable causes. Liberation: Songs to Benefit PETA is a benefit album for the animal rights organization PETA, and PROTECT: A Benefit for the National Association to Protect Children is a benefit album for the children's rights group PROTECT. Between Liberation and PROTECT, two other compilation albums were released in protest of President George W. Bush and his administration: Rock Against Bush, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 .

To celebrate 20 years of business Fat Wreck Chords released the 3-disc Wrecktrospective compilation on December 8, 2009. Disc 1 is composed of the label's greatest hits, disc 2 is composed of unreleased demos and rarities, and disc 3 is composed the Fat Club 7" series in its entirety. [4]

Album series

Live in a Dive

Live in a Dive is a series of live albums recorded by Fat Wreck Chords. [5] In order of release:

TitleArtistRelease date
Live in a Dive No Use for a Name September 11, 2001
Live in a Dive Bracket February 26, 2002
Live in a Dive Sick of It All August 13, 2002
Live in a Dive Strung Out June 22, 2003
Live in a Dive Subhumans February 10, 2004
Live in a Dive Swingin' Utters June 29, 2004
Live in a Dive Lagwagon February 8, 2005
Ribbed: Live in a Dive NOFX August 3, 2018
Live in a Dive Face to Face October 18, 2019
Live in a Dive Rich Kids on LSD June 3, 2022

Fat Club Series

In addition to the Live in a Dive series, Fat Wreck Chords also released the Fat Club series of 7" vinyl records during 2001. The series was only available to mail-order subscribers which received one single every month. Fat Wreck Chords did not publish any information on the upcoming releases so subscribers would not know what they were about to receive until the record arrived in the post.

Although the Fat club series was limited to 1,300 copies for each single, the songs contained on the records were later released as the third disc of the Wrecktrospective collection.

Artists

Current bands

Former bands

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NOFX</span> American punk rock band

NOFX is an American punk rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983. Bassist/lead vocalist Fat Mike, rhythm guitarist Eric Melvin and drummer Erik Sandin are original founding and longest-serving members of the band, who have appeared on every release of the band, although Sandin departed briefly in 1985, only to rejoin the following year. El Hefe joined the band in 1991 to play lead guitar and trumpet, rounding out the current line-up.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epitaph Records</span> American independent record label

Epitaph Records is an American independent record label owned by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, most acts signed to the label were punk and pop punk acts, while there are many post-hardcore and emo bands signed to the label as well. A large portion of the record label, known as Hellcat Records, is owned by Tim Armstrong, frontman of the punk rock band Rancid. Several sister labels also exist, such as ANTI-, Burning Heart Records, Hellcat Records, and Heart & Skull Records that have signed other types of bands.

Punk-O-Rama was the title given to a series of ten compilation albums published by Epitaph Records. The first volume was released in 1994, the second in 1996, and the rest annually from 1998 to 2005. The albums included artists from Epitaph's roster as well as from its subsidiary label ANTI- and its partnership labels Hellcat Records and Burning Heart Records. In total the series included 257 songs contributed by 88 different artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Me First and the Gimme Gimmes</span> American punk rock band

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes are a punk rock supergroup and cover band that formed in San Francisco in 1995. The band's lineup consists of Spike Slawson, Fat Mike, Joey Cape, and Dave Raun. Chris Shiflett is a former member.

Rock Against Bush was a project mobilizing punk and alternative musicians against the 2004 U.S. Presidential re-election campaign of George W. Bush. At its core was the idea of using music to create an anti-war, pro-peace sentiment, similar to counterculture music movements of the 1960s and 1970s, such as Woodstock. The effort inspired Australian punk bands to start Rock Against Howard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lagwagon</span> American punk rock band

Lagwagon is an American punk rock band originally from Goleta, California, just outside Santa Barbara. They formed in 1989, went on hiatus in 2000, and reunited several times over the years. Their name comes from the band's tour van, which can be seen on the back cover of their 1994 second album Trashed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snuff (band)</span> British punk rock band

Snuff are a British punk rock band formed in Hendon in 1986. The original line-up was Duncan Redmonds on drums and vocals, Simon Wells on guitar and vocals and Andy Crighton on bass, with Dave Redmonds being added to the line-up on trombone before the release of Flibbiddydibbiddydob.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strung Out</span> Punk rock band from California

Strung Out is an American punk rock band from Simi Valley, California, formed in 1989. They are known mainly for their musical style, which fuses aspects of melodic punk rock, progressive rock and heavy metal to form their primary sound. They have released nine studio albums on Fat Wreck Chords as well as one Live album, 2 B-sides collections, a best-of, a box set and appeared on numerous compilations and skate/surf/dirt bike/offroading videos. They have played on the Warped Tour and continue to tour internationally. The band currently have an ongoing collaboration beer with Lucky Luke Brewing Company called “Astrolux Golden Ale”. Their albums have charted on the Billboard 200.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Sly</span> American singer-songwriter

Anthony James Sly was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist, best known as the front man of the punk rock band No Use for a Name. In his later years he also gained attention for his acoustic solo work, with two acoustic split albums he released with Lagwagon front man Joey Cape and two solo albums.

<i>Physical Fatness</i> 1997 compilation album by Fat Wreck Chords

Fat Music Volume 3: Physical Fatness is the third compilation album released by the Fat Wreck Chords record label, in 1997.

<i>Life in the Fat Lane</i> 1999 compilation album by Fat Wreck Chords

Fat Music Volume 4: Life in the Fat Lane is the fourth compilation album by the Fat Wreck Chords record label, released in 1999. Its title is a parody of the Eagles song "Life in the Fast Lane".

<i>Live Fat, Die Young</i> 2001 compilation album by Fat Wreck Chords

Fat Music Volume 5: Live Fat, Die Young is the fifth compilation album in the Fat Music series, released by the Fat Wreck Chords record label, in 2001. It was #187 on The Billboard 200. Its title is a parody of the Circle Jerks song "Live Fast Die Young".

<i>Uncontrollable Fatulence</i> 2002 compilation album by Fat Wreck Chords

Fat Music Volume 6: Uncontrollable Fatulence is the sixth compilation album in the "Fat Music" series, released by the Fat Wreck Chords record label, in 2002. The title is a pun on the medical condition of uncontrollable flatulence.

<i>Protect: A Benefit for the National Association to Protect Children</i> 2005 compilation album by Fat Wreck Chords

PROTECT: A Benefit for the National Association to Protect Children is a charity record for the child protection organization, Protect. It was released by Fat Wreck Chords record label in 2005.

Fat Music is a series of eight compilation albums published by Fat Wreck Chords since 1994. The albums include artists from the label's roster, focusing on then-current and upcoming releases and often including previously unreleased material. In total the series includes 127 songs contributed by 49 different artists, focusing stylistically on punk rock and various subgenres such as hardcore punk, pop punk, ska punk, skate punk, and street punk. The Fat Music series tapered off after its sixth installment as the label moved from compact discs toward digital downloads for its samplers instead. Subsequent physical compilation albums released by Fat Wreck Chords were themed around social and political causes, including the benefit albums Liberation (2003) and Protect (2005), and the two volumes of Rock Against Bush released preceding the 2004 United States presidential election. In 2010 the Fat Music series was revived with the release of a seventh volume, Harder, Fatter + Louder!

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fat Mike</span> American musician, producer, lead vocalist, and bassist

Michael John Burkett, known professionally as Fat Mike, is an American musician and producer. He is the bassist and lead vocalist for the punk rock band NOFX and the cofounder and bassist of the punk rock supergroup cover band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. Burkett started out with his first band False Alarm in 1982. He credits Joe Escalante of the Vandals for introducing him to punk rock when he was 13 at a summer camp.

The Fat Club is a series of twelve 7-inch singles released monthly by Fat Wreck Chords from March 2001 to February 2002. 1,300 of each single were pressed; They were not available for sale individually, but were distributed by postal service to those who purchased a subscription to the series.

The discography of Fat Wreck Chords, an independent record label based in San Francisco, consists of 345 releases: 157 studio albums, 13 live albums, 33 compilation albums, 2 demo albums, 58 EPs, 69 singles, 10 video albums, 1 documentary film, and 2 box sets.

Ryan Greene is an American record producer, sound engineer, former owner of Crush Recording Studios in Scottsdale, Arizona and founder of Area 52 Entertainment in Los Angeles, California. He has worked with many artists including Jay-Z, Lita Ford, Tonic, Mr. Big, Wilson Phillips, Megadeth, NOFX, Alice Cooper, Cheap Trick, Usher, Patti LaBelle, Dishwalla and Gladys Knight. He has worked on over 250 musical projects and has been described as an "A-list producer".

<i>Ribbed: Live in a Dive</i> 2018 live album by NOFX

Ribbed: Live in a Dive is an album by American punk band NOFX; it is the band's third live album and the eighth installment of their Live in a Dive series. Released on August 3, 2018 by Fat Wreck Chords, the album is a live presentation of their songs from the 1991 studio album Ribbed. The album was recorded in 2012 from their concert at the Mayan Theater in Los Angeles.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Gaining Weight — The Rise of Fat Wreck Chords As One Of The Last Great Punk Indies". Bandcamp. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  2. "A Film Project about Fat Wreck Chords". A Fat Wreck. Retrieved 2016-11-09.
  3. Robertshaw, Steven (2005-10-13). "NOFX: The State of Punk to Come". Alternative Press Magazine. Archived from the original on 2008-02-08. Retrieved 2008-02-26.
  4. "Records: Fat Wreck Chords". Fatwreck.com. 2009-12-08. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
  5. "New "Strung Out" MP3 & 'NOFX' Coaster track list". Fatwreck.com. Retrieved 2015-08-26.