| Not Lame Recordings | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Founded | 1994 |
| Founder | Bruce Brodeen |
| Defunct | 2010 |
| Status | Defunct |
| Genre | Power pop |
| Country of origin | U.S. |
| Location | Ft. Collins, Colorado |
| Official website | www |
Not Lame Recordings was a Ft. Collins, Colorado based independent record label specializing in power pop music. [1]
The label was started by Bruce Brodeen in November 1994 [2] It primarily focused on power pop, a form of guitar and harmony driven retro-rock. [3] Within this genre, the label quickly became the center of a small but ever expanding cult of power pop enthusiasts.
Not Lame released over 100 albums, including the annual 3-CD compilation of the International Pop Overthrow festival from 1997 through 2010 (with later years being brought out by Brodeen privately). [4] The label also released albums for artists like Tommy Keene, Dwight Twilley, [5] Doug Powell, and Mark Helm, as well as bands such as Myracle Brah, [6] The Deal, [7] Sweet Apple Pie, Hawks, and Wanderlust; and box sets for such notables as Jellyfish and The Posies. [2] The company's online store has sold over 15,000 different CD releases. [2]
After 16 years of operation, the label shut down on November 24, 2010. [8] The reasons Brodeen mentioned for his decision were a career switch he had undertaken, combined with decreasing music sales in recent years in an already small market for CDs in the power pop genre. [2] [8] Rather than running a label, Brodeen introduced Pop Geek Heaven, an online interactive social media site, as a successor to Not Lame's role within the power pop community.
Power pop is a rock music subgenre and a form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, an energetic performance, and cheerful sounding music underpinned by a sense of yearning, longing, despair, or self-empowerment. The sound is primarily rooted in pop and rock traditions of the early to mid-1960s, although some artists have occasionally drawn from later styles such as punk, new wave, glam rock, pub rock, college rock, and neo-psychedelia.
Blue Ash is an American band, formed in Ohio in the summer of 1969 by bassist Frank Secich & vocalist Jim Kendzor. Guitarist Bill Yendrek and drummer David Evans were recruited later that summer.
Shelter Records was a U.S. record label started by Leon Russell and Denny Cordell that operated from 1969 to 1981. The company established offices in both Los Angeles and Tulsa, Russell's home town, where the label sought to promote a "workshop atmosphere" with a recording studio in a converted church, adjoining houses for artists working at the studio, and other facilities. The Tulsa recording studio was housed in the historic The Church Studio. Russell remained with Shelter until 1976, when he and Cordell fell out. In a settlement, Cordell then became sole owner of the label, while Russell left to start his own label, Paradise Records.
Ida is an indie rock band from New York City. They are known for their three-part harmonies; sparse, minimal, often quiet arrangements; and their three singer-songwriters. Their music shows strong folk, pop, punk, world, R&B, and American roots music influences, but there are also avant garde and experimental aspects to their sound.
Come and Get It is the second solo studio album by English singer Rachel Stevens, released on 17 October 2005 by 19 Recordings and Polydor Records. It spawned three singles, two of which reached the top 10, while the album itself reached number 28 on the UK Albums Chart. The album received almost universally positive reviews; two years after the album's release, The Guardian placed it on their "1000 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" list.
Mark Roebuck is an American composer and musician living near Charlottesville, Virginia, known primarily for his work as the main songwriter for the 1980s underground power pop group The Deal, and for his later project, Tribe of Heaven. Imagine We Were, recorded with Dave Matthews in 1989-90 and was finally put out as an independent release in 2005.
Dwight Twilley is an American pop/rock singer and songwriter, best known for the Top 20 hit singles "I'm on Fire" (1975) and "Girls" (1984). His music is associated with the power pop style. Twilley and Phil Seymour performed as the Dwight Twilley Band through 1978, and Twilley has performed as a solo act since then.
Philip Warren Seymour was an American drummer, singer, guitarist and songwriter, best known for the singles "I'm on Fire", his own solo hit "Precious to Me" and for providing backing vocals on Tom Petty's hits "American Girl" and "Breakdown." His solo work is revered among fans of power pop.
The Chevelles are a power pop band from Perth, Western Australia. They formed in 1989 and have toured Australia, Europe, the United States and South America.
20/20 was an American power pop band based in Hollywood, California. They were active from 1977 to 1983 and reunited during the mid-1990s to the late 1990s. In the mid-1970s, Steve Allen and Ron Flynt played together in Tulsa. Allen and Flynt were graduates of Nathan Hale High School, and both attended Oklahoma State University, where Flynt earned a degree in music. Allen decided to move to Los Angeles in 1977 after fellow Tulsa natives Phil Seymour and Dwight Twilley met with success. Once in Los Angeles, Allen met with Mike Gallo (singer/songwriter/keyboardist/drummer), who had already conceived of the idea and name for the band. Gallo first started writing with Allen, and later auditioned Allen's friend from Tulsa, Ron Flynt, for 20/20. The three-piece band signed with Greg Shaw's Bomp! Records in 1978 to record a single. Between the release of the single, and their first LP on Portrait Records, Chris Silagyi joined the band as a keyboardist.
Sincerely is the debut album from the Dwight Twilley Band, released in 1976 on Shelter Records. The band consisted solely of Dwight Twilley and Phil Seymour, although touring band member Bill Pitcock IV played lead guitar on every song except for "Sincerely" itself. The album credited production to Oister, which was the original name of the Dwight Twilley Band; later reissues have credited production directly to Twilley and Seymour.
Twilley Don't Mind is the second album from the Dwight Twilley Band, recorded and released in 1977 on Shelter Records, distributed at the time by Arista Records. The band consisted of Dwight Twilley, Phil Seymour, and Bill Pitcock IV. The original album credited production to Oister, which was the original name of the Dwight Twilley Band, and Bob Schaper; later reissues have credited production directly to Twilley, Seymour and Schaper.
The Great Lost Twilley Album is a compilation of songs from the Dwight Twilley Band and Dwight Twilley solo, recorded in 1974 through 1980 and released in 1993 on Shelter Records. The basic band consisted of Dwight Twilley, Phil Seymour, and Bill Pitcock IV ; other musicians include Leon Russell, Tom Petty and Susan Cowsill. Most of the production is credited to Twilley and Seymour, although some other producers who worked on songs on the record include Jack Nitzsche, Leon Russell, Robin Cable and Chuck Plotkin.
"I'm on Fire" is the debut single by the Dwight Twilley Band released in April 1975. "I'm on Fire" was later included on the Dwight Twilley Band's first album Sincerely released in July 1976.
Kenny Howes is an American musician primarily in the power pop genre.
Myracle Brah is an American indie pop/power pop band primarily centered on singer-songwriter Andy Bopp. It is based out of Baltimore, Maryland. The group consists of Bopp, Paul Krysiak, Marty Canelli (organist), Joe Parsons (drummer), and Greg Schroeder (drummer). It was previously signed to Universal Music Group.
Donna Esposito is an American singer-songwriter-guitarist born in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The majority of her music is considered to be of the Power Pop genre. She has recorded 11 albums for the Parasol label with musical partner Frank Bednash under the various band names of Cowboy & Spingirl, Toothpaste 2000, and most recently Mas Rapido. Donna and Frank split songwriting/singing duties 50/50 on their various releases.
City Slab Horror is the fifth studio album by the Australian experimental pop music group Severed Heads. First released in 1985 through Ink Records, it is the second major label album the group has ever released, following the 1983 album Since the Accident. The track "Goodbye Tonsils" was released as a single to promote the album, which met favorable reviews from some critics and no reviews at all from the vast majority of the remaining critics.
