Thick Records | |
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Founded | 1994 |
Founder | Zak Einstein |
Status |
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Genre | Punk, ska-punk |
Country of origin | United States |
Location | Chicago, Los Angeles |
Official website | thickrecords |
Thick Records is a Chicago-based independent record label which actively operated from 1994 to 2007. It now exists as a catalog only label for its previous releases.
Thick was formed in 1994 by Detroit native Zak Einstein, [1] [2] who started the label when he re-located to Chicago after graduating from Michigan State University. [3] Early releases include albums from Chicago ska-punkers The Blue Meanies, Alton, IL's Judge Nothing, Seattle's grunge rockers Truly [4] featuring Robert Roth, Mark Pikerel, and Soundgarden's Hiro Yamamoto, and the Omaha-based Commander Venus, whose members included Conor Oberst, Tim Kasher, Matt Bowen and Todd Baechle. Blue Meanies singer Billy Spunke joined Einstein and signed multiple Chicago punk rock artists including The Tossers, The Arrivals, and The Methadones. The label also issued the Trenchmouth compilation 'More Motion' spanning the years 1987-1997 in 2003. [5]
Thick released picture disc vinyl including 7" records from Alkaline Trio, At The Drive-in, ALL, and Citizen Fish. The label also released several compilations documenting Chicago rock and punk music. The compilations included 2000's Magnetic Curses: A Chicago Punk Rock Compilation, which included music from Gaza Strippers, Alkaline Trio, and Pegboy. [6] In 2002, the label issued Love & Rebellion, a compilation of label acts including Trenchmouth, The Tossers, and Commander Venus. [7] Oil: Chicago Punk Refined, a 2003 release from the label, included tracks from nineteen Chicago-area punk acts, including Rise Against, The Lawrence Arms, The Tossers, Plain White T's, Bob Nanna, and Local H. [8] [9] The tracks for the Oil compilation were recorded in an oil blending factory. [10]
The label hosted a summer barbecue/independent music event for several years, The Annual Chicago Rock Yards & Flea Market. [3]
In 2004 the label released a DVD collection of the "Out of Focus" fanzine, featuring acts including Green Day, Jawbreaker, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Down By Law, Sludgeworth, Born Against, Los Crudos and more. [11]
In 2004 Einstein moved the label to Los Angeles. [12] The last label releases came in 2007 with CDs from The Brokedowns and Seven Storey Mountain. Thick was distributed by the Symbiotic Label Group from 1994-1999, Southern Records 1999-2004, the Lumberjack Mordam Music Group 2005-2007, Nail Allegro Distribution and The Orchard 2007-present. [13] As of 2021 [update] , Thick operates as a catalog-only label. [14]
Blue Meanies were an American ska-core band founded in Carbondale, Illinois, at Southern Illinois University, in 1989. They debuted in 1991 with the release of their first single, "Grandma Shampoo" c/w "Dickory Dock". This single would be the start of a lengthy discography and revolving line-up including Jay Vance, a bass player. Although their personnel was continually changing, The Meanies' sound would remain consistent as they released the albums Peace Love Groove (1991), Pave The World (1992), Kiss Your Ass Goodbye (1995), Full Throttle (1997), and the live Sonic Documentation Of Exhibition And Banter (1998). By the time they signed with MCA Records, the line-up of John Paul Camp (III), Sean Dolan (guitar), Jimmy Flame, Chaz Linde, Dave Lund, Billy Spunke, and Bob Trondson (drums) stuck together as a total of 22 musicians passed through the band since their formation. Their sixth full-length album, The Post Wave, was released in late 2000. This album is musically the most different from the other five albums. This change in sound along with the title of the album probably resulted from the crash of the third wave ska scene within the US. In late 2001 the band took the rights to The Post Wave back from MCA records and reissued it on Thick Records in August 2001. Soon afterwards the band ceased touring, though they never issued an official break up statement.
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From Here to Infirmary is the third album by American rock band Alkaline Trio. It was their first album for Vagrant and their only album with Mike Felumlee, who replaced their previous drummer, Glenn Porter. When Felumlee left the band shortly after the album's release, Atom Willard filled in with the band on tour and appeared in the music video for "Private Eye", before the band found a permanent replacement in Derek Grant.
Good Mourning is the fourth studio album by Alkaline Trio, released May 13, 2003 on Vagrant Records.
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The Meanies are an indie Australian punk rock band, formed in 1988 by D.D. Meanie on lead guitar, Link Meanie on vocals and guitar, Ringo Meanie on drums, and VB Meanie on bass guitar and vocals. As from September 2015 the line-up is Link, Ringo and Wally Meanie on bass guitar and backing vocals. The Meanies had a hiatus from 1996 to 1998.
Alkaline Trio / Blue Meanies is a split single between the Chicago-based punk rock band Alkaline Trio and the Carbondale, Illinois-based ska punk band the Blue Meanies, released as a picture disc in 2000 by Thick Records.
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Jeff Dean is a punk rock musician and recording engineer based in Chicago, Illinois. He is best known for playing guitar in The Bomb with Jeff Pezzati of Naked Raygun, and Noise By Numbers with Dan Vapid of The Methadones.