SLASH RECORDS REVIVED IN LA AND NY
6/20/2003
The dripping, blood-red logo that marked releases from X, the Blasters and Los Lobos to the Violent Femmes, Faith No More and Rammstein during its original, 21-year incarnation has been reactivated by label founder Bob Biggs and artist/producer Will Fulton under the Slash/BiggMassive moniker.
Maintaining offices in Hollywood and Brooklyn, Slash/BiggMassive will be distributed by Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA) in North America and WEA International in the rest of the world.
The first release will be Salute This, Vol. 1, a compilation featuring a dozen tracks spanning the history of the label -- plus one new song each from Fulton’s Brooklyn-based alt-rock/rap outfit Shiner Massive and its reggae-fueled spinoff Shiner Massive Sound System, whose self-titled albums will follow shortly thereafter.
Biggs entered the record business from his post as publisher of the pioneering punk magazine Slash (1977 - 1980), which led to his establishing Slash Records in 1978. (The Germs’ Lexicon Devil EP was the label’s first release.)
During its first four years as an independent, Slash racked up an enviable track record, issuing:
X’s first two albums, Los Angeles (1980) and Wild Gift (1981), which landed the L.A.-based band a major label contract with Elektra Records;
the soundtrack to the Penelope Spheeris-directed The Decline Of Western Civilization documentary (1981), spotlighting performances by Slash stalwarts the Germs, X, and Fear alongside L.A. punk luminaries Black Flag, the Circle Jerks, Catholic Discipline, and the Alice Bag Band;
and the roots-rocking Blasters self-titled album (1981), which became the first Slash release to be picked up for distribution by Warner Bros. Records the following year.
In much the same manner that Slash Records’ earliest efforts came to embody the L.A. punk scene, Biggs saw similar potential in a movement that had been bubbling under the industry’s radar in Brooklyn for the past several years, and the last act signed to the original Slash label was Shiner Massive, which explains why the label’s rebirth begins with that same act.
Shiner Massive co-founder/producer Will Fulton began his industry career in the mid-‘90s doing A&R for Profile Records, where he produced, mixed, and remixed tracks for rap giants Run-DMC, Slick Rick, Ja Rule, and Jay-Z, among others.
A chance meeting with rapper/guitarist Larry Devore (a.k.a., Son Shiner) -- who’d lent his six-string work to discs by Nas and the Wu-Tang Clan -- in a New York City subway station led to the formation of Shiner Massive, whose ranks include drummer Jorge Vega and bassist Karim Bunton.
The Shiner Massive Sound System adds female vocalists Kim Swain, Dionne Wilson, and Marsha “Lickshot” Bellamy for a decidedly roots-reggae spin on the core group’s blend of alt-rock, hip-hop, and urban poetry.
“The Brooklyn scene is made up of racially mixed bands playing culturally mixed music that’s influenced by jungle, techno, Indian bangra, roots reggae, and hardcore hip-hop,” Fulton explains. “And this mix of musical styles and ideologies is happening in a very street- or gut-level way by people who live in close proximity to each other rather than through the prism of an academic environment.”
“It was clear to me that after we did the first Slash,” Biggs elaborates, “that geographical location went a long way to giving people a sense of place and belonging and cultural connection. And I thought that was a really good thing because it made the bond between the acts and the audience so much stronger. Good music -- stuff that has a really strong cultural connection --always starts regionally and grows in a way that makes sense to the music.
“With Slash/BiggMassive, our intention is to record this music, help develop it, and bring it to people via records, radio, touring, press -- any means possible, really -- to get people to understand that this music is authentic and why it’s happening the way it’s happening.”
“We’re not just another indie label,” Fulton adds. “This is the rebirth of Slash, which has a tremendous history. The Slash mindset has always been appreciative of that which is different and we aim to expand on that. We’re not going to be just throwing records out there and hoping that something sticks. And while the Slash name has always been synonymous with a certain amount of iconoclasm, we’re not going to be walking around drunk on our self-importance. We’re going to be a tightly run ship.”
Slash/BiggMassive will utilize Shiner’s 48-track Massive Sound studio in Brooklyn to control initial recording budgets. “When you’re trying to do something that’s authentic and regional,” Biggs notes, “the best way to do it is to not overspend on the front end -- the huge advances and out of control recording budgets -- because that forces you to ratchet up the marketing budget to uncomfortable levels as well in order to try and get all that money back at once.
“We’d rather spend less money, then -- using a divide-and-conquer strategy -- build from there. We’re going to have a very small staff and control our promotion and marketing costs by outsourcing and working projects regionally.
“We also want to shoot a couple of gigs as well as get some footage from the recording sessions and add this visual material to the record -- probably in the form of a DVD that’s included with the CD. That way, we’re not doing high-cost, high-production videos that rarely get seen, but creating extra value for the consumers as well as giving them an idea about the other people who liked the record or went to the gig. We want stuff that’s simple, real, and biographical ‘cause that’s what marketing is really all about.
“We’re going to be an indie on steroids,” Biggs laughs. “We want the tree in the forest to fall -- and everyone to hear it.”
After all, the original Slash motto was “small enough to know the score, big enough to settle it.” And from 1981 to 1983, Slash’s subsidiary label, Ruby Records -- helmed by Flesh Eaters frontman Chris D. -- would release the debut albums by the Glenn Danzig-led Misfits (Walk Among Us), the Steve Wynn-fronted Dream Syndicate (The Days Of Wine And Roses), and the Gun Club (Fire Of Love) as well as notable one-offs by Lydia Lunch (13.13), Green On Red (Gravity Talks), and a Flesh Eaters lineup that included members of X and the Blasters (A Minute To Pray ... A Second To Die).
In the meantime, Slash had issued the soundtrack to the indie cult film Cafe Flesh (composed by future multi-platinum record producer Mitchell Froom), and the first albums by country-flavored Rank And File, seminal Latino-rockers Los Lobos, and the folk-oriented Violent Femmes, whose self-titled debut would eventually attain RIAA-certified platinum status. (The Milwaukee-based band’s Slash-era retrospective, Add It Up 1981-93, would be certified gold.)
Slash continued to reach beyond its L.A. punk-scene origins, releasing debut albums by barroom-rockers the Del Fuegos (from Boston) and the BoDeans (Wisconsin), along with one-offs by Australia’s angular Hunters & Collectors (Jaws Of Life), English psychedelectrician Robyn Hitchcock (Fegmania!), and reggae legend Burning Spear (People Of The World).
Sparked by Los Lobos’ hit rendition of the title track, the 1987 soundtrack album to ‘50s rocker Ritchie Valens’s film biography, La Bamba, sold two million copies and was certified double-platinum. That same year, Slash signed rap-rock outfit Faith No More, whose 1990 album, The Real Thing went platinum thanks to the band’s gold-selling single, “Epic.”
Over the next four years, Slash issued discs from artists as disparate as New Zealand popmeisters the Chills, L.A.’s hard-rock femme foursome L7 and atmospheric roots-pop trio Grant Lee Buffalo, and NYC art-funksters Soul Coughing.
In 1996, Slash was purchased by U.K.-based London Records. (Warner Bros. retained most of the artist roster and catalog.) Relocating to New York City, Slash -- through its relationship with London -- became part of the PolyGram family of labels, releasing records by Imperial Teen, Harvey Danger, Grand Mal, England’s pioneering Asian Dub Foundation, and Germany’s industrial-strength Rammstein, whose 1999 album, Sehnsucht, was certified platinum.
Slash was shuttered in 2000 when Universal bought PolyGram’s entire worldwide record operation. In the wake of this merger, London Records honcho Roger Ames -- who would resurface as Chairman/CEO of the U.S.-based Warner Music Group -- retained the rights to the London and Slash labels’ names, the latter of which he licensed to Biggs and Fullton for their new venture.
“We’re going to tackle things that attract our interest at a speed that mirrors the original Slash label,” says Fulton. “We intend to be lean enough and lithe enough to approach the business in a very targeted manner. And we intend to stand behind the music we release and make people realize that it’s all part of one story.”
Which is, according to Biggs, “if it doesn’t kick the door down artistically and you don’t make a statement, then what good is it?”
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