Heartbeat Productions is the parent company of a number of record labels originating from

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, England.

Heartbeat Records Heartbeat Records is an independent record label based in Burlington, Massachusetts. The label specializes in Jamaican music. Founded by reggae music enthusiasts Bill Nowlin and Duncan Brown, the label's first release was a vinyl LP reissue of L ...

was formed in 1978, and other labels have been added over the years to cater for specific niche markets or bands:

Riot City Records Riot City was a British record label based in Bristol, active between 1980 and 1988, and run by Heartbeat Records boss Simon Edwards along with Dave Bateman and Shane Baldwin from the band Vice Squad. Vice Squad's ''Last Rockers EP'' was Riot C ...

in 1980, Disorder Records in 1981, FSA Records in 1992 and Trash City Records in 1994.

Heartbeat Records

was started in 1978 as a partnership of local musician Simon Edwards and Tony Dodd of Tony's Record Shop. Simon Edwards recorded and produced the first single, "I don't want my heart to rule my head" by Social Security, after which Tony Dodd decided to concentrate on his shop and Simon Edwards took over sole control. The label's second single, Europeans by

Europeans Europeans are the focus of European ethnology, the field of anthropology related to the various ethnic groups that reside in the states of Europe. Groups may be defined by common genetic ancestry, common language, or both. Pan and Pfeil (2004) ...

, caught the attention of Iain McNay of Cherry Red and they signed a marketing agreement with Heartbeat. The next release was the 12-inch EP, "This Is Your Life", from the influential

Glaxo Babies Glaxo Babies are a Bristol-based post-punk band, formed in late 1977.Strong, Martin C: "The Great Alternative & Indie Discography", 1999, Canongate, There were three distinct phases in the band's life and after initially breaking up in 1980, ...

, recorded at

Crescent Studios David Lord (born 1944) is an English composer and record producer, known for his work with Peter Gabriel, the Korgis and XTC. Career Lord was born in 1944 in Oxford, England and educated at the Royal Academy of Music, under Richard Rodney Ben ...

in Bath. A number of other singles were released, however to accommodate the large number of bands around at the time they brought out the seminal "

Avon Calling ''Avon Calling'' is an album of tracks featuring bands from Bristol, UK, on local record label Heartbeat Records, and was originally released in 1979. All but 2 of the tracks were recorded at Crescent Studios in Bath by David Lord and Glenn ...

" – The Bristol Compilation LP. Four further LPs were released: 2 by the Glaxo Babies, The Transmitters and

Art Objects A work of art, artwork, art piece, piece of art or art object is an artistic creation of aesthetic value. Except for "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded as art in its widest sense, including works from literature ...

(later to become

Blue Aeroplanes The Blue Aeroplanes are an English rock band from Bristol, the mainstays of which have been Gerard Langley, brother John Langley, and dancer Wojtek Dmochowski. All three had previously been members of the new wave "art band" Art Objects from ...

) before the label became inactive in 1984. It was revived with the 1997 album release of a 1967 long lost live radio recording (from Stockholm, Sweden) by American 1960s psych band

The Electric Prunes The Electric Prunes are an American psychedelic rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1965. Much of the band's music was, as music historian Richie Unterberger described it, possessed of "an eerie and sometimes anguished ambiance." T ...

. Cherry Red in recent years has repackaged tracks and albums from the Heartbeat back catalogue, including previously unreleased songs from the

and

The X-Certs The X-Certs were an English band formed in 1978, which originally started as a punk band. They released the track "Blue Movies" on the Heartbeat Records 1979 EP ''4 Alternatives'', and subsequently had "Anthem" included on the label's seminal ...

Riot City Records

Simon Edwards was looking to release records by local punk band

Vice Squad A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tr ...

, however Cherry Red were not enthusiastic, so with Dave Bateman and Shane Baldwin from the band he set up

(they had chosen the name, as Bristol had recently been in the news due to the

1980 St. Pauls riot The St Pauls riot occurred in St Pauls, Bristol, England on 2 April 1980 when police raided the Black and White Café on Grosvenor Road in the heart of the area. After several hours of disturbance in which fire engines and police cars were damag ...

).Riot City Records story on Cherry Red TV

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

The label was intended to release music from a new generation of punk bands that were forming, and it had been Vice Squad's intention to actively select the ones who would record for the label, however due to touring commitments they did not have the time and Simon Edwards soon took over. In 1982, an American punk compilation album, ''Hell Comes to Your House'' (Reagan 1) was licensed from Bemisbrain Records USA, and issued on the subsidiary Riot State Records label. In 1985

Chaotic Dischord Chaotic Dischord are a punk rock band from Bristol, England, allegedly formed by members of Vice Squad and their road crew in 1981, although this still remains unconfirmed by members of the band. The band also recorded a one-off EP under the ...

released the spoof NOW! album, "NOW! That's What I Call A Fuckin' Racket (Vol 1)" (GRR 1) on another subsidiary, Not Very Nice Records. In its relatively short lifespan the label had over 40 releases, selling nearly 250,000 records and was one of the prominent exponents of British punk music, regularly having hits in the

UK Indie Chart The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the rele ...

Disorder Records

The hardcore noise band

Disorder Disorder may refer to randomness, non-order, or no intelligible pattern. Disorder may also refer to: Healthcare * Disorder (medicine), a functional abnormality or disturbance * Mental disorder or psychological disorder, a psychological pattern a ...

originally formed in Bristol in 1980. After

declined to sign them, the band launched their own label Disorder Records in 1981, with Heartbeat Records and Riot City boss Simon Edwards. Over a period of three years they released three 7-inch EP's and one 12-inch EP, before moving on to local anarchist label Children of the Revolution Records (COR). A final 12-inch EP, The Singles Collection, was released in 1984.

Disorder releases

FSA Records

Set up in 1992 for the recently formed Bristol band

Flying Saucer Attack Flying Saucer Attack is an English space rock band formed in Bristol in 1992, led by songwriter David Pearce. Rachel Brook (now Rachel Coe) of Movietone was a member during the band's early incarnation; other musicians contributing to the gro ...

. Their first single in 1992 had several limited editions, each with part homemade sleeves of differing designs. The first album in 1993 was self-titled, but is sometimes referred to as Rural Psychedelia. Vinyl releases were the preference of the band and the records tended to sell out quickly, due to their cult status. After their third single in 1994 the band joined Domino Records, however, in 1999 they returned to FSA Records issuing the LP "Mirror", before finally disbanding.

FSA releases

Trash City Records

Trash City was primarily set up in 1994 to issue 7-inch singles by US garage bands. It only released one record in its first year and it was not until 1996 and the signing of UK band Headcase, that the label issued another record. Three more singles and two albums were to eventually follow.

Trash City releases

Reissues on other labels

Bristol Archive Records are currently providing some of the Heartbeat Records back catalogue tracks for download, through the usual outlets (Amazon, iTunes, etc.).

References

External links

Heartbeat Productions

Heartbeat Records at Discogs.com

Listen to Avon Calling (2005) at last.fm

Heartbeat Records story on YouTube

Riot City Records story on YouTube
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Review of Art Objects album Bagpipe Music from Allmusic A review is an evaluation of a publication, product, service, or company or a critical take on current affairs in literature, politics or culture. In addition to a critical evaluation, the review's author may assign the work a rating to indi ...

FSA Records at Discogs.com

{{Authority control Record labels established in 1978 Record labels disestablished in 1984 Record labels established in 1997 Re-established companies British independent record labels Indie rock record labels Music in Bristol