Modern Short Stories is a Pittsburgh-based "media label" founded by

Steve Soboslai Steve Soboslai (born October 30, 1980) is an American singer/songwriter. He is the lead singer and guitarist of the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based pop punk band Punchline. Soboslai has produced several records for various artists including Nigh ...

and Chris Fafalios of the Pittsburgh

pop punk Pop punk (or punk pop) is a rock music genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined for its emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti-suburbia themes, and is distinguished from other pu ...

band

Punchline A punch line (a. k. a. punch-line or punchline) concludes a joke; it is intended to make people laugh. It is the third and final part of the typical joke structure. It follows the introductory framing of the joke and the narrative which sets up ...

and friend Amanda Yu. Its slogan is "Every song is a modern short story."

History

Creation

Modern Short Stories was created during summer 2008 in the fall-out of Punchline's departure from

Fueled by Ramen Fueled by Ramen LLC is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by 300 Elektra Entertainment. The label, founded in Gainesville, Florida in 1996, is now based in New York City. History John Janick conceived of the lab ...

Records. Between 2003 and early 2008, Fueled by Ramen released two full-length Punchline albums (2004's

Action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

and 2006's

37 Everywhere ''37 Everywhere'' is the fourth studio album by Punchline. It is the group's second album for Fueled by Ramen Records. It reached a peak of #36 on the ''Billboard'' Heatseekers albums chart on April 29, 2006. Punchline info from ''Billboard''/r ...

), as well as a re-release of 2002's The Rewind EP. During this time, a number of their then-labelmates (

Fall Out Boy Fall Out Boy is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer A ...

Panic! at the Disco Panic! at the Disco is the solo project of American musician Brendon Urie. It was originally a pop rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada, formed in 2004 by childhood friends Urie, Ryan Ross, Spencer Smith, and Brent Wilson. They recorded their firs ...

, The Academy Is...,

The Hush Sound The Hush Sound is an American indie pop band from Chicago, Illinois, United States. Initially named "The Hush," the band later changed its name to "The Hush Sound" due to the discovery of a rapper with the same name. The band consists of Bob M ...

, etc.) were becoming hugely popular, and Punchline became less prominent in the Fueled by Ramen lineup. The seed that would become Modern Short Stories was sown in July 2007 when

Heavy.com Heavy is a news aggregation platform based in New York City. It operates through its flagship website, Heavy.com, and Spanish-language platform, AhoraMismo.com. The website specializes in "5 Fast Facts" posts, which aggregate facts about trending ...

announced Punchline the $25,000 grand-prize winner of their Contraband Contest, in which bands competed for views on videos uploaded to the site. Over the course of the contest, Punchline uploaded 65 videos (including clips of Punchline in the studio) and netted nearly 1.2 million views, due in large part to the efforts of bassist Chris Fafalios to mobilize the band's fanbase.

Releases

On September 18, 2008, Punchline's own Just Say Yes became the first album released on Modern Short Stories. On February 2, 2009, in accordance with their self-described position as a "media label", Modern Short Stories released

Whistle Pig The groundhog (''Marmota monax''), also known as a woodchuck, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. The groundhog is a lowland creature of North America; it is found through mu ...

, a collection of short stories, poetry, and illustrations written by friends Chris Fafalios and Tony Hartman. The two previously collaborated on a "YouToon" (a term coined by Fafalios referring to any cartoon uploaded to

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 ...

) called Texas Toast. According to the book's Myspace page:

Whistle Pig is a children's book for people who used to be children. Within these pages you'll find a treasury of thought-provoking and hilarious poetry, illustrations, and (masculine) fairy tales written by Tony Hartman and Chris Fafalios. These two (straight) buddies have figured out the formula for comedic cartoon poetry while spending Saturday afternoons drawing, writing, and laughing. The result is a magical journey through the whistle pig ranch of the mind. Enjoy this lesson in cartoon poetry science. Oh, and there's probably some fables in here as well ...

Modern Short Stories is slated to release Justin Oliver's new album in "early 2009", according to an October 2008 entry in Steve Soboslai's "Modern Shorties" blog. According to Punchline's Myspace, yspace.com Blogs - Punchline/ref> Modern Short Stories will release a Punchline DVD in spring 2009, followed by a full-length album by year's end. The label's facebook hasn't been updated since 2017.

Roster

Justin Oliver Justin may refer to: People * Justin (name), including a list of persons with the given name Justin * Justin (historian), a Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire * Justin I (c. 450–527), or ''Flavius Iustinius Augustus'', Eastern Rom ...

* Spontaneo * The Composure

References

External links

Modern Short Stories Official Myspace

Chris Fafalios' YouTube Channel: cmxpunch
{{Authority control American independent record labels Companies based in Pittsburgh