Man's Ruin Records was an

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

owned and founded by

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

artist

Frank Kozik Frank Kozik (born January 9, 1962 in Madrid) is an American graphic artist best known for his posters for alternative rock bands. History Kozik has worked with Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Me ...

. After the 1994 release of Man's Ruin's first record ''Experimental Audio Research (EAR): Delta 6'' Kozik worked with artists whom he wanted to release. He also designed all of the sleeve-art for the releases. The catalog of Man's Ruin is vast--including relatively famous bands such as:

The Hellacopters The Hellacopters are a Swedish garage rock band that was formed in 1994 by Nicke Andersson (vocals and guitar), Andreas Tyrone "Dregen" Svensson (guitar), Kenny Håkansson (bass) and Robert Eriksson (drums). Andersson (sometimes known as Nick R ...

Nebula A nebula ('cloud' or 'fog' in Latin; pl. nebulae, nebulæ or nebulas) is a distinct luminescent part of interstellar medium, which can consist of ionized, neutral or molecular hydrogen and also cosmic dust. Nebulae are often star-forming regio ...

Kyuss Kyuss ( ) was an American rock band, formed in Palm Desert, California, in 1987. The band disbanded in 1995, and since then, members of Kyuss have gone on to form or play in several notable bands including Queens of the Stone Age, Fu Manchu, D ...

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, Entombed,

Turbonegro Turbonegro (Turboneger in Norway) is a Norwegian rock band, active from 1989 to 1998 and from 2002 to the present. The band combines glam rock, punk rock, and hard rock into a self-described "deathpunk" musical style. History Early years (1 ...

, 13eaver,

Queens of the Stone Age Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated QOTSA) is an American rock band formed in 1996 in Palm Desert, California. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme, who has been the only constant member throughout multiple line- ...

, and The

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, and also less known bands such as: FuckEmos, Soulpreacher, Angelrot, and Los Cowslingers. The last record released was from Begotten. The label was officially gone by 2002. The label's slogan was "Empty Pleasures and Desperate Measures since 1994".

Operations

Man's Ruin did not make signed

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...

s with the artists that they released. Their operation was very open. Recordings were licensed for a time period of 2–5 years and all copyrights and publishing liberties were retained by the bands. Profits on releases were split 50-50 between band and label. The posters and album art from the Man's Ruin era are still very coveted. The limited print vinyl are constantly rising in their

value Value or values may refer to: Ethics and social * Value (ethics) wherein said concept may be construed as treating actions themselves as abstract objects, associating value to them ** Values (Western philosophy) expands the notion of value beyo ...

due to two factors: the majority of covers were screen-printed and numbered by Kozik and all records were released in editions of 5000 copies or less. The most sought-after records from the Man's Ruin catalog have consistently been

The Desert Sessions The Desert Sessions are a musical collective series, founded by Josh Homme in 1997. Artists such as Brant Bjork, PJ Harvey, Twiggy Ramirez, Dave Catching, Nick Oliveri, Mark Lanegan, John McBain, Ben Shepherd, Josh Freese, Chris Goss, Alain ...

records-- were released in highly limited editions on clear and colored vinyl. The CD versions of the first six volumes, as well as the rest of the entire Man's Ruin catalog have gone out of print with the demise of the label. Subsequent volumes of

were released on

Josh Homme Joshua Michael Homme ( ; born May 17, 1973) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the founder, primary songwriter, and only continuous member of the rock band Queens of the Stone Age, which he form ...

Rekords Rekords Rekords Rekords is a record label formed by Josh Homme.Kerrang! Article, 2002 It emerged in the aftermath of the downfall of Man's Ruin Records, the record label formerly putting out Homme's project The Desert Sessions. The Desert Sessions, a com ...

. Man's Ruin specialized in producing and releasing limited edition 10" EP records. Often an album would be released in several different sets--such as the first release from

in 1998-- which was released on Man's Ruin in three editions: 2500 black, 300 green, 200 orange/yellow. A subsequent pressing of 198 copies on blue vinyl was made independently by the band as a "tour edition". The vast majority of records released on the label were colored. The label was distributed in the US and UK by

Mordam Records Mordam Records ("More Damn Records") was a California record distribution company for independent record labels. It was founded in San Francisco in 1983 as an independent punk distribution company by Ruth Schwartz (one of the original co-editors of ...

then a brief and unsuccessful switch was made to RED Distribution-- which resulted in the demise of the label after a series of problems. Internationally it was distributed by Swedish distributor and record label House of Kicks. Unlike most releases in music today, the international releases from Man's Ruin did not differ from the domestic American releases. However, it was not uncommon for the cover of a vinyl release to differ from that of the CD edition of the release.

Decline and fall

The label became defunct after a series of distribution changes and problems involving the label having outgrown its original distributor. Man's Ruin also lost its lease at the height of the Bay Area Dot-Com boom and was shut down for a period of several months while attempting to relocate its offices. This combination led to its demise at the end of 2001. The label's website was shut down a few months later. Internet users who wished to view the Man's Ruin website were simply greeted with the message: "sorry mansruin never paid their bill and their site is no longer here." "They also did not pay their poster-printing crew for all of their overtime work", read an edit to their Wikipedia page by disgruntled squids who used to work there.. All operations ended and licenses were returned to the various copyright holders in 2002. Kozik stopped working in the music scene and went on to enter the field of designing Urban Vinyl. Several bands such as:

Fu Manchu Dr. Fu Manchu () is a supervillain who was introduced in a series of novels by the English author Sax Rohmer beginning shortly before World War I and continuing for another forty years. The character featured in cinema, television, radio, comic ...

Acid King Acid King is an American stoner metal band from San Francisco, California. It was formed in 1993 by frontwoman Lori S., drummer Joey Osbourne and bassist Peter Lucas. Acid King have since recorded four studio albums and two EPs with a series o ...

and

who worked with Man's Ruin have re-released the albums they recorded with them independently or with other

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

References

External links

FrankKozik.net

FKozik.com

Mansruin.com on the Internet Archive
{{Authority control Record labels established in 1994 Record labels disestablished in 2002 American independent record labels Alternative rock record labels Defunct record labels of the United States

Operations

Decline and fall

See also

References

External links