Some Bizzare Records was a British

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 by

Stevo Pearce Stephen John Pearce, commonly known as Stevo (born 26 December 1962), is a British record producer and music industry executive, best known as the owner of indie record label Some Bizzare Records. Biography He was born in Dagenham, Essex, Engla ...

. The label was founded in 1981, with the release of ''

Some Bizzare Album ''Some Bizzare Album'' is the first album issued by Some Bizzare Records. It was released in 1981 as a sampler of the label's musical ethos. The acts were not signed exclusively to the label at the time. Information The album consisted of tracks b ...

'', a compilation of unsigned bands including

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depeche ...

Soft Cell Soft Cell are an English synthpop duo who came to prominence in the early 1980s. The duo consists of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball. The band are primarily known for their 1981 hit version of "Tainted Love" and their plat ...

the The () are an English post-punk band. They have been active in various forms since 1979, with singer-songwriter Matt Johnson being the only constant band member. achieved critical acclaim and commercial success in the UK, with 15 chart singles ...

, Neu Electrikk and

Blancmange Blancmange (, from french: blanc-manger ) is a sweet dessert popular throughout Europe commonly made with milk or cream and sugar thickened with rice flour, gelatin, corn starch, or Irish moss (a source of carrageenan), and often flavoured ...

History

1981–1989

One of the first bands that Some Bizzare worked with was

B-Movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double featur ...

. After working with B-Movie the label achieved notable success with Soft Cell, an electronic duo whose ''

Mutant Moments ''Mutant Moments'' is the debut EP by synthpop duo Soft Cell. Only 2000 copies were pressed, originally by Big Frock Records, then later by a Japanese fan club, making the record extremely rare and prized by collectors and fans alike. The duo, wh ...

'' EP

had championed in ''

Sounds In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

''. After Soft Cell signed to Some Bizzare, he went on to manage them, under a deal with Phonogram Inc. Their cover of "

Tainted Love "Tainted Love" is a song composed by Ed Cobb, formerly of American group the Four Preps, which was originally recorded by Gloria Jones in 1964. It attained worldwide fame after being covered and reworked by British synthpop duo Soft Cell in 1 ...

" topped the charts. In the early eighties, Stevo Pearce gained a reputation for being a maverick. He licensed the The's ''Soul Mining'' album to three different record labels: after delivering the album to Phonogram he then took it from them and sold it to

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

, then sold it on again to

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

. The one recording was sold to three companies, each time signed off for the best deal by the companies mentioned. ''Soul Mining'' was eventually released in 1983. The The released further albums with Some Bizzare, including '' Infected'' in 1986. Matt Johnson from

also recorded with Some Bizzare act

Marc and the Mambas Marc and the Mambas were a new wave group, formed by Marc Almond in 1982 as an offshoot project from Soft Cell. The band's line-up changed frequently, and included Matt Johnson from and Annie Hogan, with whom Almond worked later in his solo ...

. Later acts on the record label's roster included Cabaret Voltaire, Psychic TV,

Test Department Test Dept, sometimes credited as Test Department is a British industrial music group from London, England, that was one of the most important and influential early industrial music acts. Their approach was marked by the use of "found" materia ...

Einstürzende Neubauten (, 'Collapsing New Buildings') is a German experimental music group, formed in West Berlin in 1980. The group is currently composed of founding members Blixa Bargeld (lead vocals; guitar; keyboard) and N.U. Unruh (custom-made instruments; perc ...

, Coil,

Swans Swans are birds of the family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Someti ...

, and Scraping Foetus Off the Wheel. Many of these bands were included on the label's 1985 compilation album ''If You Can't Please Yourself, You Can't Please Your Soul''.

1990–present

Some Bizzare built a reputation for madcap behavior. For example, during the nineties Stevo Pearce's offices, based in Mayfair, included a private

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

and

confession A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of persons – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information th ...

box for would-be-signings to go through the solemn hand-over of demo tapes. Stevo was also partial to aggressively insulting young record shop employees at this time, should they be unfortunate enough to be working in a shop that sold Coil's recordings (the recordings that they made money from at that period in time). 2001 saw

compile a new compilation album titled ''

I'd Rather Shout at a Returning Echo Than Kid Someone's Listening ''I'd Rather Shout at a Returning Echo than Kid That Someone's Listening'' is the fourth compilation album released by Some Bizzare Records, containing the first new track from the recently re-formed Soft Cell."I'd Rather Shout at a Returning Ech ...

''. It included the

track "God Shaped Hole", recorded by the newly reformed band. The compilation also saw the inclusion of two tracks recorded by Cabaret Voltaire's Richard H. Kirk. Between 2001 and 2005, Some Bizzare's output was minimal. In 2006, Some Bizzare signed acts the Dark Poets, Monkey Farm Frankenstein, Meka and Mainstream Distortion. The compilation album ''Redefining the Prologue'' was released on October 2006 to mark the label's 25th anniversary and provides an overview of the label's output. This album coincided with a Some Bizzare exhibition at the

Horse Hospital The Horse Hospital is a listed building, Grade II listed Nonprofit organization, not for profit, independent arts venue at Colonnade, Bloomsbury, central London. It has a curatorial focus on counter-cultural histories, sub-cultures and outsider ...

arts venue in

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. The exhibition included original artwork from bands like

and

. 2007 saw Some Bizzare Records sign some new acts, including

Pedro INF Pedro INF (born Pedro Granja De Carvalho) is a Portuguese electronic music artist, currently signed to Some Bizzare Records. Background Pedro INF is an alterego of Pedro Granja De Carvalho, a musician whose main style can be categorized as IDM ...

, a Portuguese dance music producer, and UK artist

Kontour Kontour is an English electronic music artist, signed to Some Bizzare Records. Background Early work included recordings of distorted telephone calls and late night television. He uses a range of vintage recording equipment and analog synthesi ...

, releasing the album ''

Scanners ''Scanners'' is a 1981 Canadian science fiction horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg and starring Stephen Lack, Jennifer O'Neill, Michael Ironside, and Patrick McGoohan. In the film, "scanners" are psychics with unusual telepathic ...

''. These new artists were featured on the ''Some Bizzare Double Album'' compilation released in 2008. The album featured 32 new artists discovered on Myspace. Other acts included Risqué, who were a French/Welsh electronic group made up of Nathalie and Huw Williams. Their music consisted of robust driving rhythms and ethereal vocals. They record their music in a studio based in Barcelona. Huw Williams is a well established producer working with bands like "Rubikon" and "Rookie". The album ''Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down'' was released by Some Bizzare in August 2009. The band

actively discourages purchasing any of their releases from Some Bizzare or their American licensee, Thirsty Ear, as they have been and continue to be sold without paying any royalties to the band. The label is now effectively defunct. The website has been offline for several years and there have been no releases. The whereabouts of Pearce is unknown. The label catalog is now sold through

One Little Indian One Little Independent Records (formerly One Little Indian Records) is an English independent record label. It was set up in 1985 by members of various anarcho-punk bands, and managed by former Flux of Pink Indians bassist Derek Birkett. In ...

Name

The second word of the name is spelt "Bizzare", not "Bizarre". Pearce said: "I like ambiguities. It's Some Bizzare, spelt B I Z Z A R E. The idea of the label was to be aware of people's expectations and do the opposite almost."

Some Bizzare artists

* Agnes Bernelle *

Bizarre Inc Bizarre Inc were an English techno group. Formed in 1989 as a duo between English DJs Dean Meredith and Mark "Aaron" Archer (not to be confused with the film producer of the same name), they later re-formed as a trio consisting of Meredith, ...

* Coil * Dave Ball * Echo City *

FM Einheit Frank-Martin Strauß, better known as F.M. Einheit and also known as Mufti, (born 18 December 1958, in Dortmund) is an industrial and electronic musician and actor from Germany. While primarily known for his percussion work with the influenti ...

Foetus A fetus or foetus (; plural fetuses, feti, foetuses, or foeti) is the unborn offspring that develops from an animal embryo. Following embryonic development the fetal stage of development takes place. In human prenatal development, fetal develo ...

Marc Almond Peter Mark Sinclair "Marc" Almond, (born 9 July 1957) is an English singer. Almond first began performing and recording in the synthpop/ new wave duo Soft Cell where he became known for his distinctive soulful voice and androgynous image. He ...

* Psychic TV * Satanicpornocultshop *

Test Dept Test Dept, sometimes credited as Test Department is a British industrial music group from London, England, that was one of the most important and influential early industrial music acts. Their approach was marked by the use of "found" material ...

* The Dark Poets *

The The () are an English post-punk band. They have been active in various forms since 1979, with singer-songwriter Matt Johnson being the only constant band member. achieved critical acclaim and commercial success in the UK, with 15 chart singles ...

* Wiseblood * Unmen

Discography

Footnotes

Bibliography

* * {{Authority control British record labels Record labels established in 1981 Electronic music record labels Industrial record labels Synth-pop record labels New wave record labels Post-punk record labels