31G Records, or Three One G, is a San Diego, California-based

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 ...

, started by musician

Justin Pearson Justin Pearson (born August 20, 1975) is a vocalist and bassist known for his music career, playing in a number of San Diego-based noise rock, punk and grindcore bands, as well as his record label Three One G Records. Starting off in the punk ...

in 1994 and focusing on punk and experimental music. The label has released a number of albums and compilations in what has been described as "freak punk" and "spaz-rock." Musicians on the label frequently collaborate, creating supergroups such as

Holy Molar Holy Molar is a noise rock band from San Diego, composed of members Mark McCoy (of Charles Bronson, Virgin Mega Whore, and Das Oath), Bobby Bray, Justin Pearson, and Gabe Serbian (all of The Locust) and Maxamillion Avila (of Antioch Arrow, Her ...

, Some Girls, and

Head Wound City Head Wound City is an American hardcore punk supergroup consisting of Jordan Blilie and Cody Votolato both of The Blood Brothers, Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Justin Pearson and Gabe Serbian, both of The Locust. History Formation, d ...

. Three One G's roster has featured many noise rock bands.

History

31G Records was founded by

in San Diego, California in 1994. The name comes from the chorus of a Joy Division song "Warsaw", a song covered by Pearson's then-band,

Swing Kids The Swing Youth (german: Swingjugend) were a group of jazz and swing lovers in Germany formed in Hamburg in 1939. Primarily active in Hamburg and Berlin, they were composed of 14- to 21-year-old Germans, mostly middle or upper-class students, ...

. The reference for '3-1-G' in the original song was to

Rudolf Hess Rudolf Walter Richard Hess (Heß in German; 26 April 1894 – 17 August 1987) was a German politician and a leading member of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Appointed Deputy Führer to Adolf Hitler in 1933, Hess held that position unt ...

's prisoner number. The first album released on the new label was the 1994 single "And / Fall On Proverb" by

metalcore Metalcore (also known as metallic hardcore) is a fusion music genre that combines elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. As with other styles blending metal and hardcore, such as crust punk and grindcore, metalcore is noted for its use of ...

band Unbroken. The second release was a reissue of the new debut album from hardcore punk and noise rock band

, a band consisting of both the Unbroken guitarist Eric Allen and Pearson on vocals. The following few releases also involved the same community of musicians, with a split between Swing Kids and Spanakorzo coming out in 1995, and the second released recording by Pearson's new band

The Locust The Locust was an American hardcore punk band from San Diego, California, known for their mix of grindcore aggression and new wave experimentation. The band has been noted for their use of insect costumes when performing live. History Prio ...

coming out as a split EP with Jenny Piccolo in 1996. In 1998 Allysia Edwards joined with Pearson as a partner at the label, and their annual output began to increase. By January 2011, the label had put out approximately 60 releases total. Staff as of 2011 include Sal Gallego of Some Girls, Marcus D’Camp, Brandon McMinn, Mike McGuire, Becky DiGiglio, and Pearson. According to Pearson, the label's best selling releases have been ''Discography'' by Swing Kids, as well as ''

March on Electric Children ''March on Electric Children'' is the second studio album by the American post-hardcore band The Blood Brothers, released in February 2002. Produced by Matt Bayles, the album (which is described in the liner notes as a "short story set to music") ...

'' by The Blood Brothers. Three One G has released a compilation of Queen covers by their artists called ''Dynamite With a Laserbeam: Queen as Heard Through the Meat Grinder of Three One G'', as well as a similar tribute to The Birthday Party titled ''Release The Bats''. There has also been a DVD documentary, ''This is Circumstantial Evidence'', made about Three One G. In 2020 the label released a tribute album to The Cramps called ''Really Bad Music For Really Bad People: The Cramps As Heard Through The Meat Grinder Of Three One G'' and featured artists such as METZ, Chelsea Wolfe, and Mike Patton.

Collaborations

Reviewers have described the Three One G community of musicians under the umbrella term "freak punk" or "spaz-rock," saying "the intense, the slightly frightening, and the brutal all find a place for themselves and their music in Three One G Records." Most of the label's bands have shared members or interact within the same musical community, and according to Pearson, According to ''SSG Music'', "It seems that members of San Diego label Three One G decide to form new supergroups at least once a year." Three One G bands

, Ground Unicorn Horn, and

were all formed with earlier musicians on the label. The label's supergroup Retox included

Gabe Serbian Gabriel Serbian (May 1, 1977 – April 30, 2022) was an American drummer, guitarist and vocalist, most famous for his work in The Locust, Cattle Decapitation, Holy Molar and Zu. He was also a member of Head Wound City, a hardcore/punk rock su ...

and Pearson of

, and many of the bands such as The Crimson Curse and Cattle Decapitation are connected to The Locust as well.

Roster

* Adam Gnade * ADULT. * All Leather * Antioch Arrow *

Arab on Radar Arab on Radar was a Providence, Rhode Island-based noise rock band founded in 1994. They went on hiatus in 2002. Members of the band went on to form or join the bands including The Chinese Stars, Athletic Automaton, Made in Mexico, and Doomsday ...

* Asterisk* * Bastard Noise * Black Cat #13 *

Black Dice Black Dice is an American experimental noise music band based in Brooklyn, New York and consisting of brothers Bjorn and Eric Copeland along with Aaron Warren. Formed in 1997, the group was initially inspired by hardcore and noise rock, but subse ...

* The Blood Brothers * Camera Obscura * Cattle Decapitation * The Chinese Stars * The Crimson Curse *

Das Oath Das or DAS may refer to: Organizations * Dame Allan's Schools, Fenham, Newcastle upon Tyne, England * Danish Aviation Systems, a supplier and developer of unmanned aerial vehicles * Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad, a former Colombian ...

* Dead Cross * Deaf Club * Death Eyes * Doomsday Student * Downcast * End Of The Line *

Ex Models Ex Models is an American no wave-influenced post-hardcore band based in Brooklyn, New York. Career The band, based around brothers Shahin and Shahryar Motia, was started while they were in high school. They reunited after college to make the ...

* Fast Forward * Festival Of Dead Deer *

* Geromino * Get Hustle * Ground Unicorn Horn * Haunted Horses *

* Hot Nerds * Ill Saint M * Into Violence * INUS * Invisibl Skratch Piklz * Jaks * Jenny Piccolo * Kill the Capulets * Kool Keith * Leg Lifters * Love Life * Luke Henshaw * METZ * Microwaves * More Pain *

Moving Units Moving Units is an American dance-punk band from Los Angeles, California. History The band was formed in 2001 by Blake Miller (formerly of Spectacle) Johan Boegli and Chris Hathwell after Miller invited Boegli and Hathwell to jam songs from an ...

* Narrows * Netherlands *

Orthrelm Orthrelm is an American Avant-garde rock, avant-garde band from Washington, D.C. Biography Orthrelm is a duo composed of Mick Barr on guitar and Josh Blair on Drum kit, drums. Their songwriting style is mostly experimental, and shows the influ ...

* Panicker * Paper Mice * Planet B * Qui *

Quintron Quintron (real name Robert Rolston; born c. 1967 in Germany) is an American musician and leader of the eponymous one-man-band, "Quintron". He is a nightclub organist and inventor, who has patented a number of his own inventions and often perfor ...

* Rats Eyes * Retox * Run For Your F_cking Life * Satanic Planet * Secret Fun Club * Silent * Some Girls * Sonido de la Frontera * Spanakorzo * Ssion * Struggle *

* T-Cells *

The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower The Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower was an American four-piece punk/noise band from San Diego, California, United States, that formed in 2001. After disbanding in 2006, drummer Brian Hill now plays with The Soft Pack, while singer Brandon Welch ...

* Unbroken * Under Attack * WARSAWWASRAW * Wet Lungs * Zealot RIP *

Zeus! Zeus! (with an exclamation mark) is an Italian progressive rock, progressive-math rock, Supergroup (music), supergroup Duet (music), duo formed in 2010 in Imola. Biography The band began as a collaboration between Luca Cavina, bassist of Ca ...

* Zs

History

Collaborations

Roster

References

External links