31G Records, or Three One G, is a

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

-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 Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

and

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...

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,

Some Girls ''Some Girls'' is the 14th UK and 16th US album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 9 June 1978 by Rolling Stones Records. It was recorded in sessions held between October 1977 and February 1978 at Pathé Marconi Studios in ...

, and Head Wound City. Three One G's roster has featured many

noise rock Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise music, noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimal music, minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, a ...

bands.

History

31G Records was founded by

in 1994. The name comes from the chorus of a

Joy Division Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. Sumner and Hook formed the band after attend ...

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 Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk ...

and

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

, 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 Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

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 The Cramps were an American rock band formed in 1976 and active until 2006. Their lineup rotated frequently during their existence, with the husband-and-wife duo of singer Lux Interior and guitarist Poison Ivy the only ever-present members. T ...

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 Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...

Chelsea Wolfe Chelsea Joy Wolfe (born November 14, 1983) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. Her work has blended elements of gothic rock, doom metal, and folk music. Raised in Northern California with a country musician father, Wolfe began writin ...

, and

Mike Patton Michael Allan Patton (born January 27, 1968) is an American singer, producer, film composer and voice actor, best known as the lead vocalist of the alternative metal band Faith No More. Noted for his vocal proficiency, diverse singing techni ...

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 Holy Molar, Ground Unicorn Horn, and Head Wound City 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 Cattle Decapitation is an American deathgrind band from San Diego, California, formed in 1996. The band's current lineup includes vocalist Travis Ryan, guitarists Josh Elmore and Belisario Dimuzio, bassist Olivier Pinard, and drummer David McGr ...

are connected to The Locust as well.

Roster

Adam Gnade Adam Gnade ( ) is a San Diego, California-born American musician and author currently living on a farm in rural Kansas. In his bio he defines his music as "talking-songs", which he describes as mixing the spoken vocals of talking blues songs w ...

ADULT. Adult (stylized as ADULT.) is an American band from Detroit, Michigan, formed in 1998 by married couple Nicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller. The band integrates vocals with drum machines, analog synthesizers and electronic/ punk elements.Copela ...

* All Leather *

Antioch Arrow Antioch Arrow was an American punk rock band from San Diego, California, that formed in 1992. Most of their discography was released through the San Diego independent label Gravity Records. The label was responsible raising San Diego's profile i ...

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 Bastard Noise is an American noise band founded in 1991 by musicians Eric Wood, Henry Barnes, and W. T. Nelson. The project started as a type of sister band to the trio's previous group Man Is The Bastard. While Man Is the Bastard broke-up in l ...

* 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 A camera obscura (; ) is a darkened room with a aperture, small hole or lens at one side through which an image is 3D projection, projected onto a wall or table opposite the hole. ''Camera obscura'' can also refer to analogous constructions su ...

* The Chinese Stars * The Crimson Curse * Das Oath *

Dead Cross Dead Cross is an American crossover thrash supergroup (music), supergroup formed in Southern California. The band consists of guitarist Michael Crain (Retox (band), Retox), bassist Justin Pearson (the Locust, Head Wound City and Retox), drummer ...

* 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 To fast-forward is to move forwards through a recording at a speed faster than that at which it would usually be played, for example two times or two point five times. The recordings are usually audio, video or computer data. It is colloquially ...

* Festival Of Dead Deer *

* Geromino * Get Hustle * Ground Unicorn Horn * Haunted Horses * Head Wound City * Holy Molar * Hot Nerds * Ill Saint M * Into Violence * INUS * Invisibl Skratch Piklz * Jaks * Jenny Piccolo * Kill the Capulets *

Kool Keith Keith Matthew Thornton (born October 7, 1963), better known by his stage name Kool Keith, is an American rapper and record producer from The Bronx, New York City, known for his surreal, abstract and often profane or incomprehensible lyrics. Kool ...

* Leg Lifters * Love Life * Luke Henshaw *

* 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 *

* Sonido de la Frontera * Spanakorzo * Ssion * Struggle *

* T-Cells * The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower *

* Unbroken * Under Attack * WARSAWWASRAW * Wet Lungs * Zealot RIP * Zeus! * Zs

References

External links

Official site

Three One G
on MySpace
Three One G
on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

Three One G
on

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

Three One G
on

Last.fm Last.fm is a music website founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. Using a music recommender system called "Audioscrobbler", Last.fm builds a detailed profile of each user's musical taste by recording details of the tracks the user listens to, e ...

{{Authority control American record labels Record labels established in 1994