Waterfront 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 ...

based in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

that released recordings by Australian bands during the 1980s and 1990s.

History

Waterfront records was started in 1982 by Steven Stavrakis who at the time was an employee of another

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

label

Phantom Records Phantom Records was an Australian record store and independent record label established in 1978 by Dare Jennings and Jules R.B. Normington. Phantom Records was one of Australia's first indie labels, and the store was known for its guerilla m ...

. The first release for Waterfront was the ''Careless Talk Costs Lives'' EP by JFK & The Cuban Crisis that was originally submitted to, but rejected by, the Phantom label. Stavrakis heard the recordings and when Phantom passed on it he decided to release it himself. Stavrakis was later joined by Chris Dunn who was instrumental in discovering a number of the acts that appeared on the Waterfront label. Over the next 15 years Waterfront put out over 170 releases. Acts like

Tumbleweed A tumbleweed is a structural part of the above-ground anatomy of a number of species of plants. It is a diaspore that, once mature and dry, detaches from its root or stem and rolls due to the force of the wind. In most such species, the tumble ...

and

Ratcat Ratcat are an Australian indie rock band from Sydney who formed in 1985. The band is fronted by mainstay vocalist and guitarist, Simon Day. Their combination of indie pop song writing and energetic punk-style guitar rock won them fans from bo ...

who would later have success on the mainstream charts released their first records on Waterfront. Waterfront also licensed some recordings from the

Sub Pop Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the grunge movement. They are often ...

label that saw them handling the Australian releases for artist like

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

Henry Rollins Henry Lawrence Garfield (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as Henry Rollins, is an American singer, writer, spoken word artist, actor, and presenter. After performing in the short-lived hardcore punk band State of Alert in 1980, Rolli ...

, L7 and Tad. The label later spawned a retail shop also called Waterfront that occupied various locations in the Sydney CBD. Stocking local and imported records by cult artists the shop also and occasionally held live performances. After the store closed down in March 2000, Waterfront was reincarnated in February 2003, in the form of online retail store.

Artists released on Waterfront

The Eastern Dark The Eastern Dark is an Australian rock band who formed in the 1980s as an offshoot from another Australian band, The Celibate Rifles. History The band was formed in 1984 when then Celibate Rifles bassist James Darroch decided to leave and form ...

* The Happy Hate Me Nots * The Hard Ons * The Hellmenn * John Kennedy's Love Gone Wrong * Kat Frankie * The Lonely Hearts *

Massappeal Massappeal were an Australian hardcore punk band founded in early 1985 by mainstays, Brett Curotta (guitar), and Randy Reimann (vocals). Massapeal released four studio albums, ''Nobody Likes a Thinker'' (1986), ''Jazz'' (1989), ''The Mechanic'' ...

* Mr Floppy * Nunbait * The Pigs * The Proton Energy Pills *

The Splatterheads ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

The Trilobites The Trilobites were an Australian power pop/rock band formed in Sydney in June 1984. The original members of the Trilobites were Mike Dalton on vocals, Scott Leighton on bass guitar, Martin Martini & Paul Skates on guitars and Paul Styman on drum ...

The Tripps ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

The Spunk Bubbles ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

* Ups and Downs *

Thrust Thrust is a reaction force described quantitatively by Newton's third law. When a system expels or accelerates mass in one direction, the accelerated mass will cause a force of equal magnitude but opposite direction to be applied to that syst ...

The Stupids The Stupids are a fictional family which appear in a series of children's books written by Harry Allard and James Marshall. The Stupids draw their humor from the fact that they are incompetent to the point of confusing the most simple concep ...

Vicious Circle A vicious circle (or cycle) is a complex chain of events that reinforces itself through a feedback loop, with detrimental results. It is a system with no tendency toward equilibrium (social, economic, ecological, etc.), at least in the short r ...

External links

* {{Authority control Record labels established in 1982 Australian independent record labels Alternative rock record labels 1982 establishments in Australia Record labels based in Sydney

History

Artists released on Waterfront

See also

External links