Gerard Cosloy (born 1964) is an American

music industry The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...

executive.

Biography

Cosloy was raised in

Wayland, Massachusetts Wayland is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The town was founded in 1638, and incorporated in 1780 and was originally part of neighboring Sudbury (incorporated 1639). As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was ...

, a western suburb of Boston. While he was in high school, he became involved in the local hardcore punk scene, put together many punk shows, and started Conflict, a

mimeograph A mimeograph machine (often abbreviated to mimeo, sometimes called a stencil duplicator) is a low-cost duplicating machine that works by forcing ink through a stencil onto paper. The process is called mimeography, and a copy made by the proc ...

fanzine A fanzine (blend of '' fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleasure of others who share ...

of underground and alternative rock and art. He continued to write and edit the fanzine during the '80s and early '90s. He never finished college thought he did briefly attend the University of Massachusetts, Amherst where he contributed reviews to "Daily Collegian" the college newspaper. In 1984, Cosloy got a job at

Homestead Records Homestead Records was a Long Island, New York-based sublabel of music distributor Dutch East India Trading that operated from 1983 to 1996. The label was known for not paying its artists and not spending any money on promotion. History The l ...

an independent label created by the Dutch East India Trading Co., a Long Island-based record distributor. He moved to New York for the position. Homestead put out many of the mid-80s defining alt-rock records, from

Big Black Big Black was an American punk rock band from Evanston, Illinois, active from 1981 to 1987. Founded by singer and guitarist Steve Albini, the band's initial lineup also included guitarist Santiago Durango and bassist Jeff Pezzati, both of N ...

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of t ...

Dinosaur Jr. Dinosaur Jr. is an American rock band formed in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1984, originally simply called Dinosaur until legal issues forced a change in name. The band was founded by J Mascis (guitar, vocals, primary songwriter), Lou Barlow ( ...

My Dad Is Dead My Dad Is Dead was a recording project of musician Mark Edwards. The project began in Cleveland, Ohio in 1984. My Dad Is Dead has released twelve full-length albums before it officially ended in 2011. A new group called Secular Joy was formed l ...

The Membranes The Membranes are an English post-punk band formed in Blackpool, Lancashire in 1977, the initial line-up being John Robb (bass guitar), Mark Tilton (guitar), Martyn Critchley (vocals) and Martin Kelly (drums).Larkin, Colin: ''The Guinness Wh ...

and many others. He continued to publish Conflict during this time. It was via Conflict that Cosloy first heard the band Pavement, after

Scott Kannberg Christopher Scott Kannberg (born August 30, 1966), known professionally as Scott Kannberg and Spiral Stairs, is an American musician best known for being a founding member of the indie-rock band Pavement serving as guitarist and occasional le ...

sent the fanzine the band's first studio recording, '' Slay Tracks''. He did some DJing at WZBC, Boston College's radio station, as well. He had a record label called Conflict Records, which issued two compilations called ''Bands that Could be God I and II''. He also put out a few singles. Cosloy also promoted shows in the Boston area, one of them being hardcore band

Deep Wound Deep Wound was an American hardcore punk band formed in 1982 in Westfield, Massachusetts. They released one self-titled 7" and contributed two songs to the compilation LP, '' Bands That Could Be God'', both of which are sought after by fans and re ...

which evolved into

Cosloy next worked with

Matador Records Matador Records is an independent record label, with a roster of mainly indie rock, but also punk rock, experimental rock, alternative rock, and electronic acts. History Matador was created in 1989 by Chris Lombardi in his New York City apar ...

. The label was started in 1989 by Dutch East employee Chris Lombardi and Cosloy joined into the partnership in 1990. For a time Cosloy lived in London working with Matador's UK and US operations. As of Autumn 2004, he has been living in Austin, Texas, continuing his partnership with Lombardi. He has also started the experimental record label Parallelism and the label

12XU 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length&nb ...

. Cosloy is also a musician and is a member of

Air Traffic Controllers Air traffic control specialists, abbreviated ATCS, are personnel responsible for the safe, orderly, and expeditious flow of air traffic in the global air traffic control system. Usually stationed in air traffic control centers and control ...

as well as working with punk singer

GG Allin Kevin Michael "GG" Allin (born Jesus Christ Allin; August 29, 1956 – June 28, 1993) was an American punk rock musician who performed and recorded with many groups during his career. Allin was best known for his controversial live performances ...

for a short period. From 1992-1996, he fronted the New York quartet Envelope, while briefly filling in as

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboard bass or a low b ...

for the

Dustdevils The Dustdevils (sometimes styled as DustDevils, Dust Devils, or DUSTdevils) were a noise rock band which was based in New York City for most of its history. It was active from the 1980s to the mid 1990s, and was among the first artists to be signed ...

during

Mark Ibold Mark Alan Ibold (born October 17, 1962) is an American musician. He is best known as the bass guitarist of the indie rock band Pavement, with whom he recorded four studio albums. Following Pavement's initial break-up in 1999, Ibold joined the a ...

's tenure in Pavement. Cosloy has a daily mostly-sports blog called ''Can't Stop the Bleeding''. Cosloy's house was destroyed by fire in August, 2009. Cosloy, who worked out of his home, and another resident were awakened and evacuated around 3 a.m. by an officer of the Austin Police Department. Cosloy was quoted as saying, "There are a lot of people who have a lot less than I do who deal with a lot worse, but this is pretty bad."

References

External links

''Can't Stop the Bleeding'', Cosloy's blog.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cosloy, Gerard American music industry executives American music journalists 1964 births Living people American radio DJs Dustdevils members