Alcopop! Records is 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 ...
, run by Jack Clothier and Kevin Douch formed in 2006 when the pair lived together in East Oxford. The label works with the likes of DZ Deathrays,
Johnny Foreigner
Johnny Foreigner are an indie rock four-piece from Birmingham, UK, consisting of guitarist and lead vocalist Alexei Berrow, bassist and vocalist Kelly Parker (née Southern), drummer Junior Elvis Washington Laidley, and guitarist and visual ar ...
,
Fight Like Apes,
Anamanaguchi
Anamanaguchi is an American chiptune-based pop and rock band from New York City. The band has four members: lead songwriters and guitarists Peter Berkman and Ary Warnaar, bassist James DeVito, and drummer Luke Silas.
Anamanaguchi combines di ...
,
Peaness, TIGERCUB,
Gaffa Tape Sandy,
The Spook School, Nelson Can, and QI.
Inception
Alcopop! Records was formally created after a small loan was gambled on the Charlton vs Portsmouth match of 16 September 2006, with money for the first release and show generated from a successful bet on the match. This money was invested in a band from Yeovil called Encyclopedia, with the first single "Emily" (Alcopop001) kicking off the 2006/7 singles club (which also included the likes of Midget, data.select.party and 4 or 5 Magicians). Founder Jack pOp, in a recent interview with the Complete Music Update website, said "Alcopop! was born back in 2006 with a three figure loan from my Dad and a fuzzy idea to mix up some classic 90s indie and some awesome new stuff and – via a series of handmade, special three-inch CDs – do our bit to prove that physical music wasn’t dead. We got drunk, bet a large chunk of the money on a football match, and Congolese striker
Lomana LuaLua ensured that we had enough cash to get going!"
Alcopop! anti-UKIP controversy
In 2015, Alcopop! stepped in after a hacker cancelled the United Kingdom Independence Party (
UKIP
The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest ...
) website contract and temporarily purchased the UKIP website. Claiming they’d fill the website with multi-coloured unicorns or donate the website to a pro-immigration agency, the website nevertheless was soon forcibly recovered and returned to the political party by provider GoDaddy. UKIP later blamed 'gremlins in the system'. Alcopop! then proceeded to collaborate with Shikari Sound System to release 7" record "The Wit and Wisdom of Nigel Farage" which was, of course, completely silent. The release profits went to Migrants Rights Network and was in homage to a similar stunt by
Stiff Records
Stiff Records is a British independent record label formed in London, England, by Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera. Originally active from 1976 to 1986, the label was reactivated in 2007.
Established at the outset of the punk rock boom, Stiff ...
against
Ronald Reagan.
Alcopop! interesting formats
As well as operating more standard album and EP releases on CD and vinyl, Alcopop! Records prides itself on releasing through a host of different formats, and has put out singles and EPs on the likes of frisbees (
Johnny Foreigner
Johnny Foreigner are an indie rock four-piece from Birmingham, UK, consisting of guitarist and lead vocalist Alexei Berrow, bassist and vocalist Kelly Parker (née Southern), drummer Junior Elvis Washington Laidley, and guitarist and visual ar ...
''Certain Songs are Cursed'' EP), scarves (My First Tooth ''Sleet and Snow'' EP), bespoke watches (Gunning for Tamar ''Time Trophies'' EP) and a Minidisc (
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...
– ''Say Hi to the Band''). When asked about motivation for producing these different formats in a recent interview, Jack pOp stated "For me the it’s more than what is on that record… It’s about the experience from the moment you get it, how the artwork makes you feel, being able to show it to friends – the anticipation of dropping the needle/ pressing the play button… I genuinely love it."
In 2014 Alcopop! re-released the hit song "
Steal My Sunshine
"Steal My Sunshine" is a song by Canadian alternative rock band Len from their third studio album, ''You Can't Stop the Bum Rush'' (1999). The song was initially released on the soundtrack to the 1999 crime comedy film '' Go'', which resulted in ...
" on cassette with co-founders Jack and Kev drawn into the re-imagined sleeve alongside some of the original cast.
Other notable releases
Alcopop! were the first label in the UK to release a podcast on vinyl, collaborating with the QI Elves to put out a special edition of their 'No Such Thing As A Fish' podcast on vinyl – which came with 52 episodes of the podcast on the download card. The record included a bonus track from Corey Taylor of Slipknot fame on the B-side.
Working with Brighton grunge band TIGERCUB in 2017, Alcopop! put out the world's first Pay What You Want 12" vinyl. Preceded by a physical mailout campaign to all existing fans of the band, the original pressing sold out within 24 hours and was considered a success by singer Jamie Hall, who stated "We were worried people wouldn’t give a shit, but it quickly turned into fucking Wikileaks. It escalated fast. We fucking sold out of 'em all pretty much before we went public, so we had to put up a second pressing pre-sale for people who missed out, which is now about to sell out too.
To try to capitalise on the spirit of indie and rally against over-priced reissues at Record Store Day, Alcopop! put out Sensible Record Labels vol 1. and 2 on RSD in 2015 and 2016. RRP’d at £10, featuring 11 songs from independent labels with hundreds of songs on the download card, each release sold out on the day. Tim Dellow, founder of Transgressive Records, said of Volume 1 "We’re thrilled to be involved in something that genuinely captures the true spirit of Record Store Day, and what this community of great independent artists and labels represent. A great value way for fans to get into new bands across all the labels, and support their local indie store. Good on Alcopop!”
Alcopop! gained a reputation for their 'Alcopopular' compilation series. The series has even been branded 'The coolest compilation ever' by NME. Alcopopular has been released as a bike, a 3" CD, a cassette tape, a message in a bottle, a restaurant menu and fold out 'Hithikers Guide to the UK'. Loud and Quiet suggested "We need labels like Alcopop to offer us something a little out of the ordinary. There’s no character in a bunch of mega bites but there’s a hell of a lot in a bottle containing a modern day pirate treasure map that leads you to some audio booty."
Awards and honours
Alcopop! Records were named as the best small label at the AIM Awards 2013, after being nominated in 2012.
Alcopop! were also voted as the best record label in the UK at the Punktastic Reader Awards in 2012.
Active roster
*
Anamanaguchi
Anamanaguchi is an American chiptune-based pop and rock band from New York City. The band has four members: lead songwriters and guitarists Peter Berkman and Ary Warnaar, bassist James DeVito, and drummer Luke Silas.
Anamanaguchi combines di ...
*
Art Brut
Art Brut are a Berlin-based English and German indie rock band. Their debut album, ''Bang Bang Rock & Roll'', was released on 30 May 2005, with its follow up, '' It's a Bit Complicated'', released on 25 June 2007. Named after French painter Je ...
*
Best Ex
*Cheekface
*Cherym
*
DITZ
Ditz may refer to:
* Nancy Ditz (born 1954), former American long-distance runner
* John Ditz, former NASCAR Grand National Series car owner
* Ditz (Fils), a river of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, tributary of the Fils
* Ditz (band), an English roc ...
*
DZ Deathrays
DZ Deathrays (previously Denzel then DZ) are an Australian dance-punk trio from Brisbane, Queensland. Composed of Shane Parsons (vocals/guitar), Lachlan Ewbank (lead guitar/vocals) and Simon Ridley (drums), they put out two EPs before releasing ...
*
El Ten Eleven
*
False Advertising
False advertising is defined as the act of publishing, transmitting, or otherwise publicly circulating an advertisement containing a false claim, or statement, made intentionally (or recklessly) to promote the sale of property, goods, or servic ...
*
Fight Like Apes
*
Gaffa Tape Sandy
*
Happy Accidents
*
Helen Love
Helen Love are an indie band from Wales whose music is a combination of punk rock, bubblegum pop and disco dance music. The band was formed in 1992 by Helen Love (vocals, guitar) with Sheena (guitar, keyboards), Roxy (bass, drum machine), a ...
*
Hellogoodbye
Hellogoodbye (sometimes styled as hellogoodbye) is an American pop rock band that was formed in Huntington Beach, California in 2001 by singer Forrest Kline. They were signed to Drive-Thru Records and released their first full-length album '' Z ...
*itoldyouiwouldeatyou
*
Johnny Foreigner
Johnny Foreigner are an indie rock four-piece from Birmingham, UK, consisting of guitarist and lead vocalist Alexei Berrow, bassist and vocalist Kelly Parker (née Southern), drummer Junior Elvis Washington Laidley, and guitarist and visual ar ...
*
Kississippi
Kississippi is the solo pop and indie folk project of Philadelphia-based singer-songwriter Zoe Allaire Reynolds.
History
Zoe Reynolds recorded her first acoustic demos – which later became the 2014 EP ''I Can Feel You in my Hair Still'' — i ...
*Nelson Can
*
No Such Thing as a Fish
*
Peaness
*The QI Elves
*Snow Coats
*
The Spook School
*
Tellison
*TIGERCUB
*Tokky Horror
*Weirds
Past roster
*
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...
*
Hush The Many
*
Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly
Sam Duckworth (born 1986) is an English musician who performs as Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. He is also sometimes referred to as ''Get Cape'', ''Cape'', ''GCWCF'' and ''Slam Dunkworth'' (the latter title apparently first coined by Emmy the Grea ...
*
The Crimea
*
Matt Pryor
*
Freeze The Atlantic
*
Brawlers
*OhBoy!
*
Emperor Yes
*Gunning For Tamar
*LightGuides
*Ute
*Jumping Ships
*Oh No! Yoko
*Acres of Lions
*Screaming Maldini
*Sam Isaac
*This City
*Pavilion
*Elephants
*The Candle Thieves
*Wolf Am I
*Stars & Sons
*GoFaster
*Cut The Blue Wire
*The Family Machine
*4 or 5 Magicians
*Lucy and the Caterpillar
*Nathaniel Green
*Data.Select.Party
*Encyclopedia
*The Social Club
*Radstewart
*Bear Cavalry
*The Attika State
*Acollective
*Katie Malco
*Doctrines
*Her Parents
*My First Tooth
*The Spills
*Get Inuit
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Underground punk scene in the United Kingdom
British independent record labels
Record labels established in 2006
Alternative rock record labels
Rock record labels
Pop record labels
British companies established in 2006
2006 establishments in England
Companies based in Oxford