Jade Tree International, Inc. is 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 and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

formed by Darren Walters and Tim Owen in 1990 in

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

History

Origin (1987–1990)

In 1987, Tim Owen and Darren Walters were introduced during a punk show in Washington, D.C. At the time, Walters was a student at the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially known as UD, UDel, or Delaware) is a Statutory college#Delaware, privately governed, state-assisted Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Newark, Delaware, United States. UD offers f ...

where he had already independently released records on his label, Hi-Impact Records. To further these musical pursuits, Darren teamed up with

Rochester Institute of Technology The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is a private university, private research university in Henrietta, New York, a suburb of Rochester, New York, Rochester. It was founded in 1829. It is one of only two institute of technology, institut ...

student Tim Owen, and his friend Carl Hedgepath. Together, they created their own label, Axtion Packed Records. Both Axtion Packed and Hi-Impact focused on straight edge hardcore and produced vinyl records in 45 format. In an effort to expand musical genres and format, Axtion Packed Records was dissolved in 1990 to form Jade Tree Records. Owens and Walters modeled their new label on established independent's Touch & Go out of Chicago and Washington, D.C.'s

Dischord Records Dischord Records is a Washington, D.C.–based independent record label specializing in punk rock. The label is co-owned by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, who founded Dischord in 1980 to release '' Minor Disturbance'' by their band the Teen Id ...

Growth and becoming established (1991–1996)

In August of 1991, Jade Tree made their inaugural release, Culture Shock by the hardcore band Four Walls Falling. The album art included original photography by Owens. The new label started with many

post-hardcore Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. Like the term " post-punk", the term "post-hardcore" has been applied to a broad conste ...

and

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, though these bands didn't garner much interest from the public. It wasn't until 1993, when Jade Tree released the album No Punches Pulled by DC area hardcore band, Swiz, did the label start receiving recognition. Hot Water Music 2008

The label began incorporating emo, punk,

melodic hardcore Melodic hardcore is a broadly defined subgenre of hardcore punk with a strong emphasis on melody in its guitar work. The style often includes guitar harmonies, riffs using octave chords, as well as broken chords. Additionally, lyrics tend towar ...

, 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 whe ...

groups into their line-up. Through college, they grew the label into a stable roster by 1995. By 1994, Jade Tree was becoming less of a priority to the two founders. Owen had moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

to attend the

School Of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by Silas ...

to further his photography education. Walters remained in their native Delaware, where he worked in education, focusing on disadvantaged students. A newfound interest was once again sparked, when the pair heard an unreleased demo by the band Lifetime. By the fall of 1995, the band had officially signed with Jade Tree, and together they released the album Hello Bastards. This album would serve as the turning point for Jade Tree. In 1996, sales started to increase after the label released

The Promise Ring The Promise Ring was an American rock band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that is recognized as part of the second wave of emo. Among various other EPs and singles, the band released four studio albums during their initial run: '' 30° Every ...

's '' 30° Everywhere''. The label often used the graphic designers Jason Gnewikow and Jeremy Dean for many releases.

Middle years (1997–2008)

Bands signed by Jade Tree have released albums which saw regular radio play, including Alkaline Trio, Pedro the Lion, Jets to Brazil, and

Joan of Arc Joan of Arc ( ; ; – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the Coronation of the French monarch, coronation of Charles VII o ...

Downsizing (2009–2013)

When key distributor Touch and Go Records downsized in 2009 Jade Tree scaled down too. This led to a lessening of the frequency of new releases from the label.

Digital release and regrowth (2014–2016)

Jade Tree made its entire discography available for digital download and streaming on

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...

in June 2014. This marked a planned increase in the number of new releases. In February 2015, the label signed the band Dogs on Acid.

Epitaph purchase (2017–present)

In 2017 Epitaph Records purchased Jade Tree's entire catalog and started to re-release the back catalogue on vinyl.

Bands signed

* Alkaline Trio * Avail *

Breather Resist Breather Resist was an American hardcore punk and mathcore band from Louisville, Kentucky, formed in 2002 and dissolved in 2006. They take their name from the song “Breather Resist” by Hoover. History Breather Resist formed in 2002 and rec ...

Cap'n Jazz Cap'n Jazz (sometimes stylised as caP'n Jazz) is an American emo band from Buffalo Grove, Illinois. History Brothers Tim Kinsella and Mike Kinsella formed the band Toe Jam with Victor Villarreal, and Sam Zurick, in 1989, before eventually ...

* Cex * Cloak/Dagger * Cub Country * Damnation AD * Dark Blue *

Denali Denali (), federally designated as Mount McKinley, is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of above sea level. It is the tallest mountain in the world from base to peak on land, measuring . On p. 20 of Helm ...

* Despistado * Dogs on Acid * Edsel * Eggs * Eidolon * Ester Drang * Euphone * The Explosion * Four Walls Falling * From Ashes Rise * Fucked Up * Girls Against Boys *

Gravel Gravel () is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally on Earth as a result of sedimentation, sedimentary and erosion, erosive geological processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gr ...

* Jets to Brazil *

* Jones Very * Juno * Kid Dynamite * Leslie * Lifetime * Lords * Leather * The Loved Ones * Micah P. Hinson * Mighty Flashlight * Milemarker * New End Original * New Mexican Disaster Squad * The New Old Hopes * Onelinedrawing * Owls * Paint It Black * Panda & Angel * Pedro the Lion *

Pitchblende Uraninite, also known as pitchblende, is a radioactive, uranium-rich mineral and ore with a chemical composition that is largely UO2 but because of oxidation typically contains variable proportions of U3O8. Radioactive decay of the urani ...

* Railhed * Snowden * Spraynard * State of the Nation *

Statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...

Strike Anywhere Strike Anywhere is an American punk rock band from Richmond, Virginia. Formed in 1999 after the demise of frontman Thomas Barnett's previous band, Inquisition, they took their name from the Inquisition song "Strike Anywhere". Their music is ch ...

* Sweetbelly Freakdown * Swiz * Texas Is The Reason * These Arms Are Snakes * Trial By Fire *

Turing Machine A Turing machine is a mathematical model of computation describing an abstract machine that manipulates symbols on a strip of tape according to a table of rules. Despite the model's simplicity, it is capable of implementing any computer algori ...

* Turning Point * Universal Order of Armageddon *

Walleye The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', Synonym (taxonomy), synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the walleyed pike, yellow pike, yellow pikeperch or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern ...

* Young Widows

References

External links

Jade Tree official web siteJade Tree MySpace page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jade Tree (Record Label) Record labels established in 1990 American independent record labels Post-hardcore record labels Emo Hardcore record labels Alternative rock record labels Companies based in Wilmington, Delaware Punk record labels Jade Tree (record label) 1990 establishments in Delaware Music of Wilmington, Delaware