LABEL BIO and ALBUM REVIEWS: A detailed dive into the history, timeline and bands who released vinyl LPs on Amphetamine Reptile Records between 1989 and 2024.
What you crafted here is a perfect answer to some of my contemporaries, who question what anyone needs a label for. All these bands were incredibly lucky to have a Tom Hazlemyer to believe in them, and give them a place to belong and an audience who would listen + support them, bc he did.
May a hundred more like him, and like you, arise again soon.
Wow! Thanks for the kind words. They are much appreciated and I’m glad you enjoyed the piece.
I agree - art needs patrons who invest and encourage it to develop - actually, much like you’ve just done for me, in your own way.
I worry that now, without that - labels focused on the integrity over the exploitation - artists don’t get the chance to breathe, adapt and become. It’s sad.
It means that, unless things change, the shallow artistry, that is all that is permitted to develop quickly enough to be retained, won’t sate to its full potential, and we’ll all be so much poorer for it.
There are still great labels out there nurturing great art - Sacred Bones, Thrill Jockey, The Flenser, Neurot - maybe more than ever - but the battlegrounds have become even harder to rise above, it’s easy not to succeed as a label or notice as a punter.
There’s so much crap to wade through and too few reliable tastemakers to catalogue it, that labels with a real identity and personality you can trust and buy into, as much as the music itself, seem far fewer and further between.
And that’s the secret - if you trust the label, you’ll take a chance on their bands, sight unseen. Nowadays, with so much available at our fingertips, a band has to distinguish itself in seconds, or it’s skipped.
If that had been the case historically, we’d surely have had no Melvins, Cows, Surgery or Hamnerhead - and the world would be poorer for it.
After putting my main man Jesse Dayton with Samantha Fish (ugh I still hate it) I resent my love for Jon Spencer. But, then the Bobby Lees cancel that out.
This is great. Thanks for taking the time to dig deep. As I mentioned I went to the Ugly American Overkill tour in early 90s London. It was an unruly day. HOF lasted ten minutes before falling off stage drunk. I remember Haze was into making Am Rep a blue collar label to counterpoint the more studenty SubPop. He made a good job of it. As an aside Manchester had a band on AmRep, The Powers That Be. They used to come in to the record shop I worked in (Eastern Bloc, Manchester) around 1991/2 and sent Haze a tape which he loved and put as a picture disc if I recall. It’s not a great record but goes to show AmRep listened to unsolicited tapes and put their money where their mouth was.
Ha! I know/knew Eastern Bloc! I was Sheffield around that time and visited fairly regularly. I wonder if you served me?
Warp in Sheffield is where the vast majority of my collection came from originally. Loads still have the price stickers on ‘em. I loved that place. It ripped theee years of student loans from my sweaty palms. :D
Thanks SO much for that info about The Powers That Be! I had no idea - i’ve got the record, but knew NOTHING about them. That’s genuinely great to know!
Spending the 90s in Austin, I saw most of the AmRep heyday bands; I remember the big deal show of Helmet & Jawbox, when 'Strap It On' was the only thing out, I remember a few SXSW showcases, and I must have seen Cows every time they came through—and of course, Cherubs always. I definitely burnt out on the label at a point, and every now and again I go back to 'Dope, Guns...' and remember lesser knowns that I like, but that I don't remember much of other than liking at the time, like Hammerhead and Vertigo, or wondering what else I could find by Fetish 69. Thanks for giving me a reason to go back and revisit some of these bands, like Guzzard.
Also, The Crows? Frightening, actually and totally neglected. I have that 7" Kozik picture disc, and it's got a terrifying B-side, "Lowbrow", that one should never listen to on a lysergic adventure, unless they're prepared for the end of that song to drive them into a momentary madness where they briefly hallucinate themselves strangling their friend.
What you crafted here is a perfect answer to some of my contemporaries, who question what anyone needs a label for. All these bands were incredibly lucky to have a Tom Hazlemyer to believe in them, and give them a place to belong and an audience who would listen + support them, bc he did.
May a hundred more like him, and like you, arise again soon.
Wow! Thanks for the kind words. They are much appreciated and I’m glad you enjoyed the piece.
I agree - art needs patrons who invest and encourage it to develop - actually, much like you’ve just done for me, in your own way.
I worry that now, without that - labels focused on the integrity over the exploitation - artists don’t get the chance to breathe, adapt and become. It’s sad.
It means that, unless things change, the shallow artistry, that is all that is permitted to develop quickly enough to be retained, won’t sate to its full potential, and we’ll all be so much poorer for it.
There are still great labels out there nurturing great art - Sacred Bones, Thrill Jockey, The Flenser, Neurot - maybe more than ever - but the battlegrounds have become even harder to rise above, it’s easy not to succeed as a label or notice as a punter.
There’s so much crap to wade through and too few reliable tastemakers to catalogue it, that labels with a real identity and personality you can trust and buy into, as much as the music itself, seem far fewer and further between.
And that’s the secret - if you trust the label, you’ll take a chance on their bands, sight unseen. Nowadays, with so much available at our fingertips, a band has to distinguish itself in seconds, or it’s skipped.
If that had been the case historically, we’d surely have had no Melvins, Cows, Surgery or Hamnerhead - and the world would be poorer for it.
Oops. That turned into a 5am rant.
:)
After putting my main man Jesse Dayton with Samantha Fish (ugh I still hate it) I resent my love for Jon Spencer. But, then the Bobby Lees cancel that out.
This is great. Thanks for taking the time to dig deep. As I mentioned I went to the Ugly American Overkill tour in early 90s London. It was an unruly day. HOF lasted ten minutes before falling off stage drunk. I remember Haze was into making Am Rep a blue collar label to counterpoint the more studenty SubPop. He made a good job of it. As an aside Manchester had a band on AmRep, The Powers That Be. They used to come in to the record shop I worked in (Eastern Bloc, Manchester) around 1991/2 and sent Haze a tape which he loved and put as a picture disc if I recall. It’s not a great record but goes to show AmRep listened to unsolicited tapes and put their money where their mouth was.
Ha! I know/knew Eastern Bloc! I was Sheffield around that time and visited fairly regularly. I wonder if you served me?
Warp in Sheffield is where the vast majority of my collection came from originally. Loads still have the price stickers on ‘em. I loved that place. It ripped theee years of student loans from my sweaty palms. :D
Thanks SO much for that info about The Powers That Be! I had no idea - i’ve got the record, but knew NOTHING about them. That’s genuinely great to know!
Spending the 90s in Austin, I saw most of the AmRep heyday bands; I remember the big deal show of Helmet & Jawbox, when 'Strap It On' was the only thing out, I remember a few SXSW showcases, and I must have seen Cows every time they came through—and of course, Cherubs always. I definitely burnt out on the label at a point, and every now and again I go back to 'Dope, Guns...' and remember lesser knowns that I like, but that I don't remember much of other than liking at the time, like Hammerhead and Vertigo, or wondering what else I could find by Fetish 69. Thanks for giving me a reason to go back and revisit some of these bands, like Guzzard.
Also, The Crows? Frightening, actually and totally neglected. I have that 7" Kozik picture disc, and it's got a terrifying B-side, "Lowbrow", that one should never listen to on a lysergic adventure, unless they're prepared for the end of that song to drive them into a momentary madness where they briefly hallucinate themselves strangling their friend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtB8HMY3zfc
Hahaha! Brilliant recollections. Glad I could reignite the fire somewhat. Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Amazing writing ! So many names I used to read about in local zines during the 90s ! Thank you for bringing memories back.
Thank you for taking the time to comment! Glad it struck a nerve. :)
Thanks for writing and posting this! Great label and spent many years in the 90’s listening to AmRep bands.
Thank you, Godfrey!