Chiswick Records

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Chiswick Records
Active years 1975 - 1985, since 1989 as a sub-label
founder Ted Carroll, Roger Armstrong, Trevor Churchill
Seat London (United Kingdom)
Label code LC 4658
Sub-label Ace Records
distribution EMI , metronomes , PRT
Genre (s) Pub rock , punk , rock 'n' roll

Chiswick Records was a British music label that existed from 1975 to 1983 and made an important contribution to the development of the punk scene in the United Kingdom.

history

The Briton Ted Carroll ran a record store called Roll On Records in London's Portobello Road from 1971 . In the following four years he expanded Roll On Records to a small chain with three stores, in which his friend Roger Armstrong also worked. Records of various genres with a focus on blues , northern soul , rhythm and blues , rock 'n' roll and rockabilly were sold .

In 1975, Carroll and Armstrong founded the music label Chiswick Records, named after the London borough of the same name . The label's first published sound carrier was an EP by the London rock band The Count Bishops , who initiated the development of punk as representatives of pub rock . The label's focus was on re-releases of records by well-known rock artists, for which Carroll and Armstrong saw good sales opportunities based on their daily experience in record sales, as well as "noisy low-budget" in-house productions (Armstrong). The licenses for the re-releases were obtained from Trevor Churchill, a friend of Carroll and Armstrong, who joined the company's management team and previously worked for industry giant EMI . The strategy was successful, and the chart-experienced label President Records took over the distribution of the label. The third release was a single by the rock band The 101'ers of the later Clash singer Joe Strummer . The label's first chart success was in 1977 the production of Motörhead's debut album , which reached number 43 on the British album charts and brought Chiswick a distribution deal with ABC Records . At that time Chiswick was the stepping stone for several bands of the still young punk movement, but also for unknown musicians who would only come to fame later, for example Jim Kerr with the punk band Johnny & the Self Abusers, Billy Bragg with the pub rock Band Riff Raff or Kirsty MacColl with the pop-punk band Drug Addix. The young punk band Skrewdriver , which was well received by the press and which a few years later would mutate into a notorious right-wing rock band, initially published on Chiswick; the label was responsible for choosing the name of the band.

In 1978, the three Chiswick operators founded the sub-label Ace Records, which focused on re-releases and would later survive its mother company. The trigger was a distribution agreement with EMI. The group influenced the production strategy of the label, which then had to part with some respected but commercially poorly exploitable bands such as Johnny Moped . EMI also had no interest in Chiswick's re-release business, for which management subsequently formed Ace Records. For less commercial re-releases, Chiswick also founded the sub-label Big Beat Records, which still exists today as a sub-label of Ace and specializes in garage rock . Also in 1978 a distribution agreement was signed with Metronome Records for Germany.

In 1981 EMI ended the sales partnership, which was a clear turning point for Chiswick. The company was now an independent label again and contractually tied itself to PRT Records, which is much smaller than EMI .

By the end of 1982 Chiswick Records had hit rock bottom. In terms of content, the music business in Great Britain had moved away from the interests of the label founders; Although Chiswick occasionally published records of the genres pop and new wave , music of the genres rock'n'roll, pub rock and punk was no longer commercially viable on a large scale. The industry had also changed formally, music videos and public relations determined the success and failure of publications, and in this area the Chiswick management could not or would not keep up. In 1983 the management decided to liquidate the label and concentrate on Ace Records. In 1985 the label was buried with the release of a compilation album by The Damned .

Carroll, Armstrong and Churchill continued to operate Ace Records, now as the main label. From 1989 they used Chiswick Records as a sub-label for re-releases of old Chiswick titles, as well as occasionally as a label for new releases.

Artist (excerpt)

Chiswick Records released records from the following artists, among others:

Discography (excerpt)

year Artist plant Art genre
1975 The Count Bishops Speedball EP skirt
1976 Vince Taylor and his Playboys Brand New Cadillac single Rock and roll
1976 The 101'ers Keys to Your Heart single Pub rock
1976 The gorillas Gatecrasher single skirt
1977 Radio stars Dirty Pictures single Punk rock
1977 Skrewdriver Anti-social single punk
1977 The Radiators from Space Enemies single punk
1977 The Radiators from Space TV Tube Heart album punk
1977 Little Bob Story Off the rails album Pub rock
1977 Radio stars Songs for Swinging Lovers album Punk rock
1977 Skrewdriver All skrewed up album punk
1977 The Count Bishops The Count Bishops album skirt
1977 Motorhead Motorhead album Heavy metal
1977 Johnny moped No one / incendiary device single Proto-punk
1978 Sniff 'n' the Tears Driver's Seat single skirt
1978 Sniff 'n' the Tears Fuckle Heart album skirt
1978 Link Wray Early recordings compilation Rock and roll
1978 Johnny moped Cycledelic album Proto-punk
1978 Matchbox Settin 'The Woods On Fire album Rockabilly , rock 'n' roll
1978 Huey Smith and The Clowns Rockin 'Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu compilation skirt
1978 Radio stars Holiday album album Punk rock
1978 The Radiators from Space Ghostown album punk
1979 The Damned Machine Gun Etiquette album punk
1979 The nips Gabrielle single Punk rock
1979 Joe King Carrasco and El Molino Jalapeño Con Big Red single Rock and roll
1980 The Damned The Black Album album Gothic rock
1980 The Textones I Can't Fight It single Power pop
1980 TV Smith's Explorers Tomahawk Cruise single Pop punk
1981 Terry Woods Tennessee Stud single skirt
1981 The Meteors Radioactive Kid single Psychobilly
1981 Dick Rivers Elvis Presley single Rock and roll
1982 Edith Nylon Echo, bravo album New wave

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ RockOnRecords.com: History of Rock On Records! Retrieved August 11, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Punk77.co.uk: Chiswick Records. Retrieved August 11, 2019 .
  3. ↑ a b AceRecords.co.uk: Ace Records History Part 1. Accessed August 11, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Allmusic.com: The Count Bishops: Speedball +11. Retrieved August 11, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Robert Forbes, Eddie Stampton: The White Nationalist Skinhead Movement: UK & USA, from 1979 to 1993 . Feral House, Los Angeles 2015, ISBN 978-1-62731-025-3 , pp. 27 .
  6. ↑ Pias.com: 'It's About the Desire to Disseminate the Knowledge, to Turn People on Interesting to Records'. Retrieved August 11, 2019 .
  7. ↑ AceRecords.co.uk: Ace Records History Part 2. Retrieved August 11, 2019 .
  8. ↑ AceRecords.co.uk: The Chiswick Story. Retrieved August 11, 2019 .