Slap A Ham Records

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Slap A Ham Records
Active years 1989-2002
founder Chris Dodge
Seat San Francisco (United States)
Sub-label Raging Woody Records
Genre (s) Hardcore , Grindcore , Powerviolence , Thrash Metal

Slap A Ham Records was an American music label founded in 1989 in San Francisco , specializing in Hardcore , Grindcore , Powerviolence and Thrash Metal .

history

Founder and owner was Chris Dodge , guitarist of No Use for a Name and Spazz . Dodge was a collector of records with "as fast as possible" music and had wanted to start a label himself for several years. The label name (in German about smack a ham ) arose out of necessity: David Hayes from Lookout, who was friends with Dodge ! Records knew about the imminent start of Dodge's as yet nameless label and offered him to advertise Dodge in the booklet of a compilation of his label, if the latter would give him the name of the label immediately. "Slap A Ham" was Dodge's first idea. Dodge became aware of many bands because a journalist friend from Maximumrocknroll magazine slipped him cassettes with demo recordings.

Slap A Ham Records was quick to come up with releases from well-known bands. In addition to the good networking of the company founder (who meanwhile worked as an editor at Maximumrocknroll ), the fact that hardcore as a music genre had passed its zenith at the end of the 1980s and even well-known bands sometimes had problems publishing their works was beneficial. The genre Powerviolence owes some development work to Slap A Ham Records, many of the Powerviolence bands of the first hour published here. Since 1993, the label has also hosted the "Fiesta Grande" festival in Berkeley near San Francisco, which primarily featured bands that were signed to Slap A Ham. The label's pace of release was slow as there was no significant funding available and new productions had to be funded from the proceeds of completed productions. The label's most financially successful album in 1999 was Spazz's Crush Kill Destroy , of which 5000 units were pressed and which was reissued by 625 Thrashcore in the 2010s . In 1994 the sub-label Raging Woody Records was founded for the release of a single by the alternative country band The Old Joe Clarks , which was never used again afterwards. Slap A Ham's most bizarre release was Spazz's Funky Ass Li'l Platter single, a one-inch (2.54 centimeter) diameter vinyl single released in 1996. Another oddity is a split - EP by Spazz and with the US comedian Jimmie Walker in 1996: on the one side of the 7 " -Schallplatte play Spazz eight short, fast Powerviolence songs, on the other sings Jimmie Walker a song from the soundtrack of the Disney film adaptation of the Jungle Book from 1967. A year later, a split EP followed with the grindcore band Gob and the singing TV presenter Wink Martindale .

Dodge and with it the label moved to Los Angeles in April 2001 . In 2002 the label operation was discontinued for financial reasons. Owner Dodge blames a slump in consumption after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 as the main reason for the failure . The label released a total of 58 records by 49 bands and six compilations as reviews of the label's work.

Chris Dodge now lives as a visual artist in Los Angeles. He paints, plays in some local bands and runs the comedy podcast Hour of the Barbarian .

Publications

Bands

Due to the local network, the majority of the bands that released on Slap A Ham come from California. The relatively large proportion of Japanese power violence groups is striking. The following bands released records on Slap A Ham Records:

  1. 13 (New York)
  2. Anarchus (Mexico)
  3. Ancient Chinese Secret (California)
  4. Benümb (California)
  5. Burned Up Bled Dry ( Arkansas )
  6. Burning Witch ( Washington )
  7. CFDL (Japan)
  8. Capitalist Casualties (California)
  9. Charred Remains (California)
  10. Conga Fury (Japan)
  11. Crossed Out (California)
  12. Despise You (California)
  13. Discordance Axis ( New Jersey )
  14. East-West Blast Test (California)
  15. Enemy Soil ( Virginia )
  16. EyeHateGod ( New Orleans )
  17. Fu Manchu (California)
  18. Fuck On the Beach (Japan)
  19. Gasp (California)
  20. Gob ( Nevada )
  21. Godstomper (California)
  22. Hellnation ( Kentucky )
  23. Iabhorer (New York)
  24. Infest (California)
  25. Jimmie Walker
  26. Lack of Interest (California)
  27. Man Is the Bastard (California)
  28. MDC (Texas)
  29. Melt-Banana (Japan)
  30. Melvins ( Washington )
  31. Monastery (Netherlands / Sweden)
  32. Neanderthal (California)
  33. No Comment (California)
  34. No Less (California)
  35. No Use for a Name (California)
  36. Noothgrush, California
  37. Otophobia ( Georgia )
  38. Phobia (California)
  39. Pink Turds in Space (Northern Ireland)
  40. Pissed Happy Children (California)
  41. Plutocracy (California)
  42. Rupture (Australia)
  43. Slave State ( New York )
  44. Slight Slappers (Japan)
  45. Spazz (California)
  46. Stikky (California)
  47. Suppression (Virginia)
  48. Wink Martindale
  49. Yacøpsæ (Germany)

Sampler

The following samplers with titles from bands that had previously been released on Slap A Ham Records, but also titles from other bands, appeared over time:

  • 1991: Bllleeeeaaauuurrrrgghhh! - The Record
  • 1992: Son of Bllleeeeaaauuurrrrgghhh
  • 1997: Fiesta Comes Alive (compilation with live recordings from the "Fiesta Grande" festival)
  • 1998: Bllleeeeaaauuurrrrgghhh! - A Music War
  • 1998: Ham Slappin 'Hits!
  • 2001: Short, Fast + Loud! Vol. # 1

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c NoEcho.net: Interview: Chris Dodge. Retrieved January 27, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Dirk Gomez: Slap A Ham Records . In: Ox-Fanzine . No. 32, 1998.
  3. ↑ ListVerse.com: 10 Music Recordings for the Insanely Determined. Retrieved January 27, 2020 .
  4. ↑ a b M3 Event (Blog): Interview - Slap a Ham Records. Retrieved January 27, 2020 .
  5. ↑ LibSyn.com: Hour of the Barbarian. Retrieved January 27, 2020 .