A TALE OF TWO LABELS as some of you may remember, a few months ago (around august), i made a huge announcement that some friends and i were launching a record label called HELP RECORDS. we did, and we began building it. we even threw a kick ass CMJ PROM. everything was awesome, then it came to an end, and out of the ashes, rose IHEARTCOMIX RECORDS. here's the story: when the idea of what would eventually become HELP RECORDS came up, it was originally thought of as just being a little hobby label, maybe an imprint of a larger indie, something like that. my best friend ZANE and i had come across a lot of bands in our time that we'd "discovered" but hadn't had the money or ability to do anything with, so we passed them along to people who we thought could. we're talking great bands, heck, ZANE is the one who "discovered" BLOC PARTY and passed them along to DIM MAK. we wanted to change our lot in life and play a bigger part in the bands we found and loved, so we began looking around. we found our friend JAY PARKIN, who at the time ran FIDDLER RECORDS. all of us had been friends for a long time and were hanging out more and more. he liked the idea and so that brought about the reality of the new label. fast forward a few months and JAY comes across a company with a lot of money who want to invest in a label. it's almost a dream come true. after forming a very clear and concise buisness plan, they agree to front the label and give us total freedom and a great budget to really make things work (this label stuff is expensive). we hire on TRAVIS and HELP RECORDS is born. so, we're psyched and we get right to work, rallying up bands and putting all our plans into action. we have our big launch at cmj and it seems like everything is going as planned. then, the fateful day happens. i'm working in our office and the phone rings. it's one of the head guys at the mysterious company, someone i'd never even talked to. he fires me, then calls travis and fires him. fires everyone except JAY. protesting and reasoning does nothing. everyone is confused and upset. i guess whoever the board members of the company are were not too excited about spending money and not seeing an immediate profit. duh, it's a indie record label. anyway, it was a big to do. we hadn't signed a lot of the bands yet and we briefly felt like our dreams we crushed. we took the next 6 weeks or so to try to work things out to no avail, then MARK THE COBRASNAKE and i went to EUROPE. we hadn't really discussed this with anyone. a few days after HALLOWEEN, i was sitting in my office, toiling away as i usually do, when LARS from THIS BLUSH stopped by. we began talking and i explained everything. we really broke it down and then i realized and said, "fuck it, let's do it anyway. i could probably afford to put your guy's record out on my own (probably being the key word, have you seen my car?)." and so, IHEARTCOMIX RECORDS was born, and the world (at least my world) is alot better off because of it. no icky corporate money and i'm ultimately responsible for my own fate. TRAVIS signed on board and JAY and ZANE joined forces as well. why start something totally new when we can do it all under the same banner anyway. in the couple months that we've been a label, i've been including it in these blasts, but kind of keeping mum about the whole thing. i wanted to wait till we were a bit more ready and it was real. now it is. we have three bands thus far: FLYING DOUGLAS (who are amazing), THIS BLUSH (who are totally rad) and i'm very, very proud to announce our latest addition to the IHEARTCOMIX FAMILY....... straight out of brooklyn: MATT & KIM!! they're possibly the cutest and most fun band i've ever seen in my life. if you don't believe me, go to their myspace page or website and watch the video. so rad: http://www.myspace.com/mattandkim http://www.mattandkimmusic.com FLYING DOUGLAS's and THIS BLUSH's records will be out in JAN/FEB time frame and MATT & KIM's around APRIL/MAY. we have a lot of good stuff coming up, whether it be parties, tours, shows, products or high fives. keep your eyes peeled in the new year. oh, and if anyone wants any copies of any of these band's demos, buttons or any IHEARTCOMIX freebies, just get in touch and we'll hook you up. TRAVIS & I must now get back to work. until next time.....