Buddyhead

Headquarters: Hollywood, CA

Founded: 1998

Founded by: Aaron North & Travis Keller

Link: http://www.buddyhead.com/, record label - http://www.buddyhead.com/recordings/

Genre(s): rock, hardcore, punk, experimental

Active Roster
Wires on Fire, Shat

Key Releases
The Icarus Line - Penance Soiree, Your Enemies Friends - You Are Being Videotaped, Various Artists - Gimmie Skelter

History
Buddyhead was started in the same vein as most of everything is started, boredom. It was an outlet for Aaron North and Travis Keller to shine some light on bands in the L.A. area that they felt deserved attention. To truly understand their outlook take this quote from their website, "The idea was to illuminate good art… with a little bit of bottle rockets fired out of asses in between." In 2000, Buddyhead added label to their ever-growing resume with the release of self-produced 7 inch for The Icarus Line. And, just like almost all indie labels, Buddyhead kept the ball rolling by releasing 7 inches, LPs and albums by friends' bands who couldn't get them released otherwise. For the next couple of years, Buddyhead saw their label consistently growing (they apparently have very popular friends) with releases from Ink & Dagger, Your Enemies Friends, The Icarus Line, Radio Vago, Dillinger Escape Plan, Souls She Said, Burning Brides, Shat, Text (which is Refused minus Dennis) and an At the Drive-In/Murder City Devils split. They have also released to welcomed compilations, Gimmie Skelter and Suicide Sampler, that along with the bands listed above featured unreleased songs by Mudhoney, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Pleasure Forever, Primal Scream, Dead Meadow, The Starvations, Beehive and the Barracudas, Le Tigre, Cave-In and Weezer. They currently have only two bands on their roster, but don't read that the wrong way; Buddyhead acts more as a catalyst for releasing that all-important album between labels, not to mention a great headquarters for solidifying the west coast fan base. It is always a good idea to keep an eye on this label, because they have a sixth sense for the next big thing; not to mention, if you take your eye off them, you may just get a bottle rocket up your ass.

Back to Label Search

Main Page