Iconic U.S. labels Epitaph & Anti find a home in NZ
Epitaph Records is an independent music label founded in Los Angeles by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. Early releases from a variety of punk heavyweights spawned what became known as the 90’s punk explosion. From the beginning Epitaph’s mission has been to serve the musicians on its diverse and creative roster – an artist-first model, radical twenty years ago, and much imitated today.
The Anti record label was founded in 1999 as a sister label to Epitaph. While Epitaph’s focus has mostly been on punk rock, Anti-‘s roster includes country, hip hop, reggae, soul, post-metal, indie folk, rap rock, indie rock and Tom Waits. With artists as renown and diverse as Neko Case, Mavis Staples, Ben Harper and Cass McComb putting out records on the label, fans can trust whatever this label puts out is worth checking out!
Lisa Paris, owner and CEO of The Label is ecstatic at the opportunity to work with these labels again, commenting “My history with Epitaph / Anti goes back a way. 20+ years in fact when I was with the Aussie indie label Shock Records. Crikey we had some times! Had the pleasure of having Pennywise in the territory a number of times (oh the laughter, the near misses!), as well as Millencolin, a very well mannered young Swedish band who were blowing up as part of the new wave of punk and remain on the label to this day. The Offspring was massive back then (first time I’d ever seen a beer bong – lol!) and of course meeting the mighty Joe Strummer at the airport as he sauntered out wearing his white Stetson hat to be followed by watching his Big Day Out set under the light of the full moon remains one of my life’s highlights.
“We are thrilled to be working with The Label on our marketing and promotion in New Zealand” – Brett Gurewitz