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Updated: 21/07/04
Profiling the label that launched Sonic Youth
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When you think of Sonic Youth today, it's hard to imagine that nobody in Britain wanted to put out the band's fourth LP. When Paul Smith first heard 'Bad Moon Rising', he recognised that the Sonic Youth sound deserved to be heard once again. Even though Paul hadn't even seen them live, he took the record to almost every independent label he knew, and eventually, he managed to convince Rough Trade's Pete Warmsley of Sonic Youth's potential.
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"Band member Lee Ranaldo had originally asked £10,000, which was more than Paul's house cost to buy..." |
"Pete was so sick of me going on about the record that he arranged a deal to press 5000 LP's" Paul remembers. "He said to me 'OK, work out the rights with the group and start thinking of a name for your new record label'". Paul was still in his day job at Nottingham County Council, so he missed a couple of mortgage repayments and raised £500 to license the record. Band member Lee Ranaldo had originally asked Paul for £10,000, which was more than Paul's house cost to buy. Eventually the two parties came to an agreement and 'Bad Moon Rising' was released on Blast First Records.
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Blast First steadily continued to release landmark albums by cutting edge American bands like Steve Albini's Big Black and Dinosaur Jnr. "It was a fantastic time for American music," Paul says, "so via Sonic Youth's connection's, I picked up the bands I liked". It was around that time that the Blast First offices received a demo tape by Birmingham band Head of David. "Head of David were the first band I thought could measure up to our American releases". After Justin Broadrick of Godflesh fame left, Head of David carried on as a three piece but never recorded any material after 1990.
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