Who would've thought that one of the country's most successful independent punk record labels would've gotten its name from an English progressive rock song of the '60s? A new DVD collects
Epitaph’s best talents
By Gary C.W. Chun
gchun@starbulletin.com
That bit of trivia is revealed in a good-humored historical documentary that is one of four special features on the Epitaph label's first "Punk-O-Rama" video compilation DVD, out today.
It's a good primer and overview of the Southern California label's colorful start as a small, feisty back-room operation, to its rise as a player in the mainstream record industry in the mid-'90s -- thanks mainly to the multiplatinum success of the Offspring -- and its current status as an influential and still-independent business venture.
It's all because of label owner (and Bad Religion member) Brett Gurewitz's philosophy that it's the bands and their music that make the label work rather than his executive decisions. It was true at the beginning, and it's the same today.
Although Gurewitz was offered millions of dollars by opportunistic major labels (and going through drug rehab partly because of the pressure to "sell out") at the height of Epitaph's success, the documentary suggests he's emerged a healthier man who still has his good nature, business acumen and musical chops intact.
THE MUSIC VIDEOS celebrate Epitaph's survival and commitment to the bands it helped market. The first seven videos can be considered some of the label's greatest hits -- Rancid's Clash-influenced "Nihilism" and "Salvation"; the overlooked Swedish band Refused and a great "New Noise"; Bad Religion's "American Jesus" (made by now-feature filmmaker Gore Verbinski); the SoCal skate punkers NOFX's "Leave It Alone" and Pennywise's "Same Old Story"; and the song that broke Epitaph into the mainstream, the Offspring's "Come Out and Play."
After the monster success of both the song and the album "Smash," the Offspring signed with Columbia Records. Ironically, the band has never been able to match the numbers and popularity of the Epitaph release.
The major labels, specifically Sire/Warner Bros., were able to lure the Hives from Epitaph's marketing deal with Sweden's Burning Heart label. Because of that, videos of the band's hits like "Hate to Say I Told You So" and "Main Offender" are not included in this compilation.
But there are still other fine Burning Heart acts whose videos are featured on "Punk-O-Rama," including tony, high-concept stuff from Millencolin ("Kemp," done up in sophisticated CGI by the StyleWar collective), The International Noise Conspiracy (a clever and telling "Up for Sale") and the Division of Laura Lee's "Need to Get Some."
New Jersey's Bouncing Souls, who've created a local fan base here since playing the last two "Punk on a Rock" minifests, are featured with two videos, the popular "True Believers" and "East Side Mags," and a shot-in-concert feature with synched-up recorded versions of "That Song" and "Cracked."
"Punk-O-Rama" goes from the gleefully juvenile -- the Descendents' skating sperm in "I'm the One" and Guttermouth's goofball "She's Got the Look" -- to the more mature and conceptual with Boston's Oi! band Dropkick Murphys' "The Gauntlet," Bad Religion's ambitious art direction on "Sorrow" and Pennywise's inflammatory "F*** Authority," which also includes a making-of feature.
And the future looks bright for Epitaph. Gurewitz and Rancid's Tim Armstrong run a side label, Hellcat Records. Another Epitaph affiliated label, Anti-, featured a small stable of iconoclastic artists as Tom Waits, Tricky and Merle Haggard.
Epitaph has also partnered with the great Oxford, Miss., blues roots label Fat Possum, which features the true Soulman, Solomon Burke.
In fact, Burke's latest critically acclaimed album is apropos to all that is Epitaph. Its title? "Don't Give Up on Me."
Acts on the Epitaph DVD include from top, the Bouncing Souls, middle, Division of Laura Lee and Hot Water Music.
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