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Electric Honey (label)

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Electric Honey
Parent companyGlasgow Kelvin College
Founded1992
FounderStow College
Distributor(s)Cargo
GenreAlternative
Country of originUnited Kingdom
LocationGlasgow, Scotland
Official websiteElectric Honey

Electric Honey was founded in 1992 and is Glasgow Kelvin College's in-house record label run by Ken McCluskey (The Bluebells), Douglas MacIntyre (Creeping Bent)[1] and formerly Alan Rankine (The Associates) along with students from the HNC/D Music Business course. The label celebrated its 25th year in 2017 with many events including the release of the debut album "Any Joy" from Scottish six-piece indie rock band; "Pronto Mama."

The label was described by Uncut magazine as being "The most successful student-run label in the world",[2] thanks to the history of artists having releases with the imprint, including Belle & Sebastian, Snow Patrol and Biffy Clyro. The 2012 album 'Self Help' by Young Aviators became the biggest selling CD album in the labels history. [3]

Affiliate labels were also run under Electric Honey for a period of time. Gdansk, which released electronic-based artists and Root 8 which specialised in world music.

Early years

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The label was founded by staff at Stow College with the idea of creating a platform for students in the HNC/D Music Business course, to gain the experience of working firsthand with record company operations, while also having a hand in the creation of a thriving music scene within Scotland by releasing local artists. The first release was in 1993 with Baby Chaos, later known as Deckard, and their Buzz EP.[4] Baby Chaos would then go on to receive considerable recognition from their releases with their 1996 album Love Your Self Abuse, being named one of Kerrang!'s 100 Greatest British Rock Albums Ever.[5] The 1995 release of The Moondials, featured Stevie Jackson on guitar, who would go on to join Belle & Sebastian alongside Stuart Murdoch later that year.

1996/2000

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Belle and Sebastian

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Electric Honey's first success came with the release of the label's first album release in 1996, Belle & Sebastian's Tigermilk, named after a track originally written for, but left out from, the album. Formed by Stuart Murdoch and Stuart David, later joined with Stevie Jackson, Belle & Sebastian formed in Glasgow in early 1996, recording their first demos in Stow College. Murdoch was involved early on with the University of Glasgow's Subcity Radio. Originally limited to 1000 copies on Electric Honey, the album was picked up by Jeepster Records who re-released it in 1999, and is now often cited as a classic influential album,[6] with "The State I Am In" being placed at number 17 on Pitchfork Media's top 200 tracks of the 1990s.[7] Belle and Sebastian recently played a special gig at Winfield House- the London residence of the US Ambassador to the United Kingdom.

Snow Patrol

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Originally called Polarbear, Snow Patrol are the most successful of Electric Honey's signings having sold ten million albums worldwide. The band formed in Glasgow while front-man Gary Lightbody worked in the Glasgow venue Nice 'n' Sleazys. Starfighter Pilot came five years before their big selling[8] album Final Straw, and featured Belle & Sebastian's Stuart Murdoch on piano and backing vocals.

Starfighter Pilot was later featured on the band's debut album Songs for Polarbears and re-released as a single through Jeepster Records.

Biffy Clyro

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Biffy Clyro were signed to the label while they were students at Stow College. In 2000, they released their debut EP Thekidswhopoptodaywillrocktomorrow through Electric Honey, featuring the tracks "57" and "Justboy". Both tracks reappeared on the band's debut album release, Blackened Sky, through Beggars Banquet Records.

Label Timeline

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Artist/Band Year Release
Baby Chaos 1993 Buzz EP
Eight Miles High 1993 Go Single
The Moondials 1995 Can You See? Single
Belle and Sebastian 1996 Tigermilk Album
Polar Bear (Snow Patrol) 1997 Starfighter Pilot Single
Flow 1998 I Can Love You Single
Rob (Rayon) Alexandra 1999 Crystal Ball Single
Biffy Clyro 2000 Thekidswhopoptodaywillrocktomorrow EP
Pupkin 2001 Morning Light EP
Policechief 2002 Coup De Grace Single
Odeon Beatclub 2003 Behind My Eyes Single
Poor Old Ben 2004 Another Day EP
Clearfall 2005 Sculpt.Paint.Sketch Single
How to Swim 2006 The Little Orgasm EP
Various Artists 2007 Thank you for being you Album
Wake The President 2007 Sorrows for Clothes Single

Mail, Alice Single
Remember Fun Single
I'm Sorry Single
Miss Tierney Single
You Can't Change That Boy Single
You Can't Change That Boy Album
Elaine Single

State Broadcasters 2008 The Ship and the Iceberg Album

Let's Male T-shirts Single

Je Suis Animal 2008 Fortune Map Single
The Kingfishers 2008 Make Me Sad Single
Woodenbox with a Fistful of Fivers 2010 Home and the Wildhunt Album

Besides The point Single
Twisted Mile Single

White Heath 2010 7.38 am Single

Take No Thought for Tomorrow
GG Single
When the Watchmen Leave their Station Single

French Wives 2011 Numbers Single

Dream of the Inbetween
Younger

Miniature Dinosaurs 2011 Fight or Flight Single
Young Aviators 2012 The Question Is? Single

Self Help

Alex Hynes 2013 Slow Your Breath EP
Harry and the Hendersons 2013 Give Me Proof Single
Schnarff Schnarff 2014 Schnarff Schnarff EP
Apache Sun 2015 Apache Sun EP
Finn Le Marinel 2015 Love is Waves EP
Yacouba Sissoko 2015 Ti Mangala Ki Album
Be Charlotte 2016 Discover Single
Sunshine Social 2016 Reduce to Dust Album
The Claramassa 2016 Being Alive EP
Pronto Mama 2017 Arabesque Single

Any Joy

Colonel Mustard & The Dijon 5 2018 Peace, Love & Mustard EP
Toni Woods 2018 Better Man Single
The Nickajack Men 2018 Changed Ways Single
Flew The Arrow 2019 Come The Wind, Come The Rain Single
Nicol & Elliott 2019 Wish You'd Stayed Away Single

Sweet Downfall Single

Chris Greig & The Merchants 2019 Colours Single

Lipstick EP

Toni Woods 2019 I Don't Wanna Be Your Friend Single

Gdansk

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Artists

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Discography

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Compilations

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  • Lato 001 (2003)
  • Lato 002 (2004)
  • Lato 003
  • Lato 004
  • Lato 005 (2006)

Albums

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  • Mellow Sub Machine – Los Machinos Mellos (2005)

Root 8

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Artists

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  • Koshka
  • Mungo's Hi-Fi
  • Lee Patterson
  • Red Road Global Music Collective
  • Zuba
  • Roddy Hart

Discography

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  • Welcome (2005)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "The Creeping Bent Organisation". Creepingbent.org. Archived from the original on 10 February 2013. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
  2. ^ "Belle And Sebastian Say Thank You". Uncut. Retrieved 2 March 2013.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ "The Scotsman Sessions #355: Declan McKay". The Scotsman.
  4. ^ Fulton, Rick (24 May 2013). "Student label Electric Honey celebrates 20th anniversary after launching some of the biggest bands in UK music". Dailyrecord.co.uk. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  5. ^ "Kerrang! – 100 British albums by the readers". Muzieklijstjes.nl. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
  6. ^ "Tigermilk". Belle and Sebastian. Archived from the original on 27 April 2012. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
  7. ^ "Staff Lists: The Top 200 Tracks of the 1990s: 20-01 | Features". Pitchfork. 3 September 2010. Archived from the original on 19 July 2012. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
  8. ^ "Final Straw | Get Snow Patrol". Getsnowpatrol.wordpress.com. 4 August 2003. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
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