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Fat Wreck Chords

Fat Wreck Chords (pronounced "Fat Records") is an independent record label based in San Francisco focused on punk rock. It was started by NOFX lead singer Michael Burkett (better known as Fat Mike) and his wife at the time, Erin Burkett in 1990.[1] As of 2009 Fat Wreck Chords has released over 300 studio albums.[1]

Fat Wreck Chords
Founded1990
FounderFat Mike & Erin Burkett
Distributor(s)The Orchard (US)
PIAS (Europe)
eOne Music (Worldwide)
GenrePunk rock
Country of originU.S.
LocationSan Francisco, California
Official websitefatwreck.com

History

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Fat Mike started his record label Wassail Records in 1987. He put out two NOFX records, The PMRC 7” in 1987 and Liberal Animation in 1988. In 1990, he and his wife Erin Burkett co-founded Fat Wreck Chords, and re-released NOFX's 1987 EP, The P.M.R.C Can Suck on This. In 1992, Fat Mike went on to produce Lagwagon, Propagandhi, and No Use for a Name. In 1993, the label released records by Rancid, Face to Face, and Strung Out. Fat Mike & Erin continue to run the label together and remain 100% independent.

The label grew during the 1990s selling over a million records per year. It had eighteen employees and four offices.[1] A documentary about Fat Wreck Chords called 'A Fat Wreck' was released on October 25, 2016.[2]

Imprints

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The label has had two subsidiaries over the years, Honest Don's and Pink and Black. Honest Don's released records from Chixdiggit and Teen Idols amongst others, while Pink & Black released albums from female-fronted bands like Fabulous Disaster and Dance Hall Crashers.

Fat Mike advanced $50,000 to Chris Hannah and Jord Samolesky of Propagandhi which he recouped within months from sales of Propagandhi records to help them start up their own label, G7 Welcoming Committee,[3] though G7WC is independent from Fat Wreck.

Discography

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Main article: Fat Wreck Chords discography

Compilation albums

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Main article: Fat Music

Fat Wreck Chords regularly releases compilation albums, often to promote bands signed to the label, but also, since 2003, to raise funds for various charities. The earliest Fat Wreck Chords compilations have titles with some reference to fatness.

Shortly after Fat Music Volume IV was released, Fat Wreck Chords released a similarly titled album, Short Music for Short People, which features 101 songs, all averaging approximately 30 seconds. The shortest song ("Short Attention Span" by the Fizzy Bangers) is only eight seconds, and the longest ("Out of Hand" by Bad Religion) is 40 seconds. Some of the songs were commissioned and recorded specifically for the album, while others were from the bands' pre-existing repertoires.

Since the last Fat Music album has been released, the Fat Wreck Chords compilations have been explicitly for charitable causes. Liberation: Songs to Benefit PETA is a benefit album for the animal rights organization PETA, and PROTECT: A Benefit for the National Association to Protect Children is a benefit album for the children's rights group PROTECT. Between Liberation and PROTECT, two other compilation albums were released in protest of President George W. Bush and his administration: Rock Against Bush, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. To celebrate 20 years of business Fat Wreck Chords released the 3-disc Wrecktrospective compilation on December 8, 2009. Disc 1 is composed of the label's greatest hits, disc 2 is composed of unreleased demos and rarities, and disc 3 is composed the Fat Club 7" series in its entirety.[4]

Album series

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Live in a Dive

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Live in a Dive is a series of live albums recorded by Fat Wreck Chords.[5] In order of release:

Title Artist Release date
Live in a Dive No Use for a Name September 11, 2001
Live in a Dive Bracket February 26, 2002
Live in a Dive Sick of It All August 13, 2002
Live in a Dive Strung Out June 22, 2003
Live in a Dive Subhumans February 10, 2004
Live in a Dive Swingin' Utters June 29, 2004
Live in a Dive Lagwagon February 8, 2005
Ribbed: Live in a Dive NOFX August 3, 2018
Live in a Dive Face to Face October 18, 2019
Live in a Dive Rich Kids on LSD June 3, 2022

Fat Club Series

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Main article: Fat Club

In addition to the Live in a Dive series, Fat Wreck Chords also released the Fat Club series of 7" vinyl records during 2001. The series was only available to mail-order subscribers which received one single every month. Fat Wreck Chords did not publish any information on the upcoming releases so subscribers would not know what they were about to receive until the record arrived in the post.

Although the Fat club series was limited to 1,300 copies for each single, the songs contained on the records were later released as the third disc of the Wrecktrospective collection.

Artists

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Current bands

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Former bands

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "Gaining Weight — The Rise of Fat Wreck Chords As One Of The Last Great Punk Indies". Bandcamp. Archived from the original on 7 August 2015. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  2. ^ "A Film Project about Fat Wreck Chords". A Fat Wreck. Retrieved 2016-11-09.
  3. ^ Robertshaw, Steven (2005-10-13). "NOFX: The State of Punk to Come". Alternative Press Magazine. Archived from the original on 2008-02-08. Retrieved 2008-02-26.
  4. ^ "Records: Fat Wreck Chords". Fatwreck.com. 2009-12-08. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
  5. ^ "New "Strung Out" MP3 & 'NOFX' Coaster track list". Fatwreck.com. Retrieved 2015-08-26.
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