Big Scary Monsters Recording Company

Infobox record label
name = Big Scary Monster Recording Company


image_bg =
parent =
founded = 2002
founder = Kevin Douch
defunct =
distributor =
genre = Alternative rock
Indie rock Post-rock
country = United Kingdom
location = Oxfordshire, England
url = http://www.bsmrocks.com

Big Scary Monster Recording Company (often known simply as Big Scary Monsters and as BSM Records) is a British based independent record label headed by Kevin Douch. He originally started the company whilst still in sixth form, but it was some time before it began to release music, existing purely in name for some time. The label has always been representative of Douch's own musical tastes, with himself stating "I'm just not clever enough to pick up on the latest trend – I just have to rely on my ears and hope that a couple of other people out there share my enthusiasm!" [cite web|url=http://www.drownedinsound.com/articles/2243828|title=Drowned in Sound interview with Kevin Douch] in an interview with Drowned in Sound.

Arguably the most well-known act signed to the label is Sam Duckworth and his band, better known as Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, whose self-titled debut EP was one of BSM Records' earliest releases. However, other bands associated with the label have begun to gain attention, such as Yndi Halda, This Town Needs Guns, Blakfish, Tubelord and Pulled Apart By Horses.

In September 2006, BSM's Kevin Douch was involved in starting another label, a sister to BSM, called Alcopop Records - which launched with a year-long 3" singles club featurig the likes of Encyclopedia, Data.Select.Party and Lucy and the Caterpillar. This label contiues to concentrate more on power-pop, alt indie and folky acoustic artists and has since worked with the likes of Sam Isaac, goFASTER, This City, Cut The Blue Wire and Pavilion amongst others.

Much of the label's back-catalogue was made available in the iTunes Store in early 2007, highlighting its continued growth.

Late in 2007 the label launched a minisite entitled [http://www.bsmrocks.com/friend Friend Of The Family] which gives users access to free MP3s, exclusive offers and extra content.

Rumour has it that Douch had BSM valued in the summer of 2008 and was told the company was worth in the region of £750,000, something which Douch has no recollection of.

Current Bands

Bands currently releasing music on the Big Scary Monsters record label. [cite web|url=http://www.bsmrocks.com/main.html|title= Current bands on Big Scary Monsters Recording Company]
* Tubelord
* Pulled Apart By Horses
* Yndi Halda
* Meet Me In St. Louis
* Secondsmile
* This Town Needs Guns
* Richard Walters
* Itch
* Jairus
* House of Brothers
* Cats and Cats and Cats
* The Campaign for Real Time
* Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly
* Jeniferever
* Chariots
* Blakfish
* Mimas

Previous Bands

Bands previously signed to the label, many of whom are no longer still performing. [cite web|url=http://www.bsmrocks.com/main.html|title=Previous bands on Big Scary Monsters Recording Company]
* Days Ago
* Sparks Lights and Flames
* The Remarkable Rocket
* Pictures Paint Words
* Boom in the Diamond Industry
* Stories and Comets
* Face for Radio
* Written From Negative
* The Dudley Corporation
* Querelle
* The Next Autumn Soundtrack
* My Favourite Co-Pilot
* Hiding With Girls
* Through Silence
* My Awesome Compilation
* The Caretaker
* Econoline
* Mountain Men Anonymous
* Teflon Monkey

Blog Scary Monsters

In early 2008 [http://www.bsmrocks.com/blog Blog Scary Monsters] was launched. Intended to be a 'day to day behind the scenes look at the running of an independent record label', by label founder and blog author Kevin Douch's own admission, the blog has become more of a self indulgent ranting space for him to push ridiculous ideas, BSM promotions and stupid videos onto the general public. Even so, the blog has proven to be a huge success with a loyal reader fanbase and many other labels and related independent music companies have since employed a similar strategy for themselves.

The BSM Podcast

In a similar vein to [http://www.bsmrocks.com/blog Blog Scary Monsters] , the BSM podcast is another attempt to get the labels music out to a wider audience. With new episodes being recorded on a monthly basis, each one features new and old music from the BSM back catalogue, along with a demo of the month section, exclusive interviews and acoustic sessions, and lots of banter from the presenters. The podcast can be downloaded from [http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=269675138 iTunes] (direct link) and [http://www.bsmrocks.com www.bsmrocks.com]

The BSM 5-a-side Tournament

The Big Scary Monster Recording Company gained some publicity in July 2007 when it organised a 5-a-side football tournament, taking place at the Linford Christie Sports Centre in London. Sixteen teams entered the tournament, consisting mostly of bands associated with the label, but also containing an XFM team, a Drowned in Sound team, and the host BSM team. Yndi Halda were forced to pull out of the competition before it had even started, due to ongoing soundchecks for a gig with 65daysofstatic.

Despite the friendly nature of the games, Rolo Tomassi's guitar player fractured his wrist in one of the games, causing them a problem for their upcoming tour. [cite web|url=http://www.drownedinsound.com/articles/2175950|title=Drowned in Sound News]

The tournament lasted three hours, with Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly eventually emerging victorious after beating Drowned in Sound in the final. [cite web|url=http://www.bsmrocks.com/5aside/|title=BSM 5-a-side Tournament Webpage]

The success of it led to another tournament in 2008, where Punktastic triumphed against Rolo Tomassi in the final, beating them 2-1. BSM themselves, hobbled by an under-strength team featuring label founder Kevin Douch, sadly crashed out of the tournament in the first round.

External links

* [http://www.bsmrocks.com/ Official Website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/bigscarymonsters Myspace]
* [http://www.bsmrocks.com/blog Blog Scary Monsters]
* [http://www.bsmrocks.com/friend BSM Friend of The Family website]
* [http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2362271422 Facebook]
* [http://www.last.fm/label/Big+Scary+Monsters+Records/ Last.fm]
* [http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=bsmrocks Youtube]
* [http://twitter.com/bsmrocks Twitter]
* [http://www.drownedinsound.com/articles/2243828 BSM feature on Drowned In Sound]
* [http://www.rockmidgets.com/features.php?page=4&id=1162&page=4 BSM feature on Rockmidgets.com]

References