Back in 2006 Kev and I borrowed some money from my Dad, gambled it on a resurgent Portsmouth to beat Charlton (god bless winning goalscorer Lomana LuaLua) and started a record label… Unbelievably, 5 years and 50 releases later, we’re still going strong.
Based on vices, musical passion and a mutual respect for all things indie pop (see Fierce Panda, Symposium, Silver Sun, Llama Farmers) – we quickly discarded dreams of wealth and fame, and set about with a loose goal to take the best indie pop hits, put them out on super-fun formats (see Frisbees, menus, maps in bottles and lush cardboard artwork) and get a community of people who still believed physical releases were ace, music was definitely not dying, and that money was secondary to good ideas, true passion and wonderful music.
Kicking off with a bi-monthly singles club with released packaged in handmade, stamped, cut, folded and numbered on 3” CD – we cut our teeth (and fingers) with some wonderful acts, but we were so sick of goodbyes… So moved on from the idea of a one-off singles label, and started to expand – building relationships with a whole heap of epic bands, learning from our many mistakes – and meeting a whole host of wonderful folk as we traversed the country on various drunken adventures.
Since then, we’ve notched up 50 releases, put out the coolest compilations of all time (so say the NME anyway and I’m not one to argue), represented at every UK major festival with bands and showcases alike, racked up 100s of thousand touring miles, put on shows everywhere from ice cream shops to beaches, wholesale ripped off the Hooch logo (as yet) unpunished – and worked with our favourite bands of all time, made a whole heap of charming pals, match sponsored Gretna 2008 FC and watched Cool Runnings a record 937 times*.
Having worked with a whole host of wonderful artists including the likes of Johnny Foreigner, Stagecoach, Midget, ute, LightGuides, Screaming Maldini, This City, Sam Isaac, Freeze the Atlantic, My First Tooth, The Attika State, Jumping Ships and more – we thought seemed the right thing to do aged 50 was to recall some of the finest musical moments on a compilation CD covered in pics of Alcopop bands, fans, artists and dinosaurs – and doffing a cap to our greatest inspiration, Fierce Panda, release a very limited edition Alcopop050 jacket – all hand embroidered, and dedicated to Team PoP! (the Alcopop! Community).
So we did…
And while we couldn’t begin to thank all of you personally for every bit of love, support, kindness and awesomeness you’ve provided (honestly, it would take – like – all the words in the world) we do appreciate it so much. Thank you, and see you in August for the next installment of tasty releases and succulent tours xxx Thank you. We love you, love Alcopop!
* or so
