victory records bands

[distortedrumble]

since this is one of those anti-coporate labels, it kinda seems like the songs arent recorded in the super expensive studios frequented by pop, rock and rap stars. anyone else have an opinion on this? www.victoryrecords.com

 

[Outlaws]

I remember that lable back when they were ntohing but hardcore bands and a bunch of straight-edger and communist political non-sense.

Now some of the bands are on MTV.

I puke either way.

 

[Blink 182]

it is true, but the concept behind that whole anti major label ideal has always bothered me. what possible good can come from stopping the whole process of evolution? i am aware there are drawbacks to selling music on a major label as money is the driving force behind the record rather than the quality of music. i personally feel that distributing the music to a greater audience and raising awareness of great bands is at least and equal force, and a positive one. if you are making good music it is very hard to keep underground or DIY forever unless you really try, in which case you would be limiting your fanbase and preventing people from hearing your music, which appears pointless. then again, staying close to your roots is becoming a fashion rather than a belief with alot of bands.

victory have grown and expanded alot in recent years. it may be contradicting their original motivation but it is not a bad thing. i have benefited from it, as i dont have to pay stupidly high import prices for good cds, i can buy them from most decent record stores.

i did start to worry when they started signing ska bands though. when will they learn...

 

[Adam P]

I think that DIY ethics aside, Tony Brummel has done a hell of a job from a business standpoint. He puts out a lot of crap now (actually I wonder how much he actually has to do with it; I hear he just listens to world music now), but he has put out a lot of mid-to-late 90s records that were really influential, sonically and ideologically. Stuff like Strife, Refused, Earth Crisis, Integrity, Snapcase, etc had a lot of influence on a lot of bands out there now (unfortunately, not all of it is good influence). I remember hearing about how Strife got $25k to record "In This Defiance" and that was HUGE back in 1996 or whenever it came out, for a band of their caliber. Now for them I think its par for the course. They put Bloodlet up for a week in Electrical Audio with Steve Albini, which is about a grand per day plus tape costs, and this is when Bloodlet was making a "comeback" and they gave them a small budget because they didn't know how well it would do. Darkest Hour's last record was recorded in Sweden by the guy who did all the old Swedish death metal like At The Gates and stuff, and they're going to be doing their new record with Devin Townsend from Strapping Young Lad. I know some guys that are signed to Victory and they did their last full length with Erik Rutan from Hate Eternal/Morbid Angel at his studio in Florida.

I think what it comes down to is that Victory are shrewd businessmen. They sign the individual band members to contracts so that they can pick up options on ex-members' new bands (hence stuff like Freya, Black Maria, Streetlight Manifesto, etc). I believe they also own the publishing rights to all of their releases (they're all published by Another Victory, which is their publishing company). When you have releases that are as huge as Hatebreed's "Satisfaction Is The Death of Desire" (their biggest selling record...hundreds of thousands of copies), it brings in a lot of cash, which they can turn around and drop on their new bands.

I only really care for two current bands on Victory now, but I love a ton of their old releases, and I think its their business practices are what have allowed them to get huge. Unfortunately, they've also led to a lot of criticism from the underground community, but thats their problem, not mine.

Edit: I also believe that a major publishing company (I want to say Interscope but I'm not sure) owns something like a 49% interest in Victory now.

 

[distortedrumble]

as for me, i saw a few of these bands live before i ever heard anything about victory records and i enjoyed the music. the place where i heard spitalfield, silverstein and taking back sunday is one of those basement type places and i thought "they're good but this victory records is probably some one bedroom apartment setup with some guy whos putting out these bands and probably wont go anywhere at it" 3 months later i see the commercials on fuse tv and decided to check out the website...that was a shock to the system

 

[Outlaws]

As suprising as this record lable making it big is, it was no where near the shock when Chumbawamba stumbled onto MTV and even some NBA commercials.

 

[Adam P]

as for me, i saw a few of these bands live before i ever heard anything about victory records and i enjoyed the music. the place where i heard spitalfield, silverstein and taking back sunday is one of those basement type places and i thought "they're good but this victory records is probably some one bedroom apartment setup with some guy whos putting out these bands and probably wont go anywhere at it" 3 months later i see the commercials on fuse tv and decided to check out the website...that was a shock to the system

Yeah, Victory has been around for over 10 years and has well over 200 releases in their catalog, with tons of influential stuff, and a lot of garbage, too. They put out a lot of what the kids want to hear though, so I guess it works for them.

Doesn't Chumbawumba have members of Crass?

 

[Outlaws]

Yeah, Victory has been around for over 10 years and has well over 200 releases in their catalog, with tons of influential stuff, and a lot of garbage, too. They put out a lot of what the kids want to hear though, so I guess it works for them.

Doesn't Chumbawumba have members of Crass?

No. They were part of that "scene" though.

 

[xstatic]

I have dealt directly with Victory records on many occasions. They really aren't "anti-corporate". They are just corporate on a different level. About 8 years ago Victory went through some huge expansion based on the success of Hatebreed, Deadguy, Snapcase, Earth Crisis, Strife and Integrity. Victory now distributes quite a large catalog. They have undergone a lot of criticism by a lot of the older Victory fans (I for one). I miss the day when Victory would put out a new release and I could almost blindly go out and buy it and know that I would like it. But that was back when there would only be 10 or 15 additions a year. Now they distribute alot. They make a lot more money and have a larger impact on the industry (in terms of width, not really focus). That was most likely the best move for Victory and it's bands, but not for the die hard Victory consumers like I was. But, thats also OK by me.