Spin.com posts an article on the history of Epitaph, California punk

Contributed by alex101. Posted by aubin on Wednesday, November 3, 2010 at 3:00 PM (EDT)

Spin recently posted an article looking back at Epitaph Records and the evolution of California punk rock. The feature includes background on the label and quotes from people like L7 Little Kings member (and Pirates of the Caribbean director) Gore Verbinski, Fletcher Dragge of Pennywise, Fat Mike of NOFX, Tim Armstrong of Rancid, Dave Smalley of Down By Law and Dag Nasty.

Label owner Brett Gurewitz talked off punk rock prior to the explosion of bands like Green Day and The Offspring:

To the rest of the world, we were like Civil War reenactors. "You guys are still doing punk shows? How cute."

Check out the article here.

Bands in this story

Epitaph Records (36 comments)

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

bumS_lie (November 3, 2010)

I hate spin magazine because they never ever plug me, and I hate regis and I hate kathy lee, and every single movie by the midget spike lee.

fixedfrequencies (November 3, 2010)

Bloodhound Gang?

johnnyz77 (November 3, 2010)

i feel like the article could of been a little longer. 2 pages. come on spin, put a littlle more into this article.

good article though.

Torgo (November 3, 2010)

The rest of it is in the magazine, presumably

starbolt (November 3, 2010)

The online article is just an excerpt.

Cos (November 3, 2010)

Their article on 2 Tone was about as thorough. Its like Spin knows its readers are blithering idiots.

Torgo (November 3, 2010)

Grr, i thought this was going to be the rest of the article.

worryrock (November 3, 2010)

I am governor Jerry Brown, my aura smiles and never frowns...

jacknife737 (November 3, 2010)

Nice read: too bad it wasn't a bit longer.

oddman (November 3, 2010)

Fact check much?....Gore was never in L7. When they mention Gore in the article, it's simply who Brett was working with. I was there.....oh, and GET OFF MY LAWN.

Skibz777 (November 3, 2010)

I liked 'Mouse Hunt', I don't care what anyone says.

c-prime (November 3, 2010)

The "Pirates" movies would've benefitted from having Nathan Lane in them. Plus, it'd be ironic.

starbolt (November 3, 2010)

Gore was in The Little Kings (who I produced) and also played lead guitar on The Daredevils 7" with me. We're still good friends.

spare_parts (November 3, 2010)

It actually says "Little Kings, a local punk band featuring guitarist and future Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski."

Read much?

It also says "Magazine Excerpt" at the top for the rest of you bitching about the length. Geez. America is doomed.

hashbrowns (November 4, 2010)

you needed a punknews article to prove how doomed Americans are?

NothingToAdd (November 3, 2010)

Anybody know if that One Nine Nine Four documentary is ever going to come out?

JayTee (November 3, 2010)

They're still in post adding more "whoa"'s and harmonies.

hashbrowns (November 4, 2010)

Hey, those harmonies are better than Kansas. Or whatever he said.

jacknife737 (November 3, 2010)

I think it's still in post production: but i know they cleared the financial hurdle of licensing the music in it.

Palzer_Boo (November 3, 2010)

I was gonna ask the same thing.

germburn (November 3, 2010)

oh yes the oozin' ahh's

Cos (November 3, 2010)

Is this the whole article? It ends pretty abruptly.

eatdogs (November 3, 2010)

the histpry of epitaph and escape the fate...

parxcore (November 3, 2010)

Fuck Spin Magazine and their psuedo-hip garbage.

the_other_scott (November 3, 2010)

right now at spin.com - first 7 artists i see articles about:

Eminem
Rhianna
Kayne West
Marilyn Manson
Taylor Swift
A Perfect Circle
Red Hot Chilli Peppers

not really that hip or even psuedo-hip

garbage, maybe. but not hip.

parxcore (November 3, 2010)

The last time I looked at the actual magazine it seemed like a clusterfuck of pretentiousness and popular "indie" music. That was a while ago, so I might be out of touch. Not that I think thats a bad thing at all.

Also, I still hate them for their article bashing ska.

Cos (November 3, 2010)

That was funny. Spin had a mighty crusade against ska in 97/98 for no apparent reason.

Skibz777 (November 3, 2010)

Well...

Ah, forget it. It's too easy. :(

jimmynorville (November 3, 2010)

they're streaming Sainte Catherines and None More Black albums and I think they gave away that digital track from Buttsweat and Tears.

I've never read the magazine, but I think they've had a decent amount of reasons to go to their website.

hashbrowns (November 4, 2010)

for Demons? Fuck yes that's a reason to go to their website. That song is incredible.

samthecritic (November 3, 2010)

How are y'all liking the Escape The Fate background?

jeffernator (November 3, 2010)

Like omg lol u bet ur bottom dolla Im gunna by the album!

samthecritic (November 3, 2010)

aren't we all

raveneffect (November 3, 2010)

Epitaph and Spin both suck.

johnnyz77 (November 4, 2010)

epitaph back in the day was awesome. bouncing souls, rancid, nofx, VGS, red aunts. loved all those bands.

karmabad (November 4, 2010)

Epitaph, regardless of what you think, are still one of the best indie labels on the planet. Check out some of their highlights here, http://wp.me/pRA8k-aN