No Sleep Records is an American

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

Huntington Beach, California Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County in Southern California, located southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The city is named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 during the 2020 census, mak ...

. They were founded by Chris Hansen in 2006 and have released records by artists including

Balance and Composure Balance and Composure was an American alternative rock band from Doylestown, Pennsylvania. They formed in the winter of 2007, after the breakup of two local Doylestown bands. The band's music was often suggested having similarities to Title Fig ...

La Dispute :''This is for the Marivaux play, for the band, see La Dispute (band).'' ''La Dispute'' is a prose comedy written by Pierre de Marivaux, shown for the first time on 19 October 1744 by the Théâtre-Italien in the Hôtel de Bourgogne. The story ...

, and

The Wonder Years ''The Wonder Years'' is an American coming-of-age comedy/drama television series created by Neal Marlens and Carol Black. It ran on ABC from January 31, 1988, until May 12, 1993. The series premiered immediately after ABC's coverage of Super ...

. They have released free sampler albums on the internet on a number of occasions and the label closely associates itself with

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. ...

lifestyle and the revived interest in

vinyl record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts ne ...

sales.

History

Early development (2006–2009)

Chris Hansen, the record label's founder, started at the bottom of the music industry in an attempt to build up experience and knowledge of owning a label. He started at Smartpunk and

Fearless Records Fearless Records is an American independent record label that was founded in 1994. Fearless is based in Culver City, California, and is best known for its early pop punk moments captured in the ''Fearless Flush Sampler'' and ''Punk Bites'' releas ...

working in the mail room. No Sleep properly released their first album when a friend of Hansen offered to release an already fully-funded and complete album on his newly-constructed label. The release was the ''Our American Cousin'' EP, which in Hansen's opinion was "a good 90s style

indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming *Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies *Indie game, any game (board ...

emo Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of and hardcore punk from the Washington D.C. hardcore punk scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore and pioneered b ...

record". In the first two years since No Sleep's foundation, Hansen worked as an

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the vis ...

Trustkill Trustkill Records was an American independent record label that started as a hardcore punk fanzine in April 1993. It started releasing hardcore, metal and rock records and merchandise in 1994. In 2010, the president of Trustkill, Josh Grabelle, ...

, however was laid-off and moved back to California and focused entirely on the label.

Expansion and growth (2010s)

The Wonder Years' second studio album ''

The Upsides ''The Upsides'' is the second studio album by American rock band The Wonder Years, released through No Sleep Records and Run For Cover Records on January 26, 2010. The album was recorded with producer Vince Ratti at Skylight Studios in Fairles ...

'' in 2010 acted as a significant release for the record label as the album appeared on the United States ''Billboard'' album chart. No Sleep set up their own distribution wing for the United Kingdom and European Union due to the significant success in 2010. No Sleep Records won the 2011 Libby Award from Peta2 for being the "Most Animal Friendly Record Label" and so most No Sleep releases include a flyer on going

. Across 2012, as a promotional tool, No Sleep started to offer free music to get the attention of people. Starting with the offer of a subscription package to the label, which included all their current vinyl releases, they started various initiatives like “Free Album Tuesday” for some of their lesser known artists. They also released a string of free sampler albums featuring tracks from their included artists. While some, in the early stages of its development were part of a collection of short sampler downloads called ''No Sleep Till Death''. American

online magazine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a print magazine format to being online only was the computer ma ...

''Alter The Press'' exclusively announced one of these large releases. No Sleep's signed bands that were participating in

Warped Tour The Warped Tour was a traveling rock tour that toured the United States plus three or four stops in Canada annually each summer from 1995 until 2019. It was the largest traveling music festival in the United States and the longest-running touri ...

2012 were released on a Summer 2012 compilation album which included

B-sides The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

and rarities.

Artists and releases

No Sleep aspires to sign bands who contribute to a very diverse roster and for all the artists to stand out from each other. For the first pressing of an artist's debut album, No Sleep will typically put out 1,000–1,500 copies, either compact disc or vinyl. They also store a few hundred spare copies of some releases for selling in a few years when their value has increased. Vinyl has become a significant component to No Sleep's business model. Stemming from the fact that Hansen collects vinyl; most, if not all releases from No Sleep are offered in both disc and vinyl with die cut packaging, multiple color runs and etching. However, Hansen does describe it as a costly side to the label: "Vinyl is a niche thing, it's the cool thing to do, it's not a money making thing, you just do it because you love vinyl and you want it to strive and exist. No Sleep and all of our friends' labels are definitely mail order driven. That's how we sustain and keep going."

Store

For

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

2012, No Sleep opened their flagship store out of their office in California which they open once a week. The store stocks works from other record labels like 6131, Animal Style, Topshelf, Run for Cover, Deathwish Inc., Bridge 9, Youth Conspiracy, and Paper + Plastick. The store also stocks, in Hansen's opinion, a lot of "key bands" from American

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier p ...

and punk rock. Due to slow sales, the store has closed down.

Artists

Current

* Best Ex *

Broadway Calls Broadway Calls is an American punk rock band from Rainier, Oregon. The band has released four records and toured the United States and Canada extensively and often. More recently the band has completed tours in Europe. Broadway Calls have toured ...

The Casket Lottery The Casket Lottery is an American indie rock band from Kansas City, Missouri signed to Second Nature Recordings and Big Scary Monsters. History 1997 The band started in 1997 after Nathan Ellis spent time on the road with Coalesce. He and S ...

Common Sage ''Salvia officinalis'', the common sage or just sage, is a perennial, evergreen subshrub, with woody stems, grayish leaves, and blue to purplish flowers. It is a member of the mint family Lamiaceae and native to the Mediterranean region, thou ...

* Early Graves *

The Felix Culpa The Felix Culpa was a four-piece band from Rockford, Illinois on the Illinois/Wisconsin border. Best described as a Progressive Indie band with post-hardcore elements, they had released two full-length albums ("Commitment" and "Sever Your Roots") ...

* Gatherers * Hot Mulligan * Koji *

Mixtapes A mixtape (alternatively mix-tape, mix tape or mixed tape) is a compilation of music, typically from multiple sources, recorded onto a medium. With origins in the 1980s, the term normally describes a homemade compilation of music onto a cassette ...

Muskets A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually dis ...

Sainthood Reps Sainthood Reps is an American indie rock band from Long Island, New York, formed in 2009. Their debut album, ''Monoculture'', was released on Tooth & Nail Records in the summer of 2011 and was produced by Mike Sapone. The band released their s ...

Shai Hulud Shai Hulud is an American metalcore band formed in Pompano Beach, Florida, in 1995, and later based in Poughkeepsie, New York. The band is named after the giant sandworms in Frank Herbert's novel ''Dune''. The two mainstay members of Shai Hul ...

State Faults State Faults (formerly known as Brother Bear) are an American post-hardcore band formed in Santa Rosa, California in 2010. Noisey included their album "Resonate/Desperate" as one of the records that best captures the last decade of hardcore punk ...

* Stay Inside

Former

* '68 *

Adventures An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...

* John-Allison Weiss (Now on

SideOneDummy Records SideOneDummy Records is an independent record label based in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1995 by Bill Armstrong and Joe Sib. The label began as a way for them to release music for their friends' bands. Thereafter SideOneDummy launched the car ...

) * I Call Fives (Now on

Pure Noise Records Pure Noise Records is an American punk rock record label based in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded by Jake Round in 2009 while he was an editor at '' AMP''; the previous fall, friends of his in the band No Bragging Rights told him they were ...

) *

Drug Church Drug Church is an American post-hardcore band from Albany, New York, United States. The band has released four albums, as well as several EPs. History Drug Church started as a side project for singer Patrick Kindlon of Self Defense Family. Afte ...

(Now on

) *

Funeral for a Friend Funeral for a Friend are a Welsh post-hardcore band from Bridgend, formed in 2001 and currently consists of Matthew Davies-Kreye (lead vocals), Kris Coombs-Roberts (guitar, backing vocals), Gavin Burrough (guitar, backing vocals), Darran Smi ...

(Disbanded in 2016) * Rescuer (Now on Rise Records) * Into It. Over It. (Now on

Triple Crown Records Triple Crown Records is a New York-based rock music record label created in 1997 by Fred Feldman. The label features such artists as The Receiving End of Sirens and The Dear Hunter, ''Artists Page'' and launched the career of Brand New in 2001.> ...

) *

(Now on ''Better Living'' in US;

Big Scary Monsters Big Scary Monsters Recording Company (often known simply as Big Scary Monsters or BSM Records) is an independent record label based in Oxford, England, UK. Its releases include La Dispute, Beach Slang, Modern Baseball, Minus The Bear, mewit ...

in Europe) * Major League (Disbanded in 2016) *

Moose Blood Moose Blood were an English emo band based in Canterbury, Kent. They formed in 2012 and were signed to Hopeless Records. History Moose Blood formed in August 2012 and published a self-released demo, ''Bukowski Demo (Summer '12)'', in the same m ...

(Now on

Hopeless Records Hopeless Records is an American independent record label in Van Nuys, California. History Hopeless Records was founded in 1993 by Louis Posen. The label's artists are generally considered to fall under the genres of punk rock, pop punk, post-h ...

) *

Now, Now Now, Now, formerly known as Now, Now Every Children, is an American indie rock duo formed in Blaine, Minnesota, United States, and based in Minneapolis. The band is composed of Cacie Dalager (vocals, guitar, keyboard) and Bradley Hale (drums, ba ...

(Now on

LAB Records LAB Records (pronounced lab) is an independent record label operating from Manchester, England, and founded by Mark Orr and Nathen McVittie in 2007. The company also has a creative and distribution division, LAB Exposure, as well as a New York-b ...

) *

No Trigger No Trigger is an American melodic hardcore band from Massachusetts, United States. History The band formed in 2001, with a sound which takes cues from like-minded outfits such as Strike Anywhere and None More Black. The band self-released two ...

* Somos (Now on

) *

The Swellers The Swellers were an American punk band from Flint, Michigan. Their music is influenced by melodic punk rock bands as well as alternative and indie rock from the 1990s. Band history On June 24, 2002, brothers Nick and Jonathan Diener brought t ...

Touché Amoré Touché Amoré is an American post-hardcore band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 2007. The band consists of vocalist Jeremy Bolm, guitarists Clayton Stevens and Nick Steinhardt, bassist Tyler Kirby, and drummer Elliot Babin. Among othe ...

(Now on

Epitaph Records Epitaph Records is an American independent record label owned by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, most acts signed to the label were punk and pop punk acts, while there are many post-hardcore and emo ba ...

) *

(Now on

, but No Sleep manages vinyl releases) * WSTR (Now on

)

References

{{Authority control American independent record labels American companies established in 2006