All That is Heavy (originally All That's Heavy) is an

online music store A digital music store is a business that sells digital audio files of music recordings over the Internet. Customers gain ownership of a license to use the files, in contrast to a music streaming service, where they listen to recordings withou ...

based in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

and founded in 1997. It is the first online record store dedicated exclusively to the genres of

stoner rock Stoner rock, also known as stoner metal or stoner doom, is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of doom metal with psychedelic rock and acid rock. The genre emerged during the early 1990s and was pioneered foremost by Kyuss and Sl ...

doom metal Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' ...

sludge metal Sludge metal (also known as sludge doom or simply sludge) is an Extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that combines elements of doom metal and hardcore punk. The genre generally includes slow tempos, down-tuned guitars and nihilis ...

, drone metal and

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

. All That is Heavy was originally owned and operated

MeteorCity Records MeteorCity Records is an American record label founded in 1997 by Jadd Shickler and Aaron Emmel in Albuquerque, New Mexico. With the release of its compilation album ''Welcome to MeteorCity'' showcasing young unsigned Kyuss-like bands, MeteorCi ...

, which was instrumental in the growth of the late 1990s stoner rock scene. Distributed labels, besides their formerly in-house MeteorCity Records, include Tee Pee,

Volcom Entertainment Volcom Entertainment, officially founded in 1995, in Big Bear, California, and currently based in Costa Mesa, CA is the brainchild of Volcom founder Richard Woolcott and theLINE's singer/guitarist Ryan Immegart. Ryan being Volcom's first spons ...

Small Stone Records Small Stone Records is an American record label based in Detroit, MI. It was founded in 1995 by Scott Hamilton and is a self-dubbed "heavy rock" label. The label has released a number of stoner rock compilation albums, as well as releases by ...

Rise Above Records Rise Above Records is a London-based independent record label owned by Lee Dorrian, former member of Cathedral and Napalm Death. Founding Lee Dorrian started Rise Above Records in 1988 without the intention of the label being an ongoing pos ...

, and others. The store was operated by the now defunct StonerRock.com from 2001 to 2010, and was owned by Dan Beland. On 25 August 2017 it was announced that All That Is Heavy would be taken into new ownership by Casey Kelch and relocated to Houston, Texas.

History

All That's Heavy was founded in September 1997 by Jadd Shickler (of band Spiritu) and Aaron Emmel in

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

. Its first incarnation was an online store selling hard-to-find releases by

bands

Kyuss Kyuss ( ) was an American stoner rock band formed in Palm Desert, California, in 1987, and considered one of the pioneers of the genre. After disbanding in 1995, a number of band members have gone on to form or play in several notable bands in ...

Monster Magnet Monster Magnet is an American rock music, rock band formed in Red Bank, New Jersey, in 1989 by Dave Wyndorf (vocals and guitar), John McBain (musician), John McBain (guitar), and Tim Cronin (vocals and drums). The band has since undergone severa ...

, and

Fu Manchu Dr. Fu Manchu ( zh, t=傅滿洲/福滿洲, p=Fú Mǎnzhōu) is a supervillain who was introduced in a series of novels by the English author Sax Rohmer beginning shortly before World War I and continuing for another forty years. The character f ...

. They soon expanded the catalog to include artists that stylistically fit with the first three bands. After running the online store for about half a year, they were contacted by the former proprietor for the first

fan website. He recommended MeteorCity do a compilation of unsigned bands that Kyuss fans would enjoy. MeteorCity Records was formed, and the result of the suggestion was the compilation ''Welcome to MeteorCity,'' which was released in May of that year. The compilation included both established desert and stoner rock acts, including new bands established by John Garcia of

(now in Unida),

Ed Mundell Edward Mundell is an American rock guitarist known for his space rock 1970's inspired sound. From 1992 to 2010, he was the lead guitarist for stoner rock band Monster Magnet, contributing to eight albums in total. As of 2024, Mundell contribut ...

, and

Pete Stahl Peter Marc Stahl is an American musician best known for fronting the Virginia-based punk/ hardcore band Scream with his brother Franz. Early on, Scream also featured Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl on drums who credited ...

. The album was the first time that the bands

Sixty Watt Shaman Sixty Watt Shaman is an American rock band known for incorporating hard rock with blues, southern rock, doom, punk rock and heavy metal influences, originally based out of Towson, Maryland, Montgomery Village, Maryland, and currently Winch ...

Lowrider A lowrider or low rider is a customized car with a lowered body that emerged among Mexican American youth in the 1940s. ''Lowrider'' also refers to the driver of the car and their participation in lowrider car clubs, which remain a part of Chi ...

The Atomic Bitchwax The Atomic Bitchwax is an American stoner rock band from New Jersey, formed in 1992 by bassist/singer/songwriter Chris Kosnik, guitarist Ed Mundell, and drummer Keith Ackerman. They did not release their first full-length album until 1999, upon ...

, Dozer,

Goatsnake Goatsnake is an American stoner/doom metal band from Los Angeles. They have released three studio albums, the first being 1999's '' Goatsnake Vol. 1''. History Goatsnake was formed in 1996 after the disbanding of The Obsessed. After The O ...

, Drag Pack, and

Los Natas Los Natas or Natas were an Argentine stoner rock band formed in 1993 in Martínez, Greater Buenos Aires. In their later releases, they had been leaning towards a more experimental sound described by them as ''free rock''. The group disbanded i ...

were heard on a record. The record label and store both increased in popularity after the release. Around this time a MeteorCity intern purportedly coined the term desert rock to describe the burgeoning genre, which is still used interchangeably with the more known descriptor "stoner rock".

Change of ownership

As the scene continued to develop, the popular website StonerRock.com was launched by Dan Beland in 1999. The website became a central community hub for heavy music artists and fans, and frequently featured reviews and interviews with stoner rock musicians. In March 2001, MeteorCity licensed StonerRock.com to take over management and operations of All That's Heavy. All That's Heavy's catalog grew to become the largest online store of

, drone metal and

. MeteorCity in turn began to focus more on the label. All That's Heavy was officially sold to Dan Beland and Melanie Streko of StonerRock.com on May 15, 2004, and renamed All That is Heavy. In 2007, Shickler and Emmel sold MeteorCity Records to Dan Beland and Melanie Streko as well. In 2010 StonerRock.com was taken offline, and MeteorCity Records became the official label for All That is Heavy. Following personal reasons, Melanie Streko resigned and Dan Beland became sole owner of All That Is Heavy in 2014 and eventually announced the possibility of selling the site in the summer of 2017. On 25 August 2017 it was announced that All That Is Heavy would be taken into new ownership by Casey Kelch and relocated to Houston, Texas.

References

{{reflist, refs = {{cite news , title = All That is Heavy Launches Mega-Sale , first = , last = , url = http://theobelisk.net/obelisk/2011/07/15/atihsale/ , newspaper = , publisher = The Obelisk , date = , accessdate = 2011-08-26 {{cite news , title = Where to Start: MeteorCity , first = , last = , url = http://theobelisk.net/obelisk/2011/07/08/meteorcitywts/ , newspaper = , publisher = The Obelisk , date = , accessdate = 2011-08-26 {{cite news , title = Distributed Record Labels , url = http://www.allthatisheavy.com/distributed_record_labels.asp , newspaper = , publisher = All That is Heavy , date = , accessdate = 2011-08-26 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110821045434/http://www.allthatisheavy.com/distributed_record_labels.asp , archive-date = 2011-08-21 , url-status = dead {{cite news , title = Meteor City , first = Todd K. , last = Smith , url = http://www.cuttingedgerocks.com/Meteor.html , newspaper = , publisher = The Cutting Edge , date = , accessdate = 2011-08-26 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111004232317/http://www.cuttingedgerocks.com/Meteor.html , archive-date = 2011-10-04 , url-status = dead {{cite news , title = MeteorCity: Play it Very Loud! , first = von , last = Christian , url = http://www.metalglory.de/interviews.php?nr=708 , newspaper = Metal Glory , publisher = , date = August 26, 2009 , accessdate = 2011-08-26 , archive-date = 2011-09-27 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110927215030/http://www.metalglory.de/interviews.php?nr=708 , url-status = dead {{cite news , title = Label Spotlight: Meteor City Records , first = Ray , last = Van Horn, Jnr. , url = http://rayvanhornjr.blogspot.com/2009/09/label-spotlight-meteor-city-records.html , publisher = The Metal Minute , date = September 26, 2009 , accessdate = 2011-08-26 , archive-url = https://archive.today/20121130034129/http://rayvanhornjr.blogspot.com/2009/09/label-spotlight-meteor-city-records.html , archive-date = 2012-11-30 , url-status = dead {{cite news , title = News: StonerRock.com and MeteorCity Part Ways , first = , last = , url = http://www.bravewords.com/news/13824 , publisher = Bravewords.com , date = May 19, 2004 , accessdate = 2011-08-26

External links

All That is HeavyMeteorCity Records
Retail companies established in 1997 Online music stores of the United States Internet properties established in 1997