Poptones was a

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

launched by

Alan McGee Alan John McGee (born 29 September 1960) is a Scottish businessman and music industry executive. He has been a record label owner, musician, manager, and music blogger for ''The Guardian''. He co-founded the independent Creation Records label, r ...

after the demise of

Creation Records Creation Records Ltd. was a British independent record label founded in 1983 by Alan McGee, Dick Green, and Joe Foster. Its name came from the 1960s band The Creation, whom McGee greatly admired. The label ceased operations in 1999, although ...

in 1999. Its roster included

The Hives The Hives are a Swedish garage rock band formed in Fagersta in 1993. After gaining success in Sweden throughout the 1990s, they rose to worldwide prominence in the early 2000s during the garage rock revival. The band's line-upconsisting of H ...

, January,

Oranger Oranger was a San Francisco indie rock band. Band history Mike Drake, Matt Harris, and Jim Lindsay knew each other from playing together in Overwhelming Colorfast and Stick Figures, previous bands. They formed Oranger in 1997 with Chad Dyer of ...

Arnold Arnold may refer to: People * Arnold (given name), a masculine given name * Arnold (surname), a German and English surname Places Australia * Arnold, Victoria, a small town in the Australian state of Victoria Canada * Arnold, Nova Scotia U ...

, Cherrystones,

King Biscuit Time :''"King Biscuit Time" is also the name under which ex-Beta Band frontman Steve Mason releases his solo work.'' ''King Biscuit Time'' is the longest-running daily American radio broadcast in history. The program is broadcast each weekday from K ...

, The Mardous, Thee Unstrung,

The Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious ...

Beachbuggy Beachbuggy were a British rock music, rock group formed in early 1992 in Doncaster by Darren Belk, Jack Straker (guitar/vocals), Hugh "Hug" Kelly, Jim VeVee (drums) and A.D (bass). The band's name reflected singer and main songwriter Jack Stra ...

Pure Reason Revolution Pure Reason Revolution is a British rock group formed at the University of Westminster in 2003. Their music incorporates elements of progressive rock and electronic. Members have a shared appreciation for the work of bands such as Pink Floyd, P ...

and

Nick Laird-Clowes Nick Laird-Clowes (born 5 February 1957, in London, England) is an English musician and composer, best known as the singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter for The Dream Academy. Life and career Laird-Clowes was a member of Alfalpha and The ...

as Trashmonk. In May 2007, McGee wound down Poptones for financial reasons.

History

Named after a

Public Image Limited In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

song, Poptones was seen as something of a return to the staunchly independent roots of Creation, and also included a re-issue label called From The Vaults and a reggae label run by his wife (Frazier Chorus' Kate Holmes) called In Dub. Poptones' record sleeves were designed by Mike Alway of

él Records él is an English independent record label based in London that was founded by Mike Alway, later becoming a subsidiary of Cherry Red Records. Their musicians were characterized by a strong English sensibility, as well as the French influence s ...

and its first releases included licensed product by

The Montgolfier Brothers The Montgolfier Brothers were a British indie pop-dream pop duo which featured gnac's Mark Tranmer and Lovewood drummer Roger Quigley. The group, which formed in 1999, has released several recordings. Roger Quigley died on 18 August 2020. ...

Outrageous Cherry Outrageous Cherry was an American psychedelic pop / power pop and punk band from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Outrageous Cherry formed in 1991, and soon expanded to a four-piece after performing live in 1993. The group has released 13 album ...

and

El Vez Robert Alan Lopez (born 1960),"El Vez", ''St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture'', Thomson Gale 2005–2006reproduced online at BookRags.comand accessed online 28 April 2007. better known by his stage name El Vez, is an American singer-songwri ...

. Most notably, the label arranged a licensing deal with Sweden's

Burning Heart Records Burning Heart Records is an independent record label formed in 1993 in Fagersta, Sweden, and currently based in Örebro. It has a close affiliation with Californian label Epitaph Records, who own the rights to distribute Burning Heart's output ...

and launched the career of

in the UK. Poptones' roster included acts such as the former Creation band

, psychedelic DJ Cherrystones, ex-

Beta Band The Beta Band are a Scottish musical group formed in 1996. Their style is described as being a blend of folk, psychedelia, electronica, post-rock and trip hop, often involving stylistic experimentation and occasional humour. They were praised b ...

member Steve Mason's

, Thee Unstrung, January, The Mardous,

The Icarus Line The Icarus Line was an American post-hardcore band from Los Angeles, California, active from 1998 until 2015. Career 1998–2003 The Icarus Line's roots started from a high school rock group, Kanker Sores. Tragedy struck the band in 1997, wh ...

's sister project Souls She Said, Sailboats are White, Viking Moses,

and acey-folk acts The Singleman Affair and

and Trashmonk, a project of

. Poptones reportedly was close to signing

Hole A hole is an opening in or through a particular medium, usually a solid Body (physics), body. Holes occur through natural and artificial processes, and may be useful for various purposes, or may represent a problem needing to be addressed in m ...

after they left

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

and before their demise in 2002. In 2002, Poptones gained national success and media with The Hives' ''

Your New Favourite Band ''Your New Favourite Band'' is a collection by The Hives released in 2001, featuring tracks from their first two albums and the '' A.K.A. I-D-I-O-T'' EP. It was released by Alan McGee's Poptones record label, which was licensed the band's son ...

'' album, Main Offender 7" (which featured "Lost And Found" originally performed by The Saints as a B-Side), and Supply And Demand/The Stomp 7". ''Your New Favourite Band'' album contained the international hits "Hate To Say I Told You So", "Main Offender", "Supply And Demand", "Die, Alright", and "Outsmarted" off ''

Veni Vidi Vicious ''Veni Vidi Vicious'' is the second studio album by Swedish rock band the Hives. The album was released on 10 April 2000 through Burning Heart and Epitaph. It was later re-released on 30 April 2002 through Sire and Gearhead. The Japanese relea ...

'' (Epitaph/Sire/Reprise Records), as well the Independent success of "Here We Go Again", "A.K.A. I-D-I-O-T", "Automatic Schmuck", and "Hail Hail Spit N'Drool" off '' Barely Legal'' (Burning Heart/Epitaph/Gearhead Records). In May 2007, McGee told ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' newspaper that he was winding down Poptones for financial reasons.

References

{{Authority control British independent record labels Record labels established in 2007 Record labels established in 1999 Indie rock record labels 2007 establishments in England 1999 establishments in England

History

See also

References