Roswell Records is an American

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, ...

founded by

Dave Grohl David Eric Grohl (; born January 14, 1969) is an American musician. He founded the rock band Foo Fighters, of which he is the lead singer, guitarist, principal songwriter, and only consistent member. From 1990 to 1994, he was the drummer of th ...

in 1995 for his band

Foo Fighters The Foo Fighters are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Initially founded as a one-man project by former Nirvana (band), Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, the band comprises vocalist/guitarist Grohl, bassist Nate Mendel, gu ...

. It is currently an imprint of

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

and is based in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

History

Capitol Records (1995–1999)

The label was originally set up by

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

as a

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

to retain the rights to Grohl's post-

Nirvana Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...

music, its name a reference to the

Roswell incident The Roswell Incident started in 1947 with the recovery of debris near Roswell, New Mexico. It later became the basis for conspiracy theories alleging that the United States military recovered a crashed extraterrestrial spacecraft. The debri ...

. Roswell's first release was the Foo Fighters' self-titled debut album in 1995. The gun on the album's cover is partly intended as a reference to the outer space theme associated with the names of both Roswell Records and the Foo Fighters.

RCA Records (1999–present)

In July 1999, both Foo Fighters and Roswell left Capitol and signed with

at the height of the band's popularity. It was one of the most high-profile artist signings of the year and shifted the distribution rights of Foo Fighters-owned media from Capitol to RCA for their next studio album, '' There Is Nothing Left to Lose'' (1999). Since then, every Foo Fighters album released under the Roswell label has been distributed by RCA.

Roswell Films

In 2012, the imprint formed the film subsidiary Roswell Films, which co-produced and co-distributed Grohl's

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many filmmakers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

documentary film '' Sound City'' (2013). The film discusses the historic importance of

Sound City Studios Sound City Studios is a recording studio in Los Angeles, California, United States, known as one of the most successful in popular music. The complex opened in 1969 in the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles. The facility had previously been a p ...

and its Neve 8028 console to the world of rock music, along with other recording genres. ''Sound City'' debuted on January 18, 2013, to overwhelmingly positive reviews with a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. After the success of ''Sound City'', Grohl expressed interest to ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' of doing another production. According to Grohl, On May 15, 2014, it was announced that the

' eighth album would be released in the fall of 2014, and that the band would commemorate the album and their 20th anniversary with a television miniseries. Each song on the new album was recorded in a different city, featuring "local legends" on each song and lyrics inspired by the "experiences, interviews and personalities that became part of the process." It was later announced the series to be titled, '' Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways'' and was set to broadcast on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

on October 17, 2014. With each of the eight episodes is presented as an exploration of the musical history of a different American city through a series of interviews by Grohl. The group is also shown incorporating what they learned from the interviews into the writing and recording of a new song in or near that city. The series received equal acclaim to ''Sound City'' with the series receiving four nominations at the

67th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards The 67th Annual Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony was held on September 12, 2015, at the Microsoft Theater in Downtown Los Angeles. The event was broadcast in the U.S. by FXX on September 19, 2015. The ceremony was in conjunction w ...

and ultimately winning two of the four. In February 2021, it was announced that Grohl would be producing and directing a documentary

streaming television Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as films and television series, streamed over the Internet. Standing in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air aerial systems, cable t ...

series, based on the autobiographical novel ''From Cradle to Stage: Stories from the Mothers Who Rocked and Raised Rock Stars'' by his mother Virginia Grohl. The series, ''From Cradle to Stage'' premiered exclusively on

Paramount+ Paramount+ (formerly known as CBS All Access in the United States and 10 All Access in Australia) is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, stream ...

on May 6, 2021, airing six episodes. In April 2021, it was announced Grohl directed a documentary ''What Drives Us'', on van touring. It was released on April 30, 2021, on the Coda Collection via

Amazon Prime Amazon Prime (styled as prime) is a paid subscription service of Amazon which is available in many countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services inclu ...

. In November 2021, it was reported that a film starring the Foo Fighters, titled '' Studio 666'' was shot in secret with filming taking place in the same house the band recorded their album '' Medicine at Midnight''. Nearing the end of filming in early 2020, production was shut down due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in the United States On December 31, 2019, China announced the discovery of a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan. The first American case was reported on January 20, and United States Department of Health and Human Services, Health and Human Services Secreta ...

. Production resumed in Los Angeles months later, becoming one of the first films to do so during the pandemic. On December 2, 2021, a sneak peek trailer was uploaded to the band's YouTube channel. The official trailer was announced through the band's Twitter on January 10, and was released on January 11. The film was released theatrically on February 25, 2022, by

Open Road Films Open Road Films, LLC (formerly known briefly as Global Road Entertainment) is an American independent film production and distribution company based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded by Tom Ortenberg on March 26, 2011, as a joint ven ...

Productions

Accolades

Roswell Films has received numerous nominations and awards for their productions.

References

External links

Official website
{{Foo Fighters 1995 establishments in New York (state) American record labels Companies based in New York City Film distributors of the United States Film production companies of the United States Dave Grohl RCA Records Record labels established in 1995