Spartan Records was founded by John T. Frazier in Seattle, Washington in January 2007. It is currently home to the bands Schematic, Barren Womb,

Ourlives Ourlives is an Icelandic rock band that formed in Reykjavik Iceland in 2005. History Jón Björn Árnason and Leifur Kristinsson formed Ourlives in 2005 and recorded demos for four years before releasing their first album in Iceland, ''We Lost t ...

Shy, Low Shy, Low is an American post-rock and post-metal band from Richmond, Virginia, United States, signed to Pelagic Records (The Ocean, MONO, Envy). The band's current line up consists of Zak Bryant (guitar), Gregg Peterson (guitar), Drew Storcks (ba ...

, and several others. Prior to founding Spartan, Frazier was the director of marketing at several preeminent independent record labels including Tooth and Nail Records, Solid State Records, and Drive-Thru Records. The label has been a full-time operation since January 2013. Spartan Records is known for its creative pressing of colored vinyl variants.

Background

Formation

John T. Frazier has stated that Spartan Records got its inspirations from the mail-order record labels he bought from while growing up. He worked in college radio and received an internship at the major record label Geffen Records and worked as part of the street teams for several other labels. He started his career working for a small indie label called

crank! crank! A Record Company was an independent record label which was started by Jeff Matlow in September 1994. The label "played a huge role in the spreading of emo in the mid-’90s", according to ''Alternative Press'' magazine. The label's first r ...

. After working with several other labels including Tooth and Nail Records, Solid State Records and Drive-Thru Records, he founded Spartan Records in 2007; eventually leaving Tooth and Nail Records in December 2012 to work exclusively with Spartan Records.

Destination: Beautiful

The most successful release by Spartan Records has been their pressing of

Mae Mae is an American rock band that formed in Norfolk, Virginia in 2001. The band's name is an acronym for "Multi-sensory Aesthetic Experience", based on a course taken by drummer Jacob Marshall while a student at Old Dominion University. Histor ...

's '' Destination: Beautiful''. Their first pressing in 2012 involved a mix of 500 vinyl LPs including 200 white, 200 navy blue/white swirl, and 100 180 gsm black discs. After completely selling out the first pressing in 2012 they announced another pressing of 500 in 2013 on teal (100), white teal splatter (200) and Teal/white Swirl (200) these also sold out. Due to the popularity of this pressing they released another pressing of 500 copies on glow in the dark vinyl through Hot Topic and that pressing sold out quickly as well. In 2014 a fourth pressing of Destination: Beautiful was released as a part of Record Sale Day 2014 on Transparent Blue and gold vinyl. It was limited to 500 copies and has sold out as well. As a result of continued popularity of each successive pressing Spartan Records announced mae week. The week of May 19, 2014 spartan records announced that a fifth pressing of 500 vinyl copies would be sold 100 per day on 5 different variants. In addition to the daily release 25 sets of all five variants sold out on the first day. Over the course of the week 100 Gold/White Swirl with Silver Splatter on the first day, 100 gold sold out on the second day, 100 blue white and clear LPs sold out on the third day, 100 copies on Milky Clear with White Splatter sold out on the fourth day and 100 White / Aqua Blue / Double mint Tri-Color discs sold out the fifth day. In total all 500 in the fifth pressing sold out during the course of mae week. In addition re release of a style of mae shirt was sold as an extra to the vinyl. A sixth pressing of the vinyl is currently for sale on the Spartan Records website. Additional mae records have been sold through Spartan Records such as ''The Everglow'', the (m)(a)(e) anthology and most recently ''Our Love is a Painted Picture.''

Releases

Artists

This is a partial list of artists who currently, or have previously recorded for Spartan Records. * American Opera * Anchor & Braille * Assertion * Barren Womb * Daisyhead * Dearist * Demons * Fallow Land * Florida Man * Giants Chair *

Hidden Hospitals Hidden Hospitals is an alternative progressive rock band from Chicago, Illinois. The band was originally formed from members of the bands Damiera and Kiss Kiss (band). They released their first Extended play, EP, ''EP 001'', in September 2011. T ...

* Honey and Salt * Kiska *

Lights & Motion Lights & Motion is a Swedish cinematic post-rock musical project, founded in Gothenburg 2012 by Christoffer Franzén. The band has so far released six full-length albums, '' ''Reanimation', '' ''Save Your Heart', '' ''Chronicle', '' ''De ...

* Lucky Scars *

* Man Mountain * Mountain Time * My God, It's Full of Stars * NYVES * Over the Ocean *

* Reader * Renaissance Fair * Schematic * Secret Stuff * Sense Field *

* Sky's the Limit * Square Peg Round Hole * States * Subways on the Sun *

Sullivan Sullivan may refer to: People Characters * Chloe Sullivan, from the television series ''Smallville'' * Colin Sullivan, a character in the film ''The Departed'', played by Matt Damon * Harry Sullivan (''Doctor Who''), from the British science f ...

* Sundressed * Surprises * The Darling Fire * The Farewell Bend * The Foxery * Trace Bundy * Trespassers * Unifier * Unwed Sailor * VAR * Waypoint * Young Fox

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spartan Records 2007 establishments in Washington (state) Alternative rock record labels American companies established in 2008 American independent record labels Companies based in Seattle Hardcore record labels Post-hardcore record labels Record labels established in 2007 Rock record labels