TKO Records is an independent punk rock record label in Portland, Oregon. The label is primarily known for its role in the late 1990s American street punk scene and has continued its notability as a source of new releases, reissues, and archival recordings. The ''

OC Weekly ''OC Weekly'' was a free alternative weekly paper distributed in Orange County and Long Beach, California. OC Weekly was founded in September 1995 by Will Swaim, who acted as editor and publisher until 2007. The paper was distributed at coffee ...

'' newspaper recognized the label as "best record label" in Orange County in 2011 and its record store of the same name as "best punk-rock record store" in Orange County, 2008.

History

TKO Records was founded by Mark Rainey in 1997 in San Francisco, California. Early on the label rose to prominence with releases from the

Dropkick Murphys Dropkick Murphys are an American Celtic punk band formed in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1996. Singer and bassist Ken Casey has been the band's only constant member. Other current members include drummer Matt Kelly (1997– ), singer Al Barr (199 ...

Lower Class Brats Lower Class Brats are a street punk band founded in Austin, Texas in January 1995. Based out of Southern California since 2017. Biography Formed in 1995 in Austin TX, Lower Class Brats . mix Punk, Oi!, 70s Glam and straight ahead rock and rol ...

, Anti-Heros, Swingin' Utters,

The Templars The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon ( la, Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Salomonici), also known as the Order of Solomon's Temple, the Knights Templar, or simply the Templars, was a Catholic military order, o ...

, Pressure Point, Workin' Stiffs,

U.S. Bombs U.S. Bombs are an American punk rock band, formed in 1993 in Orange County, California by Duane Peters and Kerry Martinez. For much of the band's career, the U.S. Bombs consisted of Peters and Martinez, with bass guitarist Wade Walston and drum ...

, and The Forgotten. The label helped to establish a sound and aesthetic for the street punk scene in the United States that was then rising in popularity. As TKO's prominence within the punk rock scene increased, the label also began releasing records from veteran punk bands such as

Cocksparrer Cock Sparrer () is an English punk rock band formed in 1972 in the East End of London. Although they have never enjoyed commercial success, they helped pave the way for the early '80s punk scene and the Oi! subgenre., Their songs have been cov ...

, Angelic Upstarts, the Partisans,

Slaughter and the Dogs Slaughter and the Dogs are an English punk rock band formed in 1975 in Wythenshawe, Manchester. Their original line-up consisted of singer Wayne Barrett McGrath, rhythm guitar Mick Rossi, drummer Brian "Mad Muffet" Grantham, lead guitarist M ...

The Bruisers The Bruisers were a punk band that pioneered the American streetpunk/oi! movement, formed in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1988. The original lineup included: Al Barr (vocals, now the lead singer of the Boston punk band Dropkick Murphys), Scotty ...

, Chelsea, The Business, The Real Kids, and

Antiseen Antiseen (often stylized as ANTiSEEN) is an American punk rock band formed in Charlotte, North Carolina, by Jeff Clayton and Joe Young in 1983. The name "Antiseen" serves as a deliberate deviation of the phrase "anti-scene" - the group not wi ...

. Eventually the label relocated to Orange County, California and from 2000 to 2005 continued building a name with notable releases from "Beach Punk" bands such as the

Smut Peddlers Smut Peddlers are an American punk band originally from Redondo Beach, California. The band has been performing live since 1993 and has toured in Europe and North America. The Smut Peddlers are notorious in Southern California for their spirit ...

, the Stitches, Smogtown, the Crowd and Broken Bottles while continuing to release street punk and Oi! records. In 2007 TKO Records opened a record store in Fountain Valley, California as part of the label's ten year anniversary. The label continues to release reissues and archival recordings from seminal punk bands, such as Poison Idea,

the Templars The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon ( la, Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Salomonici), also known as the Order of Solomon's Temple, the Knights Templar, or simply the Templars, was a Catholic military order, o ...

T.S.O.L. T.S.O.L. (True Sounds of Liberty) is an American punk rock band formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California. Although most commonly associated with hardcore punk, T.S.O.L.'s music has varied on each release, including such styles as deathrock, a ...

, The Meatmen,

, No For An Answer, Channel 3, and Iron Cross, as well as new recordings from Giuda, The label's store front relocated to Huntington Beach, California in 2013 and has hosted readings from punk rock related writers, such as Tesco Vee, Jack Grisham,

Alice Bag Alicia "Alice" Armendariz (born November 7, 1958) is an American punk rock singer better known as Alice Bag. She is the lead vocalist and co-founder of the Bags, one of the first punk bands to form in Los Angeles in the mid-1970s. Her first bo ...

Chris D. Chris D. (born Chris Desjardins; January 15, 1953) is a punk poet, singer, writer, rock critic, producer, actor, and filmmaker. He is best known as the lead singer and founder of the early and long-running Los Angeles punk/death rock band the Fle ...

and Legs McNeil, as well live performances from artists including

Deniz Tek Deniz Tek (born November 10, 1952) is a Turkish-American singer, guitarist and songwriter and a founding member of Australian rock group Radio Birdman. He has played in many of the underground rock bands of the 1970s including Australian bands Th ...

Chuck Dukowski Gary Arthur McDaniel (born February 1, 1954 ), better known by his stage name Chuck Dukowski, is an American punk rock musician most well known for being the bass player, and occasional songwriter for Black Flag. Career Early years Dukowski ...

, Scott Weinrich, Joe Keithley and Channel 3. The store specializes in rare, out of print records, as well as new releases from punk, hardcore, garage, reggae, ska, rock, and metal bands. In the Fall of 2014, the label relocated to Portland, Oregon. After being sold to new owners in 2016, the TKO Records record store in Huntington Beach, CA closed in January 2020. Mark Rainey has also co-run the

imprint Imprint or imprinting may refer to: Entertainment * ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series * "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror'' * ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film ...

record label Flat Records, along with Ken Casey of the

. Flat's releases have included records from Agnostic Front and

Blood For Blood Blood for Blood is an American hardcore punk band from Boston, Massachusetts. It was formed in 1994 by Erick "Buddha" Medina and "White Trash" Rob Lind, drawing inspiration from the hardcore scene in Boston and New York. In 1997, they were sig ...

Roster

ANTiSEEN Antiseen (often stylized as ANTiSEEN) is an American punk rock band formed in Charlotte, North Carolina, by Jeff Clayton and Joe Young in 1983. The name "Antiseen" serves as a deliberate deviation of the phrase "anti-scene" - the group not wi ...

(2000-Present) *

(1997-Present) * Poison Idea (2007-Present) *

(1997-Present)

Former

* 46 Short * Adolf and the Piss Artists * GG Allin &

* Angelic Upstarts * Anti-Heros * Bad Luck Charms (side project with members of

) * the Beltones * Blood Stained Kings (featuring

Yoji Harada (6 August 1972 – 27 March 2019) was a Japanese tattoo artist and musician who gained fame from his appearances in the TLC (TV channel), TLC reality show ''Miami Ink''. References External linksBiography at TLC Miami Ink Web site

) * The Bodies *

The Boils The Boils were an American oi! / punk rock band from Philadelphia officially formed in 1996. Their most popular song, "The Orange and The Black", is used after every Philadelphia Flyers win as of April 13, 2006. They have also played on th ...

* Bottles & Skulls (featuring members of Triclops!) * Broken Bottles *

* The Business * Channel 3 * Chelsea * Class Assassins * Cocknoose *

* Complete Control * The Crowd *

The Crumbs The Crumbs are a rock band originating from Miami, Florida. The band is composed of Raf Classic (guitar/vocals), Johnny B (guitar), Emil 4 (bass), and Chuck Loose (drums). They have been inspired by 1950s rock music and the music of The Ramones, ...

* Deadbolt * Dead End Cruisers *

Demented Are Go Demented Are Go (DAG aka Demented Are Go!) are a Welsh psychobilly band that was formed around 1982 in Cardiff, Wales. They were one of the earliest in the initial wave of bands to mix punk rock with rockabilly, and as a result, are consi ...

* The Distraction (featuring members of Le Shok) *

Electric Frankenstein Electric Frankenstein is an American punk revival band from New Jersey, founded by Sal Canzonieri in 1990. The band relocated to North Carolina in 2021. Their style is a mixture of punk rock, hard rock, garage rock, glam, and heavy metal. It is ...

* The Escape *

Filthy Thievin' Bastards The Filthy Thieving Bastards is an American folk/ punk rock group formed in 2000 in San Francisco, California. The band was originally a side project put together by Johnny Bonnel and Darius Koski of the Swingin' Utters. Spike Slawson (also fro ...

* The Flesh Eaters * The Forgotten * Glass Heroes * The Generators * Giuda * Hammerlock *

Hank III Hank is a male given name. It may have been inspired by the Dutch name Henk,The Origins of 10 Nicknam ...

Hard Skin Hard Skin is an English punk group from Gipsy Hill, London who play in the early UK Oi! style. History Hard Skin is an oi band founded in 1996 and their first album ''Hard Nuts and Hard Cunts'' appeared that year. The band were: bassist "Fat Bo ...

Hatepinks Hatepinks is a French punk French punk is punk rock from France. Punk rock developed in France in the mid-1970s, strongly influenced by the scenes in the United States and United Kingdom, but also influencing the latter. The first European Punk ...

* Hollywood Hate (featuring

Scotty Wilkins Scotty Wilkins is an American punk rock singer and musician. Wilkins is most widely known as the singer for the Los Angeles punk rock band Hollywood Hate and previously, San Francisco punk rock band, Verbal Abuse. In the mid 1990s, Wilkins joine ...

) * Iron Cross * Kill Your Idols * The Krays *

Krum Bums Krum ( bg, Крум, el, Κροῦμος/Kroumos), often referred to as Krum the Fearsome ( bg, Крум Страшни) was the Khan (title), Khan of First Bulgarian Empire, Bulgaria from sometime between 796 and 803 until his death in 814. Du ...

* Last Target (featuring members of Thug Murder) * Limecell * the Loose Lips * Meatmen * Nazi Dogs * New York Rel-X (featuring members of The Krays * Niblick Henbane * No for an Answer * The Obsessed * Old Firm Casuals (featuring Lars Frederiksen) *

One Man Army 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

* The Partisans * Peter and the Test Tube Babies * Pressure Point * The Radicts * the Randumbs *

Real Kids The Real Kids are an American rock band from Boston, Massachusetts, United States, led by guitarist, singer and songwriter John Felice. Career Felice (born 1955) grew up in Natick, Massachusetts, as a neighbor and friend of Jonathan Richman, a ...

* Reducers SF * The Rhythm Doctors *

The Riffs The Riffs are a rock and roll and punk band from Portland, Oregon. They have released three full-length albums, all on indie labels, namely Pelado Records, Vendetta Records, and TKO Records. Influences The Riffs are heavily influenced by early ...

* Shock Nagasaki * Smogtown *

* The Stitches *

Straitjacket A straitjacket is a garment shaped like a jacket with long sleeves that surpass the tips of the wearer's fingers. Its most typical use is restraining people who may cause harm to themselves or others. Once the wearer slides their arms into the ...

* Strychnine * Swingin' Utters *

* Terminus City *

Those Unknown Those Unknown are an American left-wing punk rock band. With lyrics conveying the grassroots realism of the American working class experience, the band influenced bands such as Dropkick Murphys. Formed in the early 1990s New Jersey Oi! scene, Tho ...

* Tommy and the Terrors * The Truents *

* The Upsets *

* Vicious Circle (pre-

) * Workin' Stiffs *

Wretched Ones The Wretched Ones are an American Punk rock, punk band from Midland Park, New Jersey, United States. They had formerly belonged to The Burnt and The Wretched. Early in the 1990s, their song "Oi! Rodgers" had a modest underground success. Discogra ...

* YDi

Flat Records roster

* 30 Seconds Over Tokyo * All Systems Stop * Agnostic Front * BeerZone * Big Bad Bollocks *

the Bruisers The Bruisers were a punk band that pioneered the American streetpunk/oi! movement, formed in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1988. The original lineup included: Al Barr (vocals, now the lead singer of the Boston punk band Dropkick Murphys), Scotty ...

* The Cuffs *

* The Drunks *

Ducky Boys The Ducky Boys are a street punk band from Boston. Since forming in 1995 in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston, the band has released six full-length albums and over 80 songs. The band's name is derived from the name of an Irish street ga ...

* Hudson Falcons * Main Street Saints *

Oxymoron An oxymoron (usual plural oxymorons, more rarely oxymora) is a figure of speech that juxtaposes concepts with opposing meanings within a word or phrase that creates an ostensible self-contradiction. An oxymoron can be used as a rhetorical devi ...

* Pressure Point * The Randumbs *

Runnin' Riot Runnin' Riot are a punk rock band from Belfast, noted for their streetpunk, Oi! sound. The band's name was inspired by Cock Sparrer's first single release. Original vocalist Colin McQuillan died in August 2014 when the band were on tour with L ...

* The Shods * Terminus City * Thug Murder * The Trouble * The Vigilantes

References

{{Authority control Companies based in Huntington Beach, California Punk record labels American independent record labels Record labels established in 1997 Music retailers of the United States American companies established in 1997 1997 establishments in California