Timberyard Records is a pioneering

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, ...

in the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

independent music Independent music (also commonly known as indie music, or simply indie) is a broad style of music characterized by creative freedoms, low-budgets, and a DIY ethic, do-it-yourself approach to music creation, which originated from the liberties aff ...

movement of the 1980s. Timberyard Records was established in 1985 in

Newtown, New South Wales Newtown, a suburb of Inner West, Sydney's inner west, is located approximately four kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, straddling the Local government areas of New South Wales, local government areas of the City of Sy ...

by Michael Danias. Initially releasing prominent underground

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

acts such as Box the Jesuit, Candy Harlots, The Dubrovniks, Girl Monstar, Johnny Teen and the Broken Hearts and the Zen Genies. In 1989 the label released a Christmas

compilation Compilation may refer to: *In computer programming, the translation of source code into object code by a compiler **Compilation error **Compilation unit *Product bundling, a marketing strategy used to sell multiple products, such as video game co ...

, ''Rockin' Bethlehem'', which featured a number of bands from the label, including The Dubrovniks,

Ratcat Ratcat are an Australian indie rock band from Sydney who formed in 1985. The band is fronted by mainstay vocalist and guitarist, Simon Day. Their combination of indie pop song writing and energetic Punk rock, punk-style guitar rock won them fan ...

, Girl Monstar,

Steve Kilbey Steven John Kilbey (born 13 September 1954) is an English born Australian singer-songwriter best known as the lead singer and bass guitarist for the rock band The Church. He is also a music producer, poet, and painter. As of 2020, Kilbey has r ...

( The Church), Damien Lovelock (

The Celibate Rifles The Celibate Rifles were an Australian punk rock band which formed in 1979 with a line-up that included mainstays Dave Morris on rhythm guitar and Kent Steedman on lead guitar; within a year they were joined by Damien Lovelock on lead vocals. Th ...

The Jackson Code The Jackson Code were an Australian rock, country and folk band, which formed in Perth in 1988. The original line-up was Kenny Davis Jr on accordion and keyboards; Jason Kain on guitar (ex-Wet Taxis, Chad's Tree), Mark Snarski on guitar and v ...

and

Lime Spiders Lime Spiders were an Australian punk rock band which formed in 1979 with Mick Blood on lead vocals. He was later joined by Richard Lawson on drums, and David Sparks on guitar. Their debut studio album, '' The Cave Comes Alive!'' was released i ...

. Proceeds from the sales of the album went to the Camperdown Children's Hospital. In 1990 the label released a second Christmas compilation album, ''Rockin' Bethlehem - The Second Coming'', which featured

The Falling Joys Falling Joys are an Australian alternative rock band formed in Canberra in 1985. The original line-up included Suzie Higgie on lead vocals and guitar and Stuart G. Robertson on bass guitar. By the end of 1988 Higgie and Robertson, now on guitar ...

, Painters and Dockers,

Ed Kuepper Edmund Kuepper (born 20 December 1955) is a German-born Australian guitarist, Singing, vocalist and songwriter. He co-founded the punk band The Saints (Australian band), The Saints in 1973, the experimental post-punk group Laughing Clowns (acti ...

, The Screaming Tribesmen,

Archie Roach Archibald William Roach (8 January 1956 – 30 July 2022) was an Australian (Gunditjmara and Western Bundjalung people, Bundjalung) singer-songwriter and Aboriginal Australian, Aboriginal activist. Often referred to as "Uncle Archie", Roach wa ...

and Paul Kelly. Also that year

You Am I You Am I are an Australian power pop band, fronted by its lead singer-songwriter and guitarist, Tim Rogers. They formed in December 1989 and are the first Australian band to have released three successive albums that have each debuted at the ...

signed with Timberyard, with the label subsequently releasing the band's first two

EPs An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

, '' Snake Tide'' in May 1991 and '' Goddamn'' in May 1992. The band then signed to Ra Records, a sub-branch of rooArt Records. Timberyard took an extended break for many years before becoming active in the mid-2000s, with releases from Melbourne bands,

Ripe Réseaux IP Européens (RIPE, French for "European IP Networks") is a forum open to all parties with an interest in the technical development of the Internet. The RIPE community's objective is to ensure that the administrative and technical co ...

Cosmic Psychos Cosmic Psychos is an Australian punk rock band which formed in 1982 as Spring Plains. The band's first stabilized lineup included Ross Knight on bass guitar and vocals, Peter Jones on guitar, and Bill Walsh on drums. Australian rock music histo ...

and Damn Arms as well as Sydney artists Warhorse, Circle Pit and Atrocities. In 2004 the label started working with

Teenager Adolescence () is a transitional stage of human physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated wi ...

, a band composed of

Nick Littlemore Nicholas George Littlemore (born 6 May 1978) is an Australian musician, record producer, singer, songwriter and tour manager. As a musician, he is the frontman of the electronic project Pnau, an ex-member of the art-rock band Teenager and one p ...

from

Pnau Pnau, stylised as PNAU, is an Australian Electronic dance music, dance music trio originating from Sydney, Australia, Sydney. The trio, a duo before 2016, consists of the musicians Nick Littlemore (vocals, production), Peter Mayes (guitar, produ ...

and Empire of the Sun and Pip Brown known as Ladyhawke, on an art rock album titled Thirteen. It was recorded in many countries in collaboration with many artists. The album was released in 2006. The first single from the album was titled "Pony".

References

Australian independent record labels Alternative rock record labels {{Independent-record-label-stub

See also

References