Green Monkey Records
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Green Monkey Records is an underground record label started in Seattle, Washington, US.[1] It was established by local musician Tom Dyer and was active from 1983 to 1991 and from 2009 to present, with sporadic releases in the interim. It is currently headquartered in Olympia, Washington, US.
History
[edit]Green Monkey Records was established in 1983 by local musician Tom Dyer, who was inspired to begin recording and producing music after a recording session at Seattle's Triangle Studios. Using a "Teac four-track reel-to-reel and a Tapco 6200B mixer from a guy in a parking garage downtown,"[2] Dyer began recording and mixing music in his apartment in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood. Early clients included Mr. Epp and the Calculations, featuring Mark Arm (later of Mudhoney fame). After Dyer's landlord found out, the operation was quickly moved to the basement of a rented house on the north side of Seattle's Queen Anne Hill.
Between 1983 and 1991, Green Monkey Records released 44 albums. The label's biggest brush with commercial success came from the Green Pajamas' album "Book of Hours," a followup to the single "Kim the Waitress" [3] that was two years in the making. The label's had reached its heyday by 1987, and by 1988, changing priorities (including the birth of Dyer's first child) and new responsibilities (teaching at the Art Institute of Seattle) had begun to impact the label. In 1991, Dyer sold the majority of his recording equipment and closed the studio, although he did occasionally release new material, such as the Green Pajamas' Caroler's Song EP.
Revival
[edit]In 2009, Green Monkey Records released a 2 CD compilation album, titled "It Crawled from the Basement: the green monkey records anthology."[4] The album featured 47 tracks by 32 artists. To celebrate, Dyer orchestrated a release party at the SoDo Showbox featuring nine bands: The Green Pajamas, The Icons, The Purdins, Capping Day, The Queen Annes, Prudence Dredge, Liquid Generation, The Elements and Slam Suzzanne. Inspired by positive press, Dyer began releasing more material, including several reissues, but notably new material and new artists as well. As of December 2016, the label has released 52 more albums, with a significant number of contributions by Dyer or Jeff Kelly and the Green Pajamas.[5]
Since 2010, the label has released an annual Christmas compilation to benefit the charity MusiCares. Contributors include Green Monkey veterans such as The Green Pajamas, The Queen Annes, and Eric Padget (of Sigourney Reverb), as well as other artists from around the country, and of course, Dyer himself. Critical reception of the albums has been favorable, with Stubby's House of Christmas declaring that "somehow, every GD year, Green Monkey puts out one of the best Christmas albums of the year."
In 2016, Dyer moved the label to the capitol, Olympia, with some Olympia artists being added to the label's primarily Seattle mix. The natural result of this move can be seen in 2022 with Dyer's "Olympia: A True Story”, a 3-CD box set about the history of Olympia.
Sound and cultural impact
[edit]Although Green Monkey Records has never enjoyed significant commercial success, the label does have a cult following. The label's sound has been categorized as "post-punk/pre-grunge Seattle" and "indy pop music—good honest, ballsy, delicate, garage-y, punky, folky, mildly trippy pop music".[6] The label has received positive press from local "listener-powered" indie radio station KEXP[7] as well as a number of indie music bloggers.[8]
References
[edit]- ^ Wilson, William (2011). Gobbledygook: A Dictionary That's 2/3 Accurate, 1/3 Nonsense - And 100% Up to You to Decide. Adams Media. p. 26. ISBN 978-1-440-52924-5.
- ^ Dyer, Tom. "It Crawled From The Basement: the green monkey records anthology". Green Monkey Records. Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2014-06-15.
- ^ Humphrey 1995, p.106. 'Tom Dyer's Green Monkey label released ... the group that became Dyer's principal interest, Green Pajamas....Led by the delightful acid-pop vocals and lyrics of Jeff Kelly (with bassist/co-songwriter Joe Ross (later in 64 Spiders), Steve Lawrence, Bruce Haedt and Karl Wilhelm), the Pajamas first made the self-released tape Summer of Lust, the hooked up with Dyer and scored a regional hit in 1984 with the dreamy love-ode "Kim The Waitress", clocking in at over six minutes of ethereal innocence. (Dyer mixed a shorter version for airplay on KJET, whose automation equipment couldn't play tapes longer than five minutes.)'
- ^ "Various – It Crawled From the Basement: The Green Monkey Records Anthology - Green Monkey Records". greenmonkeyrecords.com. Retrieved 2016-12-16.
- ^ "Green Monkey Records Label | Releases | Discogs". Discogs.
- ^ "It Crawled From The Basement - The Green Monkey Records Anthology". The Ripple Effect. Retrieved 2014-06-15.
- ^ Fuller, Levi. "Review Revue: Green Monkey Party!". KEXP.org.
- ^ Segarini, Bob (3 June 2014). "Green monkey Records: When a Label's a Label..." Segarini: Don't Believe a Word I Say.