Biography
The label came into existence in 1990 with the release of "Machines Compilation 7" Series". Simple Machines promoted cooperation with other indie labels all over the United States, and the "sell it at a fair price" ethic. The label also released a compilation of bands covering their "favourite Beat Happening covers". The profits were donated to a youth at risk home in Washington D.C.
The most famous release of the label is Pocketwatch, an album recorded by Dave Grohl, the Foo Fighters frontman, then the drummer for Seattle based grunge band Nirvana. Unwilling to use his own name on the record, Grohl used the moniker "Late!", and was listed in liner notes as "Dave G". The album was released in 1992 and featured songs that were later re-released by the Foo Fighters, namely "Color Pictures of a Marigold" (shorted to Marigold, and released both by Nirvana and Foo Fighters), Friend of a Friend, and "Winnebago" (the latter becoming the b-side to the Foo Fighters first single This Is A Call). The album can be heard on its MySpace page. Grohl himself played all the instruments on the album, while Barrett Jones produced it and sang backing vocals on "Petrol CB".
After Pocketwatch was released in 1992, Grohl remained tight lipped about the project, preferring not to talk about it, and remain the Nirvana drummer. But with the creation of the Foo Fighters in 1995, the strain of people wanting the Pocketwatch album almost destroyed the label.
In 1993, the label spent a large part of the year promoting and releasing a 7" collection called "Working Holiday", which was a monthly release featuring two bands on every record. Each single featured songs pertaining to a holiday that occurred in the month the single was released. Some of the artists featured in this series included My Dad Is Dead, Lois, the Coctails, Eggs, Bratmobile, Codeine, Superchunk, Jawbox, and Rastro!. Subscribers to these records also received a calendar featuring interesting facts about every day of the year, a box holder for the singles and a special gift on their birthday. The label pressed and shipped 36,000 7" inch records and, in January 1994, they hosted a weekend music festival to celebrate the feat.
Read more about this topic: Simple Machines
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