415 Records
Encyclopedia
415 Records was a San Francisco record label created in 1978
1978 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1978.-January–April:*January 14 – The Sex Pistols play their final show at San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom....

. The label focused its efforts on local punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 and new wave music
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...

 acts of the late 1970s through the late 1980s, including The Offs
The Offs
The Offs are a punk/ska band from San Francisco, started by guitarist Billy Hawk and singer Don Vinil, and later joined by former Hot Tuna drummer Bob Steeler and a rotation of horn players including Bob Roberts, Richard Edson and Roland Young...

, The Nuns
The Nuns
The Nuns were a punk rock/new wave band in San Francisco in the late 1970s. The band has periodically reformed and played to the present day. The band formed in 1975, and were the among the first punk bands in California. In January 1978, together with The Avengers they opened for the Sex Pistols...

, Romeo Void
Romeo Void
Romeo Void was an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1979. The band primarily consisted of saxophonist Benjamin Bossi, vocalist Debora Iyall, guitarist Peter Woods, and bassist Frank Zincavage. The band went through four drummers, starting with Jay Derrah and ending with...

, and Wire Train
Wire Train
Wire Train was a United States based group who produced six albums in the 1980s and early 1990s. The band was originally formed as the Renegades in April 1983 in San Francisco...

. Its name, pronounced four-one-five (not four-fifteen), was a play on both the telephone area code for the San Francisco area and the law enforcement scanner code for a disturbance. The label had a productive patnership with Columbia Records from 1981 until shortly before it was sold in 1989
1989 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1989.-Events:*January 14 – Paul McCartney releases Снова в СССР exclusively in the USSR...

 to Sandy Pearlman
Sandy Pearlman
Sandy Pearlman is an American music producer, artist manager, professor, poet, songwriter, and once was a record company executive...

, who retitled the label Popular Metaphysics
Popular Metaphysics
Popular Metaphysics was a record label created by Sandy Pearlman in Studio C of the Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco in 1989. The label was short lived, but it signed a few solid acts and released their records on the MCA label, including Love Club , Manitoba's Wild Kingdom, and World...

.

History

415 Records was founded in San Francisco in 1978 by entrepreneurs Howie Klein
Howie Klein
Howie Klein is an American DJ, music producer, record label founder, record label executive, and political blogger, who was president of Reprise Records from 1989 to 2001....

, Chris Knab, and Butch Bridges. Klein was a writer and entertainment promoter, Knab owned the eclectic San Francisco record store Aquarius Records
Aquarius Records (store)
Aquarius Records is an independent record store and the oldest record store of any sort in San Francisco, California, established in 1970. Aquarius is known for carrying an obscure selection of psychedelia, metal, and world music, and has an extensive mail order catalog. The store's selection is...

, and Bridges was a music collector and retailer. Klein and Knab had become friends when Klein did some photography for his friend Harvey Milk
Harvey Milk
Harvey Bernard Milk was an American politician who became the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors...

, whose camera store was next door to Knab's Aquarius Records on Castro Street. They worked together on various radio shows around the Bay Area, including an alternative radio show on KSAN
KSAN
KSAN may refer to:* The ICAO airport code for San Diego International Airport* KSAN , a defunct radio station in San Francisco, California, United States* KSAN , a radio station licensed to San Mateo, California, United States...

, and they started recording and promoting local musicians out of Knab's record store.

Klein ran the label from a tiny office in the Mission, a district of San Francisco, where he kept a pushpin-covered United States map on his wall, bearing a sign that read, "All Bands on Tour All the Time." Klein used his own late-night weekend radio shows to showcase his artist's records and he promoted them all over the country to nightclubs, record stores, and a newly blossoming array of other alternative radio stations. His artists were part of the 1980s San Francisco rock underground, though Klein leaned more toward the accessible, fun, new wave bands than the thrash metal
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...

 and hard-core punk bands who were also part of that scene.
415 was the first North American record label to focus on punk and new wave music and they featured mostly musicians from the San Francisco region, though the label eventually also included artists from other areas. The British label Stiff Records
Stiff Records
Stiff Records is a record label created in London in 1976, by entrepreneurs Dave Robinson and Andrew Jakeman , and active until 1985. It was reactivated in 2007....

 had done similarly two years earlier; marketing England's emergent 1970's pub rock scene as punk and new wave and releasing their first record in August of 1976.

415 Records enjoyed early and sustained support from Bill Graham
Bill Graham (promoter)
Bill Graham was an American impresario and rock concert promoter from the 1960s until his death.-Early life:...

 and from David Rubinson, owner of The Automatt
The Automatt
The Automatt was a sound recording studio in San Francisco, California, promoted for its early mix automation system. During its eight active years, 1976 to 1984, it was one of the top recording studios in the region...

 recording studio on Folsom Street. Bill Graham managed many top-name acts through his management and promotion agency, Bill Graham Presents, and from the start of the label he booked 415's artists as opening acts for major headlining bands to help them gain broader exposure. Queenie Taylor, long an employee of Bill Graham Presents, purchased Butch Bridges' share of 415 Records in 1979.

Rubinson discounted fees for 415 label bands to record at San Francisco's The Automatt
The Automatt
The Automatt was a sound recording studio in San Francisco, California, promoted for its early mix automation system. During its eight active years, 1976 to 1984, it was one of the top recording studios in the region...

 studios; sometimes recording them on speculation, such that the studio would share in the profits from those record sales. David Kahne
David Kahne
David Kahne is an American record producer. Kahne started his musical career as a working musician and then became notable for his role as in-house producer and engineer at 415 Records, the first American new wave music label, and for his subsequent roles as Vice President of A&R at Columbia...

, operating out of a closet-sized office upstairs at The Automatt, worked as 415's A&R director, doing artist development and in-house production and engineering there for 415 until 1982, when he left Automatt and went to work in Los Angeles as Vice President of A&R for Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

. Even so, he continued to produce records for artists on the 415 label.

Their first release was a 1978 single by the The Offs
The Offs
The Offs are a punk/ska band from San Francisco, started by guitarist Billy Hawk and singer Don Vinil, and later joined by former Hot Tuna drummer Bob Steeler and a rotation of horn players including Bob Roberts, Richard Edson and Roland Young...

, entitled Everyone's a Bigot, with on the B-side (cat#911-39, 1978). Subsequent early releases included 7" EPs by SVT (cat#S0005, 1979), The Nuns
The Nuns
The Nuns were a punk rock/new wave band in San Francisco in the late 1970s. The band has periodically reformed and played to the present day. The band formed in 1975, and were the among the first punk bands in California. In January 1978, together with The Avengers they opened for the Sex Pistols...

 (cat#SUB01, 1979), and Pearl Harbor and the Explosions Drivin' (uncatalogued, 1979). Later records included a 7" by The Mutants
The Mutants (San Francisco)
The Mutants are an important band in the history of San Francisco punk rock and new wave music. They are known for their theatrical performances which often include elaborate props, projections, and comical antics...

 (cat#34859, 1980), a mini-album by The Units
The Units
The Units are a defunct, early electronic music/punk rock/New Wave/synthpunk band founded in San Francisco in 1978 and active until 1984.One of America's first electronic New Wave bands, they are widely cited as pioneers of a genre now known as "synthpunk." The Units were notable for their use of...

 (cat#A0003, 1980), a 12" 33⅓ RPM album by Romeo Void
Romeo Void
Romeo Void was an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1979. The band primarily consisted of saxophonist Benjamin Bossi, vocalist Debora Iyall, guitarist Peter Woods, and bassist Frank Zincavage. The band went through four drummers, starting with Jay Derrah and ending with...

 (cat# 415A-0007, 1981), a mini-album by New Math (cat#A0008, 1981), and various other releases for many other bands.

In 1981, 415 released Romeo Void's successful first LP, It's a Condition
It's a Condition
It's a Condition is the first studio album by American new wave band Romeo Void, released in 1981. It was re-released as a cd in 2007 by Wounded Bird Records together with Strange Language, Debora Iyall's 1986 solo album, in July 2007...

and then they built on that success by signing a co-branding contract with Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

 that gave Columbia first rights of refusal to produce, manufacture, and promote their artists' recordings. Many other independent labels would form similar alliances with major labels over the coming decades. 415 retained (nearly) full artistic control over which artists to sign, all recording, and the selection of songs and artwork. Columbia co-branded albums for Romeo Void
Romeo Void
Romeo Void was an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1979. The band primarily consisted of saxophonist Benjamin Bossi, vocalist Debora Iyall, guitarist Peter Woods, and bassist Frank Zincavage. The band went through four drummers, starting with Jay Derrah and ending with...

, Translator
Translator (band)
Translator is a San Francisco rock band that had success during the 1980s. They created a sound that spanned updated British Merseybeat and stripped-down punk-like rock to psychedelia. Inspired by the Beatles and 1960s California folk-rock bands such as The Byrds, their guitar-based music was...

, Wire Train
Wire Train
Wire Train was a United States based group who produced six albums in the 1980s and early 1990s. The band was originally formed as the Renegades in April 1983 in San Francisco...

, Until December
Until December
Until December was a San Francisco-based rock band active in the early to late 1980s. The band released four 12" singles in 1985 on 415 Records / CBS. A self-titled album Until December was released in 1986 by 415 Records / CBS, which contained their biggest hit "Heaven"...

 and the Red Rockers
Red Rockers
Red Rockers were a musical band from New Orleans, Louisiana, active from 1979 to 1985. They are best known for their 1983 hit single "China".-Origins:...

 under this arrangement; while outside the Columbia deal, Monkey Rhythm, the Pop-O-Pies
Pop-o-pies
The Pop-O-Pies are a punk band from San Francisco founded by Joe Pop-O-Pie that got their start by repeatedly playing a cover of The Grateful Dead's "Truckin' ". Though the band went through many line up changes, notably featuring members of Faith No More and Mr...

, and The Uptones
The Uptones
The Uptones were one of the first bands devoted to playing ska on the West Coast of the United States.- History :The Uptones formed in Berkeley, California while band members Eric Dinwiddie , Paul Jackson, Ben Eastwood and Charles Stella were attending Berkeley High School and Cazadero Performing...

 all recorded albums that were released and promoted independently by 415 Records. Like many other independent labels, 415 had struggled to reach a national market, but by partnering with Columbia's knowledge and its established connections with radio, television, and retailers, they were able to bring their records to a much broader audience.

Following Kahne's departure in 1982, local musician and producer Daniel Levitin
Daniel Levitin
Professor Daniel J. Levitin, Ph.D. is a prominent American cognitive psychologist, neuroscientist, record producer, musician, and writer...

 began working in the A&R department and in 1984, he became Director of A&R, serving as staff engineer and handling in-house production as well as development of new artists. In the early 1980s, Queenie Taylor had begun managing Wolfgang's nightclub in San Francisco, and later, in the early 1990's, Slim's nightclub, owned by Boz Scaggs
Boz Scaggs
William Royce "Boz" Scaggs is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He gained fame in the 1970s with several Top 20 hit singles in the United States, along with the #2 album, Silk Degrees. Scaggs continues to write, record music and tour.-Early life and career:Scaggs was born in Canton,...

. Christopher Knab sold his share of the label in 1985 and he moved to Seattle, Washington to manage the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...

's alternative radio station KCMU, now KEXP 90.3 fm. Klein joined Sire Records
Sire Records
Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...

 in 1987 and he was named General Manager of Reprise Records
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...

 in 1989.

When 415 and Columbia severed their co-branding contract in 1989, Levitin was supervising A&R for three new artists, The Stir-Ups, The Big Race, and The Scene, and also three other artists that Levitin had produced for the Columbia partnership. These three, The Afflicted
The Afflicted
The Afflicted are a punk band based in San Francisco, California.They were first active from 1982–1988, consisting of Dan Rancid , Barry Wilder , Frankie John Lennon , and Daryl Bach...

, The Furies, and Rhythm Riot, were given to a different independent label, for whom Levitin was also producing records, San Francisco's Infrasonic Records; where they flourished.

In 1989, 415's co-owner and President, Howie Klein, was named General Manager of Reprise Records
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...

 and Levitin stayed to help run the label after Klein left. Three months later, Sandy Pearlman
Sandy Pearlman
Sandy Pearlman is an American music producer, artist manager, professor, poet, songwriter, and once was a record company executive...

 bought 415 records and named Tom Schedler head of its A&R department. By this time, Al Teller, who had been president of Columbia Records when the 415 partnership began, was now president of MCA Records
MCA Records
MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...

. Pearlman changed the record label's name to Popular Metaphysics
Popular Metaphysics
Popular Metaphysics was a record label created by Sandy Pearlman in Studio C of the Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco in 1989. The label was short lived, but it signed a few solid acts and released their records on the MCA label, including Love Club , Manitoba's Wild Kingdom, and World...

 and formed a co-branding alliance with MCA, ending the 415 label.

Post-closing activities

  • Howie Klein became President of Reprise and Executive Vice President of Warner Bros. Records
    Warner Bros. Records
    Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...

     in 1995 which he remained until retiring in 2001. Klein is now active in politics, writes a blog, downwithtyranny.com, and is working on a novel.

  • Queenie Taylor had begun managing Wolfgang's nightclub in San Francisco in the early 1980s and later, in the early 1990s, managed Slims nightclub, owned by Boz Scaggs.

  • Daniel Levitin worked as an A&R representative for Columbia, RCA
    RCA
    RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...

    , Warner Bros.
    Warner Bros.
    Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...

    , Miramax and other companies before returning to college, and is currently a professor of psychology
    Psychology
    Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...

    , neuroscience
    Neuroscience
    Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Traditionally, neuroscience has been seen as a branch of biology. However, it is currently an interdisciplinary science that collaborates with other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics,...

    , education
    Education
    Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

    , and music
    Music
    Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

     at McGill University
    McGill University
    Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...

     in Montreal
    Montreal
    Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

    .

  • David Kahne is currently Vice President of A&R at Warner Bros. Records.

  • Romeo Void's album, Benefactor, first released on 415 records in 1982, was recompiled by Sony BMG Music Entertainment
    Sony BMG Music Entertainment
    Sony BMG Music Entertainment was a recorded music company, which was a 50–50 joint venture between the Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann AG...

     and released as a CD on Wounded Bird Records
    Wounded Bird Records
    Wounded Bird Records is a CD only, re-issue record label, that was founded in 1998 in Guilderland, New York. They re-release lesser known albums from both popular and lesser known artists, including Deborah Harry, Chic, David Blue, Marilyn Martin, Gordon Haskell, Jon Anderson, Adrian Belew, Ellen...

     in 2006, with 4 bonus tracks taken from their original "Never Say Never" 12" EP release, also on 415 Records.

  • A reunion concert was held at Slim's in San Francisco in September 2009, celebrating 415 Records and featuring several of its recording artists, including Wire Train, Translator and Debora Iyall
    Debora Iyall
    Debora Kay Iyall , professional name “Debora Iyall” , a Cowlitz Native American, is an artist and was lead singer for the new wave band Romeo Void. Debora got her surname from her family adopting their ancestor Iyallwahawa's "first" name written at the time as Ayiel.She was born in 1954 in Soap...

     of Romeo Void.

Artists released on 415

Although closely associated with punk rock and new wave, 415 Records hosted a diverse group of artists, including:).

  • Eddie Gorodetsky
    Eddie Gorodetsky
    Eddie Gorodetsky is a television writer and producer. His credits include Desert Bus, Two and a Half Men, Dharma & Greg, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Mike & Molly, Saturday Night Live, SCTV Network 90, and Late Night with David Letterman...

     & Tom Couch

  • The Mutants
    The Mutants (San Francisco)
    The Mutants are an important band in the history of San Francisco punk rock and new wave music. They are known for their theatrical performances which often include elaborate props, projections, and comical antics...

  • The Nuns
    The Nuns
    The Nuns were a punk rock/new wave band in San Francisco in the late 1970s. The band has periodically reformed and played to the present day. The band formed in 1975, and were the among the first punk bands in California. In January 1978, together with The Avengers they opened for the Sex Pistols...

  • The Offs
    The Offs
    The Offs are a punk/ska band from San Francisco, started by guitarist Billy Hawk and singer Don Vinil, and later joined by former Hot Tuna drummer Bob Steeler and a rotation of horn players including Bob Roberts, Richard Edson and Roland Young...

  • Pearl Harbor and the Explosions
  • Pop-O-Pies
    Pop-o-pies
    The Pop-O-Pies are a punk band from San Francisco founded by Joe Pop-O-Pie that got their start by repeatedly playing a cover of The Grateful Dead's "Truckin' ". Though the band went through many line up changes, notably featuring members of Faith No More and Mr...

  • Red Rockers
    Red Rockers
    Red Rockers were a musical band from New Orleans, Louisiana, active from 1979 to 1985. They are best known for their 1983 hit single "China".-Origins:...

  • Roky Erickson
    Roky Erickson
    Roky Erickson is an American singer, songwriter, harmonica player and guitarist from Texas. He was a founding member of the 13th Floor Elevators and a pioneer of the psychedelic rock genre.-Biography:...

     and the Aliens
  • Romeo Void
    Romeo Void
    Romeo Void was an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1979. The band primarily consisted of saxophonist Benjamin Bossi, vocalist Debora Iyall, guitarist Peter Woods, and bassist Frank Zincavage. The band went through four drummers, starting with Jay Derrah and ending with...

  • SVT
  • Translator
    Translator (band)
    Translator is a San Francisco rock band that had success during the 1980s. They created a sound that spanned updated British Merseybeat and stripped-down punk-like rock to psychedelia. Inspired by the Beatles and 1960s California folk-rock bands such as The Byrds, their guitar-based music was...

  • The Units
    The Units
    The Units are a defunct, early electronic music/punk rock/New Wave/synthpunk band founded in San Francisco in 1978 and active until 1984.One of America's first electronic New Wave bands, they are widely cited as pioneers of a genre now known as "synthpunk." The Units were notable for their use of...

  • Until December
    Until December
    Until December was a San Francisco-based rock band active in the early to late 1980s. The band released four 12" singles in 1985 on 415 Records / CBS. A self-titled album Until December was released in 1986 by 415 Records / CBS, which contained their biggest hit "Heaven"...

  • The Uptones
    The Uptones
    The Uptones were one of the first bands devoted to playing ska on the West Coast of the United States.- History :The Uptones formed in Berkeley, California while band members Eric Dinwiddie , Paul Jackson, Ben Eastwood and Charles Stella were attending Berkeley High School and Cazadero Performing...


    • Wire Train
      Wire Train
      Wire Train was a United States based group who produced six albums in the 1980s and early 1990s. The band was originally formed as the Renegades in April 1983 in San Francisco...

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