Fall of the West Records (FOTW) is an independent record label

Independent record label

An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...

 based out of San Francisco, California

San Francisco, California

San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

, Oak Park, Illinois

Oak Park, Illinois

Oak Park, Illinois is a suburb bordering the west side of the city of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is the twenty-fifth largest municipality in Illinois. Oak Park has easy access to downtown Chicago due to public transportation such as the Chicago 'L' Blue and Green lines,...

, and Amherst, Massachusetts

Amherst, Massachusetts

Amherst is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States in the Connecticut River valley. As of the 2010 census, the population was 37,819, making it the largest community in Hampshire County . The town is home to Amherst College, Hampshire College, and the University of Massachusetts...

. FOTW started in May 2005, as a collective effort between Brian Van Slyke and Alex Felsinger after networking on the internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

. Their releases consist of punk

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 folk punk

Folk punk

Folk punk , is a fusion of folk music and punk rock. It was pioneered in the late 1970s and early 1980s by The Pogues in Britain and Violent Femmes in America. Folk punk achieved some mainstream success in that decade...

 bands from across the United States and Canada.

Beliefs

The name is tongue-in-cheek. The label was formed during the height of the Bush administration when conservative political pundits would argue that gay rights, an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and other leftist ideas (which FOTW supports) would lead to an end to western civilization as we know it.

The label is currently on hiatus and is trying to restructure after being robbed while simultaneously having all of its major equipment malfunction.

During these rebuilding efforts, the collective members have agreed to volunteer their time and not get paid.

From their website:

Three Important Points About Fall Of The West Records:

Not-for-profit. This means that all of the "profit" (if there ever is any) goes back into Fall of the West itself. All of the people involved in running FOTW do it without any monetary compensation. We do it because we enjoy doing it and we really think that music has the potential to change the world.

Collectively run. All decisions are made by consulting other members involved in running FOTW and by reaching a consensus. While everyone involved acts independently to complete whatever it is they volunteer to do without "supervision", there are no unilateral decisions made.

DIY. Everything that we produce is made in our homes and with our own hands, with a very few exceptions. When there are exceptions to this, we always make it publicly known that something was not made by us. (An example of this is something like pressing for a vinyl release, which we do not have the capability to do ourselves at this point - yet we still print and put together the rest of the packaging.) If there is something that we cannot do ourselves, we try to find another DIY group that can fill that role for us, thus establishing a mutually supportive relationship.

How We Work With Bands:

We'd also like to take a minute of your time here, if you don't mind, to explain a little bit about how Fall Of The West works. Our about page explains that we are a DIY label that presses the CDs, prints the artwork, and puts together the packaging ourselves (with the occasional exception). However, as you are the person receiving what we create with the bands – we feel that it would be wise to take a moment to explain to you exactly where your money goes. Obviously, one dollar from each release goes to a Non-profit organization of the artists' choice. However, money from each album purchased from FOTW also goes directly to the bands (this has an occasional exception if a different process has been worked out with the bands – such as with Captain Chaos). In fact, with these releases, we only take as much money or less than the band receives. This is not necessarily the most financially viable way of operating, we recognize, but we believe it to be the most ethical way that FOTW is in the position to operate under. That means when you receive an album from Fall Of The West Records, you are directly supporting that artist whose music you are enjoying. This is important to us, and we would be ready to speculate that it is important to you as well. This is about working together – for the people who make the music, for the people who help get it out there, and for the people who it touches. So while our prices for albums range anywhere from between 4 to 7 dollars, just recall that a major portion of that is going to the band – and the part that we receive is enough to make up for the amount we put in. While we maybe don't make much of a "profit" when it comes to money - we think this is the best way to support all bands that work with FOTW, and the most ethical way for us to do so.

Means of production

Originally, Van Slyke produced the releases in the basement of his Oak Park home, doing every step of the production with the exception of cutting the booklets—a task that is now easily performed.

Most production—with a few exceptions (including the label's first cassette release which was produced from Felsinger's home in San Francisco) -- occurs in Van Slyke's residence in Amherst. The label has officially become collectivized and a group of friends have come together to assist with the production of the label's 14 releases.

List of bands

• Bookends
• Captain Chaos
• The Capstan Shafts
  The Capstan Shafts
  The Capstan Shafts is the musical project of American lo-fi artist Dean Wells. He has been releasing material under the Capstan Shafts name since 1999, through various indie labels such as Yellow Mica, Asaurus and Abandoned Love Records...
  
  
• David and the Bear
• The English Work Standard
• Forgotten Voices
• Gator Country (from Orange County, CA)
• Giant Squid March On Washington
• The Le Nouns
• Mancub
• On the Strings Of
• The Riot Before
• Tennessee And The Wolf (This particular release has been delayed since the labels inception)
• This One's On Me
• This Ship Will Burn

External links

• Fall of the West Official Site
• Official Myspace Page