Crass Records
| Crass Records | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Founded | 1979 |
| Founder | Crass |
| Distributor(s) | Southern Records |
| Genre | Anarcho-punk, Punk rock |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Location | Essex |
Crass Records was an independent record label which was set up by the anarchist punk band Crass.
Prior to the formation of Crass, Penny Rimbaud and Gee Vaucher had published their creative works via their own Dial House based Exitstencil Press. However the band set up the record label after encountering problems over the release of their first 12" EP, The Feeding Of The 5000, on the Small Wonder label in 1978. Workers at the Irish pressing plant contracted to manufacture the disc refused to handle it due to the allegedly blasphemous content of one song, "Asylum". The record was eventually released with this track removed and replaced by two minutes of silence, wryly retitled "The Sound Of Free Speech". However, this incident prompted Crass to set up their own record label to control all aspects of their future productions. Using money from a small inheritance that had been left to one of the band, the piece was shortly afterwards re-recorded and released as a 7" single using its full title, "Reality Asylum". A later repress of The Feeding Of The 5000 on Crass Records restored the missing track.
As well as releasing their own material, Crass were able to use Crass Records to make available recordings by other performers, the first of which was the 1980 single "You Can Be You" by Honey Bane, a teenage girl who at the time was staying at Dial House whilst on the run from a children's home (however, Bane's backing band on this release are in fact Crass, using the name Donna and the Kebabs). Others who recorded for the label included Zounds, Flux of Pink Indians, The Cravats, Conflict, Icelandic band KUKL (who included singer Björk), classical singer Jane Gregory, and the Poison Girls, a like-minded band who worked closely with Crass for several years. Many of these groups in turn went on to set up their own independent record labels loosely following the Crass Records model.
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