Serious Business Records
| Serious Business Records | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Founded | 2004 |
| Founder | Travis Harrison Andy Ross |
| Genre | Rock Punk Pop Americana |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Location | New York, NY |
| Official website | www |
Serious Business Records is an independent record label founded by Travis Harrison and Andy Ross in Brooklyn, NY in 2004. Since its inception, Serious Business Records has grown to include 14 acts, spanning the genres of classic rock, punk, pop, Americana/Old-Time, and electronic music. Its 33 releases have received press attention in Time Out NY, Allmusic, the Allmusic Blog, Pitchfork Media, the Washington Post, and Spin, amongst others. Serious Business bands have played 3 CMJ showcases, the Knitting Factory, Pianos, Irving Plaza, the Highline Ballroom, the Bowery Ballroom, and innumerable small New York venues.
In 2002, Travis Harrison and Andy Ross began collaborating on two music projects—a rock band called Unsacred Hearts and a solo vehicle called Secret Dakota Ring. The two bands recorded their debut albums, and Harrison and Ross created Serious Business Records as a means to release these endeavors.
From late 2002 until 2003 the hitherto unnamed label operated out of a one room shack on the side of the road in Sayville, Long Island near Travis's hometown. In April 2003 the label moved into another tiny one room shack, this time in Long Island City, Queens. In January 2004 it relocated yet again to a 1,300-square-foot (120 m2) loft space at 538 Johnson Ave in East Williamsburg/Bushwick, Brooklyn. It was at this location that the fledgling label officially became Serious Business Records. In late 2004, co-founder Andy Ross moved from New York to California become the guitarist for the rock band OK Go. Ross has nevertheless remained active in the operation of Serious Business Records. In January 2007 Serious Business relocated to 73 Spring Street in SoHo where it remains to this day.
From its humble beginning with the Unsacred Hearts and Secret Dakota Ring, Serious Business records soon reached out to musical acquaintances and long-time friends Man in Gray, The Two Man Gentlemen Band, and DraculaZombieUSA. These 5 bands formed the nucleus of Serious Business Records, and though they had little in common musically, many of the same musicians were members of each band. This musical cross-pollination created a close-knit, almost family oriented structure to Serious Business Records that rests at the core of its philosophy as a label. Of the five members in Rocketship Park, only one is not in Higgins; the Homosexuals' current lineup includes two members of the Unsacred Hearts, and multi-instrumentalist Josh Kaufman regularly performs with Rocketship Park, Higgins, Jack and the Pulpits, and Secret Dakota Ring. This unique ideology has served Serious Business Records well—the debut records from Secret Dakota Ring and The Two Man Gentlemen Band have long since sold out, and the label continues to attract new bands.
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