Spongebath Records

Spongebath Records was an independent record label based in Murfreesboro, Tennessee during the mid-nineties. During its heyday, Spongebath was often viewed as the vibrant center of Murfreesboro/Nashville's (and the Southeast's) music scene with a robust artist roster of critically acclaimed bands, singers, and songwriters.

From 1997-1999, Spongebath attracted national press and media attention for garnering co-label deals with DreamWorks Records (for Self's 1999 album Breakfast with Girls) and with Elektra Records (for the Katies self-titled 1999 album.) Bands/artists on Spongebath at one time or another included: Self, Fluid Ounces, the Katies, The Features, Count Bass D, Fleshpaint, The C60's, The New System, The Roaries, Gumption, Call Florence Pow, Ruby Amanfu, and Knodel.

The label began as the brainchild of three people: Self frontman Matt Mahaffey (who had just dropped out of MTSU), singer/songwriter Seth Timbs (of Fluid Ounces), and Mahaffey's manager Rick Williams. Timbs, in fact, was the one who came up with the name "Spongebath."

In the mid-to-late '90s, there was a resurgence of interest in the Middle Tennessee rock scene, when Spongebath Records began to turn heads for signing promising, talented local bands like Self, Fluid Ounces, and The Features. Their office was located at 101 N. Maple in downtown Murfreesboro, and they were impossible to miss--the walls were painted in bright purple, yellow, and red colors, allowing it to stand out amidst a sleepy, rather drab and comfortably geriatric courthouse/downtown square.

The label even got the attention of Billboard, which ran a cover story in August 1997 chronicling Murfreesboro's rise as "an emerging music mecca," while other writers half-jokingly began to refer to the scene as "little Seattle." In reality, the Murfreesboro music scene was much more in line with progressive college-towns like Athens, Georgia and Austin, Texas--towns that had a rich history of championing indie rock and quality bands.

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