About

Behemoth Records (later Behemoth Sound Recordings) was a labor of love. It’s pretty sad that I consider it my only legacy, as I have no kids (that I know of), and never did anything to “change the world“. I invested more money into the label than the income it generated.

But if I had to do it again, I’d do it in a heartbeat. There would be lots of things I would do differently, but that was one of the “fun” aspects of the label: learning new things as they occurred. I met lots of interesting people along the way, some good and some bad. But the memories I have of those days will be with me forever.

The label originally began as a fanzine. My brother Chris asked if I would be interested in doing a ‘zine. We would split the costs. Since I was going to school at the time for journalism, it was right up my alley. After discussing this for several weeks and looking at the costs, Chris said it would basically be the same cost as putting out a 7″ record and said “What about starting a record label“? This sounded even more appealing. Me, being a “record mogul“. Since I tried the band thing (singer for Violent Image, a typical HardCore band from Jersey), it seemed like the next logical step to still be involved with “the scene“.

First order of business was coming up with a name for the label. One day, Chris said “What about Behemoth Records, after the TAD song, “Behemoth“. Since the definition of behemoth is: “something of monstrous size, power, or appearance”, it seemed to fit as I would say we have the “heaviest sound east of Seattle“.

Next we needed a logo. An ex gf of Chris’ who was supposed ly a “graphic designer”, came up with the logo. Since it was done as a “friend” and Chris’ ex, I accepted the logo (though honestly I never liked it).

Being that Chris lived in Somerset, NJ at the time, the local scene in the area was burgeoning, with Rutgers and the Court Tavern in New Brunswick being a focal point for local bands and touring bands. Bands that played there include: the Bouncing Souls, the Smithereens, Jonathan Richman, Ween and many others.

So anyway, this would be a good place to start to find bands for a compilation highlighting the local “New Brunswick scene”. Chris found the four bands for the comp. Big Nurse, the Blisters, Leather Studded Diaphragm and Nude Swirl would be the four bands that would grace the forst release of Behemoth Records.

Next we needed a name for the comp. AFter spending a weekend in Cape May, NJ, Chris got a kick out of the trash receptacles that were all over the streets of Cape May. When you threw “trash” into it, it would reply “Feed Me I Love Trash” . Chris loved it so much that he suggested it as the name of the comp. I was like sure, sounds good to me. The only thing is, Chris didn’t take pictures of the trash can (before camera phones or digital cameras), so I had to drive to Cape May (a 3 hour or so drive) with my friend Nance to take the picture.

Feed Me I Love Trash was released several months later.

2/3 months later, I received a call from Darren in Las Vegas saying he already was using the name Behemoth Records. Well there was nothing we could do other than change the name of the label. That is when it became Behemoth SOund Recordings. Since we already put out a release and other considerations, it was easier to just change the name a little than a whole new different name. And thanks to Steve Turner of Mudhoney, who named his label, Super Electro Sound Recordings, it seemed perfect, other than being a mouthful to say