Suicide Squeeze Records is a Seattle, Washington-based independent record label that releases rock, pop, and metal music. Suicide Squeeze releases content on vinyl, CD, cassette, and digital.[2] The label has also released comedy and performance art CD and DVDs.[2]
Suicide Squeeze Records was started in August 1996 in Seattle, Washington by owner David Dickenson. After the initial release of a 7" single from Seattle band 764-Hero, the label quickly grew from Dickenson's full-time hobby to a cottage industry by the late-1990s.[5] By 1997 the label had released singles by popular Northwest artists Modest Mouse and Elliott Smith.[2] The label has also released comedy and performance art CD and DVDs, and continues to press a significant number of releases on vinyl.[2]
In an interview with The Stranger, Dickenson said "A highlight of those early days for me was our first 746-HERO release under my belt. Getting to work with David Bazan. And Modest Mouse was a big one. Isaac [Brock, singer/guitarist of Modest Mouse] used to come into Hot Lips, a pizza place that I worked at on the Ave, and he’d be selling these dial-a-song cassettes. He basically was just going to the dumpsters behind the Muzak office, pulling the discarded tapes, making his own artwork, and selling them."[6]
2000–2009
In August 2003, Suicide Squeeze put out a limited-edition vinyl single for "Pretty (Ugly Before)", a song that Elliott Smith had been playing since his Figure 8 tour.[7] Shortly afterwards in 2004, the label released a spoken CD by Eugene Mirman, a Russian-born American comedian and writer. The Absurd Nightclub Comedy of Eugene Mirman was also released on DVD, and was voted one of the Best Albums of 2004 by both The A.V. Club and Time Out New York.[8][9]
In 2006, to celebrate their tenth anniversary, the label released the compilation album Suicide Squeeze Records: Slaying Since 1996.[11]
Minus the Bear performing in 2008, shortly after the release of their full-length Planet of Ice on Suicide Squeeze
Minus the Bear is an indie rock band from Seattle,[12] whose sound has been described as "Pele-esque guitar-taps and electronics with sophisticated time signature composition."[13]Interpretaciones del Oso, an album of remixed songs from their second full-length album Menos el Oso, was released on February 20, 2007 through Suicide Squeeze,[14] who also released the band's third full-length album, titled Planet of Ice, on August 21, 2007. In 2017, Minus the Bear released their sixth-studio album VOIDS on Suicide Squeeze.
Page France was an American indie folk-pop music band that played melodic and emotional music. Their last record deal was with Suicide Squeeze, before the disbandment in 2008. Their second album, Hello, Dear Wind, was re-released by Suicide Squeeze. Page France's last album and third full-length, …and the Family Telephone, was released May 8, 2007 on Suicide Squeeze.
For their third studio album, These Arms Are Snakes signed to Suicide Squeeze. Tail Swallower and Dove was released in October 2008.[15] The album was seen as a departure from their more hardcore-sounding songs and took a more experimental approach, and also more traditional song structures.[15][16]
On January 27, 2009, The Cotton Jones Basket Ride released their second LP, and their debut for Suicide Squeeze Records, Paranoid Cocoon. It was described as a "weepy, reverb-drenched blend of Pacific Northwest, 1960s folk-pop, and heartland rock."[17] On August 24, 2010, the band released their third LP, Tall Hours in the Glowstream. It was described as "classic country music filtered through a dream-pop haze."[18]
The Coathangers are a punk group from Atlanta, Georgia. After putting out a 7" on Suicide Squeeze in 2011,[22] they released their third album, Larceny and Old Lace for Suicide Squeeze,[22] to generally positive reviews.[23] In 2012, Julia Kugel of The Coathangers released a 7" record on Suicide Squeeze, under the name "White Woods.".[24] Other releases by The Coathangers on Suicide Squeeze include Suck My Shirt (2014), Nosebleed Weekend (2016), Perfume/Watch Your Back 7" (2016), Parasite EP (2017).
