The Band Who Rocks The Label

There comes a point in every successful band’s career when they assume that they didn’t get to their arena-filling peak because they could write a good song or put on a good show. Nope, they got to where they are because of their A&R skills, when they decide that it’s time to showcase their previously unrevealed skill of spotting the next wave of stars comes to the fore. Over the past week, we’ve had the second album from Nashville’s The Features on the stereo. The Features, a scuzzy blues-punk four-piece, have been given a helping hand (well, more than that, a helping hand if it was one of those big hands you get at the football to wave about) from fellow deep southerners Kings Of Leon, who’ve made the quartet the first signing to their new record label. Kings Of Leon obviously believe they can succeed where Island, who released The Features’ underrated and largely undiscovered debut, failed, and it’s not as if they haven’t done their homework – The Features have been Kings Of Leon’s support band of choice for the best part of half a decade. It’s usually at this point, though, when bands learn that their much-ridiculed record label exec isn’t quite the simpleton they had him for, though – y’see, bands and their talent-spotting lead to mixed results…

Noel Gallagher
Noel G’s hit rate is all over the place when it comes to tipping bands for the top. On one hand, there’s Kasabian, taken on tour by Oasis, and described by Noel as “the fucking business”. On the other hand, though, are so many by-the-wayside-bands we’re gonna need the big footy-hand to hold them all. Jet were flying high with their debut album until Noel described its follow-up as “incredible… really, really great.” Cue a nosedive of Tom Daley proportions, a follow-up that bombed and a career that they’ve spent the intervening period trying to get back on track. For this, also see beardy Swedes The Soundtrack Of Our Lives, who were happily coasting through a middling career until Noel proclaimed them rock’n’roll saviours, at which point THE WHOLE WORLD disagreed. The best example of Noel’s midas touch, though, has to be Mancunian indie also-walks Proud Mary. Signed to his Sour Mash label, Noel produced their debut album, bigged up their brilliance, then watched as absolutely fuck-all happened. Singer Greg Griffin is currently doing solo shows round the UK, cursing the day Noel G ever thought his band were any cop…

U2
One of the first times Bono donned his cape, it was to form Mother Records with his bandmates in 1984. Originally intended to bring overlooked music from Ireland to the rest of the world, they cast their net wider with a re-structure in the early 90s. It’d be churlish to overlook the good and great of Mother’s roster just cos it’s U2 – they did release Bjork’s first four albums and Longpigs’ long-forgotten ace debut – but, what can we say, Audioweb’s reggae-electronica casts a long shadow. Especially because when I went skiing with the school when I was 16 I told Tom Howell if he put them on the stereo then I’d get my penis out in protest. He called my bluff. It wasn’t pretty.

The Big Pink
Merok Records founder Milo Cordell did the whole band-label thing in reverse. He’d already been involved with Hate Channel Records with Big Pink co-founder Robbie Furze before he went on to establish Merok as the go-to-label for the uber-cool and hotly-tipped, releasing Klaxons’ first two singles and early releases from Crystal Castles, The Teenagers and Titus Andronicus. That he then went and formed a band himself, they weren’t rubbish, they were actually really good, got on the cover of The Fly and took over X-Box ads with ‘Dominos’ is a testament to the fact that, well, Milo Cordell is smarter and more creative than I’ll ever ruddy be…

Kanye West
When he’s not interrupting acceptance speeches, Kanye West is prefixing the Top Ten with “Kanye West protégé”. But whilst his mentor Jay-Z has been turning Rihanna into a global superstar, Kanye’s made it his personal aim to convince the world that Mr Hudson is the next Frank Sinatra, co-producing Hudson’s ‘Straight No Chaser’ album, roping him in for guest vocal duties on ‘Anyone But Him’ and introducing him to Autotune, the wobbly-voice wizardry that made Cher sound like C3PO and makes Mr Hudson sound less like the next Frank Sinatra and more like the next Frank Sidebottom. Go Kanye…

Chemikal Underground
Formed in 1994 by The Delgados to release their debut single, Chemikal Underground soon became the home to Scottish indie, providing a handy antithesis to the early 90s MOR emanating – Wet Wet Wet and Del Amitri being the frontrunners – from north of the border. Aside from their own wonderful records, The Delgados introduced the world to Mogwai and their scorchingly ace debut album ‘Young Team’, Arab Strap and even got a chart hit when Bis invaded the Top 40. They later demonstrated that their talent-spotted wasn’t just tartan-coloured either, releasing Interpol’s UK debut and forever cementing their place as one of the UK’s most influential labels…