Bearos Records was set up in 1998 and followed up the successful We Brought our Friends publication.
Too many local bands that I'd been passionate about in the past had disappeared with litttle or no released material - perhaps this had contributed to people deciding to call it a day. When I found out that it was not that expensive to release records (or CDs for that matter) I decided to give it a go. I was guided in my early steps by Keith Jenkins from Wurlitzer Jukebox (1995-1997). He stressed the "fun" side of things but I think I must have turned a deaf ear to warnings of "time" and "work"!
At the time Birmingham bands were being snatched up for debut releases by labels such as Wurlitzer Jukebox and Earworm Records. The original plan was to release a single split between the bands from the magazine without a record release - Jameson, Avrocar and Magnetophone. As I dithered the latter two were snapped up by Earworm Records leaving me with Jameson and the mighty track Silverado! The band quickly knocked off the krautpop brilliance of The Doc is flying (the side John Peel played!) and Bearos001 was born. Once I persuaded the distrbutor, Cargo, to accept stuff from an unknown band on an unknown label it started selling well with exports to USA and Japan. In two years it remains the one that shifted the quickest and the only one that is completely sold out (both by myself and Cargo).
The original plan was to do a series of split singles where a known band would be paired with a newcommer. Bearos002 was the Jameson/Starries split. Bearos003 was supposed to be a Magnetophone/Oedema split. Unfortunately I got drunk at a Broadcast gig at the Jug of Ale and the duo spent the night talking to Geoff from Static Caravan Records who has not relinquished his grip on them even now they've signed to 4AD. However, by that time the demos were pouring in from bands like Grover, Epic45 and Los Planetos del Agua ....and the rest is history!
The
first 250 copies of Silverado were numbered and hand designed by the
band. The first six copies were done with multi-mirrored paper.To protect future
generations from forgeries these and a few others of the 250 have a sticker
with a picture of me on the back!
Right
up to the last moment this was going to be the cover of Silverado.
This
is one of the original drafts of an unused cover. It was designed by Jenny who
now is involved with Capsule promotions. I seem to remember that it's the mother
of one of the band off on holiday in the 60s.