'We Almost Really Care', 'Audio Salvation for Off-centered Souls', '21 Years of Performance Anxiety, Instability and Poor Judgment', 'West Coast Perpetrators of the Finest... Read More

'We Almost Really Care', 'Audio Salvation for Off-centered Souls', '21 Years of Performance Anxiety, Instability and Poor Judgment', 'West Coast Perpetrators of the Finest in Musical Mayhem', 'A Name You Can Pronounce Since 1988', 'Is a Force This Powerful Going to be Overlooked by an Industry That Needs All the Sympathy It Can Get ??', 'You've Tried the Rest, Now Go Fuck Yourself'… Sympathy is big on mottos…Mottos flash incessantly in my sleep like neon lights… 'Fractured Folk, Hard-core Jazz, Hybrid Blues, Gratuitous Pop, Punk Rock and Uneasy Listening'

It's true and Sympathy has never been pigeon-hole-able…Too diverse maybe for it's own good, but I never could be as narrow-minded as I feel many labels are…Sympathy has always been a one-man operation and I make all the decisions so blame me if I often get it wrong… The Sympathy catalogue consists of over 750 releases by more than 550 artists…

Known for a multitude of things including releasing early efforts by Hole, The White Stripes, Turbonegro, Rocket from the Crypt and The 5,6,7,8's as well as resurrecting the classic music of immortals such as Roky Erickson, New York Dolls, Suicide, The Gun Club, Spacemen 3, The Scientists and Wanda Jackson and lets not forget the serious concentration on a plethora (like that word??) of bands in hot beds such as Memphis, Detroit and Montreal and also being among the first to look towards the Far East to unleash the demented and curious off-kilter sounds of those crazed ornamentals (Asians to you of a p.c. mindset)…

Sympathy is also responsible for releasing records by untold bands of differing degrees of talent with really questionable names like The Pleasure Fuckers, Banana Erectors, Anal Babes, Candypants, Teenage Larvae, Tri-State Kill Spree, Iowa Beef Experience, The Child Molesters, Penetration Moon, Smegma, Ethyl Meatplow, The Spaceshits and Destroy All Monsters…
So what?? Big deal you say, well, Sympathy has also worked with underrated and seemingly unsung heroes like Billy Childish, The Oblivians, Holly Golightly la la la etc and are hailed for recognizing and employing important visual artists to create wondrous covers featuring such heavyweights as Mark Ryden, Camille Rose Garcia, Yoshitoma Nara, Liz Mcgrath, Coop, The Pizz, Dan Clowes blah blah blah la la la etc ad infinitum…

Sympathy has been quiet for the last couple years after the move to Olympia, Washington, but that is all about to change…Sympathy will soon begin repressing loads of important vinyl as well as unleashing new music lacking any introspection or melody by disenfranchised half-assed rock n' rollers…STAY TUNED… Like that, Long Gone John xx

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