ABOUT US boy gorilla records began as a means to release the music of typhoon and the black black black. it has since grown to include music and art by good friends of ours. it will continue to grow as long as we have friends who make music and art that excites us. all boy gorilla releases are made in very small batches and released through loving teamwork between the label and each and every artist involved. much of the packaging is handmade by boy gorilla constituents.
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CONTACT gerneral: contact[at]boygorilla.com
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KNOW YOUR HISTORY The story of Boy Gorilla Records begins as all good stories do: With The Mopps. Kyle Morton, Toby Tanabe, and Casey O'Brien started playing together in 1999. They added second guitarist Joel Andrich and played their first show opening for Salem legends, The Widgets. The band put out one demo cd, The Red Album, after which Joel left the band and Tyler Ferrin was asked to play guitar. The band recorded and self-released On The Bus, and White Noise EP, establishing themselves as heirs to The Widget's indie-rock throne. Meanwhile, Conlan Murphy, Kyle Klain, and Andrew Distad had formed Insomnia, soon adding singer Eddie Villareal and changing their name to The Ridicules. Together with bands like THP and The Catholic School Girls, The Ridicules fueled an active Salem punk-rock scene. In 2003, Conlan, Ed and Kyle K. parted ways with Andrew. They changed their name to Eddie Machete and the Hacks, and Toby Tanabe, of Mopps fame, agreed to play bass. Kyle Morton, also of Mopps fame, soon after joined to play guitar. Jordan Bagnall joined the band to play viola at a few acoustic shows. The Hacks played steadily around town, most commonly at the wonderful coffee shop Hemingway's, with The Mopps, and many other, less notable bands, like The Bends. The Bends began in 2003 when Eric Green, Elec Morin, and Brad Saiki asked Devin Gallagher if he would like to sing and play guitar in their band. The perennial underdogs, The Bends were united by an earnest love of The Mopps and The Hacks. Dave Hall later joined, first playing keyboard, then switching to third guitar. Devin went to high school with Conlan and Kyle K., and The Bends began playing a few shows with the Salem greats. In 2004, all of The Mopps and three-fifths of The Hacks graduated from their respective high schools, and it seemed as though the bands would have to go their separate ways. Toby and Tyler were leaving in the fall to spend several months in Japan (Kyle joined them briefly in September), Kyle would attend Portland State University, and Conlan and Kyle K. were leaving to spend the summer in Europe. They played throughout the summer, including at a party at Eric Green's (argued by many to be the best Mopps show ever). The two bands also teamed up to record a split seven inch. The record turned out to be the only release on Conlan and Devin's Ugly Boy Records, who recorded it in Conlan's garage. Kyle and Conlan also began work on an acoustic album, with Devin again helping with recording. A handful of songs were recorded, but unfortunately the project stagnated, being overshadowed by the Mopps/Hacks split. The two bands played their last show together, at Hemingways, on August 25th, 2004. They were joined by The Widgets, who played "Words that Rhyme" for the first time in years, because it was The Hacks' favorite. Conlan and Devin also played a song written in tribute to The Mopps. The show marked the release of The Hacks' Marx Sparx EP, which consisted of extra tracks from the seven inch recording. The band handed out CD's at the show, and only the lucky few have a copy. Around the same time, The Bends broke up quietly. Their last show ended up being with The Hacks at a pizza joint in Salem for an organ donor benefit, partly organized by Kyle's sister Paige. The Hacks reuinted a handful of times for various shows, but the Mopps have only played together live once since then, as an impromtu Typhoon encore at Lewis and Clark College. Which brings us to Typhoon. Talk of Typhoon began on the 19th floor of a youth hostel in Tokyo, Japan. This was the name that Kyle, Tyler, and Toby had chosen for their post-mopps project. When Kyle returned to Oregon that fall, word began to spread of a recording project that would involve the band's whole circle of friends. Devin and Dave never stopped playing music after The Bends broke up. Throughout the summer and fall of 2004, they played in series of bands together, including two-piece Organ Thunder, and Team Destruction, with Brad Saike of The Bends. The project that consumed their attention the most, however, was one that involved playing guitars for hours in a dark room without saying a word to each other before, during, or after. But, not in a sexual way. That winter they gave it a name, The Black Black Black, and were joined by Kyle Morton on drums. The three of them began writing songs, and recorded a four song demo. Devin and Kyle also began playing in another band with Conlan Murphy. Conlan had assembled the trio after a band with Devin and Kyle Klain fell apart. He christened them The Harmonic Tremors. The three songwriters traded off between drums, guitar, bass, keyboard, and singing. They played two shows, one with The Black Black Black, and one with Organ Thunder. They were joined on stage by their good friend Eric Stipe, who played chain on a song that would later be called "The Lights Go Out." In the Summer of 2005, Typhoon finally began in earnest. Kyle returned home from school with an album's worth of songs, and Devin was recruited to record them. The project focused around Kyle, Toby, Tyler and Casey, but by the end, Conlan, Devin, and Eric Stipe had all played a bit on it. Paige Morton and Jordan Bagnall had both been brought in to play violin and viola respectively, and played all the strings on the album. Leah Ng sang on "Cigarettes". The album was recorded throughout that summer and fall, in Salem and Portland, where Toby, Tyler, Kyle, Dave, Conlan, Jordan, and the one and only Eddie Machete had moved. After it was completed, Typhoon grew to include Dave and good friend Gavin Pritchard. While working on the album, Devin and Tyler began talking about starting a label to release Typhoon's CD. They agreed on two major points. Firstly, that starting a label was surprisingly easy, and secondly, that it was a whole lot more appealing than sending out demos. The idea grew, soon involving the whole group of friends. Typhoon's self-titled album was the first Boy Gorilla release, and the label was born (it was later made official April 14, 2006). shamelessly written in third person by devin gallagher, may 2006. |
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