It feels like a grunge holiday with all of our cassettes, flannel, and Pearl Jam on display, as the Temple of the Dog reunion/first ever official tour nears. This spirit isn’t limited to the confines of the Sub Pop Store at SeaTac, with the Pearl Jam Poster Exhibit in the A Gates still going strong and Jonathan Poneman’s voice purring from the airport loudspeakers. The festive atmosphere has me so worked up that I am moved to finally release my grunge-themed (stick and poke) tattoo flash sheet to the world.
[Clockwise from #DocMartens: #Flannel #Utilikilt #MotherLoveBone #Mudhoney #Spoonman #Punky #PearlJam]
Next month, starting November 4, the Temple of the Dog tour starts in Philadelphia and spans New York, SanFrancisco, and Los Angeles before concluding where it all began, here in Seattle. In order to best draw attention to ourselves (while still promoting the tour) I’m pulling out the 21st century version of a business card, the “hashtag,” to help get everyone as excited about this tour as I am. I’ve done my best to use the following hashtags to welcome you all into our big old, grungy, Sub Pop Jamily:
#MotherLoveBone #DocMartens
Temple of the Dog was a tribute band organized by #Soundgarden lead singer, Chris Cornell, to honor Andrew Wood, the lead singer of #MotherLoveBone, following his heroin overdose. Several of the surviving members of the band, along with guest vocalist, Eddie Vedder, went on to form Pearl Jam and came to Sub Pop with their first single. We opted to pass and have been kicking ourselves with #DocMartens ever since.
#Flannel
Now with #Flannel ! We finally have our collaboration with Altamont Apparel in store! Denim jackets, flannel and skate decks while supplies lasts!
#PearlJam
It is impossible to overstate how much easier it is to draw/visualize #PearlJam than a dog temple.
#Utilikilt
For everyone who saw Braveheart but couldn’t say goodbye to pockets.
#Mudhoney
In 2013, Seattle favorites #Mudhoney played an entire set on top of the Space Needle. Mark Arm, our fearless warehouse manager, is a friend and former bandmate (in Green River: Ride the Fucking Sixpack!) of Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard of #TempleoftheDog.
#Spoonman
Our receptionist and artist extraordinaire, Derek Erdman, does an excellent rendition of Soundgarden’s#Spoonman at Karaoke.
#Punky
Follow #Punky to the Sub Pop Mega Mart for all of your Sub Pop needs!
Also please enjoy this video from the magical internet:
Join our/Sleater-Kinney’s very own, Carrie Brownstein, as she grapples with the age-old question: How much Pearl Jam is too much?
As Chief Jammer at the Seatac Sub Pop Store, I don’t think there is such a thing. Come in and visit us and we’ll let you decide!
As previously mentioned here on this very blog, the Sub Pop Podcast makes its (we really hope) triumphant return for a 10-episode second season TODAY aka mere months after its unforeseeably really, pretty great first season earlier this year, and in response to largely precedented levels of demand for more.
Enter Episode 1 of Season 2, wherein we learn all about the Sub Pop Airport Store at Sea-Tac Airport. Hear from employees of the store, employees of the company who don’t (usually) work at the store (including, in an exclusive first-time-ever appearance, leader and co-founder of Sub Pop, Jonathan Poneman!), and random airport store customers (randomly including Stacey Rozich, friend of the label and excellent artist!).
Season Two of the Sub Pop Podcast will run weekly from October 12th through December 14th and will be available through all finer podcast distribution points. Here are two ways to subscribe:
In case you missed it, you can listen to the trailer for Season Two (and, again, every previous episode) at subpop.fm RIGHT NOW. If you like what you hear, you can subscribe (in iTunes or anything) right now, too. We might (and do) encourage you to sign up for the podcast mailing list; New episodes will be delivered weekly until December 14, 2016.
Also why not send us your thoughts and feelings here? podcast@subpop.com.
The Sub Pop Podcast: Absolutely nothing sounds better.
Now for your viewing pleasure, we present the official video for “Union of Mind and Soul” by Goat. The visual trip is an alternate-vocal version of “Union of Sun and Moon,” the first track off Goat’s upcoming album, Requiem, which is out tomorrow, Oct 7th. According to directors Christofer Hogberg and Henrik Nyblom, the video for “Union of Mind and Soul” is a “coming of age flick from a different angle. A day in a life of a lone-rider young girl who created her universe.”
“Union of Mind and Soul” is available through all manner of digital music acquisition services, and is included in the digital download that comes with the vinyl LP of Requiem. North American fans can (and should) purchase the album on CD / 2xLP / DL / CASS from your local independent retailer, and also here. (via Stranded Rekords in Nordic countries, and Rocket Recordings in the rest of the world.)
Goat will be touring Europe throughout the fall, with more dates to follow. (Current schedule is below.) The band’s live show is legendary, and “…A psychedelic rock ritual of rhythm, motion, hypnotic repetition, and ecstatic drive.” according to the New York Times.
Requiem finds Swedish psych explorers Goat focusing more on their subdued, bucolic ritualism than psilocybin freakouts. (Stream Requiem here.) A clear folk-rock influence pervades the album, with stand-out tracks “Alarms,” “Try My Robe,” and “Union of Sun and Moon.” But Goat hasn’t foregone their fiery charms—tracks like “All-Seeing Eye” and “Goatfuzz” conjure the sultry pulsations that ensnared us on 2012’s World Music and 2014’s Commune. Requiem is available via Sub Pop Records in North America, Stranded Rekords in Nordic countries, and Rocket Recordings in the rest of the world.
Listen to the Season 2 trailer, and subscribe now!
Mere months after its unforeseeably really, pretty great first season earlier this year, and in response to largely precedented levels of demand for more, the Sub Pop Podcast will return for a 10-episode second season on Wednesday, October 12th. Season Two of the Sub Pop Podcast will run weekly from October 12th through December 14th and will be available through all finer podcast distribution points.
Produced and hosted by real-life Sub Pop employees Alissa Atkins and Arwen Nicks at the label’s Seattle headquarters, the Sub Pop Podcast, of course, is where you can hear stories from inside, outside, and adjacent to Sub Pop, Seattle’s premier medium-sized record label. We focus on conversations with our artists, people who work at/with/around Sub Pop, and anyone else willing or reckless enough to talk to us. And same goes for our sibling label Hardly Art. We will continue to include, impose on, sponge off, and otherwise implicate them, as well.
In its conspicuously excellent debut season, from January 10th of this year, through to April 1st, we managed to produce and then release 11 (which, for some reason, we called 10 ½…) episodes of Sub Pop’s very first podcast. And then, between April 1 and now, we put out an additional two, interstitial, summer episodes in an effort to sustain the arguably ravenous interest of our dozens upon dozens of regular listeners. We spoke with principal members of Band of Horses, Mass Gothic, Chastity Belt, Mudhoney, Shearwater, S, King Tuff, and a whole bunch more. And, we were recognized with an Honorable Mention in the Seattle Weekly’s 2016 Readers’ Poll for local, music-based podcasts which currently exist! This sort of intoxicating recognition has us gunning for at least second runner-up next year. The entirety of this first season, and our summer episodes remain available everywhere now.
In the upcoming second season, unrelated to any outstanding debts or lost bets, we managed to convince an impressive array of folks to talk with us. Here we are referring to such celebrated figures from the wide world of entertainment as: Alex and Victoria from Beach House, Sam Beam from Iron and Wine, Tad from TAD, Benjamin Gibbard from both Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service, Kathleen Hanna, Father John Misty, Jonah Ray, members of CSS and Clipping, our boss and benefactor Jonathan Poneman (More than once! He’s the boss!), plus, reliably, “more.” We also took the Sub Pop Podcast on the road, with trips to both Poland and Portland, and down to the Sub Pop store at Sea-Tac Airport.
In the spirit of tell and show, you can listen to a trailer for the Sub Pop Podcast, Season Two (and, again, every previous episode) at subpop.fm RIGHT NOW. If you like what you hear, you can subscribe (in iTunes or anything) right now, too. The first episode of the new season will be available Wednesday, October 12, and new episodes will be delivered weekly until December 14, 2016.
SO! Visit subpop.fm to listen to the new trailer for the second season, subscribe to the podcast, and sign up for the podcast mailing list. Send us your thoughts and feelings here: podcast@subpop.com.
The Sub Pop Podcast: Absolutely nothing sounds better.
Sub Pop is currently accepting resumes from energetic, responsible, detail-oriented, and dependable candidates for a part-time/weekend/temporary holiday Sales Clerk position at our new-ish and (let’s not be coy about it…) terribly impressive store at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. This guy.
Responsibilities include:
• Greeting and assisting customers in a friendly manner. • Full compliance with Sea-Tac operation rules and strict TSA regulations and restrictions. • Efficient handling of cash and credit card transactions. • Ability to work collaboratively and communicate effectively. • Availability to work nights, weekends, and holidays. • Assist in organizing and restocking the store. • Maintaining the general appearance of the store. • Contributing to the team retail effort by accomplishing related tasks as needed.
Qualified candidates will have:
• Previous experience in the retail environment. • Knowledge of the Sub Pop catalog, Pacific Northwest music, the Seattle music community, and the City of Seattle. • A friendly and enthusiastic disposition with customers and staff. • Strong and clear communication skills. • A general understanding of retail Point of Sale systems. • Flexibility in schedule and willingness to work early or late hours.
The Sub Pop Airport Store at Sea-Tac is open unusually long hours, generally 6am - 10pm, and 365 days a year.
Here at Sub Pop Records, we believe all sorts of nonsense. No doubt, as a regular/occasional/anything-other-than-first-time reader of our blog, you have noticed this. You may also have noticed(among other things…)we believe that voting is just incredibly important. It’s one of the few opportunities we all have to express an opinion about the way our country works and for that opinion to actually count. It might seem like your vote won’t make a difference, but it does and will.
September 27th, 2016 is National Voter Registration Day. It’s a national campaign aimed at helping anyone who is eligible to vote but not yet registered get signed up and good-to-go in time for the election this year.
Sub Pop is partnering with National Voter Registration Day to host an event at our office in downtown Seattle to allow people the opportunity to register. We will have the relevant forms, volunteers from The Washington Bus to help with dotting i’s and crossing t’s, and treats courtesy of our friends at Tom Douglas Restaurants. PLUS, as a special incentive, we’ll be giving away Sub Pop goodies, office tours (space and time allowing, and assuming interest…), and newly registered voters can get their photo taken in the Sub Pop Photobooth.
Here are the details!
Where? - Sub Pop HQ, 2013 4th Ave., Seattle, WA 98121.
When? - September 27th 2016, from 9am to 12pm.
Who can register to vote at Sub Pop HQ? - US Citizens who are permanent residents of Washington State and will be 18 by election day (November 8th, 2016).
What do I need to bring? - Washington State driver’s license, State ID number or last four digits of SSN. (if you don’t have any of these things, that’s okay, but you will need to be verified before you can formally register.
Please note:
If you are already registered to vote, NICE WORK! Please be sure to follow through and actually vote when the time comes. And also, you do not need to come here on Tuesday, September 27th from 9am to 12pm. This would be a bad day and time to come by just to hang out, because we will be SO BUSY helping to get people registered to vote. Thank you for what we are going to go ahead and presume to be your attention and understanding on this matter.
And, HERE is some further information about National Voter Registration Day.
