Take Off Your Drinking Caps

Some last links while we clean up around here: Artists, Media, Contact Us.

Three years ago a bunch of friends decided to start releasing their albums under a common banner: Put On Your Drinking Cap. Then some friends of the friends joined in, and the friends in one band decided to start a new band. Before we knew it we could barely keep up with the pace of music being created and released. The goal from the beginning was simple: Get music to people that appreciate great independent music.

We've enjoyed the support of the Hamilton music community and those other grassroots fans and co-conspirators across Canada. May the 4th be with you, birthday blow-outs, concert series, and plain old big parties made sure we all had fun along the way. And winning 2006 Record Label of the Year at the Hamilton Music Awards was definitely a highlight. There are too many people to thank for their help and shared enthusiasm!

Alas, all things must end. Change is constant and the music business is a friend to no one. Big changes are happening in the lives of the official Drinking Cap management and it's come to pass that there's just no way to keep it going.

It doesn't seem like three years have passed, it's been a busy ride. Our small quantity CD manufacturing service gave us the opportunity to help many independent musicians get their albums made in an affordable, fast, and friendly way. We've been happy to serve them because we know how hard it is to do everything on your own. Because it seems like the biggest statement of what a bunch of musicians can do when they work together here's the list of albums that we've released or co-released over the past three years:

The Deviance - Tribulation
Flattstreet - This Dog is Big
Country Church vs The Crotch Rockets - Telescope
Escape Goats - scram faster
Escape Goats - Independent Rocker
Escape Goats - Critically Ashamed
Escape Goats – Treble Damage Awarded
Put On Your Drinking Cap - Volume 1
Christopher Eckart - Elegy for Diamond Lake
Matt Paxton - Hand Drawn Maps
Astroknaughts - Random Orbital
Left Wing, Chicken Wing - A Folked Up Compilation
Billy Holmes - A Magic Wombat
The Sweet Homewreckers - From the Letdown to the Comearound
Steve McKay - Whistle
Leonard Gold - If This Name Comes To You In A Dream
The Deviance - The Deviance

If there's one thing I would say to anybody out there who loves music of any kind it's this tag-line that's been my mantra for the past couple of years: Support Independent Music! Regardless of what happens to the corporate music industry, your support of individual artists and bands will make sure that local independent music continues to beat the crap out of any Top 40 junk that's thrown our way.

We're hoping to host one more Drinking Cap party and details will follow soon. It's been fun!

Captain Chad