What Are Records?

What Are Records? (or W.A.R.?) is an independent record label located in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in New York City in 1991 by owner Rob Gordon, former director of A&R at EMI,^[1] the company moved to Boulder in 1994.

What Are Records?
Founded	1991 (1991)
Founder	Rob Gordon
Distributor(s)	Select-O-Hits
Genre	Various
Country of origin	U.S.
Location	Boulder, Colorado
Official website	whatarerecords.com

W.A.R.? has released over 100 records by Frank Black (of The Pixies), Bill Burr, Stephen Lynch, The Samples, Maceo Parker, Melissa Ferrick, and Whitest Kids U' Know.^[2]

History

What Are Records? was founded in Gordon's New York City loft in 1991. From the beginning, it fostered a direct-to-stores and direct-to-consumers distribution strategy^[3] Friend of Gordon and The Samples then-manager,^[4] Ted Guggenheim, urged W.A.R.? to sign The Samples and they soon were among the first signings to the label.^[5] Other early acts included comedian Stephen Lynch,^[6] funk saxophone legend Maceo Parker (known for having played in James Brown’s band), former Squeeze frontman Glen Tilbrook, Grammy and Tony-nominated composer and piano man David Yazbek, singer-songwriter David Wilcox, and singer-songwriter Melissa Ferrick.

Gordon relocated the company to Boulder in 1991^[7] and has been operating out of the offices designed by architect Charles Haertling ever since.^[8]

Current artists

• Stephen Lynch
• The Whitest Kids U' Know
• Trace Bundy

Catalog artists

• Bill Burr
• Between The Lines
• Cycomotogoat
• Daniel MacKenzie
• David Wilcox
• Everything
• Fancey
• Felicia Michaels
• Figurine
• Flickerstick
• Frank Black
• Glenn Tilbrook
• Hazard
• House of Large Sizes
• The Innocence Mission
• Jeep
• Joseph Brenna
• Le Concorde
• Lir
• Lloyd Cole
• Luce
• Maceo Parker
• Melissa Ferrick
• Munly
• The Ocean Blue
• The Poppy Family
• Primitive Radio Gods
• The Radiators
• Sally Taylor
• The Samples
• Sean Kelly
• Stuart Matthewman
• Sungha Jung
• The Swayback
• 24-7 Spyz
• Tim Finn
• Tony Furtado
• Ugly Americans

References

1. Grossweiner, Bob; Cohen, Jane (February 1, 2002). "Industry Profile: Rob Gordon". Celebrity Access. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
2. "The History of What Are Records?". What Are Records?. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
3. Owsinski, Bobby (2014). Music 4.0: A Survival Guide for Making Music in the Internet Age. Hal Leonard Corporation.
4. Sprague, David (July 2, 1995). "While Hollywood And W.A.R.? Negotiated, The Samples Had Time To Sample MCA". Billboard. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
5. Roberts, Michael (September 1, 1998). "GOING TO WAR?". Westword. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
6. Wenzel, John (August 3, 2013). "Why comedians Bill Burr, Stephen Lynch and Ben Roy work for Colorado music labels". The Denver Post. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
7. Bell, Carrie (September 1, 1998). "Samples Return To Indie Roots". Billboard. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
8. The Denver Eye (March 2, 2011). "Boulder Eye Clinic". The Denver Eye. Retrieved May 22, 2015.