Electric Honey was founded in 1992 and is Glasgow Kelvin College's in-house record label run by Ken McCluskey (The Bluebells), Douglas MacIntyre (Creeping Bent) and formerly Alan Rankine (The Associates) along with students from the HNC/D Music Business course. The label celebrated its 25th year in 2017 with many events including the release of the debut album "Any Joy" from Scottish six-piece indie rock band; "Pronto Mama."

The label was described by Uncut magazine as being "The most successful student-run label in the world", thanks to the history of artists having releases with the imprint, including Belle & Sebastian, Snow Patrol and Biffy Clyro. The 2012 album 'Self Help' by Young Aviators became the biggest selling CD album in the labels history.

Affiliate labels were also run under Electric Honey for a period of time. Gdansk, which released electronic-based artists and Root 8 which specialised in world music.

Early years The label was founded by staff at Stow College with the idea of creating a platform for students in the HNC/D Music Business course, to gain the experience of working firsthand with record company operations, while also having a hand in the creation of a thriving music scene within Scotland by releasing local artists. The first release was in 1993 with Baby Chaos, later known as Deckard, and their Buzz EP. Baby Chaos would then go on to receive considerable recognition from their releases with their 1996 album Love Your Self Abuse, being named one of Kerrang!'''s 100 Greatest British Rock Albums Ever. The 1995 release of The Moondials, featured Stevie Jackson on guitar, who would go on to join Belle & Sebastian alongside Stuart Murdoch later that year.

1996/2000 Belle and Sebastian Electric Honey's first success came with the release of the label's first album release in 1996, Belle & Sebastian's Tigermilk, named after a track originally written for, but left out from, the album. Formed by Stuart Murdoch and Stuart David, later joined with Stevie Jackson, Belle & Sebastian formed in Glasgow in early 1996, recording their first demos in Stow College. Murdoch was involved early on with the University of Glasgow's Subcity Radio. Originally limited to 1000 copies on Electric Honey, the album was picked up by Jeepster Records who re-released it in 1999, and is now often cited as a classic influential album, with "The State I Am In" being placed at number 17 on Pitchfork Media's top 200 tracks of the 1990s. Belle and Sebastian recently played a special gig at Winfield House- the London residence of the US Ambassador to the United Kingdom.

Snow Patrol Originally called Polarbear, Snow Patrol are the most successful of Electric Honey's signings having sold ten million albums worldwide. The band formed in Glasgow while front-man Gary Lightbody worked in the Glasgow venue Nice 'n' Sleazys. Starfighter Pilot came five years before their big selling album Final Straw, and featured Belle & Sebastian's Stuart Murdoch on piano and backing vocals.Starfighter Pilot was later featured on the band's debut album Songs for Polarbears and re-released as a single through Jeepster Records.

Biffy Clyro Biffy Clyro were signed to the label while they were students at Stow College. In 2000, they released their debut EP Thekidswhopoptodaywillrocktomorrow through Electric Honey, featuring the tracks "57" and "Justboy". Both tracks reappeared on the band's debut album release, Blackened Sky, through Beggars Banquet Records.

Label Timeline

Artist/Band Year Release Baby Chaos 1993 Buzz EP Eight Miles High 1993 Go Single The Moondials 1995 Can You See? Single Belle and Sebastian 1996 Tigermilk Album Polar Bear (Snow Patrol) 1997 Starfighter Pilot Single Flow 1998 I Can Love You Single Rob (Rayon) Alexandra 1999 Crystal Ball Single Biffy Clyro 2000 Thekidswhopoptodaywillrocktomorrow EP Pupkin 2001 Morning Light EP Policechief 2002 Coup De Grace Single Odeon Beatclub 2003 Behind My Eyes Single Poor Old Ben 2004 Another Day EP Clearfall 2005 Sculpt.Paint.Sketch Single How to Swim 2006 The Little Orgasm EP Various Artists 2007 Thank you for being you Album Wake The President 2007 Sorrows for Clothes Single Mail, Alice Single Remember Fun Single I'm Sorry Single Miss Tierney Single You Can't Change That Boy Single You Can't Change That Boy Album Elaine Single State Broadcasters 2008 The Ship and the Iceberg Album Let's Male T-shirts Single Je Suis Animal 2008 Fortune Map Single The Kingfishers 2008 Make Me Sad Single Woodenbox with a Fistful of Fivers 2010 Home and the Wildhunt Album Besides The point Single Twisted Mile Single White Heath 2010 7.38 am Single Take No Thought for Tomorrow GG Single When the Watchmen Leave their Station Single French Wives 2011 Numbers Single Dream of the Inbetween Younger Miniature Dinosaurs 2011 Fight or Flight Single Young Aviators 2012 The Question Is? Single Self Help Alex Hynes 2013 Slow Your Breath EP Harry and the Hendersons 2013 Give Me Proof Single Schnarff Schnarff 2014 Schnarff Schnarff EP Apache Sun 2015 Apache Sun EP Finn Le Marinel 2015 Love is Waves EP Yacouba Sissoko 2015 Ti Mangala Ki Album Be Charlotte 2016 Discover Single Sunshine Social 2016 Reduce to Dust Album The Claramassa 2016 Being Alive EP Pronto Mama 2017 Arabesque Single Any JoyColonel Mustard & The Dijon 52018Peace, Love & Mustard EPToni Woods2018Better Man SingleThe Nickajack Men2018Changed Ways SingleFlew The Arrow2019Come The Wind, Come The Rain SingleNicol & Elliott2019Wish You'd Stayed Away Single Sweet Downfall SingleChris Greig & The Merchants2019Colours Single Lipstick EPToni Woods2019I Don't Wanna Be Your Friend Single

Gdansk

Artists

Found Ziggy Campbell Mylo Stafrann Hakon We Yo Nee Vin Landers Beatmooks ESC Monkey Tribe Mellow Sub Machine Tetsuo Kev Sim Fudge Fingas The Smash

Dullshiny Reaz Disciples of Panic Earth Lyvonne K Trouble Cannon Scientific Support Dept. Spacewalker C.D Jefferson Cruiser S-Type Tycho Provinylistkarim Nordin Zaoui

Discography

Compilations Lato 001 (2003) Lato 002 (2004) Lato 003 Lato 004 Lato 005 (2006)

Albums Mellow Sub Machine – Los Machinos Mellos (2005)

Root 8

Artists Koshka Mungo's Hi-Fi Lee Patterson Red Road Global Music Collective Zuba Roddy Hart

Discography Welcome'' (2005)

See also List of Record Labels List of independent UK record labels Scottish Music

References

External links French Wives Woodenbox With A Fistful Of Fivers White Heath Stow College