So now it’s August we have to say a very fond farewell to Erased Tapes and welcome our latest label of the month Rough Trade. Coming from very humble beginnings, Geoff Travis started by selling records in West London in February 1976. This business became so successful that in 1978 a record label was started, namely Rough Trade. The first release on Rough Trade was little known French outfit Metal Urbaine with ‘Paris Maquis’.

From this the label grew exponentially, soon getting respected artists like Cabaret Voltaire, Augustus Pablo, Swell Maps, Electric Eels and Subway Sect to release on their label. When its first album, Stiff Little Fingers’ ‘Inflammable Material’, was released in 1979, it became the first independent record in history to sell over 100,000 copies and charted at number 14. Following this Rough Trade went through their “Purple Patch” releasing records from The Fall, Pere Ubu, Young Marble Giants, This Heat, Robert Wyatt, Television Personalities, Aztec Camera and James Blood Ulmer, all in a space of just three years.

In 1983 Rough Trade then acquired probably their biggest signing to date in the form of The Smiths, elevating them to a level where they could compete with the major record labels of the time. From this Rough Trade went from strength to strength releasing an unprecedented run of sixteen chart singles beginning with ‘This Charming Man’ in 1984 and culminating in ‘Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me’ in 1987.

In 1991 Rough Trade found themselves in little bit of a financial crisis and were forced into administration. After a break for nearly ten years Geoff Travis and Jeannette Lee could reacquire the rights to the Rough Trade name and begin again as a record label. Since then Rough Trade have  exploded, emerging as a major power in producing records, releasing music from The Libertines, Eddi Reader, British Sea Power, Low, Emiliana Torrini, Arcade Fire, Belle & Sebastian, Sufjan Stevens and Antony & The Johnsons.

Myself and Monograph co-founder Duncan started a love affair with Rough Trade from a very early age, here we found a label that we trusted whole heartedly, a label that we relied on and most importantly a label we cared deeply for. It was one sunny afternoon back in 2002 sitting in a back bedroom of a raver friend of ours that we first placed a copied CD of The Libs first album Up the Bracket (we felt bad for this act of piracy for many years and went and brought two copies of the album each just to cleanse our souls) that sealed Rough Trade in our hearts forever, the mere fact that the aforementioned raver friend walked past during the opening primeval scream of the title track and showed his disgust with an equally incomprehensible shout was simply the cherry on top.

Rough Trade is a label that nurtures their artists and propels them to the main frame of people’s minds and lives. They have a keen ear for spotting new talent when it’s still in the cocoon of its local scene with an ethos of “an openness of mind, a willingness to be moved and an unswerving belief in the vision of the artists”. With a roster that rivals just about everything this side of the Milky Way, including The Strokes, Arcade Fire, The Mystery Jets, Jarvis Cocker, British Sea Power and The Libertines, the label is the furnace for the music scene globally and have changed the face of music in the UK and US more than once and in more ways than one.In light of this we are working with Rough Trade as part of our label of the month. This month you can expect a whole host of word candy from the Traders, including a live review coming all the way from New York City, all right here at Monograph Towers.

Right then, without further ado (might need to take a breath for this), may we present to you our August label of the Month… Rough Trade.

Words by Jon Dodd
Editor of The Monograph, Jon Dodd is a designer by trade but a music lover and writer at heart. Along with Duncan Graham he is one of the founding members of the Monograph.
Read all articles by Jon Dodd