Man's Ruin Records
Encyclopedia
Man's Ruin Records was an independent record label
, owned and founded by Bay Area artist Frank Kozik
. After the 1994
release of Man's Ruin's first record, entitled Experimental Audio Research (EAR): Delta 6, Kozik
worked with artists who he wanted to release; he also designed all of the sleeve art for the releases. The catalog of Man's Ruin is vast, including relatively famous bands such as The Hellacopters
, Nebula
, Kyuss
, High on Fire
, Entombed
, Turbonegro
, Queens of the Stone Age
and The Sex Pistols, to unknowns such as FuckEmos, Soulpreacher, Angelrot, and Los Cowslingers. The last record released was by Begotten, and the label was officially gone by 2002
.
The label's slogan
was Empty Pleasures and Desperate Measures since 1994.
are constantly rising in their value due to two factors: the majority of covers were screen-printed
and numbered by Kozik
himself, and all records were released in edition
s of 5000 copies or less. The most sought-after records from the Man's Ruin catalog have consistently been The Desert Sessions
records, which were released in highly limited editions on clear and colored vinyl
. The CD versions of the first six volumes, as well as the rest of the entire Man's Ruin catalog have gone out of print
with the demise of the label. Subsequent volumes of The Desert Sessions
were released on Josh Homme's Rekords Rekords
label.
Man's Ruin specialized in producing and releasing limited edition 10" EP
records. Often an album would be released in several different sets, such as the first release from Queens of the Stone Age
in 1998
, which was released on Man's Ruin in three editions: 2500 black, 300 green, 200 orange/yellow (a subsequent pressing of 198 copies on blue vinyl was made independently by the band as a "tour edition"). The vast majority of records released on the label were colored.
The label was distributed in the US and UK by Mordam Records
initially, and then a brief and unsuccessful switch was made to RED Distribution, which resulted in the demise of the label after a series of problems, and internationally by Swedish
distributor and record label House of Kicks. Unlike most releases in music today, the international
releases from Man's Ruin did not differ from the domestic American
releases. However, it was not uncommon for the cover of a vinyl
release to differ from that of the CD edition of the release.
. Internet users who wished to view the Man's Ruin website were simply greeted with the message: sorry mansruin never paid their bill and their site is no longer here. They also didn't pay their poster-printing crew for all of their overtime work as well, sadly.
All operations ended in 2002. All licenses were returned to the various copyright holders at that time. Kozik then stopped working in the music scene and went on to enter the field of designing Urban Vinyl.
Several bands (such as Fu Manchu
, Turbonegro
, Acid King
and The Hellacopters
) who have gained popularity after their work with Man's Ruin have re-released the albums they recorded there, independently or with other record label
s.
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
, owned and founded by Bay Area artist Frank Kozik
Frank Kozik
Frank Kozik is an American graphic artist who has worked with Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Melvins, The Offspring and Butthole Surfers. Kozik runs Man's Ruin Records, a media outlet and record label, and has published several books including Man's Ruin:...
. After the 1994
1994 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1994.-January–February:*January 25 – Alice in Chains release their Jar of Flies album which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming the first ever EP to do so....
release of Man's Ruin's first record, entitled Experimental Audio Research (EAR): Delta 6, Kozik
Frank Kozik
Frank Kozik is an American graphic artist who has worked with Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Melvins, The Offspring and Butthole Surfers. Kozik runs Man's Ruin Records, a media outlet and record label, and has published several books including Man's Ruin:...
worked with artists who he wanted to release; he also designed all of the sleeve art for the releases. The catalog of Man's Ruin is vast, including relatively famous bands such as The Hellacopters
The Hellacopters
The Hellacopters were a Swedish garage rock band that was formed in 1994 by Nicke Andersson , Dregen , Kenny Håkansson and Robert Eriksson . Andersson had been the drummer for death metal band Entombed and Dregen was taking a break from his full-time band Backyard Babies...
, Nebula
Nebula (band)
Nebula was a psychedelic stoner rock band, formed by guitarist Eddie Glass and drummer Ruben Romano after departing from Fu Manchu in 1997. Rob Oswald later replaced Ruben Romano on drums in 2007....
, Kyuss
Kyuss
Kyuss is a rock band, originally from Palm Desert, California. After forming in the late 1980s and releasing an EP under the name Sons of Kyuss in 1990, the band shortened its name to Kyuss. Over the next five years the band released four full-length albums, and one last split EP in 1997 with...
, High on Fire
High on Fire
High on Fire is a stoner metal band from Oakland, California, that was formed in 1998. Matt Pike, the band's frontman and founder, previously played guitar for the influential stoner doom band Sleep.-History:...
, Entombed
Entombed (band)
Entombed is a Swedish death metal band which formed in 1987 under the name of Nihilist. Though Entombed began their career as an early pioneer of Scandinavian death metal which initially differed itself from its American counterpart with its distinct guitar tone, by the early 1990s their sound had...
, Turbonegro
Turbonegro
Turbonegro is a Norwegian punk rock band that was initially active from 1989 to 1998, and later reformed in 2002. Their style combines glam rock, punk rock and hard rock into a style the band describes as "deathpunk"....
, Queens of the Stone Age
Queens of the Stone Age
Queens of the Stone Age is an American rock band from Palm Desert, California, United States, formed in 1997. The band's line-up has always included founding member Josh Homme , with the current line-up including longtime members Troy Van Leeuwen and Joey Castillo , alongside Michael Shuman and...
and The Sex Pistols, to unknowns such as FuckEmos, Soulpreacher, Angelrot, and Los Cowslingers. The last record released was by Begotten, and the label was officially gone by 2002
2002 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 2002.-Events:*February 3 – U2 perform during the halftime show for Super Bowl XXXVI...
.
The label's slogan
Slogan
A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a political, commercial, religious and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose. The word slogan is derived from slogorn which was an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic sluagh-ghairm . Slogans vary from the written and the...
was Empty Pleasures and Desperate Measures since 1994.
Operations
Man's Ruin did not make signed contracts with the artists that they released, their operation was instead very open. Recordings were licensed for a time period of 2–5 years and all copyrights and publishing liberties were retained by the bands. Profits on releases were split 50-50 between band and label. The posters and album art from the Man's Ruin era are still very coveted and the limited print vinylGramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
are constantly rising in their value due to two factors: the majority of covers were screen-printed
Screen-printing
Screen printing is a printing technique that uses a woven mesh to support an ink-blocking stencil. The attached stencil forms open areas of mesh that transfer ink or other printable materials which can be pressed through the mesh as a sharp-edged image onto a substrate...
and numbered by Kozik
Frank Kozik
Frank Kozik is an American graphic artist who has worked with Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Melvins, The Offspring and Butthole Surfers. Kozik runs Man's Ruin Records, a media outlet and record label, and has published several books including Man's Ruin:...
himself, and all records were released in edition
Edition
In printmaking, an edition is a number of prints struck from one plate, usually at the same time. This is the meaning covered by this article...
s of 5000 copies or less. The most sought-after records from the Man's Ruin catalog have consistently been The Desert Sessions
The Desert Sessions
The Desert Sessions are a musical collective series, founded by Josh Homme in 1997. Artists such as Brant Bjork, PJ Harvey, Jeordie White The Desert Sessions are a musical collective series, founded by Josh Homme in 1997. Artists such as Brant Bjork, PJ Harvey, Jeordie White The Desert Sessions are...
records, which were released in highly limited editions on clear and colored vinyl
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
. The CD versions of the first six volumes, as well as the rest of the entire Man's Ruin catalog have gone out of print
Out of print
Out of print refers to an item, typically a book , but can include any print or visual media or sound recording, that is in the state of no longer being published....
with the demise of the label. Subsequent volumes of The Desert Sessions
The Desert Sessions
The Desert Sessions are a musical collective series, founded by Josh Homme in 1997. Artists such as Brant Bjork, PJ Harvey, Jeordie White The Desert Sessions are a musical collective series, founded by Josh Homme in 1997. Artists such as Brant Bjork, PJ Harvey, Jeordie White The Desert Sessions are...
were released on Josh Homme's Rekords Rekords
Rekords Rekords
Rekords Rekords is a record label formed by Josh Homme. It emerged in the aftermath of the downfall of Man's Ruin Records, the record label formally putting out Homme's project The Desert Sessions...
label.
Man's Ruin specialized in producing and releasing limited edition 10" EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
records. Often an album would be released in several different sets, such as the first release from Queens of the Stone Age
Queens of the Stone Age
Queens of the Stone Age is an American rock band from Palm Desert, California, United States, formed in 1997. The band's line-up has always included founding member Josh Homme , with the current line-up including longtime members Troy Van Leeuwen and Joey Castillo , alongside Michael Shuman and...
in 1998
1998 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1998.-Events:*January 28 – "Weird Al" Yankovic gets LASIK surgery to cure his myopia...
, which was released on Man's Ruin in three editions: 2500 black, 300 green, 200 orange/yellow (a subsequent pressing of 198 copies on blue vinyl was made independently by the band as a "tour edition"). The vast majority of records released on the label were colored.
The label was distributed in the US and UK by Mordam Records
Mordam Records
Mordam Records was a Sacramento, California record distribution company for independent record labels. It was originally founded in San Francisco in 1983 as an independent punk distribution company by Ruth Schwartz...
initially, and then a brief and unsuccessful switch was made to RED Distribution, which resulted in the demise of the label after a series of problems, and internationally by Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
distributor and record label House of Kicks. Unlike most releases in music today, the international
International
----International mostly means something that involves more than one country. The term international as a word means involvement of, interaction between or encompassing more than one nation, or generally beyond national boundaries...
releases from Man's Ruin did not differ from the domestic American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
releases. However, it was not uncommon for the cover of a vinyl
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
release to differ from that of the CD edition of the release.
Decline and Fall
The label became defunct after a series of distribution changes and problems, the label having outgrown its original distributor. Man's Ruin also lost its lease at the height of the Bay Area Dot-Com boom and was shut down for a period of several months while attempting to relocate its offices. This combination led to its demise at the end of 2001. The label's website was shut down a few months following its demiseDemise
Demise, in its original meaning, is an Anglo-Norman legal term for a transfer of an estate, especially by lease...
. Internet users who wished to view the Man's Ruin website were simply greeted with the message: sorry mansruin never paid their bill and their site is no longer here. They also didn't pay their poster-printing crew for all of their overtime work as well, sadly.
All operations ended in 2002. All licenses were returned to the various copyright holders at that time. Kozik then stopped working in the music scene and went on to enter the field of designing Urban Vinyl.
Several bands (such as Fu Manchu
Fu Manchu (band)
Fu Manchu is a Southern Californian stoner rock band, who released their debut single "Kept Between Trees" in 1990. They have been featured on compilations put together by Tony Hawk and ESPN's X Games, and invited to perform on the US television program Monster Garage...
, Turbonegro
Turbonegro
Turbonegro is a Norwegian punk rock band that was initially active from 1989 to 1998, and later reformed in 2002. Their style combines glam rock, punk rock and hard rock into a style the band describes as "deathpunk"....
, Acid King
Acid King
Acid King is a stoner metal band from San Francisco, California. It was formed in 1993 by frontwoman Lori S., drummer Joey Osbourne and bassist Peter Lucas. Acid King have since recorded three studio albums and three EPs with a series of bassists....
and The Hellacopters
The Hellacopters
The Hellacopters were a Swedish garage rock band that was formed in 1994 by Nicke Andersson , Dregen , Kenny Håkansson and Robert Eriksson . Andersson had been the drummer for death metal band Entombed and Dregen was taking a break from his full-time band Backyard Babies...
) who have gained popularity after their work with Man's Ruin have re-released the albums they recorded there, independently or with other record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
s.