THE BEGINNING – For my Friends…
No Milk Records was formed prior to the turn of the new millennium while in high school. At first it was a group of friends who shared a true love for independent music, and having a good time. The first few releases were compilations and splits from bands we liked around the country. In addition to records, every weekend No Milk Records would host shows for touring bands, local talent, and most of all their friends. Who remembers the days of M&M Hall, Brick VFW, and The Cove? These small “venues” would be filled with kids as a positive outlet for entertainment on the weekends…usually at a low ticket-price of seven or eight dollars. A sense of community existed with everyone involved.
THE SUCCESS – Gaining National Notoriety
Over the years the records got better, and the shows got bigger. No Milk Records started throwing shows at Birch Hill, Stingrays, and Krome. The roster grew (Socratic, The Bank Robbers, Runaway Orange, No Hollywood Ending), and so did the fan base with each step of widening distribution of records. The No Milk community saw it’s first non-NJ band, Halifax, and became a coast-to-coast family. The excitement and success of Halifax was huge. Shortly after their release, both Socratic and Halifax were picked up by Drive-Thru Records. These acquisitions brought even more attention to No Milk Records because now it was seen as a breeding ground for young untapped talent on the national scale. The funny part is that No Milk Records has always just signed good bands that we believed in.
GRADUATION – Moving up to the Majors
In 2005, No Milk Records signed Tourmaline and Sleepaway as a part of Universal label group The Platform Group. Being distributed on the national level was a huge milestone for No Milk Records. Sadly, at this time, Internet downloading started to hurt artists and indie labels the most. Ironically, at the same time, more and more venues were being closed. These two issues hurt No Milk greatly. A label based on community, shows, and CD sales was now expected to perform on a national level in a time when no one was buying CDs, and there were no good venues for the artists to play.
DESTRUCTION Part 1 “Self Destruction”
Sleepaway was critically acclaimed for their debut, and sold even better in Japan. Unfortunately due to immaturity and lack of experience, the band broke up a month after the release of their LP. To this day many believe it is one of the best albums that no one got a real chance to hear. This was one of the first blows taken to heart by the label. No Milk always treated it’s artists as family and to see such a young band full of potential break up so abruptly was devastating, not to mention the financial burden the label faced.
NEW LIFE – New Responsibilities
When you build a label from the ground up throughout high school and college, people start to notice. Running a label takes an amazing amount of drive, ambition, and responsibility. Working in the music industry is a lifestyle. If you can’t make it your entire life, then the music industry is not for you. NMR owners, Kyle and Greg, were approached by industry-veteran, Jack Ponti. A partnership was formed, and Merovingian Music was born. The new venture would allow them to work with bigger artists within the framework of a major record label, EMI. And one more thing, No Milk could come along for the ride. Everyone was happy.
DESTRUCTION Part 2 “Unforeseen Devastation”
In July 2007, No Milk Records released No Hollywood Ending “Everybody’s Talking” under the new label set up with Merovingian Music. The release of the album that took 3 years to record and was a huge achievement for all parties involved. Every ounce of the album was carefully coordinated, from the music to the album art. A lot of heart was put into this release. NHE was doing a lot of touring, getting into trouble, and gaining new fans everywhere they went. Without warning the band suffered a deep and personal lose in the family and their world was brought to a crashing halt. This loss was so devastating that the band had to leave the road immediately; words can’t describe the tragedy of the situation. As mentioned earlier, No Milk was always a kind of family with strong personal ties. The band never returned to the road and never took the stage again.
DESTRUCTION Part 3 “The Final Loss”
At this time, the No Milk roster was dwindling and at it’s lowest form since it’s inception. Merovingian was going strong with the release of several large national acts (Kittie, Anthony Hamilton, Sebastian Bach) but NMR was on the rocks. When we finally received the promo copies back for our newest release Lady Fantastic “Paper”, the window of opportunity was gone. We got a phone call from the band… they were breaking up. At this point, No Milk Records had faced three band break ups within a two year period. The label built on community and friendship was not used to facing issues like these. It was becoming more apparent that over the years the landscape of independent music had changed drastically. The unity and strength of the “scene” had weakened to a point lower than ever. With the last of their active bands not touring or broken up, the once mighty NMR was now merely a shadow of its former self.
LADY FANTASTIC "ROOM 9" FROM THE ALBUM, PAPER
A MACABRE STUDIOS PRODUCTION
