Sarah Records
Sarah Records was a British independent record label active in Bristol between 1987 and 1995, best known for its recordings of indie pop, which it released mostly on 7" singles. On reaching the catalogue number SARAH 100, the label celebrated its 100th release by throwing a party and shutting itself down. In March 2015, NME declared Sarah to be the second greatest indie label of all time. Origins The label was formed in Bristol in 1987 by Clare Wadd and Matt Haynes and grew out of the fanzine scene at the time, Haynes having previously edited Are You Scared To Get Happy? and Wadd Kvatch. Both these fanzines had given away flexidiscs, with Are You Scared To Get Happy? being part of the Sha-la-la organisation, a record label set up solely to produce flexidiscs. Several Sarah releases were fanzines and flexidiscs as, along with the 7"s, it was thought they summed up the aesthetic and politics of the label better than 12" singles and albums. The label also refused to participate in the multi-formatting that was common at the time, or even include singles on albums, feeling that these practices were unfair on fans. In 1990 Wadd and Haynes told Melody Maker that it was "a record company run from a record buyer’s point of view ... you shouldn’t rip off the people who support you". Music Sarah Records was usually perceived as being grounded in the jangly indie-pop sensibility of C86 – though greater influences included the late Seventies DIY scene and stylish, imaginative independent labels such as Postcard Records, Factory and Creation; as well as mid-Eighties fanzine culture. Many Sarah bands, notably The Field Mice and The Orchids, also experimented with dance sounds. Other bands on the label included Heavenly, East River Pipe, The Hit Parade, Even As We Speak, Boyracer, Brighter, Blueboy, Another Sunny Day, Shelley and St. Christopher. Politics "It's just POLITICS, not as some distant unreal end, but as something encaptured in everyday life" declared the sleevenotes to the label's first compilation LP, Shadow Factory, and the label always saw itself as political, a response to its years of operation being "the years when CDs took over and vinyl died, when majors set up fake indies and indie became a genre not an ideology ... the years of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, of Clause 28 and the Poll Tax; the years when Lad Culture took hold." Because much of the politics was represented by the label's actions rather than its music, this aspect of Sarah was often missed; but Wadd and Haynes always hoped that those buying the records would discover the politics “by osmosis. One day, they’d suddenly stop and think, ‘Hang on, why do I have to spend £3.49 on this Pastels twelve-inch from Creation when the Sea Urchins seven-inch on Sarah only costs £1.49 and they both have three songs on?’ And then they’d set fire to the Houses of Parliament.” Haynes did admit, though, that "few people spotted that our