Rushmore Records

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Rushmore Records was formerly a subsidiary of Drive-Thru Records. As of September, 2006, Rushmore became an Imprint Label due to the project being largely unsuccessful.

1 History
- 1.1 Possible Merge
2 Roster
- 2.1 Former bands
3 External links

[edit] History

In 2002, two years before the label's official establishment, Rushmore was supposed the be a formed as a "new" Drive-Thru Records. The intention was to start the label up during Drive-Thru's distribution agreement with Geffen Records — restricting co-owners Richard and Stefanie Reines from full control over the roster, which is why they were reluctant to sign new talent — and eventually move all of Drive-Thru's bands over to Rushmore. This was meant to be a tactic to avoid Geffen taking over more of the label's roster.[1]

However, in summer 2004, Drive-Thru Records' contract with major record label Geffen Records ran out. With a brand new distribution deal (with Sanctuary Records) under their arms in late 2004, they announced the establishment of the subsidiary label of Drive-Thru Records: Rushmore Records. The label was named after the critically acclaimed movie, Rushmore.

During this time, the first signed artists to be announced were Self Against City and Houston Calls, shortly followed by Day at the Fair and The Track Record a week later. In early 2005, three bands were announced to join the existing four, Madison, The Cover and The Mile After.

On May 1, 2006, Day at the Fair announced their break up.

In September 2006, The Track Record parted ways with Rushmore based on the direction of the band. An announcement states: "As of September 1st, we are no longer affiliated with Drive-Thru / Rushmore Records. The split is due to disagreements regarding the direction of the band. While we maintain good terms with the label, there is no more progress to be made in the relationship."

Due to issues with the label's management, Madison decided to break up in September 2006. According to a press release written by the band, the main reason behind why they split was unprofessionalism and laziness on part of the label. The band claimed, that a month passed before submitted demos were listened to and when questioned about this, the owners responded in an often vulgar and rude manner.[2] In the wake of this, Richard Reines wrote a lengthy response criticising Madison's announcement (and mainly guitarist Brandon Pecoraro's behavior), mentioning that they took nine months to record said demos, then – at a time when the label had other priorities – impatiently called every couple of days asking if the material had yet been listened to, and ultimatively threatened with their breakup if they weren't allowed to start recording an album within two weeks.[3]

Also in September 2006, the label dropped The Cover (whose signing was never announced). They rarely showed any activity during their brief time signed to the label.

In November 2006, The Mile After officially announced that they were no longer part of the roster due to "disagreements in the direction of the band". [4]

Presently, Self Against City have finished recording their full-length Telling Secrets to Strangers (to be released January 9, 2007), while Houston Calls are writing material for their second full-length, due out in 2007.

[edit] Possible Merge

It has been rumored that due to the lack of material released by artists on the label, the Rushmore Records project has been abandoned and remaining bands (Houston Calls and Self Against City) have been moved onto the Drive-Thru Records roster.

This is made more possible by the fact that both artists MySpace profiles cite that they are signed to Drive-Thru.

Additionally, as of September 2006, the domain name which would normally direct to the labels official site, now forwards the user to Drive Thru Records' page.