Tooth & Nail Records

Tooth & Nail Records
Founded	1993 (1993)
Founder	Brandon Ebel
Distributor(s)	Capitol Christian Music Group (US; 1994-2013) RED (US; 2013-present) Sony Music (Worldwide) Diamante Music Group (former)
Genre	Christian rock, Christian alternative rock, Christian metal, Christian punk
Country of origin	United States
Location	Seattle, Washington
Official website	www.toothandnail.com

Tooth & Nail Records is a Christian rock record label^[1] founded by Brandon Ebel in California in November 1993. The label later moved to Seattle, Washington where it is situated today. It has been home to many well-known musical acts, including Underoath, Hawk Nelson, Emery, The Almost, FM Static, Family Force 5, and MxPx.

Tooth & Nail's first album released was Wish for Eden's Pet the Fish,^[2] which was produced by Michael Knott and originally slated to be released by Blonde Vinyl. Subsequent releases from The Juliana Theory, MxPx, and Starflyer 59 made Tooth & Nail a strong force in Christian music circles, as well as a niche underground subculture in itself. Prior to forming Tooth & Nail, Ebel worked for the Christian label Frontline.^[3]

Overview

Eight Tooth & Nail-affiliated albums have been RIAA-certified as Gold for sales of 500,000 or more copies. The label saw one of its greatest successes when Underoath's Define the Great Line debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in 2006.^[4]

The label also released a limited edition hard cover book, with the proceeds going to benefit Music Cares.^[5]

RIAA gold certifications

Nominations and awards

Structure

Tooth & Nail contains multiple imprints, each catering to a different genre of music:

• BEC Recordings mostly includes artists in the mainstream sect of commercial Christian rock such as Kutless and Jeremy Camp, with some exceptions (such as hip hop artists KJ-52 and Manafest).
• Solid State Records distributes metal and hardcore albums^[3] by artists such as Living Sacrifice, Demon Hunter, Haste the Day, Underoath and August Burns Red.
• Uprok Records was a hip hop label that included many of the genre's early successes, such as ILL Harmonics and KJ-52. It is dissolved, though hip hop albums distributed by BEC Recordings still bear its logo (most recently Glory by Manafest).
• Plastiq Musiq (founded by Ronnie Martin of Joy Electric) primarily signed electronic music artists.^[3] Tooth & Nail entered a partnership to distribute Plastiq Musiq albums in 1998 and 1999. Plastiq Musiq continues to release albums independently.
• Fugitive Recordings primarily is made up of artists marketed outside of the Christian market, including Denison Witmer, The Presidents of the United States of America, and Young London.
• The label acquired Takehold Records, an independent record label, in 2002. This acquisition brought several bands to Tooth & Nail including Underoath, Further Seems Forever, Few Left Standing and Narcissus.

On March 13, 2013 it was announced that Brandon Ebel had sold the entire Tooth & Nail music catalog to Capitol Christian Music Group (formerly EMI Christian Music Group) and by doing so was able to buy back the 50% stake in Tooth & Nail formerly owned by EMI making it an independent record label. It will retain the rights to all future releases with a new distributor, RED Distribution.^[7]

Label artists

Current

• Anchor & Braille
• Artifex Pereo
• Children 18:3
• Civilian
• Copeland
• Disciple
• Aaron Gillespie
• Hearts Like Lions
• Loyals
• Tyson Motsenbocker
• Aaron Sprinkle
• Starflyer 59
• Underoath
• We Are the City
• XXI

source:^[8]

Former: active

• Abandoned Pools
• Bleach (currently active)
• Blindside (currently unsigned)
• Brave Saint Saturn (signed to Department of Biophysics Records)
• The Classic Crime (currently on Bad Christian Music)
• Corey Crowder (currently unsigned)
• Craig's Brother (currently on Takeover Records)
• Crash Rickshaw (side project for members of Project 86)
• Damien Jurado
• Danielson (currently on Secretly Canadian)
• The Dingees
• Discover America (currently on Lujo Records)
• Dogwood (currently on Roadside Records)
• The Drawing Room (side project of Thousand Foot Krutch)
• Emery (currently on Bad Christian Music)
• Everdown (reunited, two new demos on MySpace)
• Family Force 5 (currently on Transparent Media Group / Word Records)
• Fighting Jacks
• Focused (unsigned)
• The Fold (independent)
• Further Seems Forever (currently on Rise Records; members became part of Dashboard Confessional, Action Reaction and Fields Forever)
• Goodnight Star (currently on Miniature Records)
• Hawk Nelson (currently on Fair Trade Services)
• Holland (changed name to The Lonely Hearts; currently unsigned)
• Hyland
• The Huntingtons (reunited)
• Icon for Hire (independent)
• Kings Kaleidoscope(currently on BEC Recordings/Gospel Song Recordings)
• Klank
• The Letter Black
• The Lonely Hearts
• Love & Death
• Luxury (currently on Northern Records)
• Mae
• Matt & Toby (currently on BadChristian Records)
• mewithoutYou (currently on Run for Cover Records)
• Mike Knott
• MxPx (currently on Rock City Recordings)
• New Empire
• Nine Lashes (currently on BEC Recordings)
• Norway (independent)
• The O.C. Supertones (currently on BEC Recordings)
• Overcome (currently on Facedown Records)
• P.O.D. (currently on Universal Music Group)
• Project 86 (independent)
• Rocky Loves Emily (currently unsigned)
• Run Kid Run (recently archived)
• Ruth
• Sainthood Reps (currently on No Sleep Records)
• Search the City (currently unsigned)
• Seventh Day Slumber (currently on BEC Recordings)
• Showbread (currently on Come&Live! Records)
• Since October
• Spoken (currently on Artery Recordings)
• States (currently recording a second album)
• Stavesacre (limited activity, members in Neon Horse)
• Surrogate (Independent)
• Swimming with Dolphins (currently unsigned)
• Sullivan (currently on Spartan Records)
• Thousand Foot Krutch (independent)
• The Crucified
• The Wednesdays (Currently with Thorp Records)
• Write This Down (currently unsigned)

Former: disbanded

• A Dream to Late
• Ace Troubleshooter (members now in Relient K and My Red Hot Nightmare)
• All Wound Up
• The Almost
• Anberlin
• And Then There Were None (members now in Young London / Contact)
• AP2 (Contributors continue as lvl and Celldweller, among others)
• As Cities Burn
• The Blamed (members now in The Satire, Big Mess, and The Wiitala Brothers)
• Blenderhead (One member now in The Out Circuit)
• Blessed by a Broken Heart (One member now in Still Remains)
• Bloodshed (members now in My Compatriots, B is Bridgie)
• The Brothers Martin (One-time Project)
• Calibretto 13 (members now in Harley Poe, Mercury Radio Theater, Everything, Now!, Divebomber and Darling)
• CHATTERbOX (members formed Stavesacre)
• Children 18:3
• The Cootees (Former side project for members of MXPX, Ninety Pound Wuss, and Slick Shoes)
• Crux
• The Deadlines (members now in The Bullies, The Escape, Haunted Bayou, and Kisses Lose Their Charm)
• Delta Haymax
• The Deluxtone Rockets
• Don't Know (Members have formed Blenderhead)
• Driver Eight (members have played with Theft, Fastball, Paloalto and Golden State)
• Element 101 (members formed Action Reaction)
• Falling Up (Independent)
• Fanmail (members in Radio Saints and My Compatriots)
• Fine China (members now in The Foxglove Hunt)
• Focal Point (One member formed Training for Utopia and is now in Demon Hunter)
• For Love Not Lisa (members have started Puller)
• Frodus (members formed The Out Circuit, The Black Sea, Decahedron, Frantic Mantis, The Dillinger Escape Plan and The Cassettes; and Shelby Cinca now records as a solo artist)
• Furthermore
• Ghoti Hook
• Hangnail
• Havalina (members now in Matt Death and the New Intellectuals)
• Holland (members started The Lonely Hearts. One member joined Demon Hunter)
• House of Wires
• Joe Christmas (members in Summer Hymns)
• Jonezetta
• The Juliana Theory
• Lucerin Blue
• Morella's Forest
• Neon Horse (inactive side-project of members of Stavesacre, Starflyer 59, and Project 86; members now in White Lighter)
• Ninety Pound Wuss (members are now in Raft of Dead Monkeys and Suffering and the Hideous Thieves)
• Off the Record
• Outer Circle
• Pedro the Lion (David Bazan now performing solo)
• Pep Squad
• Plankeye (members have formed Fielding and Fanmail)
• Poor Old Lu (members have formed Fair, Rose Blossom Punch, and perform solo)
• Puller
• Queens Club
• Roadside Monument (members have formed Unwed Sailor, Raft of Dead Monkeys, and Suffering and the Hideous Thieves)
• Rob Walker
• Royal
• Sal Paradise
• Sent by Ravens
• Shorthanded
• Side Walk Slam (members now in Run Kid Run)
• Slick Shoes
• Slow Coming Day
• Sometime Sunday (members now in Tragedy Ann)
• Squad Five-O (members now in Gasoline Heart and Adam and Dave's Bloodline)
• Strongarm (members now in Further Seems Forever)
• Terminal (members now in Alive in Wild Paint, Oh, Sleeper)
• Too Bad Eugene
• Twothirtyeight (Chris Staples formed Discover America and performs solo)
• Unashamed
• The Undecided
• Upside Down Room
• Value Pac (Members in Radio Saints)
• Velour 100
• Waking Ashland (Jonathan Jones went solo Immortal Records and also formed We Shot the Moon)
• Watashi Wa (members formed Eager Seas, then disbanded; members now in Lakes, and Briertone)
• We Are the Becoming (members are now part of Project 86)
• Wish for Eden

Former: On hiatus or inactive

• Bon Voyage
• Capital Lights
• Dead Poetic
• A Dream Too Late
• Far-Less
• FM Static (side project of Thousand Foot Krutch)
• Halo Friendlies
• I Am Empire (members in Talkie and Disciple)
• Ivoryline
• Joy Electric (currently on EEP Society, performing as Said Fantasy)
• Mortal (Jerome Fontamillas now in Switchfoot)
• The River Bends
• Secret and Whisper
• The Send
• The Wedding

See also

• Tooth & Nail Records Discography
• List of record labels

References

External links

• Official website
• Interview with A&R Chad Johnson, HitQuarters Oct 2006
• A list of past Tooth & Nail artists