About Us

"Banazan Records successfully keeps the DIY ethic alive without being a stereotypical Kinko's xerox monster about the whole thing."

- Mikey Jones (Intelligence Quotient)

Background

Banazan Records was officially brought into this world on April 1, 2002, but began to be formulated in the year before.


The underlying force behind Banazan Records is to empower and encourage creative development amongst its artists. The label is very, very small.


What Banazan Is

Banazan presents itself with playful sophistication. Artists on the label are varied in their styles, but all possess some combination of wit, wide-eyed experimentation, and an understanding of their pop influences. Banazan is, in a sense, an indie pop record label, but has an entirely different scope from most “indiepop” labels. Banazan is DIY to the extreme. There is no definitive "Banazan sound," the label's intention is to produce a spectrum of musical styles.

Bands are hand-picked by an eclectic mind and short attention span, ensuring that every artist on the label will be a little different. Artists mostly come to the label through word of mouth and occationally through demos (Everything sent to the label gets listened to…mostly). Banazan prides itself in providing a highly personal level of artist development.

We look forward to changing the face of music. We are thrilled that you are listening.

How it began

The idea for Banazan Records was inspired by the creation of compilation album from members of a messageboard on a thriving girl/queer-positive online community. Community members at the messageboard contributed songs to the project, which was later released as a CD-R called I’m with the BANNED! The Troposcatter then came into the fold, then Gusto, and the rest is history. We continue to pride ourselves in providing a unique label experience.

The name

Shrouded in secrecy until now, the name “Banazan Records” came from a ongoing idea between Ruby and her older sister to start their own record store one day. They joked that they would call it “Banazan Music” after Ruby's sister's misproununciation of “Spiderman” when she would sing along with the cartoon theme-song as a little kid. So, Banazan is essentially a made up word by a four-year-old girl.

How’s that for a story?


We'd love to hear what you think of Banazan Records, say hello sometime!