Rum Bar Records closes out a loud 2023 with ‘The Nice Price’ year-end sampler
Boston indie record label caps off its 10th year with free
31-track compilation on Bandcamp Friday, December 1
Rum Bar offering 20% off all sales through December with code: holiday20
Boston, MA [December 1, 2023] – If it’s true that, in the modern digital world of music, people stream what they like and they buy what they love, then Rum Bar Records has something special for everyone this holiday season. The venerable Boston indie label is closing out a loud 2023 with a one-two punch of sonic awesome: Delivering a free 31-track compilation called The Nice Price on Bandcamp Friday, December 1, followed by a label-wide 20-percent-off discount through the end of the month on the platform using the code: holiday20.
The compilation and the Bandcamp sale is part of Rum Bar capping off 10 years of music from Boston and beyond, specializing in the kind of garage-pop and rebel-rousing, swaggering that had made the label a fixture in the global music scene. The Nice Price pulls together more than 30 selections from Rum Bar’s 2023 release slate, including music from The Lemon Drop Gang, Kevin Stevenson, Danny The K, The Gypsy Moths, The Amplifier Heads, Cindy Lawson, Eddie Japan, Leather Catsuit, The Shang Hi Los, Stars Like Ours, Stop Calling Me Frank, Girl with a Hawk, Jay Allen and the Archcriminals, and plenty more. It follows the summer’s Swagger compilation, and October’s After School Special: Second Semester.
“I love doing these label sampler and Bandcamp compilations,” says Rum Bar Records honcho Lou Mansdorf. “Over the years I have done various ones – some sequels, some with altering music themes related to the Rum Bar Records roster of genres and artists falling under our gonzo hybrid garage rock, power pop, glam, girl group sounds, swaggering rock n’ roll, rebel rousing alt-country rock, and heartland punk.”
While past compilations often span bonus artists across the Rum Bar family tree, The Nice Price locks in on the year that was, which saw a tireless Rum Bar unveil more than 30 releases – singles, EPs, albums, re-releases, comps, and whatever else – since January.
“After compiling and sequencing I just got extremely excited – like a kid who ate too much candy,” laughs Mansdorf. “Just one song after the next, I am like ‘Damn I love this song… man, I love this band.’ I just am so thankful and grateful to still, after 35 years, be involved with artists, musicians and bands making music that I love to listen to. It's been a long and stressful year and we had all of this unbelievable music created by incredible people to keep us going. I can listen to this all day long and would love anyone giving us a listen to play this start to finish making it the soundtrack to your playlist, day and week.”
To list highlights from Rum Bar’s prolific 2023 is an impossible task, but the compilation reflects a massive year for Mansdorf’s labor of love. From January’s release of The Shang Hi-Los releasing Aces Eights & Heartbreaks and The Laissez Fairs’ Singing In Your Head to December’s year-end releases like Girl with a Hawk’s Keep ‘Er Lit and Tim McCoy’s Best Of Us, Worst Of Us, All Of Us, the year kept everyone rocking. The year saw Danny The K, Kim Olin’s Leather Catsuit, The Gypsy Moths, Eddie Japan, and more all release impactful records; continued growth of Rum Bar’s west coast family tree, including The Streetwalkin' Cheetahs, Slamdinistas, JJ & The Real Jerks, Cruzados, Tony Marsico, and others; and a return to classics from Screeching Weasel, Andy Shernoff’s The Master Plan project; and The Dogmatics’ documentary.
Add in heartworn sleeve vocalists like Angela Tini, Mozzye Dee, and Kate Redgate, more new garage rock masterpieces from Brad Marino, banner releases from Genya Ravan, The Hi-End, Carissa Johnson and Stars Like Ours, and recent efforts from Cindy Lawson and Tony Marsico, and Rum Bar is loaded.
“I hope that listening to our year in review 2023 compilation, downloading it for FREE, and checking out our artists and releases help create even more of a view for what we love and do,” says Mansdorf. “We are doing what we can in spreading the gospel of the music we love and want to share it with as many listeners, and new fans as we possibly can. I loved going back over these releases and songs to present the listener with what I think is the most comprehensive and enjoyable listening experience to what Rum Bar Records is.”
And there’s no slowing down. 2024 promises the debut release from Illinois’s WiMP, featuring Rum Bar veteran Kevin Kalen (Mulligan Stu, Mono In Stereo), Los Angeles’ power-pop powderkeg The Glimmer Stars, and the 40-year anniversary celebration retrospective from The Martini Kings. And there’s more new music from The Dogmatics, The Amplifier Heads featuring Sal Baglio, and the talented, inspiring and always prolific Dan Kopko.
But for now, it’s all about raising a glass to 2023, and celebrating the music that soundtracked the year from Rum Bar Records.
“This is a true labor of love,” concludes Mansdorf. “The years and time I put into this and the support I show and give to everyone I work with, from artists to releases to listeners, radio, press and fans, shows that this is not an easy task. I appreciate even the tiniest of support we get back.”
Hit Rum Bar’s Bandcamp, download the free Nice Price compilation on December 1, and then pass it around: Take 20 percent off the entire online shop all through December with the code: holiday20. Stream what you like, then go buy what you love. It’s the Rum Bar way.
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‘The Nice Price’ track listing:
The Lemon Drop Gang, ‘The Party’s Over’
The Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs, ‘Bad Vacation’
Matweeds, ‘Stay’
The Gypsy Moths, ‘Turn It Down’
The Amplifier Heads, ‘Underground’
Danny The K, ‘Cigarettes & Silhouettes’
Leather Catsuit, ‘Can’t Get You Off My Mind’
Slamdinistas, ‘Little Troublemaker’
Angela Tini, ‘Have You Met Me Yet’
The Master Plan, ‘Feels So Good To Feel’
Beebe Gallini, ‘You Ain’t Getting Nothing’
Tim McCoy, ‘First of June’
JJ & The Real Jerks, ‘Girl I Want My Money Back’
Cruzados, ‘Dead Inside’
Mozzy Dee, ‘Orale’
The Laissez Fairs, ‘Real Good Time in 1969’
Highway 61, ‘Walk On Water’
The Shang Hi Los, ‘Plymouth Rock’
Stop Calling Me Frank, ‘My Band On Her T-Shirt’
Stars Like Ours, ‘What’s Going Wrong’
Eddie Japan featuring Greg Hawkes, ‘Time Machine’
Girl with a Hawk, ‘The Romantic’
Continental, ‘State O’Maine’
Kate Redgate, ‘Fools, Drunks & Liars’
The Legendary Swagger, ‘She’
The Hi-End, ‘The Death of Me’
The Spackles, ‘Man with the X-Ray Eyes’
Cold Expectations, ‘(I Live With) Ghosts’
Cindy Lawson, ‘Hey Santa’
Kevin Stevenson, ‘Saturday Morning Come Down’
Jay Allen and the Archcriminals, ‘Sister In Crime’
Media praise for Rum Bar Records:
“Write this down: Rum Bar Records is turning into one of the absolute best labels for real rock & roll these days." _Bill Kelly of Bill Kelly's Blackhole Bandstand on SiriusXM’s Little Steven’s Underground Garage
“Boston enclave Rum Bar Records may not have hit the notoriety of, say, Bomp! Records yet, but trust us when we say they have the market cornered on high quality power pop, punk, garage rock, and genre-agnostic rock & roll. This batch of highlights from its most recent round of releases reveals the label at the top of its game right now.” _Michael ‘Denim’ Toland
“My mind spins, like a record on a platter, when I think of how many great bands with so many incredible tunes gets poured out of Rum Bar Records!!” _Rock Never Rusts
“Boston’s Rum Bar Records has, for some increasingly weird reason, not reached the notoriety of fellow travelers like Bomp!, Burger and other labels dedicated to the irresistible pleasures of loud guitars and big-ass hooks. The label’s release schedule is often staggering, encompassing seemingly countless bands playing punk, power pop, glam rock, hard rock, rockabilly, roots rock and/or some blend of all of the above.” _Big Takeover Magazine
“We stumbled through two and a half years of a pandemic shutdown. There are efforts to shake this era off and reboot. That’s the feeling we get from some of the latest Rum Bar Releases.” _Boston Groupie News
“Rum Bar Records is where the Rock & Roll is, kiddos. Go crazy and hit up their Bandcamp page.” _Hanks Alternative Radio
“Rum Bar has long been the home of underrated, under-the-radar garage-rock and power-pop.”_Jim Testa of Jersey Beat
“I picture him (Malibu Lou of Rum Bar Records) with a drink in one hand and his phone in the other – constantly fielding calls from the top garage, punk, and power pop bands on the planet.” _Lord Rutledge of Faster And Louder
“The trustworthy garage/power-pop label Rum Bar that’s a gonzo hybrid of ‘70s bar band trash rock and down ‘n’ dirty punk.” _Off-Shelf
