Toby was putting on a Bloc Party gig at the Buffalo Bar (Regina Spektor was headlining) for his www.rockfeedback.com Basement club.
Tim had recently released the first Bloc Party single (She’s Hearing Voices) on his first label that he ran with his band mate… (they followed it up with The Rakes 22 Grand Job then split…) and was selling said 7” at the gig.
Tim was impressed that a 20 year old was putting on such a great gig.
Toby was impressed that a 20 year old was putting out such a great record.
So they decided that they should become best friends and form a label that was ethically sound and would release the best records in the world.
It would be a label not linked to a style or genre, but one which would be represented by a logo that would be simply a stamp of quality on each perfect disk.
After a couple of pints in a Holborn boozer (not too far away from where Andy Gill would later record the classic debut LP from the Young Knives – although neither of the Trans twins knew it at the time) they had planned the first three releases and strove to grow the label to the stage where they could fund and make records that otherwise would not be released, and build a community of like minded people who could realise that anything is possible…
The first slab of aural genius was from their favourite live band: The Subways.
The rest is history… please check our discography to see where we went from there, and how you can listen some of the most vital music we’ve ever heard… We hope you agree.Tim and Toby wanted to work beyond the realms of record-releasing with fiercely talented artists. Hence the first offshoot: their publishing company. What is publishing? In a nutshell, it's the royalty collection for musicians related to their record-sales, any radio play, aspects of public performance, advert or film soundtracking 'synch-ing', and so forth. The commonly creative aspects of the job involve hooking up artists with visually talented people such as film/tv directors or the such and getting music placed in realms beyond the common places. It's pretty exciting. The first signing to Transgressive Publishing Ltd. is Universal Records noiseniks, and previous Transgressive Records one-off single stars via their exceptional, limited-edition 'I-We' release, THE NOISETTES.
The first signings to Transgressive Publishing Ltd. are Vertigo / Motown Records noiseniks, and previous Transgressive Records one-off single stars via their exceptional, limited-edition 'I-We' release, THE NOISETTES, and Memphis Industries' very own in-house, empowering and sumptuous-throated, battered-blues-all-stars, ABSENTEE.
We give our artists the opportunity to reach their full creative and business potential, and get their music into people's homes. Transgressive prides itself on the nurturing of raw talent at all stages of its evolution, so the commencement of our managing fantastic, searing new acts was a given.
Transgressive Management currently looks after one soulful, strident and wonderful artist/songwriter/actor/genius, JOHNNY FLYNN.