OFFWhite Records began in Bowling Green, Ohio being as independent an American record label could possibly be. It is owned and operated by singer, songwriter, bass player, Perry Finch. The label’s original sole purpose was to put out the music of Finch’s band Vambo Marble Eye. When Vambo Marble Eye moved to Chicago to pursue big city dreams, so too did OFFWhite. Since relocating to Chicago, OFFWhite Records has released music by the following bands:
Vambo Marble Eye (Chicago, IL)
Gone Daddy Finch (Toledo, OH)
Gravel Bed (Indianapolis, IN)
New Rob Robbies (Chicago, IL)
Caboose (Chicago, IL)
Smitten (Chicago, IL)
Team Satan (Chicago, IL)
The Finches (Chicago, IL)
The Dick Braddish Band (Chicago,IL)
Paul Johnson (Chicago, IL)
In an interview on the Bowling Green State University radio station (WBGU), Eric Klinger (Gone Daddy Finch) shared an accurate description of what OFFWhite Records was at its inception and continues today. Klinger described the label as a "co-operative" for specific bands. The label began as a consortium of regional bands that Vambo Marble Eye played with and with whom they were friends. The label served as a community of independent artists who created their own music while pursuing the ultimate goal of finding someone who would financially support the release of their music. During a correspondence with Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys) of Alternative Tentacles Records, he suggested OFFWhite keep at it so we might one day be able to help out other bands. This message was inspiring and validating the work we had already begun doing.
At times, OFFWhite Records financially backed portions of the production of a few of the releases. Bands often picked up all of the expense of releasing music on the label and always financed the studio cost of recording. The label was not intended to be a money maker as much as a community of like-minded musicians looking for some unity as they navigated the release of their music. Once releases were organized and established by the bands, OFFWhite Records often advertised the label's releases in local, regional, and national press outlets.
At the establishment of the record label, the pseudonym Pete Vox was created to provide a label proprietor and to establish credibility and validation that this was a legitimate enterprise separate from any of the recording artists. At the time, this separation from the musicians seemed like a good idea? This was later abandoned when it seemed fruitless and of no value. Mike Wing (Vambo Marble Eye, Caboose, Team Satan, Dick Bradish Band) created the label logo that would be slapped on pretty much everything related to OFFWhite Records. Some of the items linked to this website may be scans or pictures of tattered or flood stained items archived over the years by various people. This is why some of these relics might look like crap. Some of the items when rediscovered were barely remembered and sometimes better forgotten such as The First OFFWhite Records Comic.
The last release on OFFWhite Records was The Finches Whiskey January album in 2001. There might be plans for future collections of music to be released by some of the existing OFFWhite Records roster as well as some new bands possibly? Who knows. This site is designed to archive some of the work done by people who wrote, performed, and released music because they loved what they were creating and wanted to share it with the world. I want to thank everyone involved in making this enterprise a reality during a time in our lives when reality was sometimes a casualty of life.
Perry Finch a.k.a. Pete Vox
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