ratcharge > sicboy I'd imagine the most egregious one is Scowl being sponsored by Taco Bell or something like that. But then it opens the can of worms of whether they are "real hardcore" or not.
yeah that was a big one.. makes ya distrust the whole enterprise! there's a few deals snaking around oz, some banks trying to license images from bands, etc.. a non-alcoholic beer company called HEAPS NORMAL has started a record label in Sydney, mostly for smaller groups, not always hardcore, but still gives me the willies (echoes of SCION). here Speed (who are all lovely people etc) are probably the bigger ones with deals with Foot Locker, Monster, some instrument brands etc, but as sicboy mentioned, i feel like Scowl, Speed etc are a part of a new commercial hc world that's kind of a different thing entirely.. or at least not in this wheelhouse? was also pretty surprised when in Europe recently to see how common the booking agency set up was! when did that become a thing? i was really sold on Bad Breeding when their last record came out, enjoyed the fact that they had a lengthy anarchist booklet as insert... and then overseas saw that they no gods, no mastered their way into a booking agency supported tour with no engagement with local bands 😐 (sorry to sound very '90s here...)
i try not to get bogged down in this stuff and appreciate the labels doing the good stuff tho. everything coming thru SENTIERO FUTURO AUTOPRODUZIONI for e.g., and TOTAL PEACE from Arizona are reliably really really good with what seems from afar to be a spotless DIY ethos..
