Hudson Valley Bands Band Together for Label Launch

What do bands do when there are fewer and fewer labels willing to take chances on “unproven” acts? Well, here’s one applicable aphorism: When the going gets tough, the tough get together. With that maxim in their musical minds, a collection of collaborators/fraternity of friends on the Hudson Valley rock scene recently announced the formation of SubFamily Records, a co-op-style label. For 2018, the new imprint’s charter roster promises spring and summer releases from locals American Film History, Mark Donato, Hiding Behind Sound, Macrofone, and Peter Naddeo; SFR 101, a sampler album set for release next month, includes cuts by those artists as well as the Sweet Clementines and Battle Ave.

“We formed SFR because four of our number had complete, labor-of-love records ‘in the can,’ and a fifth had one well along the way,” says Sweet Clementines guitarist and occasional Chrono-jammer (Chronogram music reviewer) John Burdick. “The records are really good, but we shared a lot of uncertainty about what to even do with them anymore. The decision to join forces—to release and support each other’s music—was a happy one. It felt like the right move at the right time for us all.”