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Thursday, May 29th

Remember Takehold Records?

Takehold Records’ logo sported elements of global takeover with an empire-like rule, with the big-brother-like head floating above the world. This grand imagery was an overstatement on the normal bounds for a small D.I.Y. hardcore/indie-rock label. But that’s what made the label stand out, and why its bands felt they were a part of something big. Takehold was a record label about music more than business.

Anyone who’s ever met or dealt with Takehold Records’ founder, Chad Johnson, it was something altogether different thanks to Chad. When it was time to talk about a band, he didn’t spend his energy waxing on about a marketable sound or possible packaging for a band to hit it big. He talked about the effect the music had on him, and how others would be inspired by it. Chad Johnson was a fan of the bands he signed.

Takehold Records was a label that began in a basement. And it remained that way, until the labels releases started selling out, being called collector’s items sold at car insurance prices online. From the basement, the office became the garage and from 1999-2002 Takehold Records released and pushed some of the best up-and-coming acts, like Underoath, Narcissus, twothirtyeight, Further Seems Forever and Hopesfall.

There were no two-page magazine ads. No big productions. Promotion was about the internet and word of mouth. Part of it, too, was curating the muggy Furnace Fest every year at Sloss Furnace in Birmingham, Ala., and Takehold Fest — the smaller one-day fest held at different times year-round. At both festivals, new bands were getting heard by new audiences. That included Takehold’s bands.

By 2002, the chatter before shows and on messageboards was that Chad Johnson was treading water in a sea of bills and debt from the label. Many thought Takehold was going to be bought out by its larger competitor, Tooth and Nail. Rumors were true. Bands were offered a chance to re-up with the new label, Furnance Fest was sold to the highest bidder and Chad moved his family up to Seattle, taking a job with the much bigger dog.

Some of Takehold’s roster signed with the Nail, like twothirtyeight and soon-to-be-big-bus act Underoath. Hopesfall went over to Trustkill. But sadly, most of the bands never seemed to recapture the momentum they had with Takehold. Narcissus, Tantrum of the Muse, Few Left Standing and Stairwell all kept playing and recording, but they all also gave up the ghost not too long after.

In only four years Takehold Records did things for bands that seemed only possible at much larger labels. In a way, Takehold was an experiment, trying to see if a small label could do big things for hardcore and indie-rock. In that respect, Takehold only needed four years to prove it could be done.

twothirtyeight - Coin Laundry Loser

Underoath - The Last

Written by Matt DeBenedictis
> Music, Remember | 2:00 pm |
More on: Hopesfall, Narcissus, Takehold, Tooth And Nail, Trustkill, TwoThirtyEight, Underoath

46 Responses to “Remember Takehold Records?”

On 05/29/08 2:16 PM, sir jorge said:

it can still be done today.
On 05/29/08 2:17 PM, Ben Pike said:

I have many fond memories of Chad and Takehold shows, particularly Furnace Fest. Being a hardcore kid in the south - Furnace Fest was the one thing I had to look forward too every year - for it’s 4 year run.

I have a memory of one year at Furnace Fest injuring my ankle pretty bad and subsequently passing out and Chad took the time to come by and make sure I was OK while we were waiting on the ambulance. It was also not uncommon to find Chad helping with the cleanup of the venue after the shows.

You can find pics I took at the 2003 Furnace Fest here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/djxspike/collections/72157600001145782/
On 05/29/08 2:17 PM, The Pimento said:

Heck yeah, Takehold was THE company back in the day. twothirtyeight is probably one of the most underrated bands of all time. “You Should Be Living” is very very high up on my top 10 albums of all time.

I’ve still got a few Takehold posters somewhere, and I have almost every CD they ever put out.

The next label that takes a close second to Takehold was R.E.X. Remember them?
On 05/29/08 2:37 PM, michael said:

they were a great label, indeed…good job, chad!

takehold deserves an individual page on wikipedia, instead of being merged with tooth & nail.
On 05/29/08 2:40 PM, thewake said:

Takehold was my favorite label when I was a junior highschooler. Good times. Good jams.
On 05/29/08 3:01 PM, chad said:

They put out some amazing records! Loved Furnace Fest! Chad was a totally rad dude. I saw him speak at Cornerstone a few years ago and he is just a sincere guy. But takehold was amazing and did so many great things. And just like Ben i live in the south and FF was a huge plus.
On 05/29/08 3:08 PM, eric said:

can i get a “wassup” for some regulate the chemicals and that fsf/recess theory split? wassup!
On 05/29/08 3:37 PM, Brian said:

Man, this label had the BEST bands at the time… I think I bought everything they put out.

I remember at Cornerstone 2001 when T&N was trying to sign .hopesfall and they were thus suppose to play Tooth & Nail Day, but instead they announced that they would never sell-out and sign to T&N and instead were signing to Takehold… soon after Takehold merged with T&N.

But anyway, good times to remember. Thanks!
On 05/29/08 3:54 PM, Ben Pike said:

@Brian:

Then Doug and Ryan left - they singed to Trustkill - and turned to crap.

My first “hardcore” show was twothirtyeight, .hopesfall., Underoath, FewLeftStanding, and Spitfire back around the winter of ‘99-’00 (actually I’m fairly certain it was the same show that twothirtyeight video shown above was filmed at - same venue at least). I remember being completely blown away by, then, .hopesfall.’s stage presence and it was my first exposure to “the mosh pit” and “hardcore dancing.”
On 05/29/08 4:54 PM, Jordan Peacock said:

Takehold was indeed THE label; so many, fantastic albums (the last two years with TOTM, Stairwell, hopesfall, Underoath, few.left.standing, twothirtyeight and all the other releases were awesome).

Chad’s only got lossy (MP3) copies of the albums, so do him a favor; if you’ve got any of the really old discs (The Backups, Chalice, Carry The Dead, etc), make him an Apple Lossless rip and send it to him. I’m sure he’d appreciate it.
On 05/29/08 5:00 PM, Brian said:

@ Jordan

Chalice!!! OMg, I totally forgot about them. I really used to dig them.
On 05/29/08 5:02 PM, Philip said:

This post just SERIOUSLY made me want to run and break out my FLS cds.
On 05/29/08 7:07 PM, Ben Pike said:

@Jordan P
@Brian

CHALICE! Forgot about them!! I actually have that album!

If we wanted to send Chad some lossless copies… how would we do so? I owe him that much at least!
On 05/29/08 7:52 PM, Chris Berseth said:

I remember listening to Tantrum of the Muse and Narcissus. It is a shame that things ended the way they did.
On 05/29/08 8:16 PM, other andy said:

tantrum of the muse. wow.
On 05/30/08 2:08 AM, Ian said:

Takehold records has put out some of my favorite records ever. “No Wings To Speak Of” from .hopesfall. and “Cries Of The Past” from Underoath were my favorite albums at the end of high school. “Modern Mu$ick (2000!)” from Tantrum Of The Muse was one of my favorite records in college. And some of my best show memories come from Furnace Fest 2002 and 2003.
On 05/30/08 8:59 AM, Sean said:

<>

Takehold Records was the greatest. Thanks to Chad & them I can claim this:

twothirtyeight is my all-time favorite band… EVER!
On 05/30/08 9:44 AM, Philip said:

Jeez, I totally forgot about Narcissus being on this label too. Thanks, Chris.

* Digs for Newwave Techno Homicide and Leviathan.
On 05/30/08 10:10 AM, Tim O. said:

“Becoming Leviathan” continues to be one of my favorite albums of all time, and “Cries of the Past” is up there, as well. Few Left Standing is pretty classic, too.

Dang, I think I need to go ebay or whatever and find some more Takehold stuff…

RIP
On 05/30/08 10:54 AM, Philip said:

Edit, “Becoming Leviathan”. Thanks Tim.
On 05/30/08 12:23 PM, andy said:

I still listen to Modern Mu$ick2000 from TOTM. In fact I think I have a pre-Takehold release of The Heart is a Two Headed Sperm somewhere. I have a live album too from them but it sucks ass (sorry Stephen if you still poke around here. The quality just wasn’t that hot).
On 05/30/08 12:29 PM, Matthew C. Jenkins said:

Does anyone remember before Takehold the distro called Slacker 66 that Chad ran? I remember he only carried L-XL shirts, and I was in junior high..so I was rocking some XL mxpx and stavesacre shirts I ordered from there.
On 05/30/08 1:30 PM, sammy said:

This guy named Chris used to sell Takehold and Pluto releases out of the back of his car at a Christian coffeehouse right across from my college. I bought most of the stuff from him. Sleeping by the Riverside/Carry the Dead split was my favorite, followed closely by No Wings to Speak Of. He always wanted me to get that Chalice album, that was his favorite. TOTM was amazing too. A couple of years ago I sold most of my Takehold stuff in lots on eBay. I wanted someone else to have them as well (except for Underoath, I just wanted the ridiculous amount of money I got for it).
On 05/30/08 1:35 PM, tAlex said:

I remember Slacker 66. Isn’t it crazy how far things have come with the interweb…

I don’t think we’ll ever be able to truly explain life before the internet to the next generation. They’ll look at us as though we would someone telling us about life before TV’s.
On 05/30/08 1:55 PM, Brandon Jones said:

Takehold was a fantastic label. I have a lot of good memories of the label and their releases. I still own both Stairwell albums and I love them. Sadly, I lost my Narcissus “New Wave Techno Homicide” disc.
On 05/30/08 3:04 PM, Ben Pike said:

I, too, remember Slacker 66. The only thing I remember was that it got closed down and the P.O.D., Blindside, & Project 86 show (this was before tFEoS was out) had to be moved to “the Crush” and the place packed out with 300+ people.

I had no idea BG had so many Alabama/southern readers that remembered Slacker 66 and Furnace Fest!
On 05/30/08 3:17 PM, tAlex said:

I’m actually from Michigan. I do know a ton of people that drove all the way down for FF.
On 05/30/08 9:14 PM, Chris Berseth said:

I vaguely remember listening to Stairwell. FewLeftStanding and old Hopesfall were good also. I remember loving No Wings To Speak Of and then hearing Hopesfall’s records after that and being very disappointed. I did buy A-Types, but completely hated it.
On 05/31/08 12:51 AM, Matthew C. Jenkins said:

I am WV born and raised, but I loved ordering stuff from distro because we didn’t have anything like that where I lived.
What part of AL are you from Ben? I work for a company out of Auburn.
On 05/31/08 1:54 AM, Ben Pike said:

@Matthew C. Jenkins

Let’s let help keep this thread on toppic - hit me up at ben[at]benpike[DOT]net bro.
On 05/31/08 2:39 AM, Sean Cannon said:

matt, i feel your pain. living right down the AA highway in OH/KY, i had the same sad experiences. man, i wish takehold was still around. i’ve been feeling all nostalgic the last couple of days, and putting old takehold cds in has made that worse.
On 05/31/08 11:45 AM, Matthew C. Jenkins said:

Yeah Sean, it sucked..at least Cincy is kinda close to you, so some bands would come there…that is where I had to go to shows growing up..but gas what not an issue then.
On 05/31/08 12:07 PM, Sean Cannon said:

oh man, i feel for you, driving to cincinnati to see shows. it was bad enough for me. i remember seeing people i knew from kcc/ashland/huntington at shows in cincy sometimes. i felt for them. i did.
On 05/31/08 2:09 PM, sammy said:

I’m originally from Shreveport, LA, so I don’t wanna hear about no shows coming through. Luckily, when I was in college, this AoG youth pastor started doing punk shows and stuff, so Officer Negative, Showbread, The Deal, Element 101, The Blamed, and others started coming through. I used blastbeats.com for ordering stuff that I couldn’t get out of the back of that guy’s car though.

I also remember being at the Warped Tour and walking by some small stage and seeing Narcissus setting up and getting real excited.
On 05/31/08 6:08 PM, andy said:

We never had shows where I’m from, right Seth?
On 05/31/08 7:02 PM, SN said:

What I’ll never show
What you’ll never find
is explosive
so hide your eyes
On 06/9/08 12:09 AM, stephenmarksarro (X-TOTM) said:

Ahhh Takehold Records….If I may reflect…

It really is pointless to mention Takehold Records, without mentioning the work we did with Tantrum Of The Muse, when you consider THR approached us with a record deal, because one of our biggest goals then, was to bridge the gap between “secular music” and “Christian music” keeping in mind that this was the 90s still, and things were very different then, even just a few years ago. When Chad signed us, we had just passed, from a record deal offer from Tooth & Nail Records, and we did so because we wanted to keep doing what we were doing, which was “unmarketable” to T&N. When we were recording Modernmu$ick, we knew we were doing something “risky” and that is EXACTLY why we signed with THR, because Chad wanted to break down the barriers, like we did. Unfortunately, things changed at the end there, and even though Chad had that integrity, he was also a one man show, and records like ours, were a challenge to sell. It made sense that he merged THR with T&N, although it was sad, because I feel like the spirit of THR has not been seen since. The crazy thing is, when Chad merged with Tooth, we had a 2nd offer from T&N, but by this point, Udrick was touring with The Huntingtons, and Jim moved to FL.

Those THR years were amazing though. 1999-2001 was an overwhelming time.

Hey, and lets not forget the amazing “Few Left Standing”!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I actually have some “40 Days Of Disaster” tour posters lying around, that has the old “underoath” logo, as well as TOTM, FLS, and Narcissus listed. If anybody wants one, get in touch.

And finally, be sure to check out the new demos, of the new band I am working on.
http://www.myspace.com/Unteachers

I am STILL looking for a drummer and bassist, so anybody looking to play some serious music, get in touch.

Alright, it was nice reminiscing. Justin Carroll (Formerly of Narcissus) Is my brother-N-law, hopefully he writes a little. He has some good to say.

Take care guys and thanks for the memories

- Stephen (TOTM)

ps - Andy, no offense taken. I am known for publicly bashing that ep.

& Matt, we could write a nice post about our short time living together in DE!!!!!!!! Stealing Toilet paper from Taco Bell, and stealing butter from your job at Acme, we were SO BROKE!!!! haha
On 06/9/08 12:46 AM, Matt said:

Broke doesn’t even begin to start a sentence of clarification of those days living in a one light bulb basement.
On 06/9/08 11:47 AM, stephenmarksarro (X-TOTM) said:

Forgot to post the link to Tantrum Of The Muse’s myspace memorial page.

http://www.myspace.com/tantrumofthemuse19982004

2008 - TOTM’s 10YR. Birthday!!
On 06/11/08 1:21 AM, The Theory said:

Takehold was a favorite of mine… especially the Tantrum of the Muse stuff. I still can’t make a mix for an exchange without throwing one of their tracks on it. My great regret is never getting to see them live… although I was working at the Christian bookstore when a couple of the members came in wearing a The Residents shirt and I was like, “Dude, is that a Residents shirt?” and I think it was one of the more shocking moments of his life.
On 06/11/08 5:04 PM, andy said:

How the hell did you never see them live!? I saw them like, way too many times haha!

“Dude I don’t need a pick. I got five picks right here!”

“Watch me play that bass line with my feet!”

Jim Settle-most quotable bass player ever.
On 06/12/08 12:01 PM, The Theory said:

I was never scene enough to know when concerts were. And I may be wrong about this, as chronology is not my strong point, but I’m thinking they were probably done by the time I was really into going to concerts.
On 09/2/08 3:13 PM, travis said:

THE HEART IS A TWO HEADED SPERM remeains one of the best albums of all time, and the best album title…EVER. stepehen, i still need the modernmu$ic 2000 album to complete my collection…care to help a broke boy out?!
On 09/2/08 4:04 PM, Jake B. said:

Hey, this is a great post! Those 2 videos Matt used are from my youtube account, actually. I’m the guy playing bass for Twothirtyeight in that first video - the second one is a video a friend gave me forever ago. I have countless hours of footage from Twothirtyeight shows and tours, there’s a handful of live footage of the band on my youtube account.

Takehold was a wonderful label, it was great reading through everybody’s comments. I think we can all agree that it is sorely missed! Chad did amazing work with this label, and touched a lot of lives with a classy attitude towards art and christianity. I remember Cornerstone 2000 so well, Takehold and T&N had booths back to back..and the quality of the Takehold products were so much higher! T&N were insanely lucky to pull Chad in.

Stephen - remember Tom Fest 2000? An EPIC battle to the death with toy baseball bats - if I can remember correctly, it was TOTM vs FLS vs Underoath vs Zak from Stairwell vs Chad. Everybody in 238 wussed out (me included), but it was pretty incredible watching the carnage - I still have pictures somewhere.

That summer was insane - we were touring in support of “Regulate the Chemicals” and we did the second stretch of our tour with Stairwell. I even filled in on bass for them on our first night of tour, as Justice had an unstoppable bloody nose and had to go to the hospital. I also had the wonderful experience of singing for a Bloodshed reunion show @ The Java Pit in Ft. Walton Beach, FL (the final show of tour) - I will never forget that!

I had the opportunity to tour much more with later bands, but many of my friendships from those days still exist! Many <3’s to all of the Takehold bands, FSF & Legends included of course (I don’t care if it was only 1 EP, they count!)

Cheers to great memories!
On 09/2/08 6:51 PM, daveage said:

HARDCORE IS NOT A FASHION STATEMENT!!!!

thank you for the good times takehold!
On 09/3/08 4:21 AM, PJ said:

Man, TOTM, FLS, Takehold. Talk about memories. That was definitely the heyday of Christians making hardcore music. After that it turned into having the right look for your MySpace profile pic. After the THR/T&N merger, it just never seemed the same.

Thursday, May 29th

Remember Takehold Records?

46 Responses to “Remember Takehold Records?”

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