“I spoke to several lawyers over the past couple of weeks and a few were ready to help me fight it if I wanted to spend 10-20-30-thousand dollars,” Keller said. “I just made the decision it’d be best to change the name. As much as I wanted to be a rebel and fight this, it would’ve crushed the label. I’d rather put those resources back into the bands and the label.”
The local indie imprint started in mid-2008 and has released CDs by Storm Kills 4, DJ Nothin’ and Scott Barker. The latest release is the Happy Hour Heroes EP “See Inside Your Soul.”
“We’re gonna pretty much restart fresh,” Keller said. “We didn’t have a whole lot of merchandise anymore with that name on it. We’ll have to redo all the artwork on early releases then repress it.”
Upcoming releases for the label include Boondah’s “Felonious Bologna” and the debut from Posted, slated for the fall.
“This isn’t what I was expecting to happen, to say the least,” Keller said. “But it’s a real blessing it happened now and not a year down the road when things really picked up. It’s weird — I just have this whole different feeling about the label now, in a good way.”
Find more artist information at www.myspace.com/smilinghandshake.
HAPPY HOUR HEROES: POP-PUNK IN OVERDRIVE
Happy Hour Heroes is a group in overdrive. Members Josh Strong (vocals, guitar) and Brandon Tate (drums, vocals) have been friends and musical collaborators since 2003, but the local punk-rock act didn’t play its first official show until late 2008. Two months later, Noise for Dummies released the duo’s self-titled full-length.
Now, four months later, the group has another new CD. The EP, “See Inside Your Soul,” features “Cameron” and “Vampire,” a pair of earnest pop-punk numbers, and “BS,” the risque EP closer. These tracks are all tailor-made for fans of early Green Day and Blink-182.
Find more artist information at www.myspace.com/happyhourheroes.
About the Author