Beggars Banquet Records
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- For the album by The Rolling Stones, see Beggars Banquet.
Beggars Banquet is an English independent record label that began as a chain of record shops owned by Martin Mills and Nick Austin. In 1977, spurred by the prevailing DIY aesthetics of the British punk rock movement (then at the height of its popularity), they decided to join the fray as an independent label and release records under the Beggars Banquet imprint. The first band on the label was English punk group The Lurkers; the first ever release on the label was The Lurkers' punk classic Shadow/Love Story 7" single. Later in the decade and into the early '80s, hits with Tubeway Army and Gary Numan secured the label's future. Two daughter labels, Situation Two and 4AD Records, were launched to release artists like The Southern Death Cult (later turning into The Cult), The Charlatans, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Play Dead, The Pixies, Cocteau Twins, M/A/R/R/S and others. Another subsidiary, XL Recordings, boasts dance artists such as The Prodigy, Lemon Jelly, Basement Jaxx. Martin Mills remains Chairman of the Group.
XL Recordings,Mantra Records, Mo'Wax Records, Locked On Records, Matador Records, Too Pure Records and Wiiija are all part of Beggars Group. The group is managed by Martin Mills, UK Managing Director John Holborow, International MD Paul Redding and non exec Andy Heath and is the largest and most influential independent label in the UK.
[edit] Current and former signings
- Bauhaus
- The Beekeepers
- Bettie Serveert
- Biffy Clyro
- The Bolshoi
- Buffalo Tom
- Calla
- The Cult
- Dead Fly Buchowski
- Devastations
- Died Pretty
- Dream City Film Club
- Early Years
- The Fall
- Fields of the Nephilim
- Film School
- Gene Loves Jezebel
- The Go-Betweens
- The London Apartments
- Love and Rockets
- Luna
- Main
- Mark Lanegan Band
- Morrissey-Mullen
- The National
- Gary Numan
- Oceansize
- The Ramones
- The Strokes
- Sun Dial
- Terminal Power Company
- Tindersticks
- Voxtrot
