| The Record Company | |
| Origin: | Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Years Active: | 2011–present |
| Label: | Round Hill Records, Concord Records |
| Current Members: | Chris Vos Alex Stiff Marc Cazorla |
The Record Company is a rock band from Los Angeles. The members are Chris Vos (guitar, lead vocals), Alex Stiff (bass, backing vocals), and Marc Cazorla (drums, backing vocals). Their music is influenced by blues musicians such as John Lee Hooker.[1]
The trio started in late 2011, recording live in the bass player's living room in Los Feliz, California. The Record Company have since played concert halls across North America, opening for John Mayer, B.B. King, Social Distortion, Buddy Guy, Bob Seger, Grace Potter, and Trombone Shorty. The band toured Europe supporting Blackberry Smoke in late 2015.
The band has received positive reviews from Entertainment Weekly,[2] Paste,[3] The Huffington Post,[4] and Rolling Stone.[5] [6] [7] Rolling Stone also included The Record Company in their April 2016 list of "10 New Artists You Need to Know."[8]
Prior to forming the Record Company, band members Stiff and Cazorla played together in the indie-rock band the Frequency.
Their first full-length album Give It Back to You was released on Concord Records on February 12, 2016. The album was written, recorded, and mixed by the band in the same living room in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles where the Record Company formed. The lead single, "Off the Ground", reached number 1 on the US Billboard Adult Alternative Songs chart.[9] The album's second single, “Rita Mae Young,” reached number 12 on the Adult Alternative Songs chart.The album spent 42 weeks[10] on both the Billboard Heatseekers Albums Chart and the Nielsen Alternative New Artist Chart and was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Contemporary Blues Album.[11] Give It Back to You was nominated for Best Contemporary Blues Album in the 2017 Grammy Awards, losing to The Last Days of Oakland by Fantastic Negrito.[12]
To promote Give It Back to You, the band appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,[13] CBS This Morning[14] and TBS’ Conan.[15] The band were also favorites at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, prompting Rolling Stone Country to name the trio’s set among the event’s “5 Best Country and Americana Moments” while declaring it “a wildly energetic show and one of the most communal experiences of the festival.”[16] The Record Company embarked on their first headline tour in the fall of 2016 in support of Give It Back to You, selling out 32 of the 41 shows they played. In July 2016, the song In The Mood For You was used in the motion picture soundtrack for the film Bad Moms.[17] That was followed by a tour opening for John Mayer in early 2017. The band then toured Australia and Europe and made festival appearances.
In the spring of 2017, they followed up with “Baby, I’m Broken,” which reached No. 6 on the Adult Alternative Songs chart. The song did not appear on any album. In June 2017 the band had two songs on the soundtrack for the independent film Live or Die in La Honda.[18]
The band announced "Life to Fix", the lead single off their second studio album, All of This Life on April 8, 2018, on their Instagram.[19] The song was later released on April 18, 2018, along with a lyric video. The song was praised by NPR[20] and Rolling Stone.[21] A music video was later released for the song on June 8, 2018. "Life to Fix" reached number one on the Adult Alternative Songs Chart.[22]
All of This Life was released on June 22, 2018, and debuted at number 94 on the Billboard 200,[23] selling 7,000 copies in its first week.[24] It also peaked at number 9 on the Alternative Albums chart.[25]
The nationwide The All of This Life Tour commenced on September 14, 2018, with two nights at The Fillmore in San Francisco, and concluded with a hometown play at Wiltern Theater.
The second single from the album, "Make It Happen", was released on September 19, 2018, along with a music video. In February 2019 the band performed Off The Ground on an episode of Last Call with Carson Daly.[26]
On May 31, 2019, the band released a reimagined version of "You And Me Now" which was produced by T Bone Burnett exclusively on Amazon Music.[27] A music video for the song was released on the band's YouTube channel on July 19, 2019.
In June 2021 the band released an EP, entitled Side Project, which featured covers of songs by Willie Dixon, INXS, and Cypress Hill.
In July 2021 the band released the single and music video for "How High" and announced that their new studio album, Play Loud, would be released on October 8, 2021. "How High" peaked on the AAA radio chart at number 3 in October 2021.[28] The single had multiple high-profile placements, including NFL game broadcasts,[29] and was included on the MLB The Show 22 soundtrack.[30]
Having been off the road since December 2019 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic the band had spent more time writing and collaborating on the album than their previous releases. Produced by Dave Sardy, Play Loud expanded on the band's sound, incorporating more instruments than their core drum, bass, guitar sound from previous albums.[31]
On June 23, 2023, the band released a new single Talk To Me via streaming platforms,[32] and followed up with a lyric video for the song that was released on July 20. Later in July the band announced via their social channels that they would be releasing a new studio album, entitled The 4th Album on September 15, 2023, via Round Hill Records. On August 19 the band released the song and accompanying music video for "Dance on Mondays."[33]
| Peak chart positions | Sales | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US 200 [34] | US Heat. [35] | US Rock [36] | US Alt. [37] | |||
Give It Back to You
| — | 5 | 23 | 17 | ||
All of This Life
| 94 | — | 15 | 9 |
| |
Play Loud
| — | — | — | — | ||
The 4th Album
| — | — | — | — | ||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | ||||||
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US AAA | US Main. [38] | US Rock Air. [39] | ||||
| "Off the Ground" | 2016 | 1 | 26 | 30 | Give It Back to You | |
| "Rita Mae Young" | 12 | — | — | |||
| "On the Move"[40] | — | — | — | |||
| "Baby I'm Broken" | 2017 | 6 | — | 46 | Non-album single | |
| "Life to Fix" | 2018 | 1 | 27 | 31 | All of This Life | |
| "Make It Happen"[41] | 9 | — | — | |||
| "Goodbye to the Hard Life" | 2019 | — | — | — | ||
| "You and Me Now" | — | — | — | |||
| "Ball & Chain" | 2021 | — | — | — | Non-album single | |
| "How High" | 3 | — | 26 | Play Loud | ||
| "Talk To Me" | 2023 | 4 | — | — | The 4th Album | |
| "Dance on Mondays"[42] | — | — | — | |||
| "Talk To Me" | 34 | — | — | |||
| "—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | ||||||
| "Don't Let Me Get Lonely"/"Born Unnamed" | 2012 | 7" vinyl single | self-released | |
| "This Crooked City"/"Tallahassee Lassie" | 2012 | 7" vinyl single | Turntable Kitchen | |
| Superdead EP | 2012 | digital & CD EP | self-released | |
| Covers EP | 2012 | digital EP | self-released | |
| Feels So Good EP | 2013 | digital & CD EP | self-released | |
| Feels So Good EP Vinyl Edition | 2014 | 12" vinyl EP |