Īlthough Bad Religion was the founding band of Epitaph, releasing their early records through the label, they switched over to Atlantic in 1993, with Recipe for Hate being their first record outside of the label. Epitaph's expansion saw the label relocate to new offices in Silver Lake. This was followed by Bad Religion's next two albums – No Control and Against the Grain – which sold 60,000 and 100,000 copies respectively.īy 1993, more punk acts had signed to Epitaph, including Pennywise, Down by Law, Coffin Break, The Offspring, Rancid, RKL, SNFU, Total Chaos and Claw Hammer. They released their debut for the label, S&M Airlines, that same year, featuring the video for its title track and the cover of Fleetwood Mac's ' Go Your Own Way', which featured guest vocals by Gurewitz and Greg Graffin, also a member of Bad Religion. In 1989, Gurewitz signed NOFX to Epitaph. Not only is Suffer often cited as one of the band's best by fans, but it is credited with 'saving' the Southern California punk rock scene by fans and Bad Religion's contemporaries alike. Also in 1988, Bad Religion released Suffer, which was both released and distributed by Epitaph. In the following year, Epitaph released its first record as a proper label, which was L7's self-titled album, and it was distributed by Chameleon. After Gurewitz had cleaned up his drug issues, both Epitaph and Bad Religion were revived in 1987. Two more Bad Religion releases followed – Into the Unknown and the EP Back to the Known – before their temporary split. Also released during this period was Peace thru Vandalism, an EP by The Vandals, who were the first band besides Bad Religion to sign to Epitaph. Its first release for the label was Bad Religion's 1981 self-titled EP, followed by their debut How Could Hell Be Any Worse?, which was also the label's first full-length release. The name had been taken from the King Crimson song Epitaph from which the lyrics 'Confusion shall be my epitaph.' had struck a chord with Brett and Greg when they were young. Several sister labels also exist, such as ANTI-, Burning Heart Records, Fat Possum Records, Hellcat Records, and Heart & Skull Records that have signed other types of bands.īrett Gurewitz formed Epitaph Records as a vehicle for releases by his band Bad Religion.

A large portion of the record label, known as Hellcat Records, is owned by Tim Armstrong, frontman of the punk rock band Rancid. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, most acts signed to the label were punk and pop punk acts, while there are many post-hardcore and emo bands signed to the label as well. Epitaph Records is an American independent record label owned by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz.

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