Well, we did it, gang. Our new single is out now, available wherever you buy or stream music online. Heck you can even just listen to it here, if that suits you.

While we were launching the new tunes, you might have seen, in a social media post or elsewhere, references to Submerged Records. What does it mean? Have your boys been snapped up by a label, to take their rightful place in the rock-icon pantheon alongside such greats as REO Speedwagon and the Sensational Alex Harvey Band?

Not exactly. Oh, Submerged Records is indeed a real label. Or at least it was. Sort of.

Okay, perhaps it was more like the musical equivalent of a vanity press. But it achieved a few cool things in the short time that it was actively releasing full albums on CD.

The whole thing started in the mid 2000s, when John was playing in two bands at once: Hinterland and Windows ’78. Both bands were busy writing songs with the intention of recording albums. For Hinterland, it would be their second release. The first was put out by a small U.S. indie label called HybridElectric. For the follow-up, the band thought it made sense to try and do it completely independently, while also acknowledging the reality that “independent” or “no label” made for less-than ideal optics when it came to distribution and trying to land on charts.

Thus, Submerged Records was born. Was it an accident that the name was evocative of Sub Pop and Merge Records, two of the leading indie labels of the time? Yes! That was purely coincidental. The origins of the name are lost in the mists of time, but it was likely chosen as a nod to Hinterland’s debut album, which was titled Under the Waterline.

Here’s some info cribbed from the Submerged Records LinkedIn page (which is currently the label’s only online presence):

Hinterland, The Picture Plane

Released on February 7, 2006, The Picture Plane by Hinterland was the very first Submerged Records release. Released on compact disc, the album’s catalogue number was the auspicious SRCD 001.

The Picture Plane spent five weeks on the Earshot Top 50 (Canada’s national chart of campus and community radio airplay), which is not bad at all for the debut release of a totally indie label with no budget and no real distribution.

The release did particularly well in certain markets, hitting the Top 10 at CJUM in Winnipeg, for example, and reaching the number 2 spot on CiTR in Hinterland’s hometown of Vancouver.

We’re still proud of the album and feel the songs on it still hold up, almost two decades after its release.

This City Rocks: Hinterland

Here’s a 2006 interview from This City Rocks, featuring founding Submerged Records act Hinterland. Cool to see some footage of the band playing live at Vancouver’s late, lamented Railway Club. (Incidentally, the Hinterland website URL provided in the video is long since defunct, as is the band itself.)

Windows ’78, The Window Seat

Released on April 25, 2006, The Window Seat by Windows ’78 was the second release from Submerged Records.

In addition to making the national Earshot Top 50, the album hit the Top 10 at several stations, including CiTR (Vancouver), CJSW (Calgary), and CKXU (Lethbridge).

In an article that ran in The Gauntlet (the University of Calgary’s campus newspaper) the same month that The Window Seat came out, Darren Young wrote: “In case modern progressive rock has lost its ability to satisfy your inner geek—and the only way to fight exam time depression is to feed the nerd—maybe it’s time for you to succumb to the awesome powers of space rock and welcome Windows ’78 into your life.”

This City Rocks: Windows’78

Talk about a blast from the past! Here’s an interview with OG Submerged Records artist Windows ’78, from way back in 2006. Of the band members shown, drummer Michael Nathanson and guitarist John Lucas (not interviewed but shown performing) went on to start current Submerged band The Starling Effect. (Although he was in a later lineup than the one featured here, Starling Effect keyboardist-guitarist Greg Williams was also in W78.)

Submerged Records released a few more albums in the ensuing years, including ones by acts that weren’t actually connected to either of the founding bands. Although the label is largely dormant, we do sometimes resurrect the name when it’s time to promote new music.

And now you know!