5 weird facts about heroic Dose Records
#1
The naked man riding the laser log in the iconic Heroic Dose Records image is none other than Gary "Dr. Dirt" Ruble, the legendary underground photographer who "painted with light" to startling effect in the 1970s and 1980s.
#2
The name Heroic Dose Records is meant as good-natured mockery of Boomer hippies. It's also a great metaphor for going big.
#3
The word "Alazapul" comes from the lyrics of the Smoke Chaser song, Possum Belly Queen. Take a listen. Tell us what it means.
#4
Craig Waltz of the San Francisco Fire Department named the band Smoke Chaser.
#5
We have no idea what we’re doing.
Heroic Dose Records on the hunt for new original music in Santa Cruz
(By Wallace Baine, Lookout, 12/28/23)
In the old days, everybody understood what a record label was, as well as its role and purpose. (Siphoning away profits from deserving artists, right?) But these days, the record label is one of those mass-media middlemen that digital culture has pushed to the brink of extinction.
That has not stopped musicians Ryan Masters and Jon Spivak from launching Heroic Dose Records right here in Santa Cruz, which calls itself a “label,” though it has little in common with labels of yore.
The project started merely as a way for Masters and Spivak to promote their own band, Smoke Chaser. And, sure enough, the label’s first project was Smoke Chaser’s debut album, “Alazapul,” released in August. But the vision has now expanded to other artists, and earlier this month, Heroic Dose released a new single by local singer-songwriter Jim Rosenberg, a moving John Prine-esque tribute to those lost to the streets, titled “Finding Joseph.” The label’s goal is to release new recordings from Santa Cruz/Monterey Bay area artists whom it deems too good to be ignored…