Wasp Factory is an independent label based in Cheltenham. It houses bands from London's early 2000s goth & industrial scenes, in particular artists who blend these styles with drum n' bass, techno, electro and punk. Many of the bands use cyberpunk imagery in their lyrics, artwork and stage performances.
The label was formed in 1999 when Lee Chaos was having trouble finding a home for his band The Chaos Engine's second album. He named the label after the eponymous novel by Iain Banks. The wasp factory itself is a divination device made by the disturbed protagonist in which a wasp is inserted into a maze-like machine where it will eventually be killed in any one of 12 ways. The mode of the wasp's death supposedly tells the future.
Soon Lee realized that many other artists in the scene were having problems releasing records due to lack of interest from major labels, so he started to sign bands he liked, recording them in his own Parental Advisory Studios. In the label's heyday it won the Young Music Professionals Award 2003.
Wasp Factory's artists frequently collaborated with each other, as well as with Katscan, who, while never releasing a record on this label, shared bills with many of its artists and mutually remixed each other's work.
Wasp Factory has not released a record since 2006 due to band breakups, financial problems and general lack of interest.