Canada
What's a Vikki-Beat?
Vikki-Beat is the name of a recording label founded by members of the Bubonic Plague in 1983. Like many punk rockers of the early 80s, the Plague wasn't satisfied with a status quo in which musicians had to either bend over for corporate hacks or have their music go unheard. So, at the suggestion of drummer Terry Carter, they started their own cassette-only label to release their music and that of some of their friends. The following explanation of the Vikki-Beat philosophy appeared in the booklet accompanying the Label's first release, the Plague's Wild Wild Youth in Asia:
The Vikki-Beat label was conceived as a means of making available original music (?) which might otherwise have been lost in the proverbial shuffle. The aim is to provide at the lowest possible cost and maybe at the best quality (?) we can muster, material unavailable through normal channels, i.e. access to the excess. Therefore we hope you can excuse the odd bit of hiss, and we hope you will be pleasantly surprised at the level of production attained.
Vikki-Beat took its name from Victoria Street in downtown St. John's, where Wallace's home recording studio is located (the name was suggested by Adrian of Phil 'n the Blank), and John O'Brien (Mike's brother) designed the official Vikki- Beat logo. Early Vikki-Beat releases were accompanied by illustrated booklets and sold in zip-lock bags [Instructions: "Open bag, Take tape out of bag. Place tape in player. Fill bag with glue. Press Play. Inhale. Enjoy."]. The first tape sold surprisingly well, so more were made, including the first two Dog Meat BBQ releases, Dead Dogs of the Summer of Love and Hang Up Yer Raw Hides. Other artists who released tapes on the VikkiBeat label include The A-Tones, The Reaction, Big Tears, Nina Patey, Jim Payne, and The Stolen Bones. The most recent release was Seeing Double (1998), a compilation of the two Bubonic Plague releases.