Distributor(s) The Orchard Location Novato, California Founder Mike Varney | Country of origin U.S. Parent organization Sony Music Founded 1980 | |
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Parent company Sony Music Entertainment Genre Heavy metal, speed metal, neo-classical metal, hard rock, instrumental rock Official website www.shrapnelrecords.com Artists Mike Varney, Paul Gilbert, Jason Becker, Marty Friedman, Richie Kotzen Albums Speed Metal Symphony, Perpetual Burn, Dragon's Kiss, Street Lethal, Mind's Eye Profiles | ||
Shrapnel Records is a guitar-oriented record label started in 1980 by record producer Mike Varney.
Contents
1980s
Guitarist Marty Friedman (ex-Megadeth, ex-Cacophony), one of the label's most successful artists, first appeared on the album Unsung Guitar Heroes II in 1980 with the band Vixen. Vixen would later change their name to Hawaii and release the album One Nation Underground for Shrapnel. In 1981, a friend gave Mike Varney a tape featuring a 17-year-old Swedish guitarist named Yngwie Malmsteen. A year later, Malmsteen wrote to the label stating that he wanted to export his music to America. Varney, who started writing a column called "Spotlight" for Guitar Player magazine in 1982, featured Malmsteen in his February 1983 column. The record executive flew Yngwie to California and set him up with vocalist Ron Keel's new band called Steeler. Steeler's self-titled album became a best selling release for Shrapnel Records.
The Shrapnel Records label and a growing worldwide interest in virtuoso "neoclassical-fusion" guitar playing helped launch the careers of dozens of other technically adept guitarists such as David T. Chastain, Vinnie Moore, Tony MacAlpine, Paul Gilbert, Bruce Bouillet, Joey Tafolla, Jason Becker, Michelle Meldrum and Nicole Couch (Phantom Blue), Greg Howe, Richie Kotzen, Borislav Mitic and the aforementioned Marty Friedman.
In the 1990s, established players such as George Lynch (Lynch Mob, Dokken) and Michael Schenker (MSG, Scorpions) recorded albums for the label. In the Mid-2000's the label signed Marc Rizzo from Soulfly and John 5 of Marilyn Manson fame. Shrapnel Records continues to provide a platform for exceptional hard rock, shred, progressive metal and heavy metal "guitar heroes".
The label was acquired by The Orchard, subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment, in November 2015.
Related labels
In 1989 Mike Varney co-founded progressive rock/metal label Magna Carta Records. In the 1990s Mike Varney also started the Tone Center Records and Blues Bureau International sublabels to promote fusion and blues respectively.