This is primarily simply a list of all the records Noisebox in Norwich put out. Noisebox opened at the beginning of the 1990s. Set up by Pete Morgan, then fairly fresh in from Wales, and therefore known as ‘Morgan the Noise’. Noisebox opened in the Old Fishmarket on Mountergate. Initially as a rehearsal room, then gradually expanded into three rehearsal rooms in two units before evolving into a record label and promoting gigs.
Pete also did tape duplication for those all important demo tapes which we all tried to flog at gigs, or sent to various radio stations who largely ignored them.
At the time there was a paucity of rehearsal spaces in the city, the Waterfront had some in its initial form before the UEA took over after the first community-based version failed. There were a few other scattered rehearsal rooms but nothing quite as complete and mostly meant providing your own P.A. and also usually involved someone shouting ‘shut up you wankers’ at you out of their bedroom window as they invariably weren’t soundproofed.
The record label started in about 1993, I can’t remember exactly how I met Pete, but one band I was in rehearsed there in about 1991/92, so probably from that. He came to me to get some stickers printed for the first release; I worked in a printers doing paste-up at the time, see also printing things like this on the side. This sparked both a friendship and eventually business relationship of sorts. We used to joke about being a shit version of Factory Records, His Tony H. Wilson choosing the bands, to my Peter Saville designing sleeves and posters that cost too much. The only real similarity was our skill at not making any money out of anything, something we generally excelled at.
Pete also founded the Norwich Fringe Festival in around 2001, or Pete and Ian Johnson (Access to Music) did, I just branded it and made all the publicity look nice and sighed a bit about stuff now and again.
What Noisebox and Pete did do though was provide an outlet for bands, a base that might put a record out and later CDs, provided affordable reasonably warm (or cool) soundproofed rehearsal space with a car park, it gave the music scene a bit of a sense of community beyond the going to each other’s gigs. Some of the records even got played on mainstream radio stations, John Peel especially, but also Mark Goodier and latterly Steve Lamaqc as well as a few stations across Europe.
A few of the bands went on to do other things, mostly notably Magoo who are basically a local institution and nationally well regarded for their lo-fi sound and intriguing slightly surreal output. Ivy went on to be signed by Sarah Records for a time, a few bands also did Peel Sessions, offhand I can’t remember which ones. Faceless, Waddle and Navigator should all have gone on to much greater things. Thing is mostly it was just really good fun.
I’ll probably write some more about some of it eventually, The music scene in a city is part of it’s soul, the history, the support frameworks, relationships, the sheer enjoyment within it is as important as any other institution.
There’s a lot more information on this sort of thing on Kingsley Harris’ website for the East Anglian Music Archive. But here’s my input which I originally entered on the Norwich Music Wiki when me and Tony Burge set that up about 15 years ago.
My how time flies.
Noisebox Records
nbx001 – Various techno/ambient (Volcanic/UXB/Resistance/Tribe of Ssenkrad) – 12″ black Apr-93
nbx002 – Various indie (Ivy/Steerpike/Spellbound/The Lemongrowers) – backwater one – 12″ black
nbx003 – did not exist
nbx004 – Various indie – backwater two (Republic/Waddle/n.f.l./Delta Radio) – four track cd ep
nbx005 – Spellbound – dark days ep – cd ep
nbx006 – Various – Backwater three (The Joeys/Magoo/Compact Pussycat/Joyland) – four track cd ep
nbx007 – Various ambient/electro – Mechanical paradise (Faceless/Toxic Frequency/Alpha Seven/UXB) – cd album
nbx008 – Waddle – food – 7″ black (smeared with tomato sauce/curry)
nbx009 – Various – Backwater four (Lemongrowers/Neil Keeler/Soft Cotton County/Blue Script) cd ep 1994
nbx010 – Faceless – achievement – cd album
nbx011 – The Lemongrowers – segments – cd album
nbx012 – Ivy – how do you know it’s for real? 7″ red vinyl 1995
nbx012cd – Ivy – how do you know it’s for real? cds
nbx013 – Magoo – mudshark ep 7″ orange vinyl
nbx014 – Joyland – sun cd album
nbx015 – The Joeys – number one 7″ black vinyl
nbx016 – Magoo – robot carnival 7″ blue vinyl
nbx017 – The Lemongrowers – lemon grove – 7″ yellow vinyl (limited run)
nbx018 – Various indie/indie rock/pop/electro now that’s what I call noisebox – cd album Nov-95
Magoo/Ivy/Slot/Waddle/Naked/Mechanical Star/Bluescript/Spellbound/Republic/NFL/The Joeys/The Lemon Growers/Steepike/Compact Pussycat/DIY Vultures/Soft Cotton County/Neil Keeler/Joyland/Neatishead
nbx019 – The Joeys – bruno brown/television – 7″ clear vinyl
nbx020 – Magoo – eye spy – 7″ yellow vinyl
nbx021 – Waddle – arsehole ride 7″ brown
nbx022 – Navigator – killtaker 7″ green
nbx023 – Waddle – cheeseburger cd album
nbx024 – Ivy – in the absence of angels – cd album September 1996
nbx025 – The Lemongrowers – you’re too beautiful – cds
nbx026 – Navigator – a little astronomy – 7″ blue vinyl
nbx027 – Navigator – when the wires fall – 7″ red vinyl
nbx028 – Navigator – assay ep – 7″ x 2 clear vinyl
nbx028cd – Navigator – assay ep – cds
nbx029 – Crest/English Electric – split single (low staff morale) – 7″ green vinyl
nbx030 – Velvia – Genial – 7″ green vinyl
nbx031 – Waddle/Egg – split single – 7″ green vinyl
nbx032 – The Lemongrowers – ultimate mutation – cd album
nbx033 – Various – 33.3 ep – 7″ black February 1998 (all tracks were 33 seconds long)
Magoo/Red Shift/Binary/Egg/Fabulous Kitchenware/Kaito/Fiel Garvie/Heatrae/Peacenik/Lure Luxx/Crest/Dick Welsby/Littlemink/Volcanic/Konstruktivist/The Lemon Growers/Navigator/Polak/Faceless/B-mer/Uncle/Waddle/Des Lynam All-Stars/Noisebox All-Stars/Pressure/Catalogue/Stylophone Skinny/Harralulu/Great Dominions/Ray Speedway/Real Universal/Doolittle/Velvia/UXB
nbx034 – Crest – 68 comeback – 7″ orange vinyl
nbx035 – Fleece/Emulsion – split single – 7″ white vinyl – Mar-98
nbx036 – Magoo – close continental dna – 94-96 the noisebox releases. cd album – Apr-98
nbx037 – Fleece – mona lisa – 7″ purple vinyl
nbx037cd – Fleece – mona lisa – cds
nbx038 – B-mer/Doolittle – split single – 7″
nbx039 – Crest – summertime – 7″ yellow vinyl October 1998
nbx040 – Fleece – this is what you get for love – cds 1998
nbx041 – Navigator – noisebox singles (unreleased) cd album
nbx042 – Crest – the small details – 7″ red vinyl
nbx043 – Fleece – man from mars – 7″
nbx043cd – Crest/Fleece – small details/man from mars – cds
nbx044 – Farrah – Terry – 7″ orange vinyl Aug-99 (this one caused a litigation over the cover)
nbx044cd – Farrah – Terry – cds Aug-99
nbx045 Crest – unreleased album – cd 1999 (eventually released on Burning Shed)
nbx046 Fiel Garvie – pre-vv ep – cds 2000
nbx047 Fiel Garvie – vuka vuka – cd album
nbx048 Fiel Garvie – difference of me – 7″ yellow vinyl
nbx049SPL1 – Various (skate punk) tales from the eastside – cd Feb 01
Planet Noisebox
Plan000 – Faceless remix 12″ – 12″ black vinyl 1997
Plan001 – Faceless – cd – 1997
Plan002 – Binary s/a/d – 10″ white – 1998
Plan002cd – Binary – brickwall music – cd – Nov 98
Noisebox still exists, and duplicates things and produces vinyl and CDs here.
A fuller discography with clickable links to the bands is here on East Anglian Music Archive.