Labeled: The Stories, Rumors & Legends of Tooth & Nail Records

Chris Conley is nothing if not original. His ability and willingness to listen to and follow an inner voice led him to an early arrival into the all-ages music scene with great influence. Saves The Day continued to evolve musically and did not get stuck in a certain sound even though commercial success would have wanted just that. After helping set the tone for the scene and being signed to a majo...

Silverstein is in the club of bands that are true workhorses - continuously active year after year while racking up new achievements. They seem to benefit greatly from being able to self-manage, adapt, engage in long range decision making, while always trying new things. They have played over 2500 shows and have over a million monthly listeners on Spotify. In this conversation with lead singer Sha...

Today we have a convo with Chad Gardner of Kings Kaleidoscope. What's most intriguing about Chad is that he is an incredibly efficient, high-level, high-energy problem solver. He fits a pattern that we see over and over again in this world of kids who come from families with engineering and technical talent and use this to power high level creativity and art. chad's ability to lead creativ...

Reese Roper is simply a legend. Five Iron Frenzy (FIF) was one of the first Christian bands truly existing in both the Christian and mainstream space. In the late 90s during the ska explosion, they achieved real commercial success, made a bold choice to stay on a small independent label, and were delivering absolutely scorching lyrics that were full of questions and critique - lyrics that challeng...

JT Woodruff is one of the most intentional and efficient leaders and operators in the history of the scene. His band Hawthorne Heights has had absolutely huge ups and downs. Ups like their first 2 records going gold and creating one of the most iconic emo songs ever, Ohio Is For Lovers, which has almost 100 million Spotify plays. The downs include a lengthy, costly lawsuit with their label as well...

Mayday Parade is an incredibly well-balanced group of guys. Balanced in a way that equates to functioning well as a healthy team in a high output, low drama, great to be around way. Mayday has been able to remain extremely hard-working and consistent for over 15 years in a landscape full of ups & downs and unhealthiness. They have achieved long-term success and have helped write the map on how...

Jason Dunn started Hawk Nelson in 2000 with his pals northeast of Ontario where they were like thousands of other aspiring garage bands who just loved to make noise until a connection with Trevor McNevan towed them in to ride the wave of pop punk right into the height of Tooth & Nail's dominance. In the decade that followed they enjoyed great success, became a business with a full team and...

The mind of Brandon Ebel is quite a unique thing. He has an ability to rapidly shift his perspectives to analyze things at multiple levels, and has a strong bias toward action and a incredible eye for talent of all kinds. He seems to be all over the place but a better description might be that he has a laser focus and intensity that is consistent on a different horizon that perhaps only he underst...

Capital Lights came along in the peak of Tooth & Nail’s power and influence. Oddly, in this period there there are many bands who seemed to have everything going for them and were musically outstanding, yet their full potential was never realized. Bryson Phillips is a a truly gifted singer and songwriter that has been praised by both Brandon Ebel & Aaron Sprinkle over the years. I have had...

Special drop here!. Matt and Devin got the chance to preview the 2023 Furnace Fest lineup and have Chad Johnson and Johnny Grimes join the show so we could all react to it together. Emery is not playing this year, but we love the fest and we love Chad and Johnny and just like talking about all these bands, the history of the scene and fest and the future of it all. Grab your tickets at: https://ww...

Josh Porter is one of the most interesting frontmen from our scene and is of a particular type whose spirit of rebellion resonates across many mediums, one of which being Showbread’s music. Their legendary set at Furnace Fest last year seemed to be a testament to how deeply connected their fans were. This podcast spends a lot of time analyzing the musical, relational and professional choices that...

If you have been paying any attention to Tooth & Nail over the last several years, you can tell that they have a special regard for Tyson Motsenbocker. Tyson seems to always have been able to make great connections with other artists with both his personality and his songwriting. He’s great as a solo performer and on another level when he has a full band. I always enjoy hanging with him. I do...

It’s the inaugural music draft! Matt Carter and Devin Shelton join to make their picks for a team of songwriters from the Tooth and Nail / Solid State universe. Lots of weirdness in this one, as we are friends with and have played in bands with people who are eligible to be drafted.  Voting will go up 24 hours after this episode airs in both the Labeled FB Group and the Emeryland FB Group. It...

Jason Wisdom himself falls into a certain archetype. A Tooth & Nail kid with a uniquely-wired mind who was inspired by bands like MXPX and Zao - and the range of possibilities for mixing various styles, genres, and mediums of expression that is permitted in the underground scene. Becoming the Archetype began in 2005 and released records until 2012. They are now back in full force after a decad...

Today we’re talking to Nathan Richardson of Salt Creek. Nathan started promoting shows as a teenager in Nebraska, he started his own merchandise company, and he has continued to make connections while growing his DIY skills. It seems that Nathan has real gratitude, curiosity, motivation, and finds joy in all that he throws himself into. Salt Creek is a newer Tooth & Nail band who put out a gre...

Furnace Fest means so much to so many different people. From the bands who performed, to the fans who attended. All voices in the Labeled community have truly gathered around this Festival in a deeply meaningful way. Today we're talking to Jason Zeimet, founder of UnoriginalVinyl, frequent collaborators on physical media projects with Solid State & Tooth & Nail, and former T&...

Ernie and his band members in idle threat seem to have arrived at a very interesting time in Tooth & Nail/Solid State history. There is currently a resurgence of interest in raw, aggressive music that incorporates intimate, spacious, and emotional elements. idle threat has done a masterful job of absorbing the important feels of the last 30 years from grunge to emo while finding & pushing...

his conversation with Kevin Klein from Valleyheart is a great look at how a modern artist sees the landscape today, and in what ways some things always stay the same in the midst of constant change. The one trend that continues to grow is the amount of control artists have over more and more layers of their art form, and why having clear vision and identifying constraints seems to matter more than...

The Ongoing Concept is one of the most DIY bands in the Tooth & Nail/Solid State catalog, and they have achieved many innovative things like building their own instruments from scratch. The journey they have been on has been shaped by those that came before, but is a long quest for the artist to have as much creative control as possible. That desire to control everything has disadvantages too...

In this episode, we get the chance to to talk about a bunch of people in the Labeled universe through the perspective of Seth Roberts whose band Watashi Wa is back and doing big things. Watashi Wa has a new album out on Tooth & Nail on which Seth has pulled together some awesome collaborations. Not only do they have a new record coming out, but they are also on the west coast leg of LABELED FE...

Lee Humerian was the drummer for Phinehas for nearly a decade. He is a very classic stereotype of a Tooth & Nail kid who followed his passion for music, energy and mission for God. Lee was drawn from music into full-time missions landing him in Ukraine in 2014. He and his family have made a home and life there during the escalating conflict over the last few years. I felt this was a great oppo...

Mark Lafay was is a big part of the Haste The Day story as you heard in the recent Jimmy Ryan and Stephen Keech HTD episodes. We really needed to speak with Mark as well to further color the stories and see what we might have missed. This is a very fun conversation, and a must listen if you enjoyed the last 2 HTD episodes

This episode is a continuation of the previous Haste The Day chapter with Jimmy Ryan, who was not a Tooth & Nail kid but found his way into the scene. Jimmy helped build a legendary Solid State band and then walked away from his dream. This left a giant hole which provided the opportunity for a Tooth & Nail kid if there ever was one, the multi-talented Stephen Keech, to walk into to a fair...

Jimmy Ryan, the original lead singer of Haste The Day, is in a rare category. His band was a breakout hit in the pinnacle of the Tooth & Nail/Solid State golden age, but Jimmy was NOT a Tooth & Nail kid. The rest of his band certainly were as they were youth group kids from a nice Indianapolis suburb when they joined forces with Jimmy. He was considerably older than them and, for better or...

The Moon is Down is one of the most influential albums in the entire Tooth & Nail catalog. Of course it is a fan favorite, but this one also checks the box in a big way as a named influence by countless artists, drummers, guitarists, song arrangers, and vocalists. Many of whom cite this album as helping them expand their minds to new possibilities and causing them to have creative breakthrough...