Seattle Shows Its Better Half
It wasn’t all that long ago that I wrote an article for Sound Magazine declaring the next five breakout Seattle artists who would make it big and get signed in the near future. On the list were bands and rappers that you may have heard of if you lived in Seattle, but outside of the area they were probably just music to your ears. One of these bands took my message to heart; however, they did it in their own way.
Local Seattle pop-punk outfit Smokejumper, which formed from the ashes of Seattle pop-punk legends Dateless, weren’t going to sit around and wait while the music scene passed them by. Instead, singer/guitarist Chris Crusher and drummer KII decided to form their own label and put out some of the Northwest’s best punk acts. Their first signing on Better Half Records was punk/hardcore act The Damage Done (another of the artists on my top 5 bands to watch list). They followed that by signing local garage punk lads Shakes and began digital distribution on Northwest stalwarts like Success!, with many other bands in the works. With an extremely successful Better Half showcase at the GRN STRP House DIY venue last month, expect even bigger and better things from these boys as they conquer the entire West Coast and move on from there!