Nope, it’s not the latest park-and-heavy-petting hangout (does Charleston actually have one of those?) — Makeout Reef is Charleston’s newest record label.
Besides having a pretty sexy name, Makeout Reef has signed on several young, promising bands, including the Strokes-like garage rockers Them Oh’s, local psych-rock trio Mr. Rosewater, hazy, melodious indie-folkster Cry Baby, and Summer School, a new female-led surf-garage band.
Not only a label, Makeout Reef is also an artist collective (think Shrimp Records) and booking company run by a group of friends and roommates.
“As freshmen living in dorms, my friends and I never really had the space to practice, and this inability to practice led to a bit of a temporary musical stall,” says label founder and Them Oh’s bassist Michael Collier. “Now, however, we have a house off-campus surrounded by students as neighbors, and I am using my bedroom as a recording and practice studio.”
Collier, a rising CofC sophomore, says the startup is, understandably, low on funds right now, so the immediate focus lies in promoting, in-house recordings, and booking shows around town.
The label has already issued a sampler of its offerings, which you can, and should, listen to here.
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