What is in a name? All and nothing is a competent answer. Steven Jarvis and I became friends and decided to start a small company dedicated to songwriting and music. The name Cancer Records is partly inspired by a wall at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in Cleveland Ohio. It is dedicated to all the independent record companies from the 1930s, 40s, 50s, and 60s. These labels first recorded and promoted many important musical artists. Without these companies much of our collective musical heritage would remain unknown. The independent record companies from the early and mid-twentieth Century shared the propensity to name themselves exotic and often enticing monikers. The name Cancer Records is an homage to the tradition of provocative naming practices established in the previous Century.
Naming the company was a less deliberate process than might be surmised. Anyone, including the founders who have cancer survivors in their families, understands the insidious horror of the malignant disease. Cancer Records is not named after tumorous growths. Our history tells a more benign story. In a conversation, regarding the naming of our company, star signs for some reason was brought up. The star sign of one founder is Cancer the Crab. Quickly, it was observed that we live in the Tropic of Cancer. This in turn led to a discussion of Henry Miller’s book, Tropic of Cancer. Concluding the conversation with a return to our initial topic a name was suggested: Cancer Records. We liked an association with the star sign and disliked an association with disease.
Cancer is a Latin word meaning crab or creeping ulcer. The word cancer intimates the possibility of both malignant and benign influences. The history of Rock and Roll seemed to carry these same denominators. Everyone agreed the name was edgy enough for a Rock and Roll label. Ultimately, we had to come up with something. The ability or inability to acquire the digital domain name dictated the final criterion. We speculated cancerrecords.com might already be owned by a large medical informatics company. Astoundingly, we acquired the domain name with no difficulty and our plans for an online footprint became a reality.
Discography Identification Guide: Cancer Records formed with the intention of producing and distributing new music on vinyl. The vinyl recordings are primarily for audiophiles and collectors. Every recording is also available on digital format. Our records are numerically designated. CR-1 is designated on every one of the first releases of the first record Cancer Records produced. The CR = Cancer Records, and the 1 means it is the first album released by the label. The second album #BBeautiful by Badabings is CR-2. And so on. This designation always signifies the first issue, first printing of an album released by Cancer Records. The first reissue or second printing of #BBeautiful would be CR-2.1. CR signifies the label Cancer Records. The number signifies the catalog issue from the label. 2 being the second record issued by Cancer Records. And, the .1 signifies the album is the first reprint issue of the album. The third issue or second reprint of #BBeautiful would be signified as CR-2.2. With this simple guide for understanding the printing code all collectors will be able to identify every printing and issue from Cancer Records.
-Dr Bradley Lenz