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Label Review: Dog Knights Productions

Eli Fosl
April 10, 2013

“Is that a cat on your shirt?” I can’t tell you how many times I get that question whenever I wear my navy baseball shirt from this British screamo label. The answer is no, it’s not a cat. It’s a Shiba making a record with a buzz saw. Duh. Behold the first of many awesome things about my favorite non-US label, Dog Knights Productions.
DKP is an independent label nestled in the great bosom of the UK in the town of Brighton. Their releases specialize in screamo/punk/hardcore and they’re one of the most prevalent, modern day DIY labels of that scene to be operating. After clicking through their website’s logo to their home page, one is greeted by one of the most iconic quotes of the screamo/punk-rock genre: “Punk rock should mean freedom. Liking and accepting anything that you like. Playing whatever you want, as sloppy as you want. As long as it’s good and it has passion.” The quote is from the beginning of the classic screamo album Document 8 by pageninetynine. This quote embodies DKP in many ways, in that it describes a lot of the bands that they have signed. Todos Caeran, Silencio! Ahora, Silencio!, We Came Out Like Tigers and more of DKP bands embody the idea of passionate, sloppy hardcore jams that have come to define modern day new-wave screamo. The first two of the aforementioned bands are some of the first “skramz” groups I ever heard back on their work with Ghosts And Demons records. The quote is also appropriate because DKP is one of the main labels that is keeping the style of bands like pageninetynine and City Of Caterpillar alive. They released a tribute to Orchid album of covers not long ago.
Releases: Whether they’ve meant to or not, DKP has become mostly a genre label. They’re also a fairly young label. This means that there is a slight shortage of variety in their discography. The releases they have are all still top-notch, Nai Harvest’s Whatever being one of my top twinkle releases as of late. They do pressings for American labels as well (they recently did a pressing of Old Gray’s An Autobiography for the European audience). Attitude/Presence: I haven’t really had much interaction with any of the guys running Dog Knights to know how pleasant they are on a personal level, but they’re perfectly nice and positive on Tumblr and Facebook and I’ve never heard any complaints. They may not ship candy with their orders like CYLS or Polyvinyl or have a sarcastic internet presence like Driftwood, but they deliver on time, they give positive feedback and they keep everyone updated. Merch quality: One of this label’s strongest points is with design. I love their logo, I love all their album covers and I love the design of their vinyl pressings (see the Nai Harvest or You’ll Live LPs, they’re beautiful). They don’t have much in the way of merch, which is a bummer because I would definitely rock a DKP hat or something, but it’s all really rad stuff. I will say that a few days after receiving my baseball shirt, one of the seams ripped while I was putting it on. But if you aren’t cool with sewing up your punk-rock baseball shirt you had shipped from London, then you aren’t nearly punk enough. (That’s a joke. Sort of.)