Feature / Music
Pass The Mic: Record Labels and Artists on 2009

Posted pre-2010

ARTICLE JUMP

Firestarter Records

/ Pulling Teeth (Mike Riley)

What are your top five albums that were released in 2009? (In order 1-5)

  1. Dear Landlord - Dream Homes

  2. Sick Sick Birds - Heavy Manners

  3. Idle Hands - Postponed

  4. Strike Anywhere - Iron Front

  5. Double Dagger - More

What band did you discover in 2009 (can be a brand new band or an older band) that had an impact on your life? What made them significant?

Obits. Their debut LP, I Blame You, is the best thing Froburg has done since Hot Snakes' Automatic Midnight. A fantastic album.

How will you remember 2009? (In terms of music)

Getting to release records for some of my current favorite bands (Psyched To Die, Sleepwall, and Sick Sick Birds). Pulling Teeth getting to tour with some amazing bands and great people like Converge, Ceremony, Coliseum, Rise & Fall, 108, Lewd Acts, and Skin Like Iron. Great releases from Polar Bear Club, Trapped Under Ice, Reigning Sound, Marked Men, Punch, Wasted Time, Lewd Acts, Deep Sleep, Mean Jeans, Hex Dispensers, Social Circkle, Government Warning, Ringers, and the bands mentioned in my top five.

2009 was a huge year for reunions. What reunion excited you the most? What band that has not reunited would you love to see play/record most in 2010?

Snuff, Samiam, and the Thumbs all reuniting (or playing for the first time on the east coast in a long long time) at the Fest in Gainesville made me very very happy. All were excellent. I'd like to see the Ergs reunite in 2010.

What can we look forward to from you in 2010?

A new record from Pulling Teeth in the late spring/early summer. Maybe a side project as well if I can find time between writing and recording for Pulling Teeth and doing rehab work on my house.

What three records are you looking forward to most in 2010?

Tenement LP on Mandible Records, Nightbirds record on Dirtnap Records, and Deep Sleep 12" on Deranged Records

Website Link (Website/Myspace/Blog/Etc.): http//www.firestarterrecords.com

— words by the SPB team

Related features

Mike Huguenor

One Question Interviews / What's That Noise? • July 8, 2025

Mike Huguenor Tell us about the primary guitars you used making Surfing the Web with the Alien? Read more

Scene Point Blank's Favorites: The Year So Far (July 2025)

Music • July 6, 2025

We're halfway through the year: when did that happen?! Luckily for you, SPB is on hand to share the music we've enjoyed most in 2025 thus far. Read on to hear about the records that have made our top list for this year as it stands, and also some bonus … Read more

Shane Herrell: A Tribute

Music • July 6, 2025

Shane Herrell: Rest In Power(pop) (1980-2025) The Rocker I try to live my life with as few regrets as possible. Sadly I never got the chance to hear my friend Shane Herrell karaoke Thin Lizzy’s "The Rocker." As a singing bass player we don’t have enough heroes. It might just … Read more

Unseemlier

One Question Interviews • June 27, 2025

Mike Assatly (Unseemlier - guitar/vocals) SPB: Do you have a preferred model of van for touring? Assatly: Chevy G-20 Gladiator! It was my first van, I got it from my uncle with 115,000 on it. He got rid of it for a new van because it was "old" and would … Read more

Dollar Store

One Question Interviews • June 26, 2025

Dave Slaverave (Dollar Store - bass) SPB: This band hits a lot of styles, all kind of overlapping at the same time. How hard was it to find “your sound” when bringing these influences together? Slaverave: Not very hard at all actually. We're all old-ass adults who've soaked in a … Read more

More from this section

Scene Point Blank's Favorites: The Year So Far (July 2025)

Music • July 6, 2025

We're halfway through the year: when did that happen?! Luckily for you, SPB is on hand to share the music we've enjoyed most in 2025 thus far. Read on to hear about the records that have made our top list for this year as it stands, and also some bonus … Read more

Shane Herrell: A Tribute

Music • July 6, 2025

Shane Herrell: Rest In Power(pop) (1980-2025) The Rocker I try to live my life with as few regrets as possible. Sadly I never got the chance to hear my friend Shane Herrell karaoke Thin Lizzy’s "The Rocker." As a singing bass player we don’t have enough heroes. It might just … Read more

Caterwaul 2025

Music • May 13, 2025

Each year in late May, the 4-day party and noise-rock festival Caterwaul takes over multiple venues in Minneapolis. It’s a stacked lineup this year, to put it mildly, with each night’s headliners FACS, Young Widows, Naw, Pissed Jeans, and Uniform -- and that’s leaving a ton of other great bands … Read more