Sumerian Records

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Sumerian Records
Founded	2006; 16 years ago (2006)
Founder	Ash Avildsen
Distributor(s)	Universal Music Group Virgin Music[1]
Genre	Rock heavy metal progressive rock metalcore alternative rock post-hardcore electronicore electronica
Country of origin	United States
Location	Los Angeles, California Washington, D.C. London, United Kingdom
Official website	www.sumerianmerch.com

Sumerian Records is an American independent record label based in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and London.^[2] The label was founded in 2006^[3] by Ash Avildsen.^[4][5] They have signed artists such as Black Veil Brides, Poppy, Palaye Royale, and The Smashing Pumpkins. It is considered a true lifestyle modern music brand known for both breaking new artists and revitalizing iconic legacy acts^[6][7] with two RIAA certified gold records for Asking Alexandria's singles “The Final Episode”^[8] and “Not The American Average”^[9] neither which ever received any mainstream radio play.^[10] Their releases have over 5.5 billion streams across platforms and have garnered four Grammy Award nominations.^[2] Sumerian has had several seminal artists in the rock, emo, and alternative genres perform on late night television, such as Asking Alexandria,^[11][12] I See Stars,^[13] and Crosses(†††)^[14] on Jimmy Kimmel, Bones UK on Seth Meyers,^[15] and most recently The Smashing Pumpkins on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.^[16] Sumerian delivered the highest charting alternative radio song for The Smashing Pumpkins in 12+ years for their lead single “Cyr” off their latest album.^[17][18] In early 2022, Sumerian acquired Behemoth Entertainment, a comic book and video game publisher, in order to increase their merchandise options and further expand the brand.^[1]

Current roster[]

• After the Burial
• Animals as Leaders
• Bad Omens
• Betraying the Martyrs
• Between the Buried and Me
• Black Veil Brides
• BONES UK
• Born of Osiris
• CHON
• Dead Posey
• Evan Brewer
• The Faceless
• From First to Last^[19]
• I See Stars
• Jonathan Davis
• Juliet Simms AKA Lilith Czar ^[20]
• Meg Myers
• Night Riots
• Nita Strauss
• Oceano
• Palaye Royale
• Poppy
• Slaughter to Prevail
• Sleeping with Sirens
• Smashing Pumpkins
• Soreption
• Starbenders
• Through Fire
• Thomas Giles
• Veil of Maya

Artists formerly with label[]

• Asking Alexandria (on Better Noise Music)
• Bizzy Bone (Active)
• Blackguard (Victory Records)
• Body Count (on Century Media Records)
• Borgore
• Capture the Crown (name changed to "Capture", inactive)
• Circa Survive (Active, Rise Records)
• Circle of Contempt (Active, Unsigned)
• Conducting From The Grave (Disbanded)
• Crosses (Unsigned)
• Danny Worsnop (on Better Noise Music)
• Darkest Hour (on Southern Lord)
• Dayshell (Active, Independent)
• Dead Letter Circus (on The End Records)
• The Dillinger Escape Plan (Disbanded)
• ERRA (on UNFD)
• Fellsilent (Disbanded)
• I, the Breather (On Pavement Entertainment)
• The Kindred (Disbanded)
• Lower Than Atlantis (Disbanded)
• Make Me Famous (Disbanded)
• Periphery (on 3DOT Recordings)
• Sea of Treachery (Active, Unsigned)
• September Mourning
• Stick to Your Guns (on Pure Noise Records)
• Stray from the Path (on UNFD)
• Structures (Active, Unsigned)
• Upon a Burning Body (Active, Seek And Strike Records)

Releases[]

Achievements and awards[]

In 2010, The Grammy Museum at LA Live had a “Golden Gods: History of Heavy Metal” Exhibit where the original, band sticker covered Sony Vaio laptop that founder Ash Avildsen started the label on was displayed as a historical item.^[21]

In 2014, Sumerian reunited Grammy-winning^[22] actor/rapper Ice-T's Body Count^[23] and released their highest selling album in 20+ years Manslaughter.^[24]

In 2017, Sumerian received its first Grammy nomination for “Best Metal Performance” for Periphery.^[25][26] That year saw Sumerian also have their first box office theatrical film release in American Satan,^[27][28] which debuted in select AMC theatres across the country^[29] and went top 20 in its opening weekend on box office mojo.^[30] The movie was picked up by Miramax for distribution^[31][32] and Showtime for first window domestic SVOD^[33] in the US and SKY in the UK.^[34][35]

In 2018, Sumerian won the “best independent label” award at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods in the UK and accepted the award on stage at the O2 in London.^[36][37]

That same year they released the first true solo album for Jonathan Davis, lead singer of Grammy-winning and timeless influential juggernaut band KoRn.^[38][39] The lead single for Jonathan’s album “What It Is”^[40] went Top 5 at Rock Radio which was a first for Jonathan outside of KoRn.^[41][42]

In 2019, they received another “Best Metal Performance” Grammy nomination for Between The Buried And Me.^[43][44] In 2019, Guitar World listed two Sumerian artists in the top 4 guitarists of the decade, Tosin Abasi of Animals as Leaders and female solo artist Nita Strauss,^[45] who in addition to her solo career and being Alice Cooper’s guitarist,^[46] also plays the national anthem for the home games for the LA Rams at Sofi Stadium^[47] and for WWE,^[48] most recently at WrestleMania 37.^[49]

In 2020, they received their first “Best Rock Performance” Grammy nomination for Bones UK.^[50][51]

In 2021, Sumerian received the first-ever Grammy nomination in the history of the Recording Academy for a female solo artist in the “Best Metal Performance” for Poppy,^[52][53] who also performed at the premiere ceremony.^[54]

References[]

External links[]

• Official website