Hello, friend.

Disconnect Records was an independent record label based in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, that existed between 2004 and 2009.

Three of us got together during a typically cold Hobart winter in 2004 and decided we were sick of waiting for something to happen in our small city, and we wanted to make something happen ourselves. So, with the help of a growing community of punks, and a tight-knit but small group of bands, we started promoting shows and trying to figure out how in the hell to release an EP, then an album, then a vinyl 7″ EP. Suckers for punishment? You bet.

Between then and when we decided to call it quits, we promoted many, many shows for local, national, and international touring bands, helped set up a bunch of national tours for Tasmanian bands, added Tasmania to the list of ‘must-do’ cities for a number of bands and bookers, beat big-dollar promoters to the ‘best promoter’ title at the Tasmanian industry awards, and introduced a hell of a lot of music-starved people to some pretty fucking good bands. Oh, and we also released a few records along the way.

We started the label with two bands with self-recorded EPs putting in $550 each to press the smallest run of split CDEPs that we could afford. Any money we made went back into the label. Up until the end we had a simple system. We’d pay for half the pressing of a release, and as soon as that money was recouped, we split any sales 50 / 50 with bands. We helped the bands, and the bands helped us.

Disconnect was a DIY label simply because we did everything ourselves. If we didn’t know how to do something, we found out, and learned by doing. We designed, photocopied, and screenprinted our own posters, then spent winter nights dodging cops wearing double hoodies and gloves while we plastered the city with posters. Over a few years we taught ourselves how to be bookers, promoters, media and PR people, stagehands, merch and door bitches – you name it, we did it.

Five years later, we found ourselves in different headspaces, drained of the time, energy, and enthusiasm that we started with, and without enough to give it 100% any more. We decided giving anything less than all we had was a cop-out, so we called it quits.

Thank you for checking this website out, for buying one of our releases, for coming to a show, for touring your band to Tas, or for helping us to help build what was a thriving punk scene in Tasmania for a few years there. We owe you everything.

Liam, Mischa, Mischa, and the extended Disconnect family.

Conation, The Venue, Hobart, 2004. Photo: Liam