Kabuki was a London based label which concentrated on the releasing and marketing Irish material.
After almost signing to Go Feet Records, Kissed Air
chose to start their own
record label. Thus Kabuki Records was launched in the summer of 1982. The name
and logo design was by Cormac Tohill. Kabuki established a manufacturing and
distribution deal with Rough Trade Records through Dubliner Gareth Ryan. Ryan
was a friend of the band who had worked in the Liffey Street branch of Golden
Discs in Dublin (known for it's punk/new wave stock) and been in a band called
Atonomy before moving to London where he worked
for the Rough Trade collective. As such
he was ideally placed to help. Ryan suggested Microdisney
for the label's second release and
was also behind the Operating Theatre
release but the rest were chosen by band
members. Kabuki effectively ended when Kissed Air
called it a day in 1985.
According to Eric Briggs, who worked at Kabuki for a period, it actually evolved
into Shellshock Distribution, currently one of the UK's biggest distributors.
KA8 was planned as an Exile In The Kingdom single
but it never happened.
Gareth Ryan later released it on his own Prophet Records
label and gave it a custom number reflecting it's history (PROFEX 8).
KAR 1 Kissed Air - Kariba/Kissed Air 7" [summer 1982] KAMD 2 Microdisney - Hello Rascals/Helicopter 7" [October 1982] KA 3 Kissed Air - Out Of The Night/Change of Attention 7" (12/1982) KAMD 4 Microdisney - Pink Skinned Man/Fiction Land 7" [1983] KA 5 Five Go Down To The Sea - Knot A Fish EP 7" [1983] KAOT 6 Operating Theatre - Miss Mauger LP [1983] KAR 7 Ruefrex - Capital Letters/April Fool 7" (4/1983) K 8 KA 9 Kissed Air - Kawaraya EP 12" [1983]