Last Gang Records
Last Gang Records is a record label that was formed by Canadian music industry lawyer Chris Taylor and concert promoter Donald Tarlton in the Fall of 2003 at the Pop Montreal Music Festival.
As their music lawyer, Taylor had been working for the group Metric since the early days of 1998 and had literally "shopped" the band to over 100 record labels around the world but to no avail. He was prepared to release the album himself with his own money when he met with Tarlton. After viewing the Metric video for "Grow Up and Blow Away" (a single on a Metric album that would not be released until 2007) Donald offered to help Taylor realize his vision of introducing Metric's music to the world. They formed a joint venture company under the DKD label group Last Gang Records. Metric released their critically acclaimed Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? in May 2004 and Last Gang Records was born.
Last Gang was nominated as Independent Record Label of the Year at the Canadian Music Awards in 2006. Metric was nominated for a Juno Award in 2005 and albums by Tiga and MSTRKRFT won Juno Awards in 2007. A recent signing, Crystal Castles, were featured on the cover of the NME (June, 2008) and playing major festivals around the globe. The Toronto-based company also has its hands in publishing, licensing, multi-format releases, management and legal, pushing forward-thinking, progressive dance and alternative acts.