An independent label, based in the Bishop's Stortford / Harlow area. Stortbeat's numbering system was slightly peculiar: in the wake of its first release, The Gangsters' 'Record Company' b/w 'Harlow Town' (A-45; 1979) it issued seven more singles and one LP using a BEAT-0 series with occasional exceptions. Featured artists included The Licks, later known as The Epileptics, who evolved into the Anarcho-Punk group Flux Of Pink Indians. The label started up in the spring of 1979 and doesn't seem to have survived long into the following year. Manufacturers included Lyntone and Orlake; several of its singles were given wider distribution through Spartan late in 1979. BEAT-8 comes in several forms including a white label pressing from 1981, the sleeve of which credits it to The Epileptics. Thanks to Simon Hughes for the first scan, and to Sam Mauger for the second.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.