We Got The Beat: The I.R.S. Story

I.R.S. is a record label that has interested me for a long time; well since I started to get into R.E.M. in the late 80s and saw that until recently, they had been on that label. The name interested me - I knew enough about the USA to know that there was some government association with this initialism.

Before we dive a little bit into the labels history and some of the key bands that were a part of it (we will focus on the original version of it, rather than the time since 2012 when it got re-launched by EMI), I think it is worth doing a little bit of biographical work on its two founding members, who are both interesting characters.

Miles Copeland III Photo: Miles Copeland Collection

Jay Boberg

Jay Boberg

Boberg was born in San Francisco in 1958 and was a keen classical guitarist from the age of seven. And while he did play in some bands in his younger years, he soon gravitated to the business side of music. At his school, Miraleste High School in Rancho Palos Verdes, he put on a couple of talent concerts, including surf band HONK and folk artists, Kenny Rankin and Tim Weisberg. 

He carried on in this vein after enrolling at UCLA in 1976, running their Campus Events shows, booking, amongst others, Peter Gabriel’s first solo US show, post-Genesis and Talking Heads first trip to the west coast. This led to some work as the local campus rep for A&M Records. It was through this work that he would meet Miles Copeland III (but more of him in a bit) - later on in his career, in 1993, he would become president of MCA Music Publishing, and two years later, President of MCA Records.

In more recent years, he has held senior positions at Liberation Entertainment and Isolation Network / INgrooves. From the late 80s he also developed his passion for wine, purchasing a vineyard in Napa Valley, which by 2013 had become his main focus and passion - linking up with winemaker Jean-Nicolas Meo to open the Domaine Nicolas-Jay Winery in Oregon.

Miles Copeland III

Copeland was actually born in London in 1944, his father was a C.I.A. officer stationed there (and his mother was Scottish). He had two younger brothers; Ian became a music promoter, effectively launching the new wave scene in the States through his business Frontier Booking International; you may also know his other brother - Stewart was the drummer in a little band called The Police.

This is probably also a good time to see if you have spotted the humorous link between a lot of the business names here. I.R.S., The Police and FBI - all government references, stemming from having a father in the CIA.

After moving around the Middle East with his father's job, Miles went to Birmingham-Southern College in Alabama, gaining a degree in history and political science - he also got a masters in economics from the American University of Beirut. It was while at that last college, his move into the music world began, promoting concerts. Back in London, he helped with the formation of prog band, Wishbone Ash. He set up a management agency and signed the likes of Squeeze and Curved Air. A disastrous tour of European festivals by some of his bands in 1975, led to the demise of his business British Talent Management.

The Police: Fall Out (live at Hatfield Polytechnic, 1979)

Undeterred, Copeland joined the punk and new wave scene, establishing Illegal Records, Deptford Fun City Records (Squeeze), Industrial Records (Throbbing Gristle), Step Forward Records (including The Fall) and New Bristol Records (amongst others). He also got the gig as manager of brother Stewart’s new band, The Police. It was while taking them on a US tour, that he would meet Jay Boberg.

I.R.S. Records

When the two met in 1979 on that Police tour, Copeland persuaded the young Boberg (still a college junior) to help him set up a new label, focused on the punk and new wave scenes - and particularly trying to get a foothold in the US for some of the new British bands.

Copeland negotiated a distribution deal with A&M Records co-owner Jerry Moss (who The Police were signed to), and the I.R.S. Records division was established in 1979 (standing for International Record Syndicate rather than Internal Revenue Service). He already had a relationship with A&M, as he had worked with them through those early UK labels he set up. He had brought them Squeeze, because they were keen to get a young act on their books. He had also toured The Police before they even had a record deal, showing that you could break a band without it costing loads.

The deal left I.R.S. with full creative control, while A&M, who were providing much of the manufacturing and distribution, could pick up some royalties from the artists who were starting to break out. Carl Grasso came in to lead on art direction, with the packaging and so on. Copeland allowed he and Boberg to become principal owners with him, in return for working there for at least five years. The famous I.R.S. man logo was filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in September 1979.

The first wave of singles and EPs to get released in the U.S. by I.R.S. hit the stores in August 1979, and included Buzzcocks, Monochrome Set, Brian James (ex-Damned), The Necessaries, Chelsea, Wazmo Nariz and The Cramps.

Buzzcocks: What Do I Get? (official music video)

Albums followed by Buzzcocks (Singles Going Steady), Fashion (Product Perfect), Wazmo Nariz (Things Aren't Right), Root Boy Slim (Zoom), Best of Alternative TV and John Cale Live. The strategy they adopted was to keep recording costs as reasonable as possible, and in going for some slightly off-piste bands who had formed their own cult followings, they could guarantee a surefire market.

Fashion: The Innocent (audio only)

The marketing ploy was to try and influence the college radio network across the States, to help them stand out from other regular commercial stations. They offered a $25 annual subscription that gave a station access to all new releases and promotion materials. They also worked on trying to ensure touring schedules tied in with college promotions.

In 1981, a distribution deal was struck with CBS Records in both Australia and New Zealand. The first records out down there would be by Wazmo Nariz, Skafish and The Cramps.

When the distribution deal with A&M ran out in 1985, it was picked up by MCA Records, who ran with them until 1990 when this time it was EMI who took them on. In 1995, the music publishing parts were sold to Rondor Music, and in 1996 I.R.S. itself folded. The last release was All Set, the fifth album by UK punks, Buzzcocks, coming out two weeks before the label closed its doors.

There was, as mentioned, that later revival from 2012, again under the EMI banner, but as Boberg and Copeland were no longer involved, we won’t get into that bit.

A bit Faulty:

Faulty Products was another of those UK based ventures set up by Copeland, in this case a holding company for the other record labels had set up earlier; Illegal, Deptford Fun City and others. It was also a US label and distribution company for artists who were not covered by the I.R.S. deal with A&M - this perhaps most notably included The Bangles.

The Bangles: The Real World (official music video)

Then came Faulty Records, set up specifically to release work by San Francisco punks, Dead Kennedy's. First album, Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables came out on the sister label, Alternative Tentacles and A&M exercised their right not to promote any record they didn't feel comfortable with. The label would become something of a testing ground for bands and releases, to see if they might become viable for A&M distribution in the future.

Illegal Records, first set up by Miles and Stewart, had in fact released The Police’s debut single Fall Out, back in May 1977. Deptford Fun City Records was set up to be an outlet for bands like Squeeze.

The Bands:

I.R.S. assembled a pretty decent array of British and American new wave talent across the 1980s. Most notable among them is probably R.E.M., who they plucked from Georgian obscurity, releasing their first five albums, before they moved on to Warner Bros and world domination in the 1990s. 

But they were that American conduit for up and coming British acts like The Alarm, Fine Young Cannibals and The English Beat (or just The Beat, as we knew them in the UK). They also provided a place for more established acts such as Buzzcocks, Gary Numan, John Cale and even Black Sabbath. 

The Beat: Save It For Later (official music video)

The American part of the roster was also quite impressive, if often a little quirky. You had The Go-Go’s, Berlin, the dB's and the Bangles, but also Timbuk 3 (Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades), Oingo Boingo (the starting point for film score maestro Danny Elfman)  and Wall of Voodoo (Mexican Radio).

The dB's: Neverland (official music video)

In March 1981, Beauty & The Beat, the debut record by the Go-Go's gave the label their first RIAA certified Gold album. They would become the first all-girl group to have a U.S. number one album, and I.R.S.'s only ever Grammy nominees. It would also spawn two U.S. Top 20 singles, with We Got The Beat reaching number two.

The Go-Go's: We Got The Beat (live on The Old Grey Whistle Test, 1982)

But it is the signing, in May 1982, of Athens up and comers, R.E.M. is perhaps what they are best remembered for. The Georgians had turned down the advances of RCA Records in favour of them. The Mitch Easter produced Chronic Town EP came out a few months later, and would ultimately be followed by five albums, before that move across to Warner Bros in the late 80s.

R.E.M.: Carnival Of Sorts (Boxcars) (live in Passaic, 1985)

The success of I.R.S. Records, especially in that first decade, may well be down to the philosophy of Copeland, who told Cash Box in 1981; "When I listen to a tape... I think I'd like to be associated with that. I'm putting out records I like; I actually play my records and I can sing you all of the songs."