Fat Wreck Chords is a San Francisco, California based independent record label, focused on punk rock, which was started by Fat Mike (lead singer and bassist of the punk rock band NOFX) and his wife Erin, in 1990.
They have released material for bands such as his own, NOFX, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (for which Fat Mike is also the bassist), Propagandhi, AFI, Rise Against, Lagwagon, Strung Out, No Use for a Name, Less Than Jake, Against Me!, Anti-Flag, and more.
One somewhat unique and defining characteristic of Fat Wreck Chords is that they only sign one-record deals with bands. This allows the bands working with Fat Wreck Chords to have a choice as to when and if they want to put a record out on the label. In some cases, bands have released albums on Fat Wreck Chords but also on other labels. Many bands on this label participated in the campaign Punkvoter, which was started by Fat Mike and attempted to encourage the youth in the U.S. to vote against George W. Bush in the 2004 U.S. presidential election.
The label has never been a member of the Recording Industry Association of America as indicated on the frequently-asked questions portion of the label's website: "Are we a member? Not only no, but FUCK NO! We spent three years having our label’s name (which was misspelled) removed from their members list. A year went by, then our name showed up again on their fucking list! Who are these sonsabitches?! Needless to say, we’re in the process of having our name removed again, but they aren’t being too cooperative." One of the many distributors carrying releases from Fat Wreck Chords is Sony BMG subsidiary RED Distribution, an RIAA member.
