Artery Foundation is a Sacramento-based artist management company that also operated an affiliated record label, Artery Recordings, working primarily with heavy-music acts in metalcore, deathcore, post-hardcore and symphonic metal.[1][2][3] Repeatedly described in Submerge coverage as "located in Sacramento" and "Sacramento-based," it is treated as a hometown music-business entity rather than a touring outfit.[1][2]
At a glance
- Sacramento-based artist management company.[1][2]
- Operated an affiliated label, Artery Recordings.[1][2][3]
- Managed Knoxville deathcore band Whitechapel; Shawn Carrano of Artery was their manager.[1]
- Managed Sacramento bands A Lot Like Birds, Incredible Me and (via its booking arm) Graveshadow.[2][3][4]
- Staff/associates named in sources include manager Shawn Carrano and booking agent Andrew Roesch.[1][4]
- Connected to the Deftones' Chino Moreno through manager Shawn Carrano.[1]
Origins and founding
The Artery Foundation was founded in 2004 by Eric Rushing, Greg Patterson, and Shawn Carrano.[5] Rushing's path to the company began a decade earlier: in 1996 he launched 720 Records, modeled after Rusty Nail, a small Sacramento label from the early 1990s whose releases included music by local acts Far, Funky Blue Velvet, and Prayer Wheel. That venture eventually evolved into The Artery Foundation in 2004.[6]
Role in the Sacramento scene
Artery Foundation functioned as a management company headquartered in Sacramento, with Submerge consistently identifying it as "located in Sacramento" and "Sacramento-based."[1][2] Alongside management, it ran a record label, Artery Recordings, which signed and released music for some of the acts in its orbit.[1][2][3] The organization spanned multiple roles in the music business: management, label operations and, by 2015, in-house booking.[1][3][4]
The company also served as a development pipeline for younger heavy bands. Whitechapel guitarist Alex Wade described doing management work for the company that managed his band, handling smaller acts under the guidance of his own manager, Shawn Carrano of Artery Foundation; through that arrangement, Wade brought the band I Declare War to Artery, which had recently started Artery Recordings, and the band was signed.[1]
Beyond management, Artery ran the Across the Nation Tour beginning in 2008, which later expanded to Europe, and hosted an annual free showcase at South by Southwest.[5] The company opened an Australia office in summer 2012.[5] Eric Rushing was also connected to several Sacramento music venues and businesses, including Ace of Spades (sold to Live Nation in 2016), Gold Standard Sounds studio, High Road Publicity, and Goldfield Trading Post and The Boardwalk in Orangevale.[6]
Artery Recordings
Artery Recordings was established in 2010 as an imprint of Razor & Tie by Eric Rushing, with Chelsea Grin as its inaugural signed act.[7][8] The label released music for acts including I Declare War, Incredible Me (whose debut LP Est. 2012 came out September 17, 2013 through Razor and Tie/Artery Recordings[3]), and others in the heavy-music space.
On August 31, 2017, Artery Recordings was acquired by Warner Music Group. No staff were taken on as part of the agreement, and Warner's ADA division assumed responsibility for upcoming frontline releases.[9][10]
Managed and signed acts
Submerge coverage names several acts tied to Artery across roughly 2009–2015:
- Whitechapel — Knoxville, Tennessee deathcore band managed via Artery, with Shawn Carrano as their manager. Wade described his own side work managing smaller bands for "the company that manages us."[1]
- I Declare War — signed to the newly launched Artery Recordings after Wade introduced them; subsequently managed largely by Wade under Carrano's supervision.[1]
- A Lot Like Birds — Sacramento-based progressive/hardcore band announced in April 2011 that it was being managed by Sacramento-based Artery Foundation, the same period it inked a deal with Doghouse Records.[2]
- Incredible Me — Sacramento sextet picked up by The Artery Foundation as management on the strength of two demo songs, before they had played a live show; their debut LP Est. 2012 was released Sept. 17, 2013 through Razor and Tie/Artery Recordings.[3]
- A Skylit Drive and For All Those Sleeping — referred to as "fellow Artery Foundation bands" sharing The Rise Up Tour with Incredible Me in October 2013.[3]
- Graveshadow — Sacramento symphonic metal band whose booking, as of late 2015, was handled by Andrew Roesch, "who also works for Artery Foundation," set to begin booking the band in early 2016.[4]
People
- Eric Rushing — founder of The Artery Foundation (2004), along with Greg Patterson and Shawn Carrano.[5] Prior to Artery, Rushing ran 720 Records (founded 1996), itself modeled on the early-Sacramento label Rusty Nail.[6] He was also involved with Ace of Spades, Gold Standard Sounds, High Road Publicity, Goldfield Trading Post, and The Boardwalk in Orangevale.[6]
- Shawn Carrano — co-founder and manager working with Artery Foundation; managed Whitechapel and oversaw Wade's management of smaller acts. Carrano had been friends with the Deftones and Chino Moreno for roughly a decade and previously managed Moreno's side project Team Sleep, arranging guest appearances for Moreno (including on Whitechapel's A New Era of Corruption, as well as Norma Jean and Dance Gavin Dance records).[1]
- Greg Patterson — co-founder of The Artery Foundation.[5]
- Andrew Roesch — booking agent who works for Artery Foundation; engaged to begin booking Graveshadow in early 2016.[4]
Scene connections
Artery's roster and relationships linked Sacramento's heavy-music management scene to national acts and to the city's most famous band, the Deftones. Through Carrano's longstanding friendship with Chino Moreno, Artery facilitated Moreno's guest appearance on Whitechapel's A New Era of Corruption and other guest spots, tying the management company to the broader Sacramento metal lineage.[1] Its Sacramento-area roster (A Lot Like Birds, Incredible Me, Graveshadow) places it at the center of the region's mid-2000s-to-2010s metalcore/post-hardcore/symphonic-metal ecosystem.[2][3][4]