New Hormones was a Manchester independent record label founded by Richard Boon and Howard Devoto and Pete Shelley. It was the first independent punk rock label in the UK.
History
Beginnings
The label's first release was Buzzcocks' Spiral Scratch (EP), which was the second self-released punk record ever (after The Saints "(I'm) Stranded" from Australia), and the third English punk single (preceded only by The Damned's "New Rose", and Sex Pistols's "Anarchy in the U.K."). The band had to borrow £500 from their friends and families to pay for the record's production and manufacture. The EP quickly sold out its initial run of 1,000 copies, and went on to sell 16,000 copies, initially only by mail order, but also eventually with the help of the Manchester branch of music chain store Virgin, whose manager took some copies and persuaded other regional branch managers to follow suit. In late 1977 Devoto officially quit New Hormones in order to concentrate on his new band Magazine. When re-released in 1979 the EP reached 31 on the UK Singles Chart. After this, the band planned to release another EP, titled Love Bites (eventually the name was used as the title to their second album), through the label however when drummer John Maher decided that after graduating he was not going to get a day job and instead play in Buzzcocks for a living they decided to sign to a major label, United Artists.
After the release of Spiral Scratch, several bands planned to release music through New Hormones however for various reasons did not, this includes The Fall, New Hormones paid for the recording session however they could not afford to release what would become Bingo-Master's Break-Out! EP; Boon put it "I would have put [it] out if I’d had the money. I paid for the tapes. Martin Hannett did a shoddy job and things were getting very difficult. I gave Kay Carroll [the band’s then manager] the tapes, she placed them with Step Forward." Both Cabaret Voltaire, and Gang of Four sent tapes to New Hormones however those too could not be released due to lack of money; he did however invite them to open for Buzzcocks at the London release party of Another Music in a Different Kitchen (along with John Cooper Clarke, and The Slits). Cabaret Voltaire later released music through Factory Records, Industrial Records and Rough Trade, while Gang Of Four signed to Fast Product and eventually EMI. Although Buzzcocks left and the label couldn't afford to release other records, it still existed, run mainly by Richard Boon and made its second release in late 1977; it was not even a record, it was a booklet of collages by Linder Sterling and Jon Savage titled The Secret Public.
Productive period
After that New Hormones did not release anything for more than two years, then in early 1980, after Buzzcocks became less of a serious commitment, and Boon found he had much more money and spare time, and so New Hormones started releasing music again. Over the next two years it released 21 records and three cassettes. Unfortunately, New Hormones could not escape the shadow cast on them and other Manchester independents by Factory Records, "Factory was the hip Manchester label in everyone’s mind so we were always fighting that a bit especially with press, which was so important then," said Pete Wright, who managed Dislocation Dance and later helped run New Hormones, since Spiral Scratch music had changed, many Manchester bands had gone from three-chord punk, to a more experimental Post-punk sound, Factory already had a roster including Joy Division, A Certain Ratio, The Durutti Column and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. New Hormones did however manage to sign a few bands including Ludus, The Tiller Boys, Eric Random, and God's Gift, amongst others.
Death of New Hormones
In the early 1980s many independent record labels in England had a system of finding a large band that would score top 40 hits so that the label would have money to release more obscure material, as Boon put it "You have an artist who sells and makes enough money for you to do all the fringe peripheral stuff. Geoff could sell a load of Aztec Camera and sell 4,000 Robert Wyatt on the back of it. Daniel had Depeche, which meant Mute could put out Diamanda Galás. Tony had Joy Division.", after signing Buzzcocks to UA and lacking the means to release music by other hits, New Hormones could not find a similar success. Money was scarce, Ludus' Danger Came Smiling failed to break even, and New Hormones teetered on bankruptcy constantly, and while it did have future plans, it ceased operation in late 1982, and in summer 1983 Boon went to work for Rough Trade, while distribution manager Peter Wright went on to Neutral Records in New York.