Clone Records

1970s-1980s rock label from Akron, Ohio.

Nick Nicholis of the Bizarros founded Clone in 1977 and ran it till it folded in ’81. The label worked to document the scene in Akron, 39 miles south of Pere Ubu’s Cleveland, and released more than a dozen records from bands such as Tin Huey, the Human Switchboard, the Waitresses (who counted Chicago saxophonist Mars Williams among their members), Unit 5, Teacher’s Pet, Gray Bunnies, and of course the Bizarros. Nicholis shuttered the label because of family obligations, and the pressings suddenly entered the cloudy world of vintage dead stock. (The label, or at least its name, resurfaced in 2003, when the re-formed Bizarros released their first new album in 23 years, Can’t Fight Your Way Up Town From Here.)