Bruce Pavitt Sub Pop USA: The Subterranean Pop Music Anthology

Bruce Pavitt was born 1959 in Chicago IL. At the age of nine, he sold Christmas cards door-to-door in the summer heat, earning enough money to buy his first record player, and soon after, his first record (“Revolution” by the Beatles). A lifelong passion for music brought him to the Evergreen state college in Olympia, WA, in 1979, where he spent time as a DJ at KAOS-FM. Soon after, he started his own zine named SUB POP, which reviewed hard-to-find independent rock recordings. In 1983 Bruce moved to Seattle, where he started the SUB POP indie music column for the Rocket magazine, hosted a SUB POP radio show on KCMU-FM, was a DJ at the infamous Metropolis all ages club, as well as the Vogue and Re-Bar.In 1984, he co-founded Fallout Records, the first indie rock record store in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. In 1986 he launched the SUB POP record label with the release of a compilation album: SUB POP 100, featuring NY’s Sonic Youth and Seattle’s U-Men. In 1988, along with business partner Jonathan Poneman, Bruce opened the doors to the SUB POP offices at First and Virginia in downtown Seattle. By the early 90′s SUB POP had released recordings by Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Mark Lanegan, Beat Happening, TAD, The Walkabouts, Steven Jessie Bernstein and helped initiate a global interest in Seattle area music.In 2012, Bruce released  Experiencing Nirvana: Grunge in Europe, 1989a photo journal documenting his travel experiences with Sub Pop bands in Europe. . IN 2014, a  compilation of his early Sub Pop zines and columns entitled,Sub Pop USA: The Subterranean Pop Music Anthology, 1980-1988.
Bruce Pavitt currently lives on Orcas Island in Washington State. In addition to working as the Creative Director at 8Stem he also keeps engaged in music by speaking at conferences and festivals, consulting with artists and music labels, and as a DJ.