Fiction Records

Fiction Records was a label created by Cary Baker, a Chicago music journalist (Creem, Trouser Press, Chicago Reader, Bomp!, Illinois Entertainer) in 1977. It was launched in Baker's college apartment in DeKalb, IL and later moved to East Rogers Park. The first 45 was by Bun E. Carlos' friends Rockford powerpop band The Names ("Why Can't It Be" b/w "Baby You're a Fool"). Wazmo Nariz released both a single ("Tele-tele-telephone" b/w "Gadabout") and an EP (The EP) on Fiction. (Wazmo was soon picked up first by Stiff Records U.K. and then signed to I.R.S. Records, joining Skafish as the label's first U.S. artist.) L.A. band Tremors featuring Bomp! Records employee Dave Roeder released a Fiction single ("Tonight's My Night"). Finally, Larry Rand broke the powerpop orientation with his solo folk/comedy "Skokie Blues" b/w "Dust Up His Nose," which received airplay on WXRT. Fiction also distributed a lo-fi indie single by a Joliet singer/pianist named Chris Tolin. When Baker walked into Wax Trax in 1981 to be told by Jim Nash that Nash really dug the new Cure single (on an unrelated British label called Fiction), Baker decided it was time to shift gears. He returned to journalism, and in 1984 moved to Los Angeles to work for I.R.S. Records. Today he operates Conqueroo.