From the subterranean depths of Georgia’s musical underbelly, a breath of sweet, raw, and undulating soundwaves is reverberating. Orchestrating this sonic stir from the heart of West Point is record producer, Steven Jarvis, with his innovative label, Cancer Records LLC. Fostered by a love for the timeless and tangible medium of vinyl, Jarvis, alongside his trusted guitar in his reggae punk band Badabings, is rising as a significant phonograph in Georgia’s underground rock scene.
Determined to hark back to the celebrated yesteryears of music, Jarvis is trailblazing his path with stoic resolution, even amid the digital age’s ceaseless tumult. Cancer Records nestles itself uniquely in the intertwining realms of the aesthetically pleasing and the remarkably stable. The move to releasing on vinyl resonates with an echo of nostalgia, entwining the listener in an immersive, multisensory experience, and coupling the auditory with the visual symbology in an evocative, cohesive tapestry of artistry.
Adopting this vintage medium isn’t merely a retro-chic affection for Jarvis, but instead, vinyl emerges as a continuum engine for musical dialogue across time and space. Its rigorous limitations — roughly twenty minutes of audio time per side — don’t confine him but beckon his unwavering focus on thematic elements and coherent songwriting. As the founder and operator of Cancer Records, his bones reverberate with the profound joy of helping others create, cultivating new artists, and enriching the indie, alternative, reggae, punk, and metal genres with his eloquent compositions.
Poised deftly at the dispatch center of West Point’s sound waves, Jarvis’s Cancer Records extends the olive branch of collaboration to any artistic soul seeking to etch their stylings into the history of music. Steven Jarvis emits an open call to bands: Reach out, dock at the Cancer Records Station, and embark on their enchanting album creation journey!
Possessing an open-ended spectrum of undertakings, Jarvis is currently stirring a potent musical stew with diverse ingredients. He’s brewing the debut release for the band, “Left Hand Hot Dog,” sizzling the emo/indie project known as Tommy Pastrami and the Traveling Circus Quartet. Additionally, he is dialing in the beats for Badabing’s next thrilling record called “Reggae Cowboy,” which promises to gallop into the music landscape next year.
For the uninitiated, Jarvis and his band Badabings can be described as a turbocharged collision of ska sensibilities with reggae beats and punk grit, reminiscent of East Coast Sublime with a distinctive growling vocal garnish. This characteristic melange is sure to titillate the senses and arouse curiosity in rock enthusiasts.
This ride on the audio waves began in the echoing halls of a high-school, where the young Steven Jarvis recorded his first album. His professional trajectory pivoted to an uphill climb in 2016 when he took a fortuitous leap, moving to Macon, Georgia. Here, Jarvis started building a music recording studio from scratch within the husk of an old museum, encapsulating traces of history with fresh beats of the moment.
Two years later, in this ongoing serenade with music, Cancer Records emerged from the cocoon of ambition and possibility that Jarvis and one of the former studio owners had spun together. Focused on paving the way for the enduring allure of vinyl, Cancer Records ingrained themselves in the music scene with their commitment to small run vinyl releases. Today, they operate from the heart of Jarvis’s home in West Point, GA, where passion collides with creativity, yielding a burst of resonating underground rock.
Jarvis extends an all-encompassing invitation to anyone craving a taste of the reggae-punk, ska-adjacent tunes of Badabings or the emotive musical echoes of Cancer Records. He coaxes his listeners into feeling the cathartic release of joy and the electrifying jolt of excitement that his music decidedly promises to deliver.
You can connect with Steven Jarvis and Cancer Records through their vibrant digital landscapes on various platforms. Vinyl revivalists, music enthusiasts, or anyone enamored by the enticing pull of raw, unaltered soundscapes of subterranean Georgia are warmly invited to journey through Cancer Records’ sound portals.
Links:
Cancer Records: Website | Facebook | Instagram
