Bent Penny Records
Based in Toronto, Canada, Bent Penny Records was formed in January 2004 by Julian Taylor and Dan Black of veteran Toronto rock band Staggered Crossing. Their aim was to create an independent record label that would serve as a new avenue for Canadian and International artists to get their music out there, so they partnered up with Fontana North Distribution. With over twenty years of combined experience in the music industry (recording, promoting, marketing, and touring across Canada), Taylor and Black had accumulated a wealth of expertise they wanted to share with other artists. Being musicians themselves, they felt they could provide a unique and privileged perspective to each of their artists. Bent Penny quickly earned a reputation for its positive contribution to the music industry by representing emerging talent with good vibes, grit and soul. 'For artists, by artists' became the unofficial motto. When asked what drove him to form an alliance with Black, Taylor confesses: "We realized we never really wanted to stop being involved in the musical process...just being around music is what makes us happy, it's what makes us tick." Since then a lot has changed at Bent Penny but the core remains the same. Today Bent Penny is a full-service music promotion, and artist support company run by a great team of dedicated music professionals with a proven track record. A team 'bent' on representing artists at its core!
Label's First Release
"In 1999 I was driving from a litt
le recording session with a friend who put on an album called Being There by Wilco. It was the very first time that I'd every heard of them. I was just out of high school and a serious fan of bands like The Grateful Dead, CSNY and Little Feat and at the time was not really aware that there were bands out there that were following in that tradition. I was in awe of Wilco and their sound and quickly began to spread the word to my bandmates. We fell in love with them instantly and their music became the soundtrack to our lives during the recording of our debut album on Warner.After the first album cycle had finished and the band was no longer on a major label we were planning to make our second album. I'd been back stage at a Blue Rodeo show that we played in Montreal and was talking to Bob Egan who was playing with them and who had actually played on Being There. I was so excited about meeting Bob and told him how big of a fan I was of his work and especially the band Wilco. Bob said that he'd pass on my info to Jay Bennett as he was producing records and who
knew, maybe he'd be interested?
One morning six months later, the phone rang at my place. I answered and it was Jay Bennett on the other line. I was so excited to be even speaking to him. As time passed we became really good friends and Jay ended up coming to Toronto to record and produce Staggered Crossing's album Last Summer When We Were Famous. I learnt so much from Jay. We all did. He became a wonderful mentor and friend to all of the members of Staggered Crossing. We were even his back up band once. In 2004 when our Bent Penny Records was officially launched, the first album we released across Canada was Jay Bennett's debut solo album, The Palace at 4am. Sometimes when Jay was in Toronto he'd just end up crashing at my place on the couch and we'd stay up all night listening to and playing music. When Jay was here one weekend he brought some demo recordings that he'd worked on and even recorded some stuff here at my place. Some of these cuts were to be for his upcoming albums and some were actually intended for the Wilco albums but never saw the light of day. I have a few discs still sitting at my place all of rare Bennett material. Jay Bennett was one of those people who was such a brilliant talent and I am so glad that I got to spend the time with him that I did. He was someone I looked up to and his was an opinion that I trusted; he was a friend and a lovely human being who will be sorely missed."
Excerpt from Julian Taylor's public letter on the tragic passing of Jay Bennett