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Bradshaw Lambert is back at Bong Load
The label introduced the world to Beck’s “Loser”
The Saint Cecilia promo image for Bong Load Records
After graduating from Coronado High School in 1980, Bradshaw Lambert took some classes, first at Southwestern and then at Mesa College, before finally ending up at San Diego City College in their radio program. There, the courses helped him land his first radio gig, which was answering phones at 91X. “There was a deejay named Mad Max there,” Lambert says. “He was a funny looking dude. He looked like Uncle Fester. He had a shaved head and big glasses. He invited me to see the Clash in Downtown San Diego as sort of a reward for answering the phones. The minute I met Max, he was like, ‘Bradshaw, you don’t look anything like you sound.’ I said ‘Oh, that’s funny coming from you, Uncle Fester. You’re the guy who looks like an alien.’”
Lambert eventually ended up in Los Angeles, where he worked at the Record Plant Recording Studios with two up-and-coming producers, Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf. Somewhere along the line, Rothrock approached Lambert at a concert. “Tom handed me a DAT and goes, ‘Do you want to start a label?’ I said, ‘Sure, what do you want me to do?’ He goes, ‘Here’s a DAT. Try to figure out how to make a CD. Try to figure out how to make vinyl.’ I said okay. That’s how it began.”
“It” was Bong Load Custom Records, a tiny label whose name was inspired by Rothrock’s youthful Humboldt County stomping grounds. “He was surrounded by weed while he was growing up,” Lambert says. The label’s claim to fame would be one of the ‘90s most memorable singles: “Loser” by Beck. “The story that I’ve heard is that Rob saw Beck at the Sunset Junction Street Fair, and that Tom saw Beck at a different venue — perhaps it was an all-ages place that Beck used to play called Jabberjaw. They saw him separately within a week and both came to each other and said, ‘Have you seen this kid who’s got a guitar strap that’s a rope?’ They both decided they had to record this guy.”
Rothrock would end up co-producing the single with Carl Stephenson at Stephenson’s home studio. Five hundred 12-inch singles were manufactured by Bong Load, and Lambert used his radio background to get them played on stations such as 91X, KCRW in LA, and KNDD in Seattle. The single took off and led to a label bidding war that eventually landed Beck on Geffen subsidiary DGC. “If you look at his Spotify, that song far exceeds any of his other singles,” Lambert says. “A lot of his singles have 50 million, 40 million [plays], but ‘Loser’ seems to have like 350 million.” (Actually, the number is 477 million as of January 2025.) “I’ve had people tell me what car they were in when they heard it for the first time, what intersection they were at — and, for many of them, what radio station they heard it on.”
Bong Load was included in the deal with Geffen. The label was given the rights to release Beck’s songs on vinyl. The Beck albums — and releases by artists such as Elliott Smith, Eels, Kyuss, L7 and Fu Manchu — would be part of the imprint’s most productive period, from the mid-1990s through the early 2000s. Schnapf and Lambert eventually both sold their shares of the label back to Rothrock, who oversaw Bong Load in the late-2000s and 2010s. Of late, other than a relaunch for the 25th anniversary of the label that centered on catalog vinyl reissues, the label has been mostly dormant. Until now. Not only is Bong Load reloaded with Lambert back in the fold, but they are also working with new artists for the first time in years. “I wouldn’t say we’re looking for [new talent], because it kind of comes to us because of the track record,” Lambert says.
This time around, Rothrock is going to be the primary producer and Schnapf will remain out of the fold. The first new act that Bong Load is working with is the Costa Rica-based rock band The Saint Cecilia, who will appear at the Music Box on Friday, January 31. Some locals may have caught them when they played an early afternoon set at last May’s Wonderfront Festival. “Rothrock felt strongly enough to bring them to his studio, which is still located in Humboldt County. Tom has recorded over two dozen songs with this band.” Look for their new LP, and another record by singer-songwriter (as well as writer-illustrator-animator) April March to be released on Bong Load this summer.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Bradshaw Lambert is back at Bong Load
The label introduced the world to Beck’s “Loser”
Bradshaw Lambert is back at Bong Load
The label introduced the world to Beck’s “Loser”
The Saint Cecilia promo image for Bong Load Records
After graduating from Coronado High School in 1980, Bradshaw Lambert took some classes, first at Southwestern and then at Mesa College, before finally ending up at San Diego City College in their radio program. There, the courses helped him land his first radio gig, which was answering phones at 91X. “There was a deejay named Mad Max there,” Lambert says. “He was a funny looking dude. He looked like Uncle Fester. He had a shaved head and big glasses. He invited me to see the Clash in Downtown San Diego as sort of a reward for answering the phones. The minute I met Max, he was like, ‘Bradshaw, you don’t look anything like you sound.’ I said ‘Oh, that’s funny coming from you, Uncle Fester. You’re the guy who looks like an alien.’”
Lambert eventually ended up in Los Angeles, where he worked at the Record Plant Recording Studios with two up-and-coming producers, Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf. Somewhere along the line, Rothrock approached Lambert at a concert. “Tom handed me a DAT and goes, ‘Do you want to start a label?’ I said, ‘Sure, what do you want me to do?’ He goes, ‘Here’s a DAT. Try to figure out how to make a CD. Try to figure out how to make vinyl.’ I said okay. That’s how it began.”
“It” was Bong Load Custom Records, a tiny label whose name was inspired by Rothrock’s youthful Humboldt County stomping grounds. “He was surrounded by weed while he was growing up,” Lambert says. The label’s claim to fame would be one of the ‘90s most memorable singles: “Loser” by Beck. “The story that I’ve heard is that Rob saw Beck at the Sunset Junction Street Fair, and that Tom saw Beck at a different venue — perhaps it was an all-ages place that Beck used to play called Jabberjaw. They saw him separately within a week and both came to each other and said, ‘Have you seen this kid who’s got a guitar strap that’s a rope?’ They both decided they had to record this guy.”
Rothrock would end up co-producing the single with Carl Stephenson at Stephenson’s home studio. Five hundred 12-inch singles were manufactured by Bong Load, and Lambert used his radio background to get them played on stations such as 91X, KCRW in LA, and KNDD in Seattle. The single took off and led to a label bidding war that eventually landed Beck on Geffen subsidiary DGC. “If you look at his Spotify, that song far exceeds any of his other singles,” Lambert says. “A lot of his singles have 50 million, 40 million [plays], but ‘Loser’ seems to have like 350 million.” (Actually, the number is 477 million as of January 2025.) “I’ve had people tell me what car they were in when they heard it for the first time, what intersection they were at — and, for many of them, what radio station they heard it on.”
Bong Load was included in the deal with Geffen. The label was given the rights to release Beck’s songs on vinyl. The Beck albums — and releases by artists such as Elliott Smith, Eels, Kyuss, L7 and Fu Manchu — would be part of the imprint’s most productive period, from the mid-1990s through the early 2000s. Schnapf and Lambert eventually both sold their shares of the label back to Rothrock, who oversaw Bong Load in the late-2000s and 2010s. Of late, other than a relaunch for the 25th anniversary of the label that centered on catalog vinyl reissues, the label has been mostly dormant. Until now. Not only is Bong Load reloaded with Lambert back in the fold, but they are also working with new artists for the first time in years. “I wouldn’t say we’re looking for [new talent], because it kind of comes to us because of the track record,” Lambert says.
This time around, Rothrock is going to be the primary producer and Schnapf will remain out of the fold. The first new act that Bong Load is working with is the Costa Rica-based rock band The Saint Cecilia, who will appear at the Music Box on Friday, January 31. Some locals may have caught them when they played an early afternoon set at last May’s Wonderfront Festival. “Rothrock felt strongly enough to bring them to his studio, which is still located in Humboldt County. Tom has recorded over two dozen songs with this band.” Look for their new LP, and another record by singer-songwriter (as well as writer-illustrator-animator) April March to be released on Bong Load this summer.
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