Between 1989 and 1991, Mad Dawg Records exploded on the Washington, D.C. music scene with live events and recorded music.  Dubbed by the founder, Nathan Douglas, as “the label with an attitude,” its stable of artists included rock, reggae and novelty rap performers.  Douglas provided some of the songs, which he had begun writing a few years prior.

Teaming with Christian Schweiger, a Virginia-based booking agent, the two entrepreneurs set out to establish a new independent record label that would give local talent a chance to explore their potential.  They quickly signed D.C. reggae master, Englishman, to do a greatest hits album on compact disc, which was replacing vinyl as the medium of choice for radio stations as well as consumers.  Pulling from Englishman’s existing catalog on vinyl, they chose his ten best songs and produced a remarkable collection called Check for the Best.

Likewise, they discovered another D.C.-based group, Third Eye Reggae Band, and signed them to a record contract.  That resulted in the masterpiece, Shadow of the Pyramid, a remarkable album that showcases the hypnotic sound generated by this group of musicians who came from all around the Caribbean.  Douglas hired musician Craig Dye to help him produce the album and the legendary Jim Fox to do the sound engineering at Lion & Fox Recording Studios, which was located in D.C. at the time.  Lion & Fox was the studio of choice for the Maryland-based reggae label, RAS Records, which was founded by Gary Himelfarb (Dr. Dread).  Himelfarb graciously agreed to help Douglas by distributing Shadow of the Pyramid and Check for the Best through RAS Records.

Not wanting to limit themselves to one genre, they signed another local band, The Flying Eyz, whose sound was what Douglas called “bayou funk.”  Douglas produced a series of recording sessions with sound engineer Joe Gelchion at Cue Studios in Northern Virginia, then mixed the resulting songs at nearby Bias Sound with Andy Berner.  Eleven songs ended up on the Eyz’s debut album, Catch Your Breath, one of which was written by Douglas and the Eyz.

Douglas wanted to promote his songwriting abilities, so he enlisted the services of two well-established, very talented local musicians, Rodger Winter and Steve Hagedorn.  They helped Douglas by interpreting and arranging his songs, nine of which were released on CD and cassette in a collection called Trapped in the Suburbs.  It featured the late Winter’s amazing vocal skills and it remains, to this day, a testament to his versatility.

Additionally, Douglas had a novelty rap song, “Kudzu,” that he convinced Craig Dye to record.  That tune, along with two others, was released as a cassingle titled Rapped in Kudzu.  (Dye used the pseudonym M.C. Dee for the project.)  Dye, a keyboardist/trumpet player/singer with great musical skills, perfect pitch and lots of creativity, also worked with Douglas on a number of other song demos that were never released.  Plus Douglas collaborated with other local musicians like Colin Grand Pre to do more song demos.

Finally, Douglas and Schweiger produced a talent competition dubbed The New Music Showdown, which was co-sponsored with WHFS radio station, Lion & Fox Recording Studios and Quincy’s Bar and Restaurant.  The competition spanned several weeks and featured 12 bands culled from over 40 entries.  After a series of preliminary music events with three bands nightly, four finalists were chosen to compete on the last night for a $10,000 recording contract:  Alkaline, Enormous, Still Life and Hearsay.  It was a wild night, standing room only, big screen video, four music luminaries as judges, lots of energy and great music.  But when the dust settled, Hearsay had won.

Other noteworthy achievements for Mad Dawg Records include Check for the Best and Shadow of the Pyramid being simultaneously in the Top 25 on the College Music Journal (CMJ) reggae charts.  This was the accepted source, at the time, for measuring the success of reggae releases.  Shadow of the Pyramid was also featured in the Washington Post alongside Burning Spear’s new release, both receiving positive reviews.  CD Review magazine chose songs from Shadow of the Pyramid to be on two of its music samplers, Reggae Party and World Horizons.  Later, working independently, Third Eye secured placement on Putumayo’s The Best of World Music as well.  Shadow of the Pyramid also won a “Wammie” at the Washington Area Music Awards for Best Third World/Ethnic/International Recording.

In the end, Mad Dawg Records met its demise due largely to undercapitalization.  The time and money it would have taken to sustain the enterprise were no longer available, so Douglas and Schweiger parted ways, and Douglas shut down the Mad Dawg office in Alexandria, Virginia.  All that remains now are audio and video recordings, as well as other memorabilia, some of which will be made available via this website.

Written by Nathan “Mad Dawg” Douglas