Date Signed: August 2024
Label: Hopeless Records
Band Members: Jake Diab, Joe Coccimiglio
Type of Music: Rock
Management: Unchained Management - Jason Rudolph, Matt Bacon
Booking: Jason Parent - Sound Talent Group
Legal: Loren Wells
Publicity: Atom Splitter PR
Web: autumnkings.com
A&R: Eric Tobin - Hopeless Records
As dark, bleak, and fear-inducing as America is at the moment, you gotta hand it to artists who are trying to form a bulwark against encroaching threats of ending free speech as we know it. Looming threats be damned; some artists are proving their true character by refusing to let the federal government’s chilling-effect strategies scare them into submission, silence, and self-censorship. Even if speaking out results in them being forced to secure the frontline in said potential battles.
Detroit’s Autumn Kings, who are about to blow out 10 candles on their birthday cake, are one of those bands standing up for what they believe in. Conviction and fortitude aren’t only mortal imperatives, though; they’re also extremely attractive (yet shamefully overlooked) signifiers of character and professionalism that record label executives dearly prize.
One of those organizations is Southern California-based indie label Hopeless Records—the website lists 10 Principles by which the label abides. The values Hopeless abides by are, rather ironically, hopeful and positive. They include promoting inclusivity, battling systemic injustice, and giving voice to underrepresented groups. Autumn Kings vocalist Joe Coccimiglio recently told Music Connection that, indeed, it was a shared sense of values that led them to join the Hopeless roster.
“I’d been trying to get (Hopeless’) attention for years, long before we were ready for (joining the label’s roster),” Coccimiglio recalled. “You could say that the pursuit was delusional. But that delusion and unwavering self-belief is the very thing that sustained us through difficult times for the band, like the pandemic a few years ago, when it was much easier to throw in the towel than it was to keep charging forward as an independent band.”
According to Coccimiglio, Autumn Kings’ signing to Hopeless transpired very quickly—in part because, unbeknownst to the band, Hopeless had been keeping an eye out on us for a while, and it organically morphed into a record deal. It turned into a 'right place, right time' sort of thing.”
Sounds just like a dream come true. – Kurt Orzeck
