By Síle Cleary

The Danger Bees. Courtesy Luther Mallory.

They may be new in town, but Daycare Records are showing just how feisty they are by utilizing the tag line “babysitting your stupid band.”

The record label is the brainchild of music journalist Karen Bliss (whose work is published in numerous publications, including the Gleaner, Billboard, RollingStone.com and MSN) and musician/producer Luther Mallory, who say the tag refers to an industry inside joke. “It’s not supposed to offend anyone, but everyone in the music business understands that if you’ve tried to work closely with bands it can be demanding and thankless,” says Bliss. “It can even get to the point where they may ring you up in the middle of the night for something that can clearly wait until morning.”

Daycare Records, which currently runs out of Bliss’s Annex home, launched in July of this year and has already signed two reputable Canadian artists: indie pop band The Danger Bees and renowned Canadian battle rapper Kid Twist.

The Danger Bees, which hail from Nova Scotia, solidified in Toronto in 2010 after Mallory (of the band Crush Luther) heard them and convinced them to relocate to the hub of the Canadian music industry.

Since hooking up with Daycare, their song “Why Won’t You Listen,” appeared in an episode of Degrassi this July, while another of The Danger Bee’s songs, “Awkward Guy,” is in the film Moon Point directed by Sean Cisterna.

The video for their single “Good Year” has received a lot of attention as a result of it being shot in just one take by director Gavin Michael Booth.

The video shows frontman David Macmichael being battered by objects and screamed at by his crazy “girlfriend.”

“They had one try to get it right and luckily they managed to pull it off,” said Bliss.

Kid Twist. Courtesy Luther Mallory

Daycare Records’ other act, Kid Twist, is a phenomenal wordsmith with a huge following in the battle rap scene.

Kid Twist, who has humorously named himself after “a Jewish mobster who stabbed people in the brain with an icepick,” is currently working on his first music release with Mallory which will be more humorous than edgy.

Daycare Records is planning on utilizing online resources to help promote the music on their roster.

“The music business is changing so rapidly and new companies are cropping up all the time that offer creative and inexpensive ways for independent artists to get their music out there,” said Bliss.

“Daycare Records is exploring all those [options], from music licensing to online gigs.”