In 2021, after 16 years of dormancy, Iodine Recordings resurfaced and began putting out new records and astonishing reissues such as There Were Wires’ Somnambulists, Stretch Arm Strong’s Rituals of Life and A Revolution Transmission, and the stunning version of Quicksand’s Slip. Founder Casey Horrigan has now extended his noble mission of quality nostalgia by pairing with another stalwart Boston hardcore label, Big Wheel Recreation, which was founded in 1994 by Rama Mayo.
Big Wheel Recreation began organically, out of young hardcore kids’ passions. Rama weaves the tale over the phone, “I was in high school. I was friends with Dicky Cummings. He sang for a band called Knockdown that had incredible people in it—including Tre McCarthy (Deathwish) and Aaron Dalbec (Bane, ex-Converge, Only Crime, Be Well, ex-TYF, Daltonic). This is their first band! They were a little bit older. Back then, they were the coolest dudes in the world. Probably still are. I aspired to be them. They would invite me along. I was the eager kid who would load gear and help pass out flyers.”
Cast Iron Hike’s Salmon Drive was released in 1996. Mayo graduated high school and moved to Boston as the record was wrapping up. His now “long distance” (38 miles, lol) relationship disintegrated, not with a bang but a whimper. “This was pre-cellphone. And pre-email. So it was much harder to have a long-distance relationship with the business partner or whatever it was. When I moved away, he and I did not stay in contact. We had done a couple more records together. We did Ten Yard Fight, 454 Big Block, Jejune. We did some really great things. Yeah, we just kinda … It was weird. We never even broke up. We just fell out of touch and hadn’t talked forever. Then that was it.” No huge fallout or disagreement. Just time and miles. “It wasn’t a big business. It wasn’t making any money,” Mayo explains. “I had the luxury of a big student loan which allowed me to go to college and not have a job. So, I started to do the label full time.”
Then, Mayo released They Came from Massachusetts. “Ohh, I think about that all the time. That was a tipping point for me.” This was a 1996 compilation (remember those?) showcasing local bands such as 454 Big Block, Bane, Blood For Blood, Boxer, Cast Iron Hike, Converge, Jejune, Miltown (a great short-lived band featuring Only Living Witness’ Jonah Jenkins), Piebald, Ten Yard Fight, Six Going On Seven, and more. This illuminated a chasmic breadth of the arterial spread of sounds. Emo was starting to infiltrate the writing of people growing tired of repetitive Youth Crew. And the comp had bands that would die by that sound. The comp held tough guy bands, metallic bands, soft ethereal ones, and softer punk. Mayo recalls in the moment, “That was unbelievable. I was working at Newbury Comics at the time. Dickie did They Came from Massachusetts with me for sure. Because his leg which has a giant Big Wheel tattoo was on the face of the CD.”
***
Horrigan glows with humility and appreciation for Mayo. “The bottom line is Big Wheel was a huge inspiration to me in my youth. Rama was around before I started Iodine and it was one of those thoughts, ‘Oh, if this local dude can do this, I can do it.’ Rama actually helped me start Iodine. The first record I put out I had no idea what I was doing. I was like, ‘Hey, can I pick your brain?’ He connected me with the pressing plant and just talked about all the things that need to be done for a record to be successful. I mean, even simple shit like, ‘Oh, you gotta make sure you advertise in Punk Planet and Heart Attack‘ or whatever. I attribute a lot of what I built based on his inspiration. So, when we started really getting going with the label, one of the ideas we had (for Iodine) was all these Big Wheel titles are out of print. We got in touch with Rama and simply said, ‘Hey, you know I’m sure you want to get these back out. Can we help you do it?'”
This echoes back to Mayo’s guidance for Horrigan in Iodine’s nascent stage. Mayo bluntly said, “Just go do it. Even to this day, that’s the advice I give to everybody. We wanted to play shows. So, we rented a venue and built the stage. We wanted to put out a record, we just rented the stuff and did it ourselves. We made the records ourselves. That is still my mentality now.”
Horrigan continues explaining his offer to Rama of handling distribution. “We will do it for you. We’ll just start bringing the whole thing under the umbrella.” Horrigan is dedicated to releasing exemplary versions of these classic records. So far in 2025, Fastbreak’s cherished debut was reissued, meaning extra art and a remastered version. Piebald’s We Are the Only Friends We Have is on vinyl again after a twenty-year absence—now remastered, containing extra pics and a retrospective essay. “That is the Iodine treatment for everything we do. We don’t take shortcuts, as you’ve seen through our releases,” he says. “We always freshen up the artwork. We try to make it more current. We try to throw in extras, and we always go big on the packaging. We always make sure that it sounds great. When we have the assets available, you know 100% we will always remaster it and bring it up to today’s quality. The only things we wouldn’t are if we’re just making some releases available on digital that are not currently available.”
Mayo talks of digging through old equipment from the TCFM compilation. He remarks that he still has a DAT tape of the recordings. It’s nostalgic and introspective for him. It stirs up memories of how the compilation launched his attitude and motivation. He notes that he is the center (of that and every project he does), but far from the only one propagating a project. He carries that into his very successful business currently. “Now I know why it was successful. Then, I wasn’t sure. I use the term, I call it ‘the advocate wheel.’ I built a group of advocates for these projects. That’s really what it was. I didn’t promote that compilation, the bands promoted. Everyone was proud of it. So, it picked up, it kept going through word of mouth.”
As far as the end of Big Wheel Recreation (well, the initial era), Mayo confesses, “I think I got out at the right time. I’m glad that I still look back on it and I still love it. I’m glad that people still want the art. The fact that we’re re-releasing stuff is (f’ing) insane.”
***
Call it Karma or full circle; or just the way this subculture continues to regenerate itself for the youth from elders who still care. But Mayo ends up getting assistance from Horrigan. Mayo has been thinking about this for 20 years. The fruition could only happen with these two.
“What I was looking for and why Casey was so perfect, I wanted someone that’s still involved (with) and in the scene. Someone who can help shepherd me into it and be part of it. Because I don’t have the physical time to care for it. I’m so busy doing my other businesses right now. I have kept trying to do it on my own or hire someone who works for me to do it. But I couldn’t handle it. I’m not in the industry anymore.
“When I talked to Casey, he reminded me of when he came to The Loft in Boston. I gave him contacts at the record pressing plants and told him stuff to look out for. I gave him my playbook. He used it and executed it and is still here now.” Horrigan admits that he wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Rama to begin with. Horrigan truly wanted Rama to be a part of this resurrection and these reissues. Rama admires Horrigan’s work and art and tenacity, but also that “he’s a fan of the artists—which is a totally separate and cool thing.”
Horrigan is truly exhibiting his passion and dedication to our old and current scene in Boston and others. “It’s been cool. It’s a full-circle thing for me to put out records that were important to me in my youth and to have Rama bless everything. He’s not really involved with the operation side. But we wanted to make sure that we preserved his vision for Big Wheel, so we run all the artwork and stuff by him. He signs off. And we get to give Big Wheel a second life.”
***
Follow Iodine Recordings on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Follow Big Wheel Recreation on Instagram.
photo
