Andrew Eldritch - original punk hero ?

[Nikolas Vitus Lagartija]

I was reading this excellent old interview with Si on the Metal Hammer website https://metalhammer.teamrock.com/featur ... tfish-boys in which he talks about his career (including as Nurse), and the funding model Red Rhino used for the early Violets singles.
Anyway, that got me reflecting on Von's success as a DIY businessman, in the true spirit of punk - setting up the record label and distribution deal, achieving indie chart success etc - without the need of outside assistance or a Svengali figure. The original punks (Clash, Pistols, Banshees, Stranglers, Buzzcocks et al) all signed up with majors instantly, the second wave tended to sign for regional indies (Rough Trade, Factory, Zoo, Fast Product, Postcard, Small Wonder) or small national labels (Beggars/4AD, Fiction, Virgin etc).
Even famous cottage industries such as Crass put out their first release on Small Wonder.
Is there another example of a successful band which over several years remained entirely independent (ignoring the second single CNT cash-flow hiatus), putting out their own singles, doing all the artwork themselves, etc in that true punk DIY spirit ?

[damagedone]

Interesting.I would immediately point to The Brian Jonestown Massacre.
All of their records never saw a major label support neither because the are not worth it nor there was no interest in them.On the contrary,amazing band.Don't wanna go into so much details but they well deserve their place under the sun.Check out the bio movie DIG!,it documents BJM and The Dandy Warhols careers over 8 years.
I am pretty sure there are more there but can't think of other band other than BJM at the moment

[Jeremiah]

As far as I know, The Tiger Lillies continue to release and distribute their music themselves; though I think they have had one-off deals with record labels for individual albums.

(They have also been rather more prolific than certain other bands, often releasing more than one album in a year.)

[Nikolas Vitus Lagartija]

Thanks for the replies so far.
According to Wikipedia, most of the BJM albums were put out by Bomp!, although that may just have been a Red Rhino style distribution deal, but The Tiger Lillies looks like a good call.
There must be other, more famous bands from the early 80s who "kept it real", but I can't think of any. Apart from the relatively brief (in the context of the band's lifespan) 84-93 period, Von has certainly done it his way and deserves respect and credit for that.

[Being645]

...
There must be other, more famous bands from the early 80s who "kept it real", but I can't think of any. Apart from the relatively brief (in the context of the band's lifespan) 84-93 period, Von has certainly done it his way and deserves respect and credit for that.

Absolutely ... ...

*Thanks for the link to the interview with Si as well ... ... an interesting read ... ...

[mh]

Crass would be an obvious example.