The damning legacy of Burger Records
“When I find a band I really like, do I have to ask, ‘Have you raped anybody, and have you done this or that’? And then how do you follow up on that and get the full story? That sounds like a nightmare, and that’s not why I got into music.” These were the concerning words of Sean Bohrman speaking to KEXP in 2019. Alongside Lee Rickard, Bohrman formed Burger Records in 2007, until its eventual cease of operations in 2020, after several bands involved with the label were accused of sexual assault.
Burger initially seemed like a Vice-adjacent indie outlet, one that didn’t care to get into the legal weeds of even signing the artists who would release material with them. When Burger opened a record shop in Fullerton in 2009, Rickard and Bohrman lived there, showering once a week and washing their hair in alleys. It seemed imminently cool, a plucky, DIY start-up that soon became a hub for local music fans.
Indie was what Burger did best, releasing a slew of beach-goth, surf rock and power pop cassettes. It was the $6 cassettes that made them popular, playing a pivotal role in their revival in the garage scene. As its stock in the scene rose, Burger started hosting shows and festivals around Southern California, including the two-day Burgerama Festival that was attended by thousands, eventually attracting headlining acts like FIDLAR, Iggy Pop, Weezer, and Ty Segall.
The concerts and festivals Burger held were open to fans of all ages, which meant young fans around high school age could freely socialise with far older fans and musicians. Burger sold pins and badges that read “I’m a Burger Girl” and hats adorned with “I’m a Burger babe”, which were flogged in the same record store that sold a cassette with the phrase: “You’ll never be as cute as a teenage girl” on its inside cover.
Its cool cachet made it incredibly appealing for teen girls, who, more often than not, acted as the financial arm of indie and snapped up the merch. Kennedy Wright, who started going to Burger shows at 16, explained to KEXP: “We were wearing the American Apparel tennis skirts with, like, baseball tees and knee-high socks and Vans. We were like the teenage Burger girl.”
In and of itself, teen fans idolising 30-something rock stars is harmless, but at these shows, drugs and alcohol were reputedly ever-present. Over the course of recent years, many women have come forward on record to say they feel this created a massive power imbalance, alleging Burger enabled a culture of sexual assault.
Multiple allegations of sexual assault came to light in 2020, levelled against many bands in the Burger roster, including The Buttertones, SWMRS, Cosmonauts, and The Growlers. These allegations were compiled on an Instagram page called ‘Lured By Burger Records’, which was launched by Casey Redd after she had come forward with allegations of statutory rape against Love Cop’s Phil Salina.
Burger turned off their comment section when more women took to it in order to share their stories, so in response, Redd made the page in the hopes of amplifying their voices as Burger seemingly attempted to silence them. Of its 17 posts, some of which include resources for sexual assault survivors, many anonymous contributions recount under-aged girls being invited to the back room of Burger Records.
“Burger Records is responsible for curating a culture built on pedophilic tendencies and teenage fetishisation, allowing predators access to the thousands of teenagers paying $$$ to go to their nearly-daily shows being held,” read one post to the Instagram account. “Men of Burger Records lured teens in vans, the back room of Burger Records, and a storage unit someone was living in within the Burger Records lot.”
Sloppy Jane frontwoman Haley Dahl added: “When I tried to align myself in your world of bands, I experienced literally countless acts of disrespect, objectification, and sexual misconduct — and witnessed even more. It was heartbreaking, and a few young women I knew who experienced the same things no longer play music as a result of it.”
Burger released a response following these posts, pledging to make significant structural changes to the label and “create and implement active policy measures to address the culture that allowed such harm to occur”. Bohrman was said to be moving in a more “transitional role” within the label, while Rickard would immediately step down from his role as label president, with Jessa Zapor-Gray assuming the role of interim label president.
“We extend our deepest apologies to anyone who has suffered irreparable harm from any experience that occurred in the Burger and indie/DIY music scene,” the label shared in a statement. “We are also deeply sorry for the role Burger has played in perpetuating a culture of toxic masculinity.”
Despite the initial efforts to take Burger in a new direction, notably with a token female as interim president, five days after the first ‘Lured By Burger Records’ post on Instagram, Burger folded completely. It followed a quick U-turn from Zapor-Gray, who said her plan was to evaluate if anything about its culture could be salvaged.
“Upon further review,” she announced in a statement, “I have informed Burger Records that I no longer believe I will be able to achieve my intended goals in assuming the leadership role at Burger in the current climate. Therefore, I have decided to step away from the label entirely to focus on my other projects.”
So Burger collapsed, its digital footprint all but vanishing, aside from Bohrman’s snide goodbye as he announced their dissolution to Pitchfork with a Porky Pig GIF that said: “That’s all folks”.
It was an insulting end to an unnecessary saga that could have been easily prevented with more in-house protections for the young women who made up their fanbase. The treatment of underage fans at their shows highlights a consistent inequality that presents itself in niche music circles. Young female music fans have historically been put in the position of being sexualised and not taken seriously while simultaneously being the financial force that propels bands to popularity.
The embrace of that ugly trade-off is the sum of Burger’s legacy. That its final manoeuvres included setting up a woman to take the PR flack for its misgivings, and sharing a jokey GIF after dozens of sexual assault allegations shut it down, only solidifies it as one of the biggest blights in indie music’s history, and a crippling blow to the independent scene it purported to support.
For anybody who may have been a victim of sexual assault, please find relevant help below:
- UK: Please contact The Survivors Trust
- US: Please contact RAINN
