title: Dead Broke Rekerds created: 2026-04-07 updated: 2026-04-07 type: label tags: [label, diy, era-2000s, era-2010s, era-2020s] sources: [raw/articles/dead-broke-history.md]
Dead Broke Rekerds
Long Island, New York. Founded 2002 by Mike Bruno (of Iron Chic and Adult Magic). DIY punk label and distro. One of the most important labels in the 2000s-2020s DIY punk scene.
Key Artists
- Iron Chic — Long Island. Melodic punk. Not Like This (2010), The Constant One (2013). One of the best DIY punk bands of the 2010s. Bruno’s main band.
- Night Birds — New Jersey. Surf-punk/hardcore. Mutiny at Muscle Beach (2015).
- RVIVR — Olympia. Punk. The Beauty Between (2013).
- Fifteen — (not the band — the number). Various.
- Samiam — Berkeley punk. Later releases.
- Street Eaters — Oakland. Bass/drums punk.
- Toys That Kill — San Pedro. Punk.
- Horace Pinker — Australian punk.
The Distro
Dead Broke is also a distro (distribution service) — selling records by other labels and bands alongside their own releases. This dual role (label + distro) makes them a hub for the DIY punk community. If you’re ordering punk records online, chances are Dead Broke has what you want.
Philosophy
Like plan-it-x-records before them, Dead Broke operates on pure DIY principles: no outside funding, no corporate partnerships, no mainstream distribution. Bruno’s advice to new labels: “Don’t wait around for somebody else to put out your record.”